WeRmudfun
New member
Sunday we were looking for a snow free hike and after checking trail conditions we decided to head the Ossipee’s. We had 3 peaks left on the Ossipee 10 Hiking List and figured we would try to knock out at least 2 more, Turtleback and Bald Knob.
We parked at the trailhead on the Moultonboro/Tuftonboro border and followed the Bald Knob Trail. The trail starts out nice, but when the ascent starts, it really becomes relentless. We found 2 geocaches on the way up to Bald Knob. The summit of Bald Knob was worth the effort to get there as the views were fantastic.
We left the summit and headed to the Bald Knob Cutoff trail to go and check out the Columnar Jointings. There is a sign explaining what we were looking at. It is still hard to believe that the Ossipee Range is what was left for a 10000’ volcano.
From the Jointing area it was off to Turtleback Mountain. The map makes it look a lot longer than it actually felt with all the switchbacks. Except for the trail up from Rt 171 all the trails we were on used to be carriage roads, so there were wide and the incline not overly steep, hence the switchbacks.
We arrived at Turtleback Mountain summit and the views were very good there too, although it looked like rain clouds were moving in. The summit has more signs of the columnar jointing which made the summit look little like a turtle’s shell which is where the mountain got its name from.
The summit also has artifacts from an observation tower. It is not known if it was ever used for fire detection, but it was one of 6 towers dating back to at least 1917. We did find one report on line about it being used for UFO detection back in 1958. The geocache that is on the summit also mentions UFO detection.
The trails themselves were in good condition and snow free. The bugs are out, but not biting yet. We were amazed, while watch the video footage, how many bugs had flown past the camera.
We did go and finish the list after this hike and are editing that video right now. We will post it when it is finished. Just like the Belknaps, we may have finished the list, but we are far from finished with these mountains. We did post a video of our day for anyone interested in seeing the hike or trail conditions.
We parked at the trailhead on the Moultonboro/Tuftonboro border and followed the Bald Knob Trail. The trail starts out nice, but when the ascent starts, it really becomes relentless. We found 2 geocaches on the way up to Bald Knob. The summit of Bald Knob was worth the effort to get there as the views were fantastic.
We left the summit and headed to the Bald Knob Cutoff trail to go and check out the Columnar Jointings. There is a sign explaining what we were looking at. It is still hard to believe that the Ossipee Range is what was left for a 10000’ volcano.
From the Jointing area it was off to Turtleback Mountain. The map makes it look a lot longer than it actually felt with all the switchbacks. Except for the trail up from Rt 171 all the trails we were on used to be carriage roads, so there were wide and the incline not overly steep, hence the switchbacks.
We arrived at Turtleback Mountain summit and the views were very good there too, although it looked like rain clouds were moving in. The summit has more signs of the columnar jointing which made the summit look little like a turtle’s shell which is where the mountain got its name from.
The summit also has artifacts from an observation tower. It is not known if it was ever used for fire detection, but it was one of 6 towers dating back to at least 1917. We did find one report on line about it being used for UFO detection back in 1958. The geocache that is on the summit also mentions UFO detection.
The trails themselves were in good condition and snow free. The bugs are out, but not biting yet. We were amazed, while watch the video footage, how many bugs had flown past the camera.
We did go and finish the list after this hike and are editing that video right now. We will post it when it is finished. Just like the Belknaps, we may have finished the list, but we are far from finished with these mountains. We did post a video of our day for anyone interested in seeing the hike or trail conditions.
