Sunday, January 5, 2014

Uncanoonuc Mountains-South Mountain: 1/5/2014

Mileage: 2.05 miles
Elevation gain: 805 feet
Trails used: Incline Trail, Walker Trail, Summit Trail.
Highlight(s): decent views from the summit, former fire tower summit.


Desi wanted to do a snowshoe hike to get out and stretch her legs so I mentioned to her we could get a short hike/snowshoe in and go up Uncanoonuc Mountain-South Mountain. The temperature's were much warmer than the previous days hike and there was a nice snowshoe track already laid down from the previous days hikers. We would use snowshoes start to finish for this hike, although we probably didn't need them. We even went sans backpacks since it was a short hike and easy to follow trails.

Uncanoonuc Mountain-South Mountain is located in Goffstown, New Hampshire and would be the highest point in Goffstown, if not for Uncanoonuc Mountain. There are two peaks to the Uncanoonuc Mountains, the North and South peak's. Uncanoonuc Mountain-South Mountain has numerous communication towers on its summit and once had a fire tower on it's summit.  There also used to be a ski area and incline railroad that went up the South Mountain.


Uncanoonuc Mountain Ski Area


We parked at the the South Uncanoonuc Trailhead. We opted to go up the Incline Trail to start the hike today.


The Incline Trail lives up to its name. It goes straight up for the first part of the hike. This would definitely be a decent sledding area. 



Desi stopping to admire the old rock wall. Yes, that is a power line that runs along side the trail to the summit.


Desi at the viewpoint right off the Walker Trail, looking into Maine.


A few of the antenna arrays on the summit. The road was plowed to the summit for access to the antenna's which are owned by several news/tv stations.


One of the few antenna arrays on the summit of Uncanoonuc Mountains-South Mountain.


An old dilapidated building just below the gated off summit of Uncanoonuc Mountains-South Mountain (elevation: 1315 feet). This makes the fire tower remains off limits.


This was a nice wooded section of the Walker Trail that runs just below the summit.


A viewpoint looking towards Ragged Mountain and Kearsarge Mountain.


It was a quick hike down and back to the car. Overall, this was an enjoyable hike made better since we did not have to break trail, like the prior days endeavors. Also, the weather wasn't too bad and it was not that cold. 

Seeing how well the trail system was, we both agreed we will go back to visit and also check out North Uncanoonuc, which looks to have better views.  A short hike but worth it, if not to just get out and stretch one's legs.

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