WeRmudfun
New member
It was my wife’s birthday and she wanted to hike, love that woman! We headed up to Rumney to hike Stinson Mtn. The mountain is on the 52WAV list and the new fire tower list that we are on the quest to finish, this would be #43 for us of the towers that are standing, once stood or were proposed. Going up RT 93 we noticed that the speed limit has been changed to 70 MPH. Guess it has been that way since Jan 1 from Canterbury to the Vermont Border. Anyway, when we got to Lower Doetown Rd, it was plowed but seemed narrow, so we parked at the end of Cross Rd and walked the 0.3 mile to the trailhead. Of course when we got there, the parking lot was plowed too. It appeared that there was room for 3-4 cars.
The trail was broken out so we stared out barebooting it. At about 0.4 mile, we crossed the snowmobile trail and decided it was time to put on the snowshoes. The snow was starting to get more and more powdery. Almost the first mile of this hike is mild, not much effort needed at all. We continued along the trail to the second crossing of the snowmobile trail. At this point we took a left and followed the snowmobile trail as the 2 trails merge for 0.2 mile. This trail was hard packed and icy in spots. We heard a lot of sleds, but only actually saw 2 of them.
The fun began when the two trails split again. The trail we would be taking was not broken out, so we broke it out. This was also about the time that the trail seemed more like a mountain trail with elevation gain, still not bad though. There seemed to be a lack of blazes on the trail, I think we saw 2, not that the trail was hard to find. We had never broken out a trail before, it was kind of fun. We had a couple of pretty good falls, but mostly laughed them off. We got up to the switchbacks and continued on until we met up with the snowmobile trail yet again and followed the loop up to the summit. The views were not bad, but it was hazy out. The real nice thing was the lack of wind. That allows us to spend a good amount of time on the summit before heading back down. In all we saw 2 other hikers, 2 snowmobiles , 1 rabbit and 1 unidentifiable large winged bird. Great day for a hike!
For anyone interested in the hike or seeing the trail condition, we did post a video on Youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lZief35HKY
The trail was broken out so we stared out barebooting it. At about 0.4 mile, we crossed the snowmobile trail and decided it was time to put on the snowshoes. The snow was starting to get more and more powdery. Almost the first mile of this hike is mild, not much effort needed at all. We continued along the trail to the second crossing of the snowmobile trail. At this point we took a left and followed the snowmobile trail as the 2 trails merge for 0.2 mile. This trail was hard packed and icy in spots. We heard a lot of sleds, but only actually saw 2 of them.
The fun began when the two trails split again. The trail we would be taking was not broken out, so we broke it out. This was also about the time that the trail seemed more like a mountain trail with elevation gain, still not bad though. There seemed to be a lack of blazes on the trail, I think we saw 2, not that the trail was hard to find. We had never broken out a trail before, it was kind of fun. We had a couple of pretty good falls, but mostly laughed them off. We got up to the switchbacks and continued on until we met up with the snowmobile trail yet again and followed the loop up to the summit. The views were not bad, but it was hazy out. The real nice thing was the lack of wind. That allows us to spend a good amount of time on the summit before heading back down. In all we saw 2 other hikers, 2 snowmobiles , 1 rabbit and 1 unidentifiable large winged bird. Great day for a hike!
For anyone interested in the hike or seeing the trail condition, we did post a video on Youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lZief35HKY
