Columbus Day weekend is wrapping up for the leaf-peepers. Autumn colors are still muted in my area, except for a few specimen trees flashing scarlet. I figured the Monadnocks would be a little showier today. I stole a couple of hours from my schedule and headed to Miller State Park in time for a walk up the auto road before it opened to cars for the day. I actually spent time alone on the summit of Pack Monadnock! That’s a rare treat.
With a car and several hours at my disposal this weekend, I decided to head out to New Hampshire’s southwestern corner for a rare visit to the Madame Sherri forest in Chesterfield. Only my distance from the area keeps me from more frequent visits.
And who is the Madame Sherri who left us with the remnants of a castle? The Forest Society tells you all about it on a page that includes important information about the trails on the property.
I was a little concerned when I arrived at the trailhead and found the parking area filled and the roadside lined with “no parking” signs. I managed to find a tiny spot that accommodated my tiny car. Here’s a tip: the kiosk at the far side of the parking lot has a little notice card informing visitors that overflow parking is available a short distance up the dead-end road across from the trailhead. Too bad the sign can’t be seen from the road, but I’ll remember the parking arrangements for next time.
Once on the trails, I crossed three bridges over dry streambeds. The area’s drought is not easing. All the more remarkable, then, that wildflowers continue to bloom. I love the icy-blue asters still flowering.
Indian Pond may be lower than usual, but it’s still a beautiful spot.
And then there’s the castle, which rates a respectful nod at each visit. Imagine what the full structure must have looked like in its glory days. The kiosk at the parking area actually has some good photos and historical information about the site.
I picked a wonderful day for a drive, with Monadnock dominating the scene between Dublin and Keene. I had actually planned to make several stops yesterday, but once in Chesterfield, I decided to enjoy the Madame Sherri forest and not rush it. More trail time, less car time.
I’m told that today is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Huzzah! I treasure my trips to the gems of the park system. This is my little thank-you note to the NPS team.
I love Acadia National Park in Maine, and I love it even more in the off-season. Best trip there I ever had was on a blustery, showery October weekend when I had the carriage trails practically to myself.
When I visited Yellowstone National Park, bison greeted me as soon as I crossed into the park on Route 20. My one trip was during a week before Memorial Day – a shoulder season, post-winter and pre-summer, with no traffic jams. A week is too short a visit; there’s so much to see, and choices must be made. I felt the same way after seeing Yosemite.
It wouldn’t have occurred to me to visit Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming if I hadn’t gone to Yellowstone. On a map, Grand Teton looks like an afterthought compared to its imposing neighbor to the north. It’s a marvel in its own right.
How many miles have I walked this year? A couple of hundred, if my journal is accurate, averaging a measly couple of dozen each month. Well, my knee hurt for awhile. The weather wasn’t always nice. I was busy. Blah, blah, blah … and just think, I fancy myself the Granite State Walker.
Today, I met a couple of real Granite State walkers. Wendy Thomas and Griffin Nozell, mother and son, just finished walking the length of New Hampshire, beginning at the Canadian border in Pittsburg and ending today in Nashua at the Massachusetts state line. They chose road walking rather than trail hiking, and in the process they built an online community that cheered them on all the way.
I joined Wendy and Griffin for the last couple of miles of their trip, just to meet them. I’d been following their travels via their Facebook group, Border-to-Border New Hampshire.
Thanks, Wendy and Griffin, for your fine company and conversation! I especially loved sharing impressions of Pittsburg, where they found the same warmth and hospitality that have made all my hikes up there so memorable.
They tell their own story better than I can. Link to Wendy’s blog, Lessons Learned From the Flock, for her introduction to their journey.
And you know what? It turns out that Wendy and I are neighbors. We live in the same town, about a mile apart. We didn’t meet until today.
Wendy plans to write up her travel notes for her blog, entitling the first post “Spoiler Alert.” She’ll have observations and insights different from those of someone hiking off-road. I urge you to head over to Lessons Learned From the Flock to read more about the border-to-border hike.
Griffin and Wendy have left me feeling inspired and encouraged to plod on, sore knees and all, always discovering more things to love about our Granite State.
Hot day, feeling sluggish, mulling over a list of places to go: I finally just got in the car and started driving.
Zipping through NH Rt. 111 in Hudson enroute to yet another Forest Society property (I’ll get that patch if it kills me), I realized that I was near Benson Park. I hadn’t been on the property in years – since it was Benson’s Wild Animal Farm, in fact. I made a quick detour, found the park, and walked three good miles on its trails and paths. The trails I chose weren’t crowded, even with a couple of Pokémon Go groups intent on doing whatever it is they do.
Download a trail map before you go. I settled for taking a photo of the map at a kiosk on site. Kids, don’t try this at home; batteries are fickle friends.
The history of the property is available on the Town of Hudson website. Indulge me as I recount a grossly oversimplified version: once upon a time in the town of Hudson, New Hampshire, there was an amusement park called Benson’s Wild Animal Farm. The Finer Minds at the state capital decided that a Circumferential Highway would ease all of Nashua’s traffic problems. (I hear you tittering over there in the back.) The Benson’s property was bought up by the state to mitigate the expected loss of wetlands for the highway project. Years passed, and the Circumferential Highway project quietly expired, leaving only exit 2 off the Everett Turnpike to remember it by. Eventually, the Finer Minds released the Benson’s property to the town of Hudson.
More years passed, many people put enormous efforts into rehabilitating the property, and Benson’s Park is now a Hudson jewel with a playground, dog park, memorials, and a trail network. The longest single trail, Haselton Farm, is about two and a half miles long; many shorter ones allow for extended hikes.
On the Haselton Farm trail, some of the pavement remains from the Wild Animal Farm days, and the occasional sewer-access cover along the way serves as a reminder that this used to be a more developed area. On this 90-degree summer day, the trail was wonderfully shady, and a light breeze made bug repellent unnecessary.
This was the best spur-of-the-moment stop I’ve made in a long time. It’s great fun to find a place like this fairly close to home.
Call it the Society for Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the SPNHF, or the simpler Forest Society: however you say it, here’s an organization that wants to show off its holdings. The Forest Society has issued us a challenge. The payoff for you and me: a patch.
The Forest Reservation Challenge involves visiting 33 of the Forest Society’s New Hampshire holdings. At this time no deadline has been set, which is a good thing, since the 33 holdings are scattered all over the Granite State. These things take time. For all of us with either limited time or a limited budget for gas, there’s a “Tier 2” challenge: visit several properties in one region of the state, plus answer questions about each property. Alas, selfies are involved, which is a mild annoyance for those of us who are not photogenic. That’s how the good folks at the Forest Society know that we’re not just using old photos from our friends’ collections.
The Forest Society’s web site explains the challenge in full. I’m going to give it a try. You may find, as I’m discovering, that some Forest Society lands are actually fairly close to home. Some may be close to routes you already travel regularly. I’m looking forward to re-visiting some favorite spots and discovering new ones.
Whether I earn the patch or not, I’m going to have fun on the trails. I’ll post about my progress.
Update: how long did it take me to finish the Challenge? Read all about it!
Granite State Walker 