Oak Hill
Mileage: 3.85Elevation gain: 780'
Trails used: Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway.
I had to work later in the day so I wanted to get some miles in before work. Question was, do I drive up north and hit some peaks or stay south enough that if it did rain (which was forecasted for the next few days), if I had to stop it wouldn't be that long of a ride home if I was soaked again.
My first hike brought me to Oak Hill. Oak Hill is located in Washington, New Hampshire and also in the Clark Robinson Memorial Forest. This hike is also a section of the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, a roughly 50 mile trail that begins on Mount Monadnock and ends on Mount Sunapee. This trail is maintained by the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail Club and more information can be found here.
The start of the trail right off of Faxon Hill Road. Parking is sparse along the side of the road.
An early view of Oak Hill, which has an open summit due to logging in the past.
The trail and hike up cuts through the old logging cuts and follows an old logging road. Its blazed in white and easy to follow.
Clark Robinson Memorial Forest signage.
A small climb up to the summit of Oak Hill. It was weird to see more than half of the summit and surrounding area de-forested and the other half with trees.
The steepest part of the hike complete with a mini rock scramble area.
Views from just below the summit of Oak Hill looking to the northwest.
Zoomed in view of the picture above and Bean Mountain and the Lempster Mountain Wind Power Project area.
The summit area of Oak Hill (elevation 1958') which is marked by this cairn.
Rain moving in but it never really materialized the whole time I was hiking today.
Huntley Mountain and a small view of Ashuelot Pond from the summit of Oak Hill.
You hike along this logging cut coming off the north side of Oak Hill, with this section with trees felled by the weather possibly.
This area was heavily forested but it adds to the ambience. Its also a good habitat for wildlife such as moose and deer.
The northern end of the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway is through nice woods like this as you make your way towards Washington, New Hampshire.
You still cross several logging cuts on the way down but the trail is still blazed nicely.
Stay on trail or stay home. You are on the edge of someone's property at this point; they are nice enough to share their land for the trail system so respect it!
The General George Washington shelter, which looked nice and comfortable and well kept. It is at the beginning of the trail section from downtown Washington, New Hampshire.
Healey Hill - Copeland Hill
Mileage: 3.30Elevation gain: 710'
Trails used: none. King Street/roadwalk, bushwhack.
The second hike I would do was right down Faxon Hill Road, the same road I drove to get to Oak Hill. To this point, there was still no sign of rain which was a good thing for me.
Healey Hill and Copeland Hill are located in Washington, New Hampshire. There are no trails to these peaks so they can be reached by a old woods road walk/hike and bushwhack.
I drove down Faxon Hill Road to King Street and parked on a logging road. I started the walk down King Street to get to my objectives.
I could have driven King Street until this point, when it changes to a class 6 road. After that, there were a few spots that would have been doable albeit done slowly.
I began my bushwhack right around this recently used logging landing. Healey Hill is in the background of the photo and doesn't look that high, does it.
Several logging roads crisscrossed the area and I used this one until I realized it wasn't heading in the direction I needed to be going.
Heading up to the summit of Healey Hill through this awesome fern patch. Being fall, the ferns were browning up nicely and dying off so they weren't difficult to hike through.
The summit area of Healey Hill (elevation 2076'). There are two equal height bumps on the summit. My motto: when in doubt, hit them all.
It started to rain slightly, hence the blurry photo. This was the typical look to the woods in between the two peaks; very open and easy to traverse.
More fern goodness. Fall is a good time of year to do bushwhacks.
The summit area of Copeland Hill (elevation 2057'). It was a quick bushwhack back down to King Street and then road walk back to the car.
When you come across tracks like this, you usually do a quick scan of the area. They were fairly recent too and I believe they are coyote tracks.
There are several houses along the road, and one of them had this old junk car in the woods nearby. Kind of a cool thing to see in the woods.
Goodhue Hill
Mileage: 2.25Elevation gain: 535'
Trails used: Mill Pond Trail, Goodhue Hill Trail.
The first two hikes managed to fly by quicker than I thought they would so my next targeted hike would be a bit of a drive to get to, but it was in a familiar area to me.
Goodhue Hill is located in Antrim, New Hampshire and also in the dePierrefeu-Willard Pond Wildlife Sanctuary on the Audobon Society of New Hampshire property. Information can be found here. It is also directly across from Bald Mountain, which is another enjoyable hike in the area that Desi and I did earlier this year.
The parking area is the same for the Bald Mountain Trail. You can walk down the road a bit to get to the Tudor Trail, and the Mill Pond Trail which is the one I would use.
I would then take the Mill Pond Trail to the Goodhue Hill Trail. The Mill Pond Trail does a loop around Mill Pond.
A slightly tough water crossing made so by all the recent rain. It feeds from Mill Pond into the much larger Willard Pond.
Mill Pond was eerily quiet today. No wildlife sightings for me this day.
The junction for the Goodhue Trail. It is a red/orange blazed trail that you use to get to the clear cut summit area for Goodhue Hill.
The Goodhue Trail crosses some logging cuts on its way to the summit so pay attention to where the blazes are located.
This rock wall runs over the summit of Goodhue Hill (elevation 1620'). I bushwhacked up as I lost the trail in the summit clear cut.
You should be careful where the trail goes on this section. I lost it so I just headed across to the summit and then back to the trail to go back down.
Looking across Mill Pond over towards Bald Mountain, which was in the clouds.
The Mill Pond Trail crosses over this neat rock bridge on the way back to the car.
There is this engraving in the rock as you walk down Willard Pond Road back to the car.
Hodgeman Hill
Mileage: 2.00Elevation gain: 385'
Trails used: none. Limerick Road, unofficial trail.
My last hike of the day (due to work time constraints) looked to be an easy, quick bushwhack if it came down to it. So without much beta, I headed back towards the way I came from Goodhue Hill, but turned towards Stoddard.
Hodgeman Hill is located in Stoddard, New Hampshire. It is located almost directly across from Pitcher Mountain and it's still standing fire tower. I thought this one might be a bushwhack of some length, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that wouldn't be the case today.
I used Limerick Road to head up which is right off of Route 123 in Stoddard. It is almost directly across the street from the Pitcher Mountain parking area.
You could drive up Limerick road if the chain link wasn't blocking the way. There is a residence up towards the top of the road, which looked eerily vacant.
Just beyond the house, i headed into the woods a bit and turned at a cairn. It turned out to be a trail of some sort, whether it was used by hunters or the property owner I was unsure.
The summit area of Hodgeman Hill (elevation 2060'). I turned around and headed back down. All told, this one took probably about 30 minutes total to do.
Just follow these signs to the summit, and you'll be all set.
11 miles in a half days work. Not too shabby and I still managed to make it to work, albeit a few minutes late. I lucked out on the hikes as most of them were trailed or had logging cuts to use. Road walks are always quick for me as you have stable footing and can fly down the mountains/roads. The rain held off for most of the day so it was still a pleasant time. I edge closer and closer to the goal of 750 miles for the year.
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