WeRmudfun
New member
The last TR from vacation… On our continuing quest to stand on every site where a fire tower stands, once stood or was proposed brought us to Dixville, NH for Table Rock and Dix Peak, #63 of the 92 towers for us.
We wanted to go up the steep trail to Table Rock, but the trail seemed a little slippery, so we took the easier trail up for the pup. The Table Rock Trail does have some decent elevation gain itself. In the first ½ mile we averaged 100ft for every 0.1 mile. The trail is marked in KM not miles, so it’s about 1.5 miles one way in case anyone is thinking about a trip up. The trip is well worth it, this was our 3rd time there. I still could not get myself out to the very end, but my wife made it this time.
Leaving Table Rock, we took the Mt. Gloriette Trail. We honestly don’t believe anyone uses this or hasn’t in a while. It’s part of the Cohos Trail and after this hike, we are no longer considering doing a thru hike on the Cohos Trail. There was nothing but water and mud practically the whole way to the ATV/snowmobile Trail.
Eventually we came to the summit of the Balsams Wilderness Ski Area and we got some nice views, behind us were the wind turbines that seemed a lot closer than they actually were. As we left to continue on to Dix Peak, we had the same wonderful trail conditions that we first encountered leaving Table Rock. We were completely drenched by the time we hit the ATV/snowmobile trail and headed up. This is where it got interesting for us. The Cohos Trail took a right off the trail, but the GPS track we downloaded showed a different route. We were quite tired of the CT by now, so we followed the GPS. The problem was the GPS track we downloaded was made in 2008, yup before the turbines were installed. Of course the map has been updated since 2008, so it looked like the trail worked its way around them. It didn’t, it just ended, it was no longer possible to do it. We weren’t going to turn around at this point, so into the woods we went. This was not a hard bushwhack at all, just an inconvenience.
We finally made it to what used to be Dix Peak, it appears it may have been flatten out for the turbine. Those turbines are huge!!!! Not the prettiest things in the world either. After taking in the views of the turbines, we worked our way back out to the ATV trail and decided to follow that down to RT 26. By this time we were tired and just starting to dry off, though our feet were soaked and as I sure most can attest too, hiking with wet feet is not fun.
We know a lot of people just drive to the gate at the access road and walk the 0.12 mile to get this peak. If we had to do it again, let’s just say we wouldn’t choose this route again.
That’s it, we’re out of TR’s
We did post the video if anyone is interested in seeing this hike, just follow the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJYB_PJjspw&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
We wanted to go up the steep trail to Table Rock, but the trail seemed a little slippery, so we took the easier trail up for the pup. The Table Rock Trail does have some decent elevation gain itself. In the first ½ mile we averaged 100ft for every 0.1 mile. The trail is marked in KM not miles, so it’s about 1.5 miles one way in case anyone is thinking about a trip up. The trip is well worth it, this was our 3rd time there. I still could not get myself out to the very end, but my wife made it this time.
Leaving Table Rock, we took the Mt. Gloriette Trail. We honestly don’t believe anyone uses this or hasn’t in a while. It’s part of the Cohos Trail and after this hike, we are no longer considering doing a thru hike on the Cohos Trail. There was nothing but water and mud practically the whole way to the ATV/snowmobile Trail.
Eventually we came to the summit of the Balsams Wilderness Ski Area and we got some nice views, behind us were the wind turbines that seemed a lot closer than they actually were. As we left to continue on to Dix Peak, we had the same wonderful trail conditions that we first encountered leaving Table Rock. We were completely drenched by the time we hit the ATV/snowmobile trail and headed up. This is where it got interesting for us. The Cohos Trail took a right off the trail, but the GPS track we downloaded showed a different route. We were quite tired of the CT by now, so we followed the GPS. The problem was the GPS track we downloaded was made in 2008, yup before the turbines were installed. Of course the map has been updated since 2008, so it looked like the trail worked its way around them. It didn’t, it just ended, it was no longer possible to do it. We weren’t going to turn around at this point, so into the woods we went. This was not a hard bushwhack at all, just an inconvenience.
We finally made it to what used to be Dix Peak, it appears it may have been flatten out for the turbine. Those turbines are huge!!!! Not the prettiest things in the world either. After taking in the views of the turbines, we worked our way back out to the ATV trail and decided to follow that down to RT 26. By this time we were tired and just starting to dry off, though our feet were soaked and as I sure most can attest too, hiking with wet feet is not fun.
We know a lot of people just drive to the gate at the access road and walk the 0.12 mile to get this peak. If we had to do it again, let’s just say we wouldn’t choose this route again.
That’s it, we’re out of TR’s
We did post the video if anyone is interested in seeing this hike, just follow the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJYB_PJjspw&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
