A ten-dollar view for a two-dollar hike: that’s how a way-more-experienced hiker once described an easy scenic hike for me. Not a literal description, of course. The hike was free. The view was out of all proportion to the effort I’d put into getting there.

And so it was on a recent stop in Alton, when I visited the Forest Society’s Morse Preserve as part of the “5 Hikes” program. There’s a patch, you see…but I digress.

Alton’s Pine Mountain

A short uphill hike led me to the modest summit of Pine Mountain, where I was treated to a vista that included Lake Winnipesaukee and summits near and far.

Nearby was Mount Major, Alton’s principal crowd magnet, famed for the views from its summit. I once went there with a friend. The trail was mobbed from top to bottom. The parking lot was overflowing. And that was before COVID. I didn’t even make it to Major’s summit. Not a bad day, but too much company for my hiking taste.

If only I’d known about Morse Preserve then…! On my recent visit, I enjoyed the vista with three other people and a well-behaved dog. Hawks caught thermals overhead. Patchy hints of autumn flared here and there. An interpretive sign from the Forest Society identified the various peaks in the distance. Blueberry bushes were all over the place, resting up after what must have been a bountiful July.

No views to the south, but that’s just nitpicking, and I ought to be ashamed of myself for even mentioning that.

Let the Forest Society’s information be your guide to finding this enchanting place. Anyone interested in the area’s broader trail network should consult Belknap Range Trails.

Gilford

Later the same afternoon, Gilford played Miss Congeniality to Alton’s flashy prizewinner. The entrance to another Forest Society property, Weeks Forest, is located across Route 11-A from Gilford’s municipal government complex. Weeks has a couple of miles of flat trails, lined in September with late-summer wildflowers. It’s a pleasant spot. Getting there requires a nerve-wracking walk, or trot, across 11-A (parking is in the municipal complex lot).

Gilford also has a couple of historical markers. I stalk those like they’re big game. I reward myself with a photo and a brief history lesson at each marker. The day’s catch: something old (a story of how Gilford was named for a North Carolina Revolutionary War battle, if you please) and something relatively new (a tribute to the town’s Outing Club).

Home by the scenic route

I stretched out the afternoon’s road trip as long as I could before surrendering to I-93. A wrong turn sent me down some of Belknap County’s finest dirt roads, which I shared with flocks of turkeys blissfully unaware that hunting season began this week. I took it easy through Belmont and Canterbury on Shaker Road. I deserve a cookie, or at least a pat on the back, for resisting the urge to turn onto a road that leads to Concord’s Oak Hill trails and fire tower.

That’s a hike for another day.