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.

Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area 11/7/10

"This is NH at it's Best!" (pictures)

With an array of weekends that brought Scott and I more work than usual we had not made our way into the White Mountains in some time. And we were itching to get back! Well we didn't quite make it again but boy were we in for a treat! The weather was "iffy" and we again decided to stick close to home. After contemplating on possible candidates for our hike Scott said suddenly "how about Castle in the Clouds?" He has mentioned this over and again all year and I always shrugged it off as probably too crowded and probably not much for trail options or views. WELL, was I WRONG!! We arrived at the access road to find the Castle closed for the season. Hmmmm, now what? The sign pointed to the Castle Springs Road and Castle Springs Park. Sounds like a possible entry point..... Up the road we went and found a hiker parking area and the Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area. 5,380 acres of mountains, ledgy views, farm land, ponds, waterfalls and oh, a castle!

The trail map was iced over and the small one on the side of the kiosk was difficult to read. So we would just be going with the flow, let the trails take us wherever. We began the brisk morning by walking up the road to the castle. What a beauty! And a view to match, fog lifting off Lake Winnipesaukee with mountains beyond and all around us. I saw a large rock knob in the distance towards Mt. Shaw and I really hoped we could find a trail to it!

Back down to the road we took a turn down a logging road marked by white diamonds and a kiosk that read Brook Walk. I thought, eh, just the usual babbling brook, no biggie! The trail follows the road a little distance then breaks off to the brook. A beautiful ledgy cascade greeted us. And so it would be down this entire trail, complete with interpretive signs at each stop. So many cascades, a beautiful 50 foot waterfall and a flume/waterfall 40 ft. high with a boardwalk that brings you close to the foot of this spectacular water feature! It was like being out west in Yellow Stone or in the Amazon. Wonderful!! The trail now crosses the brook and loops back making a steep climb up the banking. Then it meets the Shannon Brook trail. Brook Walk was .4 miles I believe and a bit rough. Certainly not for the unfit tourist! Careful with kids!!

A short ways on Shannon Brook Trail which is another logging road we soon arrived at Bald Knob Cutoff. This got me excited! One mile up this rough, granite covered trail passing over several small partially wooded knobs. You pass a sign at one point noting an unusual and rare rock formation called Columnar Jointing. It was pretty interesting! Especially for the rock lover I am! We then came to Bald Knob Trail which appeared to be a carriage road. A short distance you pass by granite ledge to your left and a slight drop off to your right and views begin to open up. Then you arrive atop the granite knob at 1,801 feet. Views again to Lake Winnipesaukee and the Belknap range. Down to Castle in the Clouds sitting atop Lee Mountain, and views of the conservations mountains including Turtleback directly behind us.

Satisfied with our climb, the weather getting colder and cloudier as the morning rolled by, we called it a day and decided to head back to the parking lot. We returned the way we came, stopping again at the columnar jointing rock to investigate it further. Than down to Shannon Brook trail which we took back to Shannon Pond near the parks entrance, passing first an area with views back up to the castle. It was at the Shannon Brook kiosk that we found a more suitable map of the area. More to add to the to-do list! And believe me, We'll be back!! NH at it's best. Historic structures, cascades and waterfalls, rough trails, granite ledges, lake Winnipesaukee and mountain views and wonderful trails (well marked here might I add)! Total trail mileage round trip was almost 5 miles I believe. (pictures)



The Map



Mt. Willey 8/21/10

"Lost half our lunch on Willey!" Pics HERE

Difficulty: Very Hard (Steep, rocky trail/steep ladders)

Stats (Round Trip): Mileage> 5.4 - Elevation Gain> 2985' - Book Time> ?hrs - Our Time> 5hrs.


Directions: Take Rt. 16 through Glen, NH. At the three way intersection continue straight onto Rt. 302N. Follow for approximately 18 miles. Destination will be on your left. There is a pond, and cabins here marked as the Willey House Site. Hiker parking and trail are located at the South end of the buildings (signs)

Report: We had originally planned to hit Adams on Saturday but we felt more like doing a shorter hike. Willey left us hanging (pun intended) this Spring with deep soft snow keeping us from getting beyond Kedron Flume. We began today's hike at the Willey House Site at 7:15am. The trail is very gradual as you pass some boulders and you switchback up to the train tracks. You make a steep climb up the banking on the other side and continue a gradual climb before making a slight drop down to Kedron Flume. The Flume is suffering from various blow downs, one of which was cut up this Spring, but otherwise if you climb up it a little bit you can get a good picture. The limited view to the South end of Webster's slide scarred ridge is also nice.

From here the trail makes an immediate steep climb through a blow down hell, but the heaven sent trail adopter had it all cut and moved aside. This trail section must require a ton of work each year! The steep climb continues until you reach the Ethan Pond trail where it levels off for a bit. In a short distance we kept right onto Willey Range trail. The trail turned steep again, over loose, gravelly sections then becoming very steep. You arrive at the largest collection of ladders I have yet to see in the White's. Not 2, not 4 but I believe there were about 9 ladders most of which were connected. It was awesome!

We got a partial view into the valley below with the river, road and train track snaking through the trees. We continued the very steep climb arriving at a knoll where the trail leveled and trees were smaller. Not the summit yet though! So we continued on becoming steep again before finally arriving into 7 foot high pines, a view point sign and just beyond, at 10:10am we reached the summit cairn at 4285 ft. (no view). We snapped a picture (number 27/48 4000'r for me) and went back to the view spot for lunch.

Views are spectacular with the Presidential range in full view and Mt. Webster "close enough to touch". Views were 180 degrees from just East of Washington all the way around to Carrigain. Some Gray Jays showed up which just made our day all the more wonderful. Out came the sandwiches and these two birds ate half of them! And I got my first Gray Jay pics...sweet! Just as we were packing up a solo hiker with a small dog named pepper showed up and chatted with us. He was doing a Field/Willey/Webster loop.

We parted and began the steep decent back the way we came. We passed a dozen people coming up, and we were glad to see we weren't the only ones astounded by how steep the trail was. And how awesome, but "calf killing" the ladders were. Many asked how much further there was to go. Not something I like being asked (and I never ask) and I usually say I don't know, but today, with such a steep trail I tried to comfort them with a reasonable estimate. One English couple in particular had us laughing. Husband to wife trying to catch up on a steep section (with English accent): Husband: "Come on you Bimbo!". Wife: "I'm coming, why did they have to put this retched rock in the way"!

We descended pretty quickly, especially once we were back on Kedron Flume trail where things leveled out. We were passed by the man and dog we met earlier headed to Webster. We arrived back at the lot, full of tourists. Time was 12:15pm.

Pics HERE

Stone House Pond

Scott found this article in Fosters which certainly caught my attention. Stone House Pond (which is described in the Southern NH hiking trail book) is now permanently protected. I was not aware of this beautiful pond and adjacent rock ledge. I plan on taking a hike here soon and will share a report and pics. View the article and pics HERE