In spring I look for snow-free hikes, preferably close to home. Last year I discovered the southern end of the Squam Range: Cotton Mtn., Mt. Livermore and Webster Mtn. Hiking that section of the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail it is obvious that the Old Mountain Road, which as an official trail comes up from the Old Highway, continues over the col and descends to Perch Pond Road.
This seemed to offer a slightly shorter drive for me, and this year a way of avoiding the pond that has to be crossed by boat at the start of the Cotton Mtn. Trail. Sure, there is a bypass, but the owner of the house near the bypass has some rather territorial dogs
Today I decided to actually try it out instead of just thinking about it
I took Rt. 175 to the right angled turn just north of the Holderness School (the town school, not the private one near Plymouth) and drove a bit under two miles, past the Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, then followed Mountain Road (signed) for a few hundred feet to an old logging yard where I parked.
The Old Mountain Road is in bad shape, but not quite as bad as the officially maintained part. It is wet from top to bottom, but there are many sections (about half the road) where the water has made its own stream bed, leaving the rest of the road dry. Elsewhere the entire width of the road is wet
Reaching the Crawford Ridgepole Trail I opted to start by going south, getting the steep climbs up both sides of the Livermore-Cotton col out of the way while fresh. From Livermore north there are no really steep sections, and the footing is excellent. When I reached the second lookout I decided that was enough for today, and returned.
9.0 miles, 1,900 feet of elevation gain, good views from Cotton Mtn., Mt. Livermore and the first outlook on Mt. Webster. The higher outlook (the one with the spur) is very overgrown, I think it should be labeled a "former outlook".
That is a hike (it can be extended as much as I feel able) that I expect to do many times until the 4,000 footers are snow-free!
This seemed to offer a slightly shorter drive for me, and this year a way of avoiding the pond that has to be crossed by boat at the start of the Cotton Mtn. Trail. Sure, there is a bypass, but the owner of the house near the bypass has some rather territorial dogs
Today I decided to actually try it out instead of just thinking about it
I took Rt. 175 to the right angled turn just north of the Holderness School (the town school, not the private one near Plymouth) and drove a bit under two miles, past the Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, then followed Mountain Road (signed) for a few hundred feet to an old logging yard where I parked.
The Old Mountain Road is in bad shape, but not quite as bad as the officially maintained part. It is wet from top to bottom, but there are many sections (about half the road) where the water has made its own stream bed, leaving the rest of the road dry. Elsewhere the entire width of the road is wet
Reaching the Crawford Ridgepole Trail I opted to start by going south, getting the steep climbs up both sides of the Livermore-Cotton col out of the way while fresh. From Livermore north there are no really steep sections, and the footing is excellent. When I reached the second lookout I decided that was enough for today, and returned.
9.0 miles, 1,900 feet of elevation gain, good views from Cotton Mtn., Mt. Livermore and the first outlook on Mt. Webster. The higher outlook (the one with the spur) is very overgrown, I think it should be labeled a "former outlook".
That is a hike (it can be extended as much as I feel able) that I expect to do many times until the 4,000 footers are snow-free!
