onrhodes
New member
I have to say that this is quite the awesome hike. My friend Andy and I headed up from Concord around 9am to park at the Willey House parking lot. The weather was looking perfect. Cool, partly cloudy, and a nice breeze.
We started out going up the Kendron Flume trail. What a cool little hike with all the switchbacks and the view from Kendron Flume is pretty sweet. Just don't slip.
This hike alternates between some steep climbing, then pretty moderate sections all the way to the top of Willey. I found the log ladders absolutely fascinating. That is such a cool little thing to come across in the middle of the woods. They also offer some sweet views as you look back from halfway up them and at the top.
The view from the Lookout on top of Willey is very nice. Though the peak itself is very wooded. We didn't even realize we had hit the peak until we started going down. Which was a bummer because I am trying to get my picture atop all 48 for a scrapbook I am building. So I will have to do this one again (gladly).
We then made the quick trip over to Field and stopped for lunch. The gray jays on top of the mtn are awesome. That is one of the coolest experiences I have had while hiking so far. Having the little guys land right on my palm and eat out of my hand. That is wicked cool (that is definitely the NH slang coiming out). I had Andy snap a picture of that just so I could show my family and friends. Not much in the way of views from the actual peak, but just beyond there were some excellent viewing opportunities.
After lunch we headed on over to Tom. That was also a cool little mtn with a lot of blowdown. It kind of looked like a bomb had gone off and leveled all the trees. Lots of new growth, but the tilting trees had a real skeletal look to them. The views here were okay, but not as nice as some of the other peaks in the area (Pierce, Jackson, Willey).
It was then down, down, down to the Highland "Hotel". In hindsight this is were a little fore-thought could have saved some time. As some people may have noticed from other posts, I am a cyclist taking a mental break from racing. Had I thought about it more, I would have locked the bike I commute to work on every day (a singlespeed home build) at either the train station or the Highland "Hotel" and zipped back down to the car parked a little over 2.5 miles away at the Willey House. Instead we had to walk back to the car and missed the Ice Cream shop being open by about 20 minutes. That was kind of a bummer.
Next time I do something like this, I am definitely going to think of taking the bike into account.
I would have to highly recommend this hike to anyone looking for a great hike. I like the Willey to Highland route better since we got to walk downhill back to the car. It could have been a little annoying finnishing such a great hike then having to walk 2.5 miles back to the car UPHILL.
I've now done 9 of the 48 in just 2 months. I'm pretty happy with that considering at the moment I work 2 jobs 6 days a week, while my wife is getting ready to finnish up her final year in college. So next summer I should have some full weekends to get in some awesome hiking.
Hope everyone else out this weekend had a great time.
I know we lucked out too. Because when we got back to Concord, we learned it had POURED rain for a little while.
We did not get 1 single drop up north.
We started out going up the Kendron Flume trail. What a cool little hike with all the switchbacks and the view from Kendron Flume is pretty sweet. Just don't slip.
This hike alternates between some steep climbing, then pretty moderate sections all the way to the top of Willey. I found the log ladders absolutely fascinating. That is such a cool little thing to come across in the middle of the woods. They also offer some sweet views as you look back from halfway up them and at the top.
The view from the Lookout on top of Willey is very nice. Though the peak itself is very wooded. We didn't even realize we had hit the peak until we started going down. Which was a bummer because I am trying to get my picture atop all 48 for a scrapbook I am building. So I will have to do this one again (gladly).
We then made the quick trip over to Field and stopped for lunch. The gray jays on top of the mtn are awesome. That is one of the coolest experiences I have had while hiking so far. Having the little guys land right on my palm and eat out of my hand. That is wicked cool (that is definitely the NH slang coiming out). I had Andy snap a picture of that just so I could show my family and friends. Not much in the way of views from the actual peak, but just beyond there were some excellent viewing opportunities.
After lunch we headed on over to Tom. That was also a cool little mtn with a lot of blowdown. It kind of looked like a bomb had gone off and leveled all the trees. Lots of new growth, but the tilting trees had a real skeletal look to them. The views here were okay, but not as nice as some of the other peaks in the area (Pierce, Jackson, Willey).
It was then down, down, down to the Highland "Hotel". In hindsight this is were a little fore-thought could have saved some time. As some people may have noticed from other posts, I am a cyclist taking a mental break from racing. Had I thought about it more, I would have locked the bike I commute to work on every day (a singlespeed home build) at either the train station or the Highland "Hotel" and zipped back down to the car parked a little over 2.5 miles away at the Willey House. Instead we had to walk back to the car and missed the Ice Cream shop being open by about 20 minutes. That was kind of a bummer.
Next time I do something like this, I am definitely going to think of taking the bike into account.I would have to highly recommend this hike to anyone looking for a great hike. I like the Willey to Highland route better since we got to walk downhill back to the car. It could have been a little annoying finnishing such a great hike then having to walk 2.5 miles back to the car UPHILL.
I've now done 9 of the 48 in just 2 months. I'm pretty happy with that considering at the moment I work 2 jobs 6 days a week, while my wife is getting ready to finnish up her final year in college. So next summer I should have some full weekends to get in some awesome hiking.
Hope everyone else out this weekend had a great time.
I know we lucked out too. Because when we got back to Concord, we learned it had POURED rain for a little while.
We did not get 1 single drop up north.
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