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.

Knight's Pond Conservation Area 4/16/11

"The Out House Still Stands!" (pictures)

Difficulty: Easy (access road and well maintained trails)

Directions: Heading North on Rt.28 in Alton, take a right onto Rines Road. The road will change to dirt, keep left at a fork. At the top of the hill is the road on the left. A small parking area is on the right for when the road is gated.

Report: The weather being "iffy" again for Saturday we decided to hit some small hikes and play out the day as it went. The plan was to head to Castle in the Clouds to view the water falls, then hit a couple other small forests/conservation areas. As we were coming close to Wolfeboro on Rt. 28 Scott mentioned checking out a place where he used to live with his sister. He said there was a farmhouse that had since burned and a big pond down a ways from the road. Now Scott hadn't been here for about 25 years and there was no telling what happened to the property. Probably a housing development or something! Well, we arrived at the now gated road with a sign reading "Knight's Pond Conservation Area". Scott was shocked, I was excited! Another pond and forest saved....YAY!!

Cold and damp we threw long sleeve shirts and wind breakers on. As we walked the dirt road it was neat to be told what the property used to look like. "There was a big farmhouse and lawn here where this birch glade is", "a garden down the hill where that chain link fence is", "there was a cow pasture up there and a pig pin here where this wire is". And, "the out house is still standing! We used to have to walk across the lawn and road to go to the bathroom!" Too funny! I remember him telling me a story about running into a moose in the dead of night while making his way to the bathroom, LOL! We continued on down the road as it descended to a small summer time parking area and a kiosk. Then the road continued to descend until it reaches the shore of the pond. Before this there is a trail sign pointing to the left.

The trail enters the woods and then brings you along the South shore of Knight's Pond following it clockwise. A Wood Duck took flight at one point and I was disappointed that it flew to the far shore. But excited to see that they are at this pond! I'll be sure to return to try and get some pics of them! Beaver activity is seen all over. Trees chewed up all along the trail and water. The trail climbs up the banking then begins to follow the marsh at the West side of the pond. Then it crosses at a beaver dam. Such a beautiful spot! We continued on the trail following the North side of this long marsh. Scott spotted a male and female Mallard in the water and I was able to snap some photo's of them!

As we continued on, rocks and boulders became prevalent as we entered a wonderful boulder field. We stopped and took a break at the largest boulder. Here there is a trail that leaves on the right and loops around the peninsula that separates the pond and the marsh. This is an easy must do and adds about 500 feet to the trip. Winds were whipping across the water here and making it very cold. This cold, windy and damp weather has to stop! There is a good view from this trail across the marsh and down to the several beaver homes. Once the loop was made and back on the main trail we continued along the East shore noting some side trails. One that cuts back across the boulder field that we must have missed somewhere. And another that went North.

Continuing along we passed some more boulders until reaching the road again at a small beach, where Scott said they would swim at. Ending the trip was a mile long road hike uphill! All told, about 4 miles. We couldn't stop talking about what a beautiful area this was and how happy we were that it was saved and conserved for wildlife! It's by far the largest undeveloped pond I have been at and love the natural state it is in. Quite, full of wildlife and just plane beautiful! A large pond, marsh and boulder field. What more can you ask for!! A plaque at the end of the road at the shore lists the Organizations and people responsible for making Knight's Pond a conservation area in 1990. Thank you to all!!