Wednesday afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful weather and squeezed in another local hike. (We're so lucky to live in a place that has such a variety of hiking options nearby!) The plan was to try for Avery, and if it didn't work out, switch to one of the nearby trails at the end of Alton Mt. Rd. We weren't sure how much snow remained on that side of the mountain (there are still a few areas in the Belknaps where it's somewhat deep!) and we wanted to avoid snowshoes, so we needed a back up plan if spikes weren't enough.
Turned out the trail up Avery was mostly bare, and we almost felt silly wearing even spikes! They did however come in handy in a couple spots, and esp. on the steep descent where there was gravel and mud. We did encounter snow as well; at the summit there were some shady areas where we did some impressive postholing considering the ground was bare a few feet away! haha
However, I do have to comment (mostly because Hummingbird insisted ;-) that as nice as the weather was, I did raise an eyebrow on the drive over when I saw some guy on the side of the road wearing nothing but what looked like skimpy swim shorts. He was just standing there bent over, so I assumed he was doing yard work or something. My first thought was, "seriously? It's warm, but I'm not sure it's THAT nice out. And dude, what are you trying to prove?" LOL My second thought, honestly long after, was, "well, at least he wasn't too bad looking to be out in so little clothing." Turns out he was actually a runner. Ok, that explains the outfit (or lack thereof.) Hummingbird apparently got a better look at him in action, and she expressed, ahem, more enthusiasm than I did over his appearance. This of course led to our new tradition of giving cute guys we see made up names. Thus our sighting today of "Hottie McJogger."
Back to the hike… As usual, Avery rewarded us with lovely views, which you more than earn with that short but steep climb! We also spotted several hawks circling around, as we often do there, hunting for prey over the lakes and hills and valleys. After summiting, and of course snapping lots of pictures and admiring the scenery, we continued down the other side for a ways, along what we presume is a snowmobile trail. Chit chatting away, we simply hiked on, until what I was sort of waiting for finally happened… Hummingbird eventually turned to me and said, with a bit of a cheerful laugh, “so where are we going?” Silly cousin just automatically assumes I have a plan. LOL I actually didn't, beyond just to keep hiking until we were ready to turn around. The day was simply too nice to limit our time outdoors to the 1 mile round trip on Reid's Trail up & down Avery. Of course, Hummingbird had no qualms about that, so we continued on until hitting enough snow about halfway down the mountain that the trudging became annoying enough to turn us back. In the end, we doubled our distance, so it was a satisfying amount of time spent hiking.
That's not quite the end though. We have a mystery unraveling around Avery Hill!
When we first began hiking, we almost missed the trail. Thankfully we've been enough times to have a feel for where it is. Parking is at the end of a class 6 dead end road, which merges with corridor 22. A short distance down that snowmobile trail, the hiking trail that turns up Avery is marked with old blue blazes, which disappear near the top and are replaced with occasional cairns. There previously had always been (in the time we've been hiking there) a wooden sign at the beginning of the trail that read "Reid's Trail" which was missing this time. We guessed it might have rotted or fallen off over the winter, but also wondered if it had been removed for some reason.
That evening back home, I looked in my notes and online for info on what organization was "in charge of" that side of Avery Hill. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything; I mean nothing whatsoever about this hike, and I couldn't remember for sure where I first even learned about the trail. I was, at the time, convinced that I'd originally read about it in the local newspaper (which I later proved wrong after searching archives), so I contacted our town parks & rec, which forwarded me to the conservation commission. Surprisingly, the "ConCom" rep. had no knowledge of Reid's Trail, or that there was even hiking out there!
Who created this trail? Who was the caretaker of it? It wasn't any of our local/state conservation groups, apparently. How the heck did we ever hear about it?
Hummingbird and I brainstormed on how we may have discovered a hiking trail on that side of Avery, if it wasn't from any official source, and she's now convinced it was on AllTrails. However, there is nothing specifically about it there now, as far as tracks or reviews, so I'm not sure if it got deleted, or we're misremembering something.
I continued my digging by asking fellow Belknap hikers if anyone had info. The consensus is that Reid's Trail is actually on private property, and is not an "official" trail. Who knew? Certainly not us! While it is not uncommon for even official hiking trails by conservation societies to cross over private land (with permission), this did raise more questions for me. Mainly, does the property owner mind sharing their trail with the public??
Now, technically NH law allows respectful hiking anywhere, including private property, as long as it’s not posted (i.e. "no trespassing" signs). This of course doesn't mean you should hike anywhere, or go bushwhacking through someone's unposted backyard just because it's there. But when presented with a case such as this; an obvious trail with markings, with no residences anywhere near the trail itself, and no posted signs at all in the area, it seems safe to assume it's probably ok to hike there. Certainly hunters walk those woods seasonally. But being a bit territorial myself, I still feel like some sort of official permission should be given, if this is indeed private land. The missing sign has me slightly worried. At least the previous presence of that felt like an invitation.
**If you decide to chase this trail, please be super respectful. That really should be the key word in any hike. Obey the Leave No Trace principles, and park your vehicle with common sense. Trails, trailheads, and connector trails can be, and have been, shut down due to people parking inconsiderately, littering, or damaging property. So just don't be a jerk and ruin it for everyone else.
I will update if I learn more about Reid's Trail and Avery Hill.
Hike 11. 3/16 Avery Hill, 2 mi, 1:12 hrs, 686 ft.
No comments:
Post a Comment