Last Sunday I did an eight mile loop hike in Pisgah State Park in southwestern New Hampshire, starting and ending at the Kilburn Road Trailhead.
I did the hike on a couple of inches of new snow. It was raining for about the first hour, and dripping from the trees after that. There was an overcast all day. I started following the tracks of two people and a sled for about a mile, and later followed some ATV tracks for a few miles, but mostly I was breaking trail.
I never met the people I was following at the start, but a couple guys with a dog caught up with me in that area. They were the only other people I saw all hike.
I lost my camera briefly during this early section. I backtracked and found it though, lying on the snow in the rain, but fortunately in the plastic bag I use for it on rainy days.
I took Kilburn Road to the Pisgah Ridge Connector to Pisgah Ridge Trail to Reservoir Road to Baker Pond Trail to Davis Hill Trail. Except for PR Connector and PR Trail these were all ATV/snowmobile trails. They were all very well marked and easy to follow even though I was breaking trail, except for one spot on Pisgah Ridge Trail, which was really my fault more than the trail maintainers. I got to where the trail led a lookout, but I couldn't see any more blazes. However, it clearly didn't go forward, since that was a cliff, and it clearly didn't go to the left, since that was thick woods, and to the right it looked kind of traillike, so I went that way. After a while of no blazes and sketchy trail I backtracked, went the same way again farther, and backtracked again, finally realizing that the outlook was on a spur path and I had already left the Pisgah Ridge Trail when I got there.
Besides that incident it was a pleasant hike, in spite of, and partly because of, the conditions. The wet snowy woods were very pretty, and there were several nice viewpoints on Pisgah Ridge Trail, since the surrounding hills were below the overcast. The trails also passed a lot of snowy ponds.
Pisgah State Park is not a place I would travel from Connecticut to hike in, but I was in the area, and can recommend it to anyone else who is and is looking for a nice hike.
Here are the pictures.
--
Cumulus
NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 56/115 (44/67, 11/46, 1/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 40/48; NEHH 89/100
LT NB 2009; CT NB 2017
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
I did the hike on a couple of inches of new snow. It was raining for about the first hour, and dripping from the trees after that. There was an overcast all day. I started following the tracks of two people and a sled for about a mile, and later followed some ATV tracks for a few miles, but mostly I was breaking trail.
I never met the people I was following at the start, but a couple guys with a dog caught up with me in that area. They were the only other people I saw all hike.
I lost my camera briefly during this early section. I backtracked and found it though, lying on the snow in the rain, but fortunately in the plastic bag I use for it on rainy days.
I took Kilburn Road to the Pisgah Ridge Connector to Pisgah Ridge Trail to Reservoir Road to Baker Pond Trail to Davis Hill Trail. Except for PR Connector and PR Trail these were all ATV/snowmobile trails. They were all very well marked and easy to follow even though I was breaking trail, except for one spot on Pisgah Ridge Trail, which was really my fault more than the trail maintainers. I got to where the trail led a lookout, but I couldn't see any more blazes. However, it clearly didn't go forward, since that was a cliff, and it clearly didn't go to the left, since that was thick woods, and to the right it looked kind of traillike, so I went that way. After a while of no blazes and sketchy trail I backtracked, went the same way again farther, and backtracked again, finally realizing that the outlook was on a spur path and I had already left the Pisgah Ridge Trail when I got there.
Besides that incident it was a pleasant hike, in spite of, and partly because of, the conditions. The wet snowy woods were very pretty, and there were several nice viewpoints on Pisgah Ridge Trail, since the surrounding hills were below the overcast. The trails also passed a lot of snowy ponds.
Pisgah State Park is not a place I would travel from Connecticut to hike in, but I was in the area, and can recommend it to anyone else who is and is looking for a nice hike.
Here are the pictures.
--
Cumulus
NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 56/115 (44/67, 11/46, 1/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 40/48; NEHH 89/100
LT NB 2009; CT NB 2017
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
