More Springtime Hikes

Little River

 

 

 

Mount Major Full Moon Hike

 

 

 

Boulder Loop

Well we had a very busy week out and about enjoying the spring sunshine and warm temperatures. Wednesday after work we went for a hike in town with Paul and Charlene at the Little River Conservation Area down off Brentwood Road. It was supposed to be a 1.7 mile loop trail along the river, but by the time we were done with a few short detours it was more like 2 miles. The main trail was nice and easy to follow, yet somehow we lost it. Once we found the right way again it was a scenic easy walk along the banks of Dudley Brook and the Little River. Some nice forests and an old mill site capped off the highlights. Overall it was a nice little loop right here in town and a good find for anytime we want a quick little local hike. There's a map/brochure available on the town website here and some pictures from our trip can be found here.

Thursday was the full Pink Moon, so after the girls went to bed I thought I'd drive up to Mount Major and hike up in the moonlight to look around. I was the only one on the mountain, maybe not a big shock to anyone, but it's a very busy spot so I figured maybe someone else might be doing the same thing. Nope. Just me and my camera and I spent a couple hours hiking up and taking a few 30 second or so exposures on a tripod to try and capture the stars and lights around the lake. It was lots of fun and I got a few good pictures, although the moon was so bright it kind of washed out the stars, so maybe I'll do a new moon hike to try and get some of those sometime. For now you can check out the pictures from this trip right here.

Finally on Sunday Danny and Kim wanted to go for a hike too. The bugs are starting to come out around here so Jen wanted to go farther north where they aren't out yet. We all drove up to North Conway for lunch and a hike, including their dog Koda which the girls were very excited about, but the hike I wanted was up a road that was still closed for the day, even though the NHDOT site said it would have been open last Tuesday. After a quick consultation of the maps I found another one not too far away, which was a little bigger than I had wanted for Jen but she said she could handle it so we did the Boulder Loop trail on the Kancamaugus Highway. It's 3 miles and climbs through a boulder field and then gently but steadily up a 1000 foot high cliff to a semi open summit with some good views. It was a fairly easy hike as far as hiking trails go, but for someone who's seven months pregnant it was a workout. She probably got sick of me asking if she wanted to turn back and telling her to drink more water, but she made it up, as did Brooke and the dog, with no problems. We had a break, a snack, enjoyed the 70 degree sunshine and then headed down and went to a great dinner at our favorite restaurant on that side of the mountains, the Muddy Moose. It was a fun day, hopefully they want to join us again soon. There's a bunch of pictures from that trip right here also.

So that's all for now. Hopefully the warm weather sticks around and the black flies aren't so bad we can't get out and enjoy it. Brooke's birthday is coming up fast so maybe we'll see you then. Check back soon and have a great May until then.

Fort Mountain & The Whites

 

 

 

 

Sunday was supposed to be a nice spring day out so we made plans to go on a little hike. We invited Sophia with us for the day and the girls were very excited when they found out she'd be going. After a drive to Epsom and a quick lunch we hiked to the top of the town. Fort Mountain is a 1,413 foot high mountain with a large antenna on top. The "trail" up to the top is actually the access road which they allow hikers to use and I thought would be a good spring starter mountain for the girls and nice and safe for Jen too. It's still not very easy and climbs 700 feet over 1.1 miles to the summit where there's a building and tower but also good views for that part of the state. You can see much of the surrounding mountains, the Belknap Range near Winnipesaukee and even Mount Washington on the horizon in the White Mountains. If you know where to look and have binoculars you can even see the ocean. The girls all did great hiking up, even Emily insisted she hike with the big girls until she just couldn't go any longer. She made it the first 3/4 of a mile and climbed the first 500 feet before she let me put her in the backpack, which we thought was pretty amazing for her. Brooke, Sophia and even Jen & Baby breezed up to the top where we had a snack, looked around and enjoyed the cloudless breezy blue sky views.

After we hiked down it was still early afternoon and beautiful out so we asked Sophia if she'd like to go a bit farther north to the White Mountains since we were halfway there already. She did and we did. Another hour brought us to Lincoln where they had the visitors center with lots of information on Moose, which was good because Sophia is doing a project on them in school. We played around there before driving across the Kancamagus Highway and looking for a real one. We unfortunately had no luck there, but we did stop and walk up to Sabbaday Falls to stretch before continuing on to our favorite moose, the Muddy Moose, for dinner in North Conway. After that we headed home. It was a full day but I know our girls had a ton of fun with Sophia and I hope she liked everything and wants to join us again soon. There's a lot more to see and do up that way as the weather warms up, and while we'll have to take a little break this year for #3 to arrive this summer, but it should work out perfectly that we'll miss black fly season and be back on the trails in no time.

Hopefully we'll get out on a few more little hikes before Jen needs a break. Probably similar to this one, as the footing is good and safe for both Jen and the girls. There's a few more with roads up them that aren't far away either and while they're not the most exciting trails out there they're good for us right now. Check back soon, until then there's a bunch of pictures from this trip you can get to by clicking right here

https://picasaweb.google.com/108028530189197525859/FortMountainWhiteMountains

Easter & Spring

 

Once again it's been a long time since I've updated this thing. About a month and it's been a busy month. Spring has sprung, Easter and visitors came and went, we've been on some little hikes, every ones had a cold come and go and we're cleaning up at the house and hoping to close on it soon. The girls are busy with school, story time and gymnastics and Jen is feeling pregnant but good other than the normal stuff that comes with that. Other than that not much is happening.

I'll let the pictures tell most of the story rather than write my book. There's a set from Easter where we had a big gathering on both sides including the Vermont and Colorado branches of the family tree. There's also a couple from both Grammy and Grampy dew's birthdays mixed in and you can find all of them right here.

There's also a bunch of small hikes we've done over the last month or so. Heron Point Sanctuary in Newmarket, the Little Harbor Loop in Portsmouth and Rock Rimmon Hill in Kingston/Danville. I've done a few by myself if that's not enough for you yet. There's a hike I did up Agamenticus under the full worm moon where it was so bright I didn't even need a headlamp the whole trip, a walk around the Phillips Exeter Academy trail system and a few random turkey pictures mixed in there somewhere. Hopefully that's enough for now, probably more than enough, but you can get to those by clicking on the different names.

That's all for now but spring is here and we should be busy with a bunch of stuff so I'll have more in a bit. Bye for now.