Having just resolved to do more hikes with other people, naturally my first hike of 2015 was solo. I actually had planned a longer hike, in Pawtuckaway, with TLV, but turned out she didnt want to do that after all. A last minute check with one other possible hiker showed he already had other plans ...
Gallery / slide show
One of the good things about going solo is it's easy to switch targets and times. Up until 1 am watching Phil Lesh and JRAD on NY Eve. No drinking, but that's pretty late for me. I slept in, leaving not a lot of time.
This looked like a good time for a small Belknap hike. So off I went, for Mt Shannon and the Goat Pasture Hill.
Parking is available at the Hidden Valley scout camp, but I didnt know whether it was gated, roads open. So, with limited time for thrashing on Gilmanton back roads, I opted for approaching from Alton Mountain Road. This turned out to be a good choice anyway, as it saved me a difficult water crossing. It also had another benefit - I got to see these Santas :)
There was spotty snow, bare ground and ice, and the Stage Road had been traveled by a 4WD vehicle, leaving frozen ruts. Ugh. But at least I didnt need snowshoes! Found the Red Trail junction and headed for the Goat Pasture Hill. Lots of candle ice for this time of the year, hidden under a layer of frozen dirt.
This trail was a very pleasant surprise. Well marked and clear, and the woods were pretty open. A nice grade and fun walk. There are a couple of notable trees in the area that I had wanted to look for, but time was short. Still, there was one very large pine right next to the trail. The trail gets steeper going up the crown of the hill, and a bit rougher; like many Belknap trails it ascends over a good deal of broken rock. Not difficult, but have to watch your footing more. There is one nice outlook. Although mostly wooded, I liked the feel of the summit; with the foliage down you can see quite a lot of the surrounding terrain.
The trail off the western side was easy to follow, but covered in leaves and acorns; a little care was required to avoid rolling down the hill. Reached the junction with the Blue trail, and shortly after that with the blue/yellow link. Here I ran into the only difficult part of the walk - the West Brook was pretty high, and with spotty ice on a lot of rocks, hopping across was unappealing. I scouted around for a doable crossing ... eventually reached a beaver dam. Hmmm. I managed to cross on the dam ( not the ice! No way was I trusting that!). Mostly easy, but a couple sketchy spots made me really not want to do it again.
So, brushwhack back to the blue/yellow trail and dash up Shannon. And not think about the return crossing :)
After an outlook to the north into the Belknaps, the trail breaks out onto a very nice flat ledgy area with excellent views South and West. Quite nice.
After an outlook to the north into the Belknaps, the trail breaks out onto a very nice flat ledgy area with excellent views South and West. Quite nice.
While enjoying the views, I noticed a very big dog suddenly arriving. Alone. Given my history with dogs, I was watching him pretty carefully, but he was not aggressive and turned out to be a pretty nice dog. His owners showed up and we had a nice chat. One said she'd been down a trail I was planning to use to avoid going back over the beaver dam, and found it to be impassable. Uh oh.
It was getting late, so I figured I'd better do some quick stepping; the last thing that I wanted to do was cross that dam in the dark! So I reached my possible alternate trail ( the one that had proven impassable a couple weeks ago) and with hope in my heart headed up it. Turned out to be perfectly fine. Probably the water was a little higher when the lady tried it. Or maybe they just didnt have the choice of a dam crossing facing them. Anyway, it was a pretty easy walk out the yellow trail from its junction with the blue/yellow to the Stage Road. Once there, it was basically a road walk to the car, just beating sunset. And on my 'out of the woods' call to TLV I found out there was a nice meat spaghetti sauce waiting at home. Perfect!