alspal
New member
Albee, Cory and I drove to Gorham after hiking on Saturday. We found a reasonably inexpensive motel and crashed for the night. I slept restlessly and woke the other by screaming when, around midnight, a gust of wind blew the door open. In my half awake state I thought someone had broken into the room.
The wind gust signaled a change in the weather. A front came through which cleared the skies and dried things out. I got up at 6 AM and ran an easy four miles down the main drag in Gorham. The stars were shining and the skies were brightening in the East. It looked to be an excellent day.
We drove to Dixville Notch and stopped at a trailhead. After some discussion we decided to drive to the trailhead below table rock as that seemed to be where we’d come out at the end of the hike. We piled into my car and drove to Millsfield and took the first dirt road heading west. My Civic’s clearance is not very high so we were only able to make it about 1.5 miles in, so that is where the hike began.
The cloudless sky and warm sunshine make the hike/jog up the road quiet pleasant. We got onto another logging road and climbed a bit. Albee picked a spot and the whacking began. The early going was nice with relatively easy open woods. The climb wasn’t drastic as we worked our way up to the ridge. We caught the ridge and got on/off some Moose trails. We even found some Moose scat that was very fresh. There were a couple of thick patches of blow downs to slow us a bit, but nothing that lasted very long.
The summit itself was pretty thick with a lot of pine. We bashed around a little and Cory and Albee found the big rock and the tree with the canister on it. We took a short break for pictures and some refreshment. We then hoofed it back more or less the same way we had come up. We were able to avoid most of the blow down sections. Our timing was impeccable as we came out of the woods just as some hunters drove up. Albee in his orange hat said something to them which I didn’t hear. I think he was letting them know we were not in season.
We worked our way along the road and took a short break when we met another hunter. This guy was looking for a “boiler” that he had found years ago but then lost the coordinates. The discussion about exactly where we were led to some talk about Erving’s Location which is thought to be the smallest town in NH, and where exactly the railroad went. The next section of climb was moderate and the warm sun made it seem like summer. Cory forgot shorts and had to trudge on in his pants. My suggestion that he hike in boxers was universally rejected.
There were some nice views on the climb to Dixville and we got some pictures from the top. There was some trash on top ad a couple of trash barrels. Apparently the spot is popular with ATV & snowmobiliers. The descent from Dixville to the Balsams Wilderness ski area was wet in spots and not as well used as the other portion of the trail. The ski area summit presented a few more views and the chance to peak into various buildings. Cory was tempted by a barrel full of “hikening rods” but ended up leaving them undisturbed.
The drop from the ski area to Table rock was very wet. With the end of the hike in sight it wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t have wanted to start the day on that trail. We made a brief detour to check out Table rock with Albee and Cory going out on the exposed rock. I chose to take some pictures from the relative safety of the edge of the trail. We had a short discussion of how we’d descend. The trail was not well posted and we really didn’t want to end up too far from the car. We settled on the path that was labeled “The easy way” down to Route 26. It was a nice jog down and we ended out coming out on the trailhead that we had first come to that morning. Cory volunteered to carry the packs while Albee and I ran to the car. It turned out to only be ¾ mile to the car and it was scenic with the Balsams on one side and Table rock on the other.
We drove back to my car and went our separate ways. The guys were going to hike Chocorua. I felt that we’d be descending in the dark and my descending is poor in full daylight so I passed on the hike and headed home.
I’ll have to go back sometime so that I can run in Erving’s Location, I’m thinking of getting a run in every NH town. Albee suggested a snowshoe run which sounds like a great time to me!
The wind gust signaled a change in the weather. A front came through which cleared the skies and dried things out. I got up at 6 AM and ran an easy four miles down the main drag in Gorham. The stars were shining and the skies were brightening in the East. It looked to be an excellent day.
We drove to Dixville Notch and stopped at a trailhead. After some discussion we decided to drive to the trailhead below table rock as that seemed to be where we’d come out at the end of the hike. We piled into my car and drove to Millsfield and took the first dirt road heading west. My Civic’s clearance is not very high so we were only able to make it about 1.5 miles in, so that is where the hike began.
The cloudless sky and warm sunshine make the hike/jog up the road quiet pleasant. We got onto another logging road and climbed a bit. Albee picked a spot and the whacking began. The early going was nice with relatively easy open woods. The climb wasn’t drastic as we worked our way up to the ridge. We caught the ridge and got on/off some Moose trails. We even found some Moose scat that was very fresh. There were a couple of thick patches of blow downs to slow us a bit, but nothing that lasted very long.
The summit itself was pretty thick with a lot of pine. We bashed around a little and Cory and Albee found the big rock and the tree with the canister on it. We took a short break for pictures and some refreshment. We then hoofed it back more or less the same way we had come up. We were able to avoid most of the blow down sections. Our timing was impeccable as we came out of the woods just as some hunters drove up. Albee in his orange hat said something to them which I didn’t hear. I think he was letting them know we were not in season.
We worked our way along the road and took a short break when we met another hunter. This guy was looking for a “boiler” that he had found years ago but then lost the coordinates. The discussion about exactly where we were led to some talk about Erving’s Location which is thought to be the smallest town in NH, and where exactly the railroad went. The next section of climb was moderate and the warm sun made it seem like summer. Cory forgot shorts and had to trudge on in his pants. My suggestion that he hike in boxers was universally rejected.
There were some nice views on the climb to Dixville and we got some pictures from the top. There was some trash on top ad a couple of trash barrels. Apparently the spot is popular with ATV & snowmobiliers. The descent from Dixville to the Balsams Wilderness ski area was wet in spots and not as well used as the other portion of the trail. The ski area summit presented a few more views and the chance to peak into various buildings. Cory was tempted by a barrel full of “hikening rods” but ended up leaving them undisturbed.
The drop from the ski area to Table rock was very wet. With the end of the hike in sight it wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t have wanted to start the day on that trail. We made a brief detour to check out Table rock with Albee and Cory going out on the exposed rock.
I chose to take some pictures from the relative safety of the edge of the trail. We had a short discussion of how we’d descend. The trail was not well posted and we really didn’t want to end up too far from the car. We settled on the path that was labeled “The easy way” down to Route 26. It was a nice jog down and we ended out coming out on the trailhead that we had first come to that morning. Cory volunteered to carry the packs while Albee and I ran to the car. It turned out to only be ¾ mile to the car and it was scenic with the Balsams on one side and Table rock on the other.We drove back to my car and went our separate ways. The guys were going to hike Chocorua. I felt that we’d be descending in the dark and my descending is poor in full daylight so I passed on the hike and headed home.
I’ll have to go back sometime so that I can run in Erving’s Location, I’m thinking of getting a run in every NH town. Albee suggested a snowshoe run which sounds like a great time to me!
