WeRmudfun
New member
After checking the forecasts for Friday, most of the 4K's were going to be experiencing high winds, so we decided not to go to the higher summits. Today's target was Iron Mountain in Jackson, NH. We were able to leave later seeing how it was not going to be a long hike. We did manage to pull 5 + miles out of this hike, more on that as we go along. This mountain is on 52 with a View and on the new fire tower list that has 92 past and present fire towers. We also wanted to check out the Iron Mine, including the tunnel, with a search for the lost ski area...Iron Mountain Slope to end the day.
Heading up on Iron Mountain Road takes some of the elevation off the hike, the road is steep, but passable. We were greeted with flurries as we departed the truck. At the top there is a clear area for parking and the trail starts across the street with a simple sign that says Trail. Walking through the open field there are views to be had from the mountains behind you. We had mostly clouded-in views, so we continued towards Iron Mountain without looking back much.
The trail is easy to follow even with the lack off blazes. At one point it looked as though it was blazes in RED, then we saw ORANGE on the trees and figured we didn't need the blazes any way. As the trail starts its incline there are serious signs of erosion happening. The summit is only .9 miles from the trailhead, but it will still get the heart rate going (well for us it did
). There are two outlooks heading up, but both had the views hidden by clouds. After the second outlook, the trail loses almost all of it steepness all the way to the summit.
The summit is treed in and the remains of a fire tower are still there. The cairns also start on the summit. We continued to follow them for .6 miles over a variety of trail terrain, most of it still went down. LOL At the trail junction with the Mine Spur Path, we stayed straight and went out on the South Cliffs. The views were OK, but on a clear day, they must be great! It was still flurrying when we headed over to the mine Spur and headed further down the south side of the mountain. It was not long, before we came to the water filled mine. We poked around a bit, had a bite to eat and saw some of the holes drilled into the rocks.
After lunch our objective was to find the 60 foot tunnel they bored into the side of the mountain, well we found it, it was kind of a cool find. We're into these unique kind of hikes with an objective. We checked the place out, took video, then headed back up the mountain. When we got to the summit it was snowing at a good rate, but only accumulated to a light coating.
On the way out we stop at the base of Duck Head to try and find the old ski slope and found where the old rope tow was set up. We explored the whole area and believe we covered everything there, then headed home. It was a great day on a little mountain.
We're not picture people, but we do post videos of our day's adventure for anyone interested in seeing what the hike is like, just follow the link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnMN5kgfOMU&feature=c4-overview&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
Heading up on Iron Mountain Road takes some of the elevation off the hike, the road is steep, but passable. We were greeted with flurries as we departed the truck. At the top there is a clear area for parking and the trail starts across the street with a simple sign that says Trail. Walking through the open field there are views to be had from the mountains behind you. We had mostly clouded-in views, so we continued towards Iron Mountain without looking back much.
The trail is easy to follow even with the lack off blazes. At one point it looked as though it was blazes in RED, then we saw ORANGE on the trees and figured we didn't need the blazes any way. As the trail starts its incline there are serious signs of erosion happening. The summit is only .9 miles from the trailhead, but it will still get the heart rate going (well for us it did
). There are two outlooks heading up, but both had the views hidden by clouds. After the second outlook, the trail loses almost all of it steepness all the way to the summit.The summit is treed in and the remains of a fire tower are still there. The cairns also start on the summit. We continued to follow them for .6 miles over a variety of trail terrain, most of it still went down. LOL At the trail junction with the Mine Spur Path, we stayed straight and went out on the South Cliffs. The views were OK, but on a clear day, they must be great! It was still flurrying when we headed over to the mine Spur and headed further down the south side of the mountain. It was not long, before we came to the water filled mine. We poked around a bit, had a bite to eat and saw some of the holes drilled into the rocks.
After lunch our objective was to find the 60 foot tunnel they bored into the side of the mountain, well we found it, it was kind of a cool find. We're into these unique kind of hikes with an objective. We checked the place out, took video, then headed back up the mountain. When we got to the summit it was snowing at a good rate, but only accumulated to a light coating.
On the way out we stop at the base of Duck Head to try and find the old ski slope and found where the old rope tow was set up. We explored the whole area and believe we covered everything there, then headed home. It was a great day on a little mountain.
We're not picture people, but we do post videos of our day's adventure for anyone interested in seeing what the hike is like, just follow the link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnMN5kgfOMU&feature=c4-overview&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
