Elevation gain: 1730'
Trails used: Chippewa Trail.
I had the second of two days off from work to go hiking so I wanted to play it safe and go low key and not punish myself after hiking the Kinsmans the day before. I needed something that would be broken out with views as the weather was forecasted for highs in the 40s and partly sunny skies.
Black Mountain is located in Benton and Haverhill, New Hampshire. It is also located in the Black Mountain State Forest. Some information can be found here. I also decided to visit the lime kilns that are in the area on the way back down. Of note, the Chippewa Trail is maintained by a good friend of mine, Mike Saltmarsh (AKA Salty, as he is know to us hikers) so I was doing this hike also to give him information on spring time trail maintenance he would have to do.
Black Mountain is on the New Hampshire 52 With-A-View (52 WAV) and New Hampshire Fire Tower List.
The start of the Chippewa Trail off of Lime Kiln Road. The small trail head parking area was actually plowed out today.
Walking along the Chippewa Trail, which is part old logging road, part trail. The snow was very mushy from the recent warmer weather so I wore snowshoes start to finish.
Beginning the ascent of Black Mountain up the Chippewa Trail, which heads up this old woods road with a steady ascent at first.
Black Mountain looming ahead. Sometimes it seems like it is very high up and that you have a lot of elevation gain to reach the summit.
While I was heading up the Chippewa Trail, I managed to clear a few smaller sized blowdowns that I could move on my own, as well as smaller branches.
The Chippewa Trail has a good amount of yellow blazing, more than I remember being there when Desi and I first did this same hike.
Beginning the steep climb up the Chippewa Trail through nice woods.
A neat shot of what I think are red pines that you walk through on the way to the summit of Black Mountain.
The Chippewa Trail makes its way over this ledge area with good views.
Views to Piermont Mountain, Mount Cube and Smarts Mountain from some ledges just below the summit of Black Mountain.
Views into Vermont looking at the Knox Mountains, Butterfield Mountain, Signal Mountain and Camels Hump barely visible in the background.
Just when you think you are nearing the summit of Black Mountain, you still have to climb around these ledges to reach it.
Approaching the summit area of Black Mountain (elevation 2830').
Views towards the Kinsmans, Mount Wolf and Mount Liberty and Mount Flume from the summit area of Black Mountain.
Mount Moosilauke (in the clouds) from the summit of Black Mountain.
Views of Sugarloaf Mountain and the Hogsback, Mount Jeffers and Smarts Mountain, Mount Cube and Piermont Mountain (right) from the summit area of Black Mountain.
Coming down the ledges just below the summit of Black Mountain. There were quite a few bare areas of rock so it was slow going on the snowshoes.
Beginning the steep descent of the Chippewa Trail in very soft snow. The already warm weather made the snow like mashed potatoes so it was fun managing to not slip going down.
Almost back to the car, I decided to visit the remnants of lime kilns that are in the area.
A little information (if you can read it) on why the kilns are here and how they operated.
The bigger lime kiln which has been restored over the years.
The view of Sugarloaf Mountain from the frozen over beaver pond area along the Chippewa Trail on the way back to the car.
A woodpecker has gone to town on this tree.
A productive two days of hiking with warmer temperatures briefly teasing me with a preview of what I want to come SOON! Enough with the snow and cold temperatures already.
Second time was the charm on this one. I managed decent views this time around although the minor elevation gain did manage to wipe me out for today's hike. It was probably because I was coming down with this pesky cold. This hike can also be approached from the Black Mountain Trail on the north side of Black Mountain, but as Mike does a good job on the trail work, give it a try.
No comments:
Post a Comment