Cherry Mountain (Mt. Martha) and Owl's Head - 08/07/2010

[cooperhill]

I had been looking to hike Mt. Martha and Owl's Head for a while now. I saw the weather report for today and decided it would be a nice moderate hike. My wife Jessie and I started out early from home in Nottin'ham, took our time making our way up and started out about 7:30am or so. We passed by the trailhead the first time - stopped at the Owl's Head trailhead and found that it was closed (due to request of landowner - not sure of the reason). We backtracked and easily found the Cherry Mountain trailhead.

The Cherry Mountain trail is a really nice one. Glancing at the map, the trail looked like it would go straight up .. and it did. No switchbacks here. Does anyone know the history of this trail? Logging railroad? Or just old road? The trail follows the brook first at moderate grades and then steeper but always with good footing. The RMC has done good work on maintaining this trail. The Cherry Mtn. trail runs through very interesting (what I think were old growth) glades of hardwoods and spruces. We saw several huge and what must be very old beeches and birches. An old birch:



We reached the junction with the summit spur and noticed a nice new trail sign there. Taking a left on what looked more like a road or a ski trail, we quickly hit the summit. We were greeting by cool breezes, lots of sunshine, and one noisy raven. The views from the top on Mt. Martha were very nice from the limited outlooks.



Some nice wildflowers at the top. Asters:



Not sure on this one:



We soon found the reason for the raven squawking .. a hawk was making use of the thermals and treating us to a fantastic aerial display.



We then headed off to Owl's Head on "Martha's Mile". It's a great little trail going through what I thought were very interesting woods. Trail is very well maintained by a fellow Forest Service volunteer. Thanks! The trail gets very narrow and squeezes around some very large boulders near the top. The views were well worth it. We enjoyed lunch and some hot tea and headed down. I would highly recommend this one as a great easy-moderate day hike.

A happy dog. Enough said.





Photos are here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/578334952irNdlk?vhost=outdoors

 

[1HappyHiker]

The Cherry Mountain trail is a really nice one.
We then headed off to Owl's Head on "Martha's Mile". It's a great little trail going through what I thought were very interesting woods. Trail is very well maintained by a fellow Forest Service volunteer. Thanks! I would highly recommend this one as a great easy-moderate day hike.

Chris, I wholeheartedly agree with the above comments that I excerpted from your report. But admittedly, I have some built-in bias since I'm one of the two USFS Trail Adopters for Cherry Mountain. I maintain the short Martha's Mile trail that connects the Cherry Mountain's two summits of Mt. Martha & Owl's Head. Whereas another USFS volunteer Trail Adopter does a truly remarkable job of maintaining the Cherry Mountain Trail from the Route 115 trailhead to Mt. Martha.

As you indicated, the Owl's Head trail (which was the RMC-maintained trail to this mountain) has been closed due to land owner issues.

Does anyone know the history of this trail?

Regarding the history of the Cherry Mountain Trail, probably there are others who can provide a better answer to this question, but here's what I know. First of all, as you likely know, the Cherry Mountain Trail has two trailheads. One is on Route 115, and the other one is on Cherry Mountain Road.

The portion of the trail that you were on (from the Rt 115 trailhead) follows an old logging road up to a point. I've always assumed that the steep & rocky portion on the final approach to the ridgeline was not part of that old logging road.

Regarding the portion of the trail that leads to Mt. Martha from Cherry Mountain Road was built in 1939 for the tractor hauling of materials to the fire tower that once stood on Mt. Martha.

Regarding Martha's Mile, I don't know when that trail fell into disuse, but I do know that a gentleman (Bill Nichols) from Littleton, NH got permission from the Forest Service in 1966 to rehabilitate and reopen the trail.

 

[Double Bow]

Thank you for posting this report. I had been planning to go up via Owl's Head and come down via Cherry Mountain to 115. The info about the trailhead closing is sad but useful.

 

[billski]

Eastern Approach

I did the eastern approach yesterday. While significantly longer than the west approach, it lended itself to a nice (but long) family day hike. Not a lot of rock until the final few hundred yards.

Just a beautiful view, until I made it over to Owls head, and found the view to be quite stunning. President Washington made himself present today!

A word of warning on the mile. First of all, It didn't appear to be 0.8 at all, but more like 0.5 according to Mr. GPS. Second, there is a bit of a rock scramble before you summit on Owl's head. It can be somewhat slippery after rain (it was this day.)


As I understand it, "Martha" was GW's wife. I don't really understand the name change, but it really does not matter. The trail vs. map signage is quite conflicting. No real problems as the trail is quite obvious.

/begin divergence
I met a couple guys from the local Snowmobile club who were doing chainsaw work on the eastern approach. I thanked them for their work; hikers benefit, although there does appear to be some animosity. Forests are indeed a "land of multiple use". Hunters alike. Hmm, I may draw exception with ATV and 4WD when they tear up the roads and trails. (oops, getting too poltiical)I've pretty much mellowed and appreciate the ability we have to "get along".
/end divergence

 

[yvon]

We were there last Friday. Too bad it was foggy.
Good thing it was a short hike, because Annie was not feeling very well.

I hope you dont mind if I give a link to my photos Chris.

See my photos:
CHERRY MOUNTAIN PHOTOS

 

[billski]

Well done Yvon!

We were there last Friday. Too bad it was foggy.
Good thing it was a short hike, because Annie was not feeling very well.

I hope you dont mind if I give a link to my photos Chris.

See my photos:
CHERRY MOUNTAIN PHOTOS

Looks to me as if you had a nice view of the presidential's at some point, as the clouds danced around them. I guess you approached it from the west. there was parking for two at the CH Road. It was a fun drive in too.
Nice photos, especially the clouds in the sunset. You had a much better camera than I. The explorer in me tried to eck out southerly trail, but with all the underbrush it was impossible to find (the berry bushes didn't help either.) I'll try it again when the brush is dead.
In 1882, Sweetser didn't like the southerly approach - there were no views for him!

 

[audrey]

Cooperhill,
The unidentified plant looks like a fireweed just before blooming.

We were there Sept 4 but the haze obscured all but the faintest outline of the mountains. No matter, the asters and goldenrods painted a beautiful fall picture. And the hundreds of dragonflies wouldn't pose for a photo.

 

[RoySwkr]

There also used to be a Black Brook Trail which was mostly old logging road, the FS closed it periodically for logging and the last time it never got reopened.

 

[erugs]

There also used to be a Black Brook Trail which was mostly old logging road, the FS closed it periodically for logging and the last time it never got reopened.

I remember that trailhead and have wondered since why it wasn't used now. Seems like it would be good for folks staying at the campground across the street.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

There have been a couple of recent trip reports on the Black Brook Trail: Traveling ON and OFF the Abandoned Black Brook Trail and A short hike up the abandoned Black Brook Trail.