Suggestions Requested: hike in So. Vt or N.H. tomorrow

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F-Face

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Joined
May 4, 2004
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Location
Still River, MA
Hi - I plan to head north for a MUCH NEEDED day of R&R. Open to suggestions on hikes to do. I have done all the 48ker's in NH, 46er's in NY, the 5 in VT, etc. and many of them in winter. many of them 3,5,10+ times.

Open for some ideas, does not need to be >4k, looking for a view.

thanks!
 
Maybe Western Mass?

We hiked the Seven Sisters Sunday on the Mount Holyoke Range. Started in Amherst, MA and hiked across about 6 miles to the Mt Holyoke Summit House in Hadley, MA. Not really southern VT or NH ... but views!? You can see the CT River way up and down the Pioneer Valley, UMASS very distinct, we also saw Mt Snow with the trails very clearly.
We did have a car at the other end as this is a rugged hike. Though the overall elevation change is something like 74 feet, the vertical work is about 1500+ I believe. It is all part of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.
Good luck ... enjoy!
-TrekMan
 
TrekMan said:
We hiked the Seven Sisters Sunday on the Mount Holyoke Range. Started in Amherst, MA and hiked across about 6 miles to the Mt Holyoke Summit House in Hadley, MA. . . . Though the overall elevation change is something like 74 feet, the vertical work is about 1500+ I believe. It is all part of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.

A nice hot day to be out there, as I was with a congenial group. It sounds like you went E-W, perhaps starting at the Rt. 116 Visitors Center? We started where I'm guessing you ended, at the M-M trailhead in Hadley near the Conn. River, but then followed a composite, hiker-free route south of the Range, combining parts of the Dry Brook, Lithia Springs and Black Rock Trails before heading up to the summit of Bare Mt., from which we followed the Robert Frost Trail down to the Visitors Center for lunch. Afterwards, we took the R. Frost Trail (which coincides with the M-M Trail at intervals) east for another six miles to Harris Mt. Road, where we had spotted vehicles.

While our hike was longer, you had a lot more up-and-downing on your stretch. My altimeter registered about 2,800 feet of vertical gain for our full 12-mile hike. I agree with you completely on the excellent views, which we enjoyed from the summits of Bald Mt., Rattlesnake Knob and Long Mt.

Let me also second Poison Ivy's endorsement of the 52WAV list. I've enjoyed every hike it has inspired.
 
Morgan-Percival loop or with two cars a traverse of various lengths along the Crawford-Ridgepole. Mostly dry trail on southern slopes, probably just some patches of snow along the ridge.

Welch Dickey should almost be clear by now with only some snow in the trees, maybe some running water on the ledges.

Still lots of snow above 3000ft., keep that in mind.
 
TDawg said:
Morgan-Percival loop or with two cars a traverse of various lengths along the Crawford-Ridgepole. Mostly dry trail on southern slopes, probably just some patches of snow along the ridge.

Welch Dickey should almost be clear by now with only some snow in the trees, maybe some running water on the ledges.

Still lots of snow above 3000ft., keep that in mind.

Morgan Percival is indeed in good shape - the Crawford-Ridgepole trail still has snow on it, but the Percival trail is snow free and almost all dry.

Though not as long, Red Hill is snow free and dry. The firetower is now manned too, so if you time it right, you can check out the operations up there.
 
skimom said:
so? where are we going and are you driving?

oh wait, this isn't in trips and events ....

there's a 10mile traverse that i've been wanting to do in the Belknap range near the LH.... good views from Mts Gunstock, Belknap and Major too

you'll need two cars...

I think F-Face is planning on going solo,seeing that I bailed-out on him, due to w*rk. So, there will not be a car-spot.
I've done a loop from gunstock ski area. Belknap/Gunstock/Rowe. which was pretty good. I've been on Mt. major several times but, never tried it from Belknap. Nice place to go if you don't wan't to drive 300 miles.
 
Yes, I am going solo, unless someone wants to email me Right Now(tm) ([email protected]) and hook up. I'm looking for 8-12 miles, going to be passing through Nashua hopefully around 630am. I have not decided on a hike.

Will peak above the nubble be a nightmare with the snow or has it consolidated enough to stay on top WITH snowshoes?

Also thinking N. Twin, tho that river at the bottom will be a horror show, will have to b'wack up it.

Another idea is south of sunapee - up andrews brook tr, south to lucia's lookout, then dbl back. about 10 mi and I'm 100% sure i'll see no one

what is the snow situation BELOW 2500 in central NH?
 
Southern facing mountains appear to be bare below 2,000 feet.

I'd avoid the Andrew Brook Trail this time of year because it's probably just two out of the three words in that sentence. I did that back in the fall after two days of rain and it was extremely wet - would hate to see it during/after spring runoff.
 
The Peak above The Nubble is still a relatively short hike this time of year (around 11 miles RT, with 5 of that being roads, unless you do the 7 Dwarves short cut which saves about 2 miles), so even in rotten snow with snowshoes it shouldn't be TOO bad. At least the snow is now consolidated so there will be very few spruce traps if any.

Now crossing the Little Rver on the way to N. Twin could be a problem... :eek: Good to have some lead diving boots and one kick a$$ life insurance policy for that one... :D
 
So - i settled on eisenhower -> pierce -> jackson traverse. 308 miles of driving, 10 or so of hiking in snow the entire way. long day for a solo trip

saw 10 people, typical prezzy crowd :).

this time, no dog incident on eisenhower :/

snow the entire way, from rte 302 on up, deepest betw 3000 - 4000' feet. not much on eisenhower from 4300' and up

had all 3 summits to myself.

some pics for you:

Eisenhower view of the big kahuna

Eisenhower and friends from Pierce

Mizpah hut

Where'd the other pole go? 4' and then some of snow!

Mizpah Cut-off sign at Jct with Webster Cliff - buried!!

AT Blaze - 12" off the snow

Pierce, Eisenhower, and the prezzies from Jackson

Wiley, Field, Cliffs of Pinkham Notch, etc

with binocs, could see the ski trails at jay peak, mansfield/stowe, MRG, glenn ellen (sugarbush north) and sugarbush.


beats work anyday
 
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BTW, MEB's trail reports on a similar hike was part of the inspiration as well as my recent desire to hide-out in the dry river wilderness and hit'em from there, but, can't be doing that anytime soon cuz those river crossings would killya.
 
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