AntlerPeak
New member
I finally bought the Southern New Hampshire Guide because I needed to find some more hikes within a reasonable driving distance for day hiking. Of course it does not hurt that I really like southern New Hampshire. The Whites are great, Maine is too but Monadnock is a lot closer. Oh the guide's price at Amazon dot com is a little more than half what the AMC charges. So they can ship it to Seattle and back to the Hudson River for twelve bucks and yes it is new and free shipping, go figure.
My buddy and I drove across the winding Vermont roads from the Granville NY area for two hours to reach the parking area on NH rte 63 just outside Pisgah State Park. Good parking with easy access. We began hiking up the Davis Trail. Granted there is almost no views from Davis Hill at 1410' but the trail was is excellent condition. No snow, no ice and a leaf covered pathway. It was even dry! At 1.9 miles after descending Davis Hill we reached a three way intersection with our approach trail and one to Baker Pond and one to Hubbard Hill. Total gain was about 400 feet with a loss of 150 or so,
We took the half mile 200 foot climb to Hubbard Hill to find really nice views east toward Mt Snow and Haystack in Vermont. Crooking the neck a bit we believe we saw Okemo as well. This trail mirrored the Davis Hill trail, truly remarkable, snow and ice and mud free. The half mile back to the intersection was but one of two short backtracks for the day.
From the intersection we descended a short distance to Baker Pond. The pond has a thin layer of ice covering and was much larger than we anticipated. Turning south at the north end we skirted the eastern shore reaching the Pisgah Ridge Trail. Including the over and back on Hubbard it was six hundred feet of climbing with about two hundred feet of descent over three point four miles.
We followed the Pisgah Ridge Trail gaining one hundred fifty feet to a minor summit where an outcrop with excellent views east and west was found. Within a short hike along the trail south a second outcrop was reached where very good views toward Monadnock were found. This led to a one hundred foot descent to a small ravine and trail junction was reached. To this point only a minor dusting of snow was encountered. Primarily it was dry open and in excellent condition. Here in the gully four point five miles from the start of our hike was an unnamed trail descending west to the Kilburn Loop. The guide refers to it as the connector trail.
Our route climbed almost two hundred feet to another minor summit with the best views of the day. Called Parker's Perch there were views east, west and North. Monadnock stood boldly inviting across the eastern valley while views to Mt Snow expanded to the west. To the south the true wooded summit of Mt Pisgah stood beyond another modest descent. It's elevation was pretty close to the same as our "perch". A quick run over and back took little time. We then retraced our steps to the gully and the connector trail. At this stage we had gained a bit less than a thousand feet over six point two miles.
The connector trail led west down to the Kilburn Loop Trail. In a half mile we reached the Kilburn Loop Trail turned north for what seemed to be a very long third of a mile to the Kilburn Road which led eight tenths back to the vehicle. This loop reminded me of the trails in Pharoah Lakes Wilderness without the numerous lakes. A fine hike over trails in excellent condition that took less than four hours including stops for views. The climb was appx eleven hundred feet over seven point eight miles. There is a surprizing one hundered foot or so climb to a height of land on that Kilburn road. We were guilty of not looking very close at the topo. But that can be excused as the topo zone maps do not show the trails. There is a sketch map on the Pisgah State Park web site but it does not have the contours. It was only guess work putting the sketch map and topozone together. We were close with this and the combination worked.
All in all a great eight mile loop over some worthwhile low ridges with very good blowdown free trails.
My buddy and I drove across the winding Vermont roads from the Granville NY area for two hours to reach the parking area on NH rte 63 just outside Pisgah State Park. Good parking with easy access. We began hiking up the Davis Trail. Granted there is almost no views from Davis Hill at 1410' but the trail was is excellent condition. No snow, no ice and a leaf covered pathway. It was even dry! At 1.9 miles after descending Davis Hill we reached a three way intersection with our approach trail and one to Baker Pond and one to Hubbard Hill. Total gain was about 400 feet with a loss of 150 or so,
We took the half mile 200 foot climb to Hubbard Hill to find really nice views east toward Mt Snow and Haystack in Vermont. Crooking the neck a bit we believe we saw Okemo as well. This trail mirrored the Davis Hill trail, truly remarkable, snow and ice and mud free. The half mile back to the intersection was but one of two short backtracks for the day.
From the intersection we descended a short distance to Baker Pond. The pond has a thin layer of ice covering and was much larger than we anticipated. Turning south at the north end we skirted the eastern shore reaching the Pisgah Ridge Trail. Including the over and back on Hubbard it was six hundred feet of climbing with about two hundred feet of descent over three point four miles.
We followed the Pisgah Ridge Trail gaining one hundred fifty feet to a minor summit where an outcrop with excellent views east and west was found. Within a short hike along the trail south a second outcrop was reached where very good views toward Monadnock were found. This led to a one hundred foot descent to a small ravine and trail junction was reached. To this point only a minor dusting of snow was encountered. Primarily it was dry open and in excellent condition. Here in the gully four point five miles from the start of our hike was an unnamed trail descending west to the Kilburn Loop. The guide refers to it as the connector trail.
Our route climbed almost two hundred feet to another minor summit with the best views of the day. Called Parker's Perch there were views east, west and North. Monadnock stood boldly inviting across the eastern valley while views to Mt Snow expanded to the west. To the south the true wooded summit of Mt Pisgah stood beyond another modest descent. It's elevation was pretty close to the same as our "perch". A quick run over and back took little time. We then retraced our steps to the gully and the connector trail. At this stage we had gained a bit less than a thousand feet over six point two miles.
The connector trail led west down to the Kilburn Loop Trail. In a half mile we reached the Kilburn Loop Trail turned north for what seemed to be a very long third of a mile to the Kilburn Road which led eight tenths back to the vehicle. This loop reminded me of the trails in Pharoah Lakes Wilderness without the numerous lakes. A fine hike over trails in excellent condition that took less than four hours including stops for views. The climb was appx eleven hundred feet over seven point eight miles. There is a surprizing one hundered foot or so climb to a height of land on that Kilburn road. We were guilty of not looking very close at the topo. But that can be excused as the topo zone maps do not show the trails. There is a sketch map on the Pisgah State Park web site but it does not have the contours. It was only guess work putting the sketch map and topozone together. We were close with this and the combination worked.
All in all a great eight mile loop over some worthwhile low ridges with very good blowdown free trails.
