Orange NH Outing

Today we hiked Mount Cardigan again, the west side trail.  We took an hour to go up and an hour to go down and spent an hour relaxing and eating lunch at the top.  The weather was perfect on the top, sunny but enough haze not to be too hot and a nice breeze so no bugs.  It was over 80 by the time we got down from the summit so we were enjoying the cool breeze.  The panoramic views were hazy but cleared up as the hour went by.  At the beginning you could barely see a few windmills but as we relaxed, more and more came into view. These were off in the distance on the smaller hills or mountains. I get disoriented on the top and I'm never sure which direction I am viewing. Cardigan is at 3100 feet and has great views.

This is a popular hike in the summer and we saw families and groups of young people and a few couples more our age (one from Lincoln, MA and one from Toronto, Canada). We overheard three young men talking about hang gliding -not something I'd attempt! There were quite a few cars in the parking lot of the state park but we didn't see many of them as there are many spots to linger at the top and more trails from the summit.  During the week in August you find many tourists but there will be more in the Fall.

We watched two broad-winged hawks soaring above us near the summit

There were only five of us and one small dog, Casey who is a nice jack russell terrier dog and very friendly.!

Pictures coming soon for this hike and the one last week

Views etc.

Cornish Forest Climb

This week we had a crowd, 10 people and 4 dogs.  The weather was perfect for a climb. We started
at 9 AM and were back down a little before 11 AM and the weather was mostly in the 60s and very
sunny and some wind which kept the bugs away.

The climb begins steeply and since I fell, I can attest to agreeing that the rocks were quite slippery with moss and wet from the rain the day before.  Luckily it evens out after about 10 minutes and the hike is much easier going and boy are you rewarded at the top!  There are great views into Vermont and especially of Mount Ascutney.  We stayed at the top for about 10 minutes to soak in the view and relax.  The descent was fine until the last 10 minutes when we had to be very careful under foot once again.  This was my first time doing this walk and it is definitely a keeper! if a bit treacherous at the beginning

There were lots of mushrooms growing in all kinds of colors, the usual white and brown, plus reddish and many yellows. I only took pictures at the top. Will load them later today.

Next week, Mt Cardigan again, this time I can guarantee there will be no snow!


views!

Two Wednesday Walks

Last week I forgot my camera so I decided to post two walks at once.  Last Wednesday there were six walkers and one dog. We went to Claremont and walked on their wide rail trail which meanders along the Sugar River on the way to Newport, NH.  Its flat and you can go far in a short period of time. We stop at a bridge about 45 to 50 minutes in and then turnaround.  I had my cell phone but I am cell phone challenged since it doesn't work at my home so I never got the photos off the phone.  Four went on to downtown to eat a tasty lunch at New Socials.  Two of us went off to do other not so interesting things.

This week we walked from the Plainfield School to the ledges in about 45 minutes, its a bit of a hike up but worth the trip as you will see from the photos. We started at 8:30 and made it up before it got real sunny so the pictures aren't as good as I'd like.  A professional photographer showed up and took a photo of the six of us.  There were no dogs :(.  The Indian pipe fungi were out so I took a photo of them.

Here is a picture of the hikers relaxing on the top. We took a nice long break before heading down.

Here are some views of school and community

There were Indian Pipes everywhere it seemed