Good Spring Hikes In NH

In several other threads of late there has been discussion about what a crappy time of year late March/April hiking can be with the mud, degrading monorail, etc. A lot of people mentioned doing South facing hikes and hikes more in southern NH during the shoulder season.

So....what would be some VFTT forum favorites in the South facing/Southern NH category that people would recommend? Other than Monadnock I really haven't done any hiking outside of the 4000 footers and WMNF. I do prefer to climb above treeline and see views versus in the woods walking but particularly scenic walks would be OK too (lots of waterfalls, open fields or wetlands along way like Zealand, etc). Anything with boulder scrambles, ledges or somewhat challenging terrain can be fun too.

Love to hear some recommendations. Thanks.

P.S. Cardigan appears to be a beautiful hike but it seems like it is usually suffocated with hikers. I'm really not big into huge crowds and the party atmosphere you get on summits like Monadnock. The first time I climbed Monadnock there were literally 200-300 people on top, radios playing and it was hard to even find a place to put your pack down and relax for a minute. Not really into that for hiking so if Cardigan is similar I'll be skipping that one too.

Belknaps and Ossipees. Once off the "major" Belknap peaks of Mt. Major and Belknap you will almost always be alone. Some nice views of places you would not normally see, and there is the history factor of abandoned quarries. Round Pond is always a nice stop. There may still be snow in some locations but will be fairly open by April (well maybe not this year). The Ossipees face more southerly (less snow?, and will have about the same number of people (not many). Mt. Roberts, Shaw and Black Snoot all have nice views.

Good topic, DayTrip! I need to get out on trails in April more than I have in past years, too. I hadn't thought of Cardigan, but you've made me curious. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing some of the suggestions here.

Speaking of Cardigan, what's the road up to the lodge like in mud season? Is it navigable at all?

Well despite the definite party, hard to beat Tuckermans on a sunny day. A hike up Lions head and over to Boot Spur and then down will miss most of the partiers but give you good views into the craziness.

A page I started a decade ago may still have some useful suggestions: Hiking in New Hampshire in the Mud Season.

Guthook said:

Speaking of Cardigan, what's the road up to the lodge like in mud season? Is it navigable at all?

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It can be a challenge. It helps if you've had a dry day or two. Some ground clearance and/or AWD doesn't hurt.

South Moat in Conway/Albany area.

Cube from Quinntown Road can be nice. Sometimes the stream crossing can be a problem, though.

Check out the 52 WAV list.

When I get in Spring mode, I try and avoid also bringing all the winter gear you should bring when doing the higher peaks in April. So I'm looking at south facing & unlikely to require face mask, crampons and avoiding deep rotting snow. (Being a newer Micro-spike user, I may opt for some monorail now)

Morgan & Percival and others in the Squam area. In VT, look at the AT, it runs South to North so you can just about pick any road where it crosses and walk north which will put you on a south facing slope. (Five, no three caveats, higher alpine areas are closed and sometimes many switchbacks eliminate south facing, some dirt roads, like NH, are closed until they are snowfree.) Did Stratton many years ago in late April and snow only above 3500 feet on this 3,936 ft. hill with a tower on top allowing great views.

This year, I'm looking at a late April Catskill trip with the kids.

I was thinking of Stratton, too, Mike P. The CT/MA/NY border areas will be good - Bear, Everett, Race, Frissell, etc. Greylock, too. In the lower areas of CT and western Mass, the snow's mostly gone, even on northern slopes. I just had a nice, easy Sleeping Giant tower path hike - all I wanted and needed, as I've been dormant due to heavy workload. May get out tomorrow, too, for an easier local do. Warming back up!

Barkingcat said:

That being said, you can call the folks at the lodge in advance and get conditions about the road. They'd rather not see someone slide off into a ditch, if possible.

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Doh! That was kind of foolish of me not to think of that. Thanks for all that info, though. The more I think of it, the more I'm getting excited to hike around there some more. Maybe this spring will be the time for that.

The Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway and Monadnock-Sunapee Trail are both nice, esp. If you spot a bike or car and "section-hike."

Have had good luck with Kearsarge South, Cardigan from the West (but you will need to walk the road from the closed gate), S Moat as mentioned too...also the Squam Range, but the Morgan/Percival/Rattlesnake parking lots are closed early in the year, and I do not know if parking on Rt. 113 is allowed (anyone know??)...
also Peaked and Middle Mts in North Conway, with access to Black Cap if the trails are in good shape....

Pawtuckaway State Park has several good options of varying distances. My favorite hikes in the park are: South Peak from the north (rt: 2.8 mi, 550 ft.), which is a much lesser used and slightly longer route to the fire tower; the North Peak loop (lp: 5 mi, 1000 ft), which has some nice ridge walking and passes by Dead Pond and Devil's Den; and the full ring hike from Reservation Rd. (lp: approx. 6.5 mi, 1,400 ft.), which traverses the full ridges of North and South Peaks and passes by the boulder field as a bonus. The park doesn't have that much snow now, but it should be fully melted by mid to late April.

Pack Monadnock has a few options for hikes: from Miller State Park, the Wapack/Marion Davis loop (2.8 mi, 950 ft) is nice and scenic, and faces almost directly south. WARNING: if you hate crowds, avoid Pack Monadnock during summer when the auto road is open to cars. The summit can be swamped with tourists on a sunny 80 degree day as well as hikers.

One hike I dis last fall that would be cool in spring is a 5 mile loop on Crotched Mountain (with 1,200 ft of gain); from the Crotched Mtn. Rd. parking area, use the gravel road, Shannon's Trail, the Lower Link, Summit West Trail, Upper Link, the summit spur path, and Shannon's Trail. On the way up the Summit West Trail is an interesting rock formation that slightly resembles the Old Man of the Mountain.

Barkingcat had excellent comments about Cardigan that I agree with. Don't let the fear of crowds prevent you from hiking this peak at least once in your life. There are some lesser used trails included in the map in the AMC Southern NH guide that you can use to avoid the crowds anyway. This peak won't melt out into a spring hike until later this year for sure. I was up there this past Friday, snowed the whole time, 20 air, 30-40 mph winds. There is still at least 1.5 feet down low. Higher up on the mountain some of the trail signs were completely buried and my 3.5 foot poles could not hit the bottom of the snow pack. When I put my pack down at the West Ridge/Ranger Cabin trail I uncovered what I thought was a stick. Dug down and found it was the sign! Summit is a some crusty snow with boilerplate ice under it.

Belknaps are also awesome, but will melt out much later than normal this year. I was there the past two weekends and there is 1-3 feet of snow, very compacted already and firm. See my NETC report from yesterday for details.

Even further south in the Concord, NH area there is still over a foot of snow on the ground. Open farm fields have no open grassy spots yet even.

Out of curiosity, do you folks in MA, CT, and RI still have snow? Never venture down that way.

John in NH said:

Out of curiosity, do you folks in MA, CT, and RI still have snow? Never venture down that way.

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I'm in North East CT and my yard is about 50% covered, still about 6" in spots. I'm in a somewhat sheltered area on the side of hill though. It is mostly melted where I am but even here we are 2-3 weeks behind last year. Definitely going to be a late start to Spring/Summer season.

Yesterday I was poking around the NOHRSC snow coverage maps, and this week vs 1 year ago, it looks like the Whites have a foot or more snow on the ground than last year.

"Most" of the areas the snow was cleared in the woods at lower elevations by about the 3rd week of April (still coverage higher up). Need to look back at the 2013 snow-free trails thread for details. This year, starting with more snow, and it's still wicked cold, it's probably going to be into late May before the lower elevations clear. So a late start to summer season.

The late start to Mud Season means that "winter" hiking will continue for some time this year, even though "Winter" ended last week.