WeRmudfun
New member
It was a beautiful day on Sunday and we were headed to Pillsbury State Park to do some followup on a tower site. Seeing how it was a 1 ½ hour drive for about an hour hike, we decided to add Lucias Lookout to make the day more fulfilling.
The park is still closed for the season so we knew that the normal 9 mile loop we were considering would be more like 11+ miles. We parked at the gate and walked down the access road checking out the different ponds along the way. The ever ugly wind turbines were showing their faces too. When we got down around May Pond, we took a left heading towards some camping sites, there are 41 camp sites total. As we got to the end of the trail we started our bushwhack to a geocache and found it. We were able to hook into the Balanced Rock Trail from the cache and follow it to the Five Summers Trail.
The Five Summers Trail is where we started to encounter snow, but we could walk around it at the beginning, by the time we hit the trail junction with the Bear Pond Trail, conditions got worse. As I was videoing the junction, the snowpack I was standing on gave way and I dropped a foot, the camera went flying too. I was on a good 5” of packed snow and ice and the was a good 7” of air space under it.
On to the Bear Pond Trail, for the most part we either postholed, earthholed or had nice hard conditions. After passing by the pond the trail got steep, we got our workout. It became a point of trying to walk lightly and not push off too hard while walking on the snow pack. The bigger problem was where there was no snow, it was hard to tell if the earth was going to give way underfoot. It seemed like a long 1.2 miles. We stayed to the side as much as possible and managed. The guide book said these trail can get muddy.
Once we got to the trail junction with the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway we took a left. There is a mailbox at the junction for trail users. The whole trail is 51 miles long spreading from Mount Monadnock to Mount Sunapee. The nice thing about this part of the hike, was when there wasn’t any snow, the ground was solid. Not so nice was the lack of views, we had one peek-a-boo spot and for the most part that was it.
We met up with the Five Summers Trail again just below Lucias Lookout, but it was steep to get up to. The views made the hike worth the effort. There is a brand new sign at the Lookout along with another trail register. The views we had at the sign were to the south. Going down and to the left from the mailbox, we were rewarded with views to the east. Continuing along the MSG and following a herd path we were able to get views from the west. We stopped and had lunch before heading down.
The guide book said that the upper half of the Five Summer trail is muddy and it wasn’t lying. The rocks had all sunk into the mud. There were a few times the trail tried to swallow us too. The trail was just a nasty mess, that will probably get worse before it gets better. Going out this way is 0.8 miles shorter than the way we came in. Now that we are done, I think the 0.8 miles extra would have been worth it.
Overall we really liked Pillsbury State Park and will go back to explore it more. We can’t wait to get our kayaks in some of those ponds. As for wildlife, we saw some Turkey Vultures, Geese and a lot of moose poop some fresh, but no sign of the depositer.
We posted a video as usual for anyone interested in seeing the hike or trail conditions, This one is a little longer that we like to make them, but it was a long hike.
The park is still closed for the season so we knew that the normal 9 mile loop we were considering would be more like 11+ miles. We parked at the gate and walked down the access road checking out the different ponds along the way. The ever ugly wind turbines were showing their faces too. When we got down around May Pond, we took a left heading towards some camping sites, there are 41 camp sites total. As we got to the end of the trail we started our bushwhack to a geocache and found it. We were able to hook into the Balanced Rock Trail from the cache and follow it to the Five Summers Trail.
The Five Summers Trail is where we started to encounter snow, but we could walk around it at the beginning, by the time we hit the trail junction with the Bear Pond Trail, conditions got worse. As I was videoing the junction, the snowpack I was standing on gave way and I dropped a foot, the camera went flying too. I was on a good 5” of packed snow and ice and the was a good 7” of air space under it.
On to the Bear Pond Trail, for the most part we either postholed, earthholed or had nice hard conditions. After passing by the pond the trail got steep, we got our workout. It became a point of trying to walk lightly and not push off too hard while walking on the snow pack. The bigger problem was where there was no snow, it was hard to tell if the earth was going to give way underfoot. It seemed like a long 1.2 miles. We stayed to the side as much as possible and managed. The guide book said these trail can get muddy.
Once we got to the trail junction with the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway we took a left. There is a mailbox at the junction for trail users. The whole trail is 51 miles long spreading from Mount Monadnock to Mount Sunapee. The nice thing about this part of the hike, was when there wasn’t any snow, the ground was solid. Not so nice was the lack of views, we had one peek-a-boo spot and for the most part that was it.
We met up with the Five Summers Trail again just below Lucias Lookout, but it was steep to get up to. The views made the hike worth the effort. There is a brand new sign at the Lookout along with another trail register. The views we had at the sign were to the south. Going down and to the left from the mailbox, we were rewarded with views to the east. Continuing along the MSG and following a herd path we were able to get views from the west. We stopped and had lunch before heading down.
The guide book said that the upper half of the Five Summer trail is muddy and it wasn’t lying. The rocks had all sunk into the mud. There were a few times the trail tried to swallow us too. The trail was just a nasty mess, that will probably get worse before it gets better. Going out this way is 0.8 miles shorter than the way we came in. Now that we are done, I think the 0.8 miles extra would have been worth it.
Overall we really liked Pillsbury State Park and will go back to explore it more. We can’t wait to get our kayaks in some of those ponds. As for wildlife, we saw some Turkey Vultures, Geese and a lot of moose poop some fresh, but no sign of the depositer.
We posted a video as usual for anyone interested in seeing the hike or trail conditions, This one is a little longer that we like to make them, but it was a long hike.
