Piper Mountain Trail & Bowser Pond Trail Blazing 7/13/11

"Two Hours of Time, One Mile of Yellow" (pictures)

After two days of humid weather it was a rather nice day Wednesday ... hot, but a nice breeze blowing. So I decided to head back to Moose Mountains Reservation to work on some more trail blazing. I decided on blazing the Piper Mt. Trail to Bowser Pond. I drove up past the kiosk, checked the new map box to find 2 more maps had been taken! Guess I better print some more up! I continued driving taking a right at the North Road junction and parking at the landing where Piper Trail enters on the right. After some thought on the trail names on the property I am thinking this trail should be called Piper Link Trail as it doesn't actually climb the mountain, rather it links over to Piper Mt. Road.

Anyhow I clipped some trees leaning over in front of the snow mobile trail information signage and began my first blaze at about 12:45pm. The sun was hot but the breeze kept things mostly comfortable. I was thinking about the SPNHF crew on Mt. Monadnock doing trail work the past few days in the horrible heat! I would have liked to join them but the drive is way to long, especially having to head right to work when I got back. Besides, I have plenty to still do here!

After finishing the first two blazes at the entrance point I noticed a dragonfly landing here-and-there on the tops of dried up flower stems. It was so beautiful! I kept trying to get close so I could get a macro shot of it but it just wouldn't sit still. I chased this guy (and it is red, so litterally a guy!) around for 5 minutes thinking I was supposed to be blazing trails, not chasing bugs around with my camera! The dragonfly then hovered and circled around my head several times as if to say, "get lost! This is my territory!" My patience finally paid off though and I got a beautiful shot of this Calico Pennant :)

Then it was down the road spotting ahead for a good tree, cutting the brush back, and slapping on a blaze. This continued until I reached the banking high above Bowser Pond. From here there is a grown-in woods road on the right. I cut the overgrowth back just enough for a visible trail and conitnued my blazes about 100 feet. Here there is somewhat of a clearing down the banking to the pond that Scott and I had found before. I built a small cairn here with nearby rocks and decided to put my "Blue Moose Marker" here.

Then I trimmed the trees and blazed down to the waters edge. I was a little dissapointed to not see any herons or ducks. Probably not a good time of day for them and perhaps the noise scared them away! The pond is pretty just-the-same with a few dots of yellow water lily buds on top of the water. I also spotted a couple turtles sun bathing on some logs further up along the shore.  I stood here for a few minutes relaxing and scanning the pond. I watched as half-a-dozen swallows catching bugs swooped over the water. Then I climbed the banking, clearing the rotted logs and what-not from the foot path.

Indian Pipe is coming up and blooming right now, so I had to take a picture of one. It was so cute there next to the trail. And they are my mothers fasvorite. My mission half complete it was now time to blaze back to my starting position! It was getting hotter out and I was already getting a little exhuasted, sticky and hot. And it was nearly all uphill going back. I spotted a very bright yellow Clouded Sulpher Butterfly and really wanted a picture of it! It was very quick and would not sit still for more than a second. It kept making it's way back down the trail. I was getting tired and was not about to go back the other way, so I gave up on this one. Better luck next time! I ended my day at 2:45. I have been surprised at just how long such a simple looking task can take ... A total of 1 mile of trail blazing in 2 hours! It is very rewarding and exciting though to be putting the first blazes on this property!

Updated MAP 7/13/11

Phoebe's Nable Mt. & North Trail 6/15/11

"Trash and Wildflowers, and a Double Whammy of Moose!" (pictures)
(Moose Mountains Facebook Group)

Well I finally got myself in the mood for picking up trash at Moose Mountains Reservation. After a wet and cold week, a nice day on Wednesday had me wanting to get out and do some hiking. So I finagled an old hiking pole with an unused bowie knife to create my bad-ass trash picker! And off I went....hold on, gotta have trash bags....OK, now I'm ready! As I rounded a corner on Ridge Road I spotted a fawn in the road. It crouched down against the pavement as I passed. Not sure if it was hurt or just scared I parked. I began to jump out for a closer look and it jumped up and darted into the woods. Off you go Bambi!  I parked in the parking area and put the gate back up. Then beginning on the right side of the road I began the search for trash.

Along the way wildflowers that had passed, where replaced with new kinds. It was an interesting balance holding a trash bag in one hand, a pole in the other and taking out my camera constantly to snap pics of the flowers! A few bugs made there way into my lens as well but the flying insects would have to be on hold today as I didn't have the time or patience for them! At one section of the roadside I passed by a beautiful colony of Bird's-Foot Trefoil and found a small bunch of Larger Blue Flag Iris's. Spectacular! I continued my walk up to the Burrows Farm site, took some pics and continued on.

I took a left onto Phoebe's Nable spur trail, collected bottles we had stashed from picking them up on a previous hike and continued up the hillside. Temperatures were rising and I was getting pretty hot up this steep section of trail. This area was apparently where the ticks had moved too as I began to find them on my legs. Ah the beauty of hairy legs! They have trouble climbing and I can feel them when they disturb a hair follicle, LOL! I arrived at the summit, took a picture and headed back down quickly to get back home for 3.

I did have to stop a few times for more flower pics. I just can't help myself! They were so pretty! One flowering plant on the picture to the left was all over. I've yet to figure out what it is, but very pretty! The task completed I had one 33 gallon bag of trash! I passed a couple my age coming up from the parking lot whom I introduced myself too and spoke with shortly. Nice to see people hiking this area each time I'm here, more than I had previously thought!

I got back home just before Scott arrived from work. He wanted to go for a hike and I was totally down for another hike! It was after all, a beautiful afternoon! We threw some peaks around but really didn't want to drive to them. Doesn't help that we have to head to work at 6/6:30. So it was back to Moose Mountains. I decided we would try the North trail as I recall reading there was some sort of view up there. We got a slight view South from a banking along a landing area where two birds were making noise and flying about. Not sure what they were, Northern Rough-Winged Swallow was the best I could come up with.

We passed by more wildflowers, tiger beetles along the road and dragon fly's. We passed by some open rock ledge with a pretty good view of Piper Mt. and arrived at a large landing zone. It was here I believed we were to take a left but everything looked to be grown in. So we continued on the only open road to the right over a gated bridge which we re-gated. Tick checks kept turning up a couple of the little buggers. Ticks...ick! We continued for a ways upward then as the trail began to drastically descend it was getting too late so we turned back. Another trip not finding the views we had heard about, ugh! Soon we WILL find what we are looking for and can mark and trim these trails!

Piper Mt. 6/13/11

"Off Roading and Some Hiking" (pictures)
(Moose Mountains Facebook Group)

A busy weekend with hosting my sisters baby shower, work and an otherwise rainy/dreary weekend we never made it out to hike. Scott asked if I wanted to go for a small hike when he got home for work, and I never say no! He mentioned Blue Job but I hate the drive there with such short time, having to leave for work at 6:30 and getting dinner in before that.

I had been wanting to check out another corner of the Moose Mountains Reservation over by Piper Mt. So off we went. I found the Access Road, a secondary dirt road and we followed it to a fork where I took a right onto Piper Mt. Drive (not signed). Now a class six road the going gets a little rough. Along this section of road signs were here-and-there warning that these areas were under surveillance. I slowly made my way over rocks and partly washed out road sections, but my Ford Escape was doing just fine.

We passed another truck on a flat section and we asked them if they new where Piper Mt. was, they said we were headed the right way. Soon we came to another fork in the road, the right side being gated. Piper Mountain Drive continued but was not suitably maintained for regular SUV's. So we parked here and got our 'walk on'! FYI, the gated road I found out later on is a trail down to Lily Pond. Dragon fly's were prevalent again and one (6 Spotted Skipper I believe) allowed me a beautiful picture I am very pleased with!

We climbed up the hill and after some time found another road intersection. Following my vague map of hiking and snow mobile trails I determined to make a left here onto Moose Mountain Road (not signed). From here we continued a climb up to a flat area where a trail leads off to the left just before the road steeply drops. We climbed this trail up to Piper Mt. Mostly over-grown ledges where seen here and we were not sure where the view ledge exactly was. Rather than follow the trail downhill we walked back to Moose Mt. Rd. Looking at a report and map now I believe the ledge was lower down on that trail and has a nice overlook across the pond.

Back on the road I wanted to keep exploring, so we walked down the steep road and a view opened up to Phoebes Nable and Moose Mountains. Continuing on we arrived at another intersection where to the left the snow mobile trail runs down Piper Mt. trail to Bowser Pond and over to the rest of Moose Mountains Reservation. We noted a massive fire pit littered with old wheels, dozens of beer cans, lighters and other trash that will need to be cleaned up at some point...if at all.

On our way back we where attacked by a ruffed grouse, the second in two weeks. These little birds are brave little creatures! After the scare and subsequent laugh we climbed back up the hill and back down to where I parked. For future reference I would recommend parking at the Moose Mountains parking lot on New Portsmouth Rd. and take the route up this road, take your first right onto North trail, the next right onto Piper Mt. trail which brings you by Bowser Pond and then at the road junction take a right and at the top of the hill another right onto the spur trail to Piper Mt. I will hike this route soon so I can get better info. for this trip.

Moose Mountains Reservation 6/3 & 5/11

"Bowser Pond" (pictures)
(Moose Mountains Facebook Group)

Difficulty: Easy

Directions: From downtown Farmington, NH take Rt. 153 North into Middleton about 5 miles. Continue onto King's Highway for .9 miles. Turn right at the police station onto Ridge Road. At 1.6 miles turn left onto New Portsmouth Road. Bear left onto New Portsmouth Road Exd. The trail head and kiosk will be seen ahead.

Stats (Round Trip): Mileage> About 4 - Elevation Gain> About 200' - Our Time> 2hrs.  

Report: Having a short time before work Friday night Scott and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and make a short trip to Moose Mountains. We parked at the kiosk happy to see the "no wheeled vehicle" signs still up and the gate still closed. We walked up New Portsmouth Road and after crossing the river we took a right, crossing a landing area. Thousands of dragon flies were covering the road and flying every which way as we passed through.

We continued up the hill and at the next landing took a right down a smaller woods road. The road drops into a pine area laden with a multitude of pink moccasin flowers. It curves left and drops more steeply and continues to turn left. I spotted a small bunch of Pointed Blue Eyed Grass, something I hadn't yet seen in the wild. And we also found a Northern Leopard Frog crossing the road. They usually don't sit still for anything but this one allowed me to take some pictures of it :)

Soon we saw a glimpse of Bowser Pond which I had been wanting to check out for some time now. Scott spotted a Heron, and before I had a chance to pull out a camera or even focus my sights on it, it took off into the woods. We took a right onto an overgrown woods road and then climbed down the banking to the pond shore. We noticed a female mallard in the water that I took some pics of, only to realize it wasn't moving the slightest bit. Turns out it was a decoy, LOL! Got me! We took in the view then headed back up to the road. A tick check revealed two wood ticks on Scott.

We retraced our steps back to the truck and along the way I heard "Fee B" ... "Fee B". Ah hah! It was a Phoebe! I had just done some searches into why Phoebes Nable mountain was called what it was. Carrie with the Forest Society popped the question. After doing some google searches I determined the mountain was named for the Eastern Phoebe who likes farm land and open woods which is what this area was. And 'Nable" was a Greek word for music. Thus the meaning I got was "Phoebes Song". Hearing the Phoebe sing here made me all the more confident that I was correct!



"South Ridge Point" (pictures)

Difficulty: Easy


Directions: From downtown Farmington, NH take Rt. 153 North into Middleton about 5 miles. Continue onto King's Highway for .9 miles. Turn right at the police station onto Ridge Road. At about .7 miles there will be a yellow gate (snow mobile trail) on your left. Park here.

Stats (Round Trip): Mileage> About 2.5 - Elevation Gain> About 229' - Our Time> 2hrs.  

Report: Today instead of getting up early for a long hike in the Whites we slept in a bit and decided to check out more of Moose Mountains. Hope your all not sick of hearing about this property but there is so much for us to explore and we are trying to find, and learn the trails so that they can be marked! We pass by a gated snow mobile trail I have been wanting to check out for some time now. According to my studying of the maps and satellite this road should take us to a view point on Moose Mountains South Ridge.

We parked and headed up the trail. After swatting at some mosquito's we grudgingly applied the bug spray. The road passes by a marsh and climbs very gradually. There are grown in skid roads along the way so just be sure to stay on the main road that is more open. Pink moccasin flowers were still in bloom along the sunny road side. Dragon Flies were also scattered about and Red Spotted Newts were here-and-there along the trail.

A little ways in we were startled when a ruffed grouse came booking down the trail! It's head was down and it had it's body crouched to the ground as it squawked right on by us and into the woods. "OK then!" We passed through a small grassy landing and then were really startled by another grouse that jumped out of the woods at us squawking! It went back in the woods and Scott noticed it had babies with it! It jumped back out at us, puffed up, and spun around kicking up dirt and spreading it's wings out at us. It was quite the spectacle! I managed to get some great pics of this display!

Continuing on we passed through a couple more landings, mud ruts (from off road vehicles) and passed the red blazed property line into the Forest Society Land. We came to a three way intersection and took a right here. The trail continues a gradual climb up to a larger landing where a mud pond was present. The trail then becomes more overgrown and steep from here up to the next intersection. Here you want to take a left but we went right just to check things out. We came out to a large landing with a restricted view North to the Moose Mountains. 

Back at the intersection we continued down to a fork in the road. Taking a right the road climbs moderately. Views begin to open up to the East and the road then makes a tiny loop around the high point all of which has become overgrown. There is a partial view to Moose Mountain to the North and various mountains and hills to the South and East including Prospect, Nubble and Hussey Mountains. Perhaps we can clear some of the small trees here to open the view back up to the North.

Our goal achieved we headed back down the way we came. And no, it wasn't a boring trip back! The grouse jumped back out at us again scaring the crap out of us! This time it came right up close to us, squawked and flapped it's wings. Then it ran back into the woods. This was such a neat experience! As we reached the start point we were met by a lady hiking up. We introduced ourselves and told her about the "killer" grouse. This was a great trip! Plenty of wildlife to enjoy and saw deer and moose tracks too! We hope to blaze this trail this summer!!

Moose Mountain East Knob 5/26/11

"More Moose!" (pictures)
(Moose Mountains Facebook Group)

Difficulty: Hard (steep/loose/rocky up Burrows Farm Trail)

Directions: From downtown Farmington, NH take Rt. 153 North into Middleton about 5 miles. Continue onto King's Highway for .9 miles. Turn right at the police station onto Ridge Road. At 1.6 miles turn left onto New Portsmouth Road. Bear left onto New Portsmouth Road Exd. The trail head and kiosk will be seen ahead. You can park at the kiosk or continue 400 feet on an unmaintained road to an upper parking area just past the river.

Report: My third day at Moose Mountains Reservation. I wasn't sure just how much time I would spend as a land steward of this mountain range, but there is so much to see here I will never tire of it! Wildflowers, frogs and so much more! We returned to remove the cable I put over the gate the day before. Apparently it can't be locked because it is a class 6 road. So hopefully it can be locked elsewhere to keep the off road vehicles off the fields and hiking trails! Wendy, a Forester with SPNHF will be giving a tour soon and we will be discussing these things.

Anyhow, once this was done we hiked up New Portsmouth Road passing mud pits from the off road truck use which the Green and Northern Leopard Frogs were enjoying. There were dozens of them! Up to the junction with Burrows Farm Trail which is straight ahead. A left here brings you up to the Burrows Farm Site and field and up to Phoebes Nable Mt. Scott destroyed a fire circle here making sure not to leave a single rock, kicking them down the banking. The trail enters a timber landing zone then climbs passing carpets of violets and patches of pink moccasin flowers.

Once passing a "No Motorized Vehicles" sign the trail began a steep, rocky climb up a slippery, rock filled skid road. The heat and humidity was really killing us but didn't slow us down one bit! We passed a ledgy stream then over some ledgy parts of the trail. Soon we were passing by blue berry bushes and more ledge. Snow Mobile trail markers were present up here. The trail levels off and enters a semi-open plateau of Pitch Pine, Red Pine, Blue Berries, rock erratics and ledges. It was a beautiful area!

The breeze was blowing a welcomed coolness and helped keep the black flies at bay. We found deer and moose tracks as well as some fox scat. We also found a 10 gallon plastic pail chained and locked to a tree and wondered what it was there for. We passed through some high brush and came out with a few ticks, one of which was a deer tick, yuck! We did good all day until we hit the tall brush! Getting late, we had to head back down from here to have a quick dinner and head to work. This hike took about 1.5 hours.

Moose Mountain Reservation 5/25/11

"Tigers and Leopards and Wildflowers Oh, Yah!" (pictures)
(Moose Mountains Facebook Group)

Difficulty: Easy

Directions: From downtown Farmington, NH take Rt. 153 North into Middleton about 5 miles. Continue onto King's Highway for .9 miles. Turn right at the police station onto Ridge Road. At 1.6 miles turn left onto New Portsmouth Road. Bear left onto New Portsmouth Road Exd. The trail head and kiosk will be seen ahead. You can park at the kiosk or continue 400 feet on an unmaintained road to an upper parking area just past the river.

Report: I returned to Moose Mountains Reservation Wednesday to do some work in the access road culverts and to attach a cable to the gate. It was such a beautiful day! I drove my truck up to the point where a stream crosses the road and parked. I did a quick walk up to the Burrows Farm area to make sure no one was up here in a 4x4 or ATV. Such a wonderful spot. Mountains all around, new leaves on trees a bright green, apple trees flowering and blue sky with white wispy clouds. Ahhhh, so lovely!

I then noticed a bug flying ground level across the dirt. It was an Eastern 6 Spotted Tiger Beetle! I love these florescent green beetles! I returned to the main trail heading back and spotted a couple Northern Leopard Frogs. They are so darn quick and blend right in with the ground cover. I did manage to coax one back out of the leaves for a photo op! Wild Flowers caught my attention again as I traveled along. Yellow Downy Violets and Pink Moccasin flowers where the choice today. Surprisingly after having so many ticks on us the day before I did not have a single one today! Must be they come out later in the day. Or because I was staying away from tall grass, mud and trees!

After getting my hiking, photo fix I then got back to my truck and stopped at each culvert to clean the leaves out and get water flowing again. Black flies began to attack as I affixed a cable over the gate and put up "No Wheeled Vehicle" signage. I kind-of felt bad about blocking this 4x4/ATV paradise, not my thing but every one is different and if that's what they like they should be able to have a place to "play"! But it's not allowed, and even if it was, the property is being abused. I can only hope this doesn't end up being a never ending battle! I don't give up easily and this is a beautiful property needing some TLC, so I am in it for the long haul!