Green Mountain and Hanson Top 11-23-2014

With Thanksgiving and all we nearly forgot to post this trip report. Even though we have finished the Fire Tower List it seem we can’t get enough of them. Last Sunday we found ourselves back hiking Green Mountain in Effingham, NH. There are a few videos that we want to update for the Fire Tower Map that we have posted on line and this was one of them. We also wanted to go to Hanson Top.
Last time we did it we took the High Watch Trail up and back so this time we figured we should finish red-lining it. LOL We parked the trailhead for the Libby Trail and walked to the Dearborn Trailhead off Hobbs Road. The walk was pretty uneventful, but we did get to see the old Town Pound or what remains of it. There were also some cellar holes along the way. The Dearborn Trailhead has a nice parking area and kiosk. The trail was well blazed in yellow. It appears that it used to be blazed in white though as many of the yellow blazes are nailed over the white one. We only encountered a couple of blowdowns that were easily to get around. There are some steep spot on this trail and the biggest problem we had on them were the slippery leaves all over the forest floor. It did make it tricky to get up in some areas. We did run into an area that had snow, but that and the leaves have probably been replaced by a lot more snow now.
As we neared the summit we did find the ‘Say hello to Harry’ geocache. Harry used to be the Fire Warden on Green Mountain and the cache is in his memory. The Libby Trail was also named in memory of him. Once on the summit we felt none of the 50 degree temperatures we were supposed to feel, I believe it never got out of the 20’s all day. At least we had blue skies when we climbed the tower. We also had the winds, but we have come to expect that.
After taking in the views, we headed down past the cabin and took the Libby trail a short distance to the Hanson Top Trail. The trail was just recut in 2012, so even with a 3/4” snow cover the trail was easy enough to follow. Just before the summit is a tree with 3 blazes on it and on the backside is a mailbox for the Hanson Top log in. There was only one person who had logged in and no paper to sign in. We took one of our cards and logged in with that. The blazes continued to the top where there is a sign to let you know you are at Hanson Top. There is a nice outlook there too. Off to the left the fire tower is clearly visibly. There is another geocache located there and we did find it.
We worked our way back to the Libby trail and followed it back down to our vehicle. The trail is basically an old Jeep road that is wide and extremely easy to follow. Word of caution as you near the bottom, there appears to be a shooting range set up that runs parallel to the trail. It was a bit of an uncomfortable feeling knowing it is that close to the trail. There was no one there and as I said it ‘appears’ to be a shooting range.
There is a large cabin on the right heading down that lets you know you are almost out. We did find the remains on an old car that we couldn’t resist shooting the end of the video from.
Fire Tower Map...
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/viewer?mid=zOyLliZneehw.kXHr4AnQ__mU

Roland "Harry" Libby was a prince among Firewardens - unfailingly welcoming and gracious, but never neglecting his duties when a message came over the intercom as he entertained you in his cab. I got to know him pretty well over the course of several dozen visits between 1989 and 2006, his final season before retiring to his wife's home State of Kansas (or it may have been Nebraska).

One small point - I believe the Libby Trail was named not after Harry but his forebears who established the 19th Century Libby farm at the foot of that Trail. He drove it in his ATV to get to and from the Tower, and it suffered a lot of widening and erosion when heavy equipment used it for major work on the Tower roughly 12 years ago.

As I recall, Harry himself cut the original, faint Trail to Hanson Top, which had a very small sign on the Libby Trail but nothing else except a few flags when I hiked it about 15 years ago.

The Dearborn Trail is the best of the three by far, in my view. Even the drive in from Effingham on Hobbs Road is pleasant.

Amicus said:

Roland "Harry" Libby was a prince among Firewardens - unfailingly welcoming and gracious, but never neglecting his duties when a message came over the intercom as he entertained you in his cab. I got to know him pretty well over the course of several dozen visits between 1989 and 2006, his final season before retiring to his wife's home State of Kansas (or it may have been Nebraska).

One small point - I believe the Libby Trail was named not after Harry but his forebears who established the 19th Century Libby farm at the foot of that Trail. He drove it in his ATV to get to and from the Tower, and it suffered a lot of widening and erosion when heavy equipment used it for major work on the Tower roughly 12 years ago.

As I recall, Harry himself cut the original, faint Trail to Hanson Top, which had a very small sign on the Libby Trail but nothing else except a few flags when I hiked it about 15 years ago.

The Dearborn Trail is the best of the three by far, in my view. Even the drive in from Effingham on Hobbs Road is pleasant.

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Interesting history about "Harry", I wish we would had been able to meet him. Thanks for sharing your memories. We agree that the Dearborn is the best trail to the top now that we have taken all three. The Libby Trail does have a sign now, at the trailhead, that makes it looks as though it was named after Harry. Maybe it was rededicated to a good man???

That sign is new since my last hike on the Libby Trail, six years ago. It has been called that since before 1989, and definitely not named after Harry then. He was the one who told me about his Libby forebears and their farmstead at the foot of that Trail, and I believe he lived on that homestead. So, it has been renamed, slightly, after him, and he richly deserves the honor.