A foot of powder? Yes, please!

December 18, 2013May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

Horse Hill Nature Preserve, Merrimack NH. Ellen Kolb photo.

We’ve had two snowfalls in my area in recent days, both nice fluffy powder. I was one of the first hikers since yesterday’s snowstorm to walk through the nature preserve nearby. It was a lunchtime trip and I had less than an hour, but with the preserve less than three miles away, I couldn’t pass it up.

I met only a couple of fellow hikers on the way. Like me, they were wedging a walk into the workday. They looked as relaxed as I felt. Aside from our greetings to each other, things were pretty quiet. I would hear aircraft approaching the regional airport to the north and the community airport to the south and the corporate helipad nearby, and then all the flights would be over for a few minutes and I would hear nothing but the wind in the bare trees. Those are the bonus moments.

This made a good break in a day when too much was racing through my mind. Today is the web site launch for another project of mine, and I am at the mercy of my techie-pro colleagues. I’m baking for a holiday celebration. (Food is love where I come from.) Christmas is next week, and I feel the loss and separation from some of my loved ones more keenly now than at other times of the year. The car needs work. Real life is in high gear, in other words.

Hooray for high gear. It makes me appreciate low gear in snowshoes.

Purgatory Falls, finally

November 13, 2013May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

Lower Purgatory Falls (E. Kolb photo)

I recently made it to one of my area’s more popular trails for the first time in ages. It’s another one of the southern New Hampshire treasures easy to take for granted.

When a late start forced a friend and me to change our plan to hike upstate last week, she suggested Purgatory Falls as a nearby hike that we could enjoy with her dogs. Sounded good to me. We started at the lower end of Purgatory Brook, at the trailhead on Purgatory Road in Milford a short distance north of North River Road. We had very little company, but my friend assured me that it can get crowded on weekends and in warmer weather.

I’m not used to hiking with dogs, and my friend brought her black Lab and her Shar-Pei. Both dogs were familiar with the trail and could hardly wait to jump out of the car at the trailhead. We decided to use leashes at first, until we were sure no other dogs were around. The Shar-Pei walked me – I can’t pretend I was controlling the dog! He was a calm and poky thing compared to his fellow pup, though. Maggie the Lab ran ahead of us, around us, into the brook and back again. A good time was had by all.

We took an hour to get to the upper Falls, but that was with plenty of doggie diversions. The walk back to the car was quicker, with the dogs a little less rambunctious.

I have relatives living in the village near upper Falls, and they once took me on a walk (a Thanksgiving day, as I recall) to see that spot. The walk from the village along unpaved Upham Road took us past the Purgatory Falls Fish and Game Club, at which point the road became a clear trail. It’s pleasant any time of year, I’m sure, although I’d pack the usual bug repellent in spring or summer.

Information about the trail is on the Mont Vernon town web site, and it’s mentioned in most southern New Hampshire trail guides.

Welch-Dickey, late October

October 30, 2013April 3, 2024 / Ellen Kolb

Welch Mountain, taken from Dickey Mountain

I don’t know when I’ve had a more fun year of hiking. I might say that every year, but I really mean it.

Last weekend, I headed with a friend to the loop trail over Welch and Dickey mountains (elev. 2605 and 2734), a short distance from Waterville Valley. This is a well-traveled trail, mentioned in guidebooks as being great for families. I tried to imagine how crowded the parking lot must be on summer weekends. This is fall, though; the leaves are past peak and the morning temps are in the thirties or lower. There were only three other cars in the lot Saturday morning, assuring us a crowd-free day.

Despite umpteen operations on her knees, my companion’s indefatigable, and a great deal more fit than I am. She refused to be discouraged by my slow pace and overall wimpiness on hills. We had a great time. It took us about four hours to complete the hike, on a day with a trace of flurries in the air on the summit ledges.

I leave a detailed trail description to the guidebooks that are out there. My friend had an AMC book with a description of Welch-Dickey, while I had Daniel Doan’s Fifty Hikes in the White Mountains. The trailhead is in White Mountain National Forest, and there’s an iron ranger in the parking lot to receive the modest day-pass fee. There’s a very clean pit toilet there, too, which is always a plus.

Pondicherry is for the birds (and beavers and hikers)

October 16, 2013April 3, 2024 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

A friend and I have been trying for several weekends to arrange a hike, with last-minute work commitments sabotaging every trip so far. Still, we keep planning. When I suggested Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge, she said “where’s that?” I was going to refer her to a blog post here, when I discovered to my embarrassment that I hadn’t yet written about this lovely place, despite my fondness for it. Oops. Making up for lost time here.

The refuge straddles the towns of Jefferson and Whitefield. To get there from southern New Hampshire, I take I-93 through Franconia Notch and then U.S. 3 through Twin Mountain into Whitefield. There’s a airport sign in Whitefield pointing me to a right turn off route 3. A drive around the south side of the one-runway airport brings me to a little biomass power plant, across from which is a well-marked parking area for Pondicherry.

Mount Martha, with Presidential range at left. All photos by Ellen Kolb. — Cherry Pond, with Presidential range at left and Mount Martha at right. All photos by Ellen Kolb.

From the parking area, one could be forgiven for thinking “is that all there is?” The Presidential Rail Trail extends north from there, looking like a long dirt boulevard. (In fact, it’s a busy snowmobile thoroughfare in the winter.) Cherry Pond is a mile and a half away via the trail. During my April visits, little spring flowers are usually peeking up on the sunny side of the trail when there’s still ice along the shaded side. I seldom have company here, and there is little noise except for the occasional small plane landing at the airport.

The walk into the refuge is tree-lined, making the sudden view of the Presidentials all the more startling when I arrive at Cherry Pond. I never get tired of that view.

Nearby are Little Cherry Pond and the adjacent wetlands. The Cohos Trail passes through, piggybacking on the Presidential Rail Trail for some distance. There’s an observation platform, affording excellent views for the birdwatcher who remembered to bring her binoculars (which I ALWAYS forget). A rail line runs through the property as well. Signs sternly warn that the rail line is “active,” but that means “two trains a week” or thereabouts. I sometimes see a few freight cars parked on a nearby siding; this quiet location still bears the old name of Waumbek Junction.

Beavers have waged undeclared war on hikers for years by causing flooding of a trail on the east side of Cherry Pond. Hikers currently have the upper hand with the recent rehabilitation of the Slide Brook Trail. The beavers don’t affect the southern access that I’ve described above. Critters of all sizes find Pondicherry a congenial place. I’ve seen moose tracks, but no moose.

The Pondicherry refuge is a cooperative venture of state, federal, and private organizations. A good guide to the Pondicherry trails can be found in the Jefferson Dome chapter of Kim Nilsen’s book 50 Hikes North of the White Mountains.

That spiky hill in Goffstown

November 22, 2010May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

The twin Uncanoonuc hills in Goffstown are my landmarks for knowing I’m nearly home whenever I come back from even a short trip out of my area. North Uncanoonuc looks forested and fresh, while South has 14 antennae and cell towers on its summit, making it look a bit like a geographic porcupine. I can’t complain too much about the towers, since I like having cell service & similar conveniences. Any map I consult calls these the Uncanoonuc Mountains, but when you read that, bear in mind that these “mountains” top out around 1300′.

North Uncanoonuc is always pleasant, with good views, no power lines, & no towers. Today, though, I wanted to check out the trails on South. Goffstown has produced a terrific map (www.GoffstownTrails.com) showing not just the old hiking trails, but also the snowmobile trails that snake over & around both peaks. Mountain Road between the hills has several parking areas for hikers, and the entrance to the Reservoir road off Mountain Road now has a parking area with a map kiosk.

I started up South Uncanoonuc from the kiosk for a short late-afternoon hike, carrying the map I had downloaded & printed. Conditions are typical for November. South’s trails are covered with slippery oak leaves, and a few of the boggy spots already have a thin skin of ice. Major trail intersections have either snowmobile signs or trail markers. Most minor trails as shown on the map are easy to spot, though they’re unsigned. A power line cut across the slope includes a well-defined trail, which today saw bike traffic along with a few hikers. It was a great day to enjoy the view of Manchester (see photo) from South’s summit ledges. I could almost forget that a cell tower was right behind me.

If I had had more time, I could have continued down the other side of South Uncanoonuc on either of two trails that end at Uncanoonuc Lake. A full morning or afternoon could easily be given to wandering these trails and visiting both summits. Bring water & snacks – the closest store & restrooms are on Mast Road, a couple of miles north of the trail kiosk on Mountain Road. There’s a paved road from South’s summit to Back Mountain Road, and if you want a good workout without going into the woods, you can drive to the summit (no good parking at the base)and walk down to the base & back. But why would I want to avoid the woods on a day like this?

Getting here

November 8, 2006November 7, 2025 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

Walking for pure joy sort of snuck up on me. When I needed to lose weight, I developed the habit of heading outside after dinner to go around the block a few times. Much later, it dawned on me that there were a whole lot of more interesting places I could explore — maybe not after dinner, but on weekends & days off.

I found state parks. I discovered rail trails. I walked through neighborhoods that I had only before seen from a car window.

I can hear a few “DUH!”s out there. But that’s just because you figured all this out before I did.

In the greater scheme of things, I’m a New Hampshire newcomer, having been here “only” 24 years. I moved up from Florida with my husband and baby, hardly expecting this whole Northern thing to work out as well as it has. It took me awhile to realize just how much of Florida’s beauty I had taken for granted the whole time I was growing up — the beauty most of the tourists miss. I didn’t want to make the same mistake here. Having five kids, and making them my occupational priority (why don’t I just say “full-time stay-at-home mom”?), I have learned little by little over the years about appreciating things close to home. As my family’s gotten older, I’ve had time for trips a bit farther afield, but most of my recreational time is still spent in NH.

I enjoy entering local road races as a walker, but that has its place. Sometimes, the timed workout energizes me. I certainly don’t do it for world recognition, since I am not particularly fast. I wouldn’t want to give up either my races or my hikes. My long-suffering husband has been very encouraging to me, which is no small effort on his part. He is much faster than I am, and we hike together seldom because I really get concerned about how far behind him I always am. Even when we visited Yosemite, some of our hikes were separate — I did Panorama Trail by myself, and he hiked Half Dome without me. And that was fine with me.

So, here I am, southern NH-based and fascinated by the NH outdoors. I am a complete amateur at what I do, in the sense that I do my walking because I love it. As for my outdoors skills, let’s just say that without help from my son, the onetime Scout, I couldn’t so much as pitch a tent. I aim to improve on that, since so many of the places I visit rate more than a 6-hour daytrip.

I plan to write about some of my favorite spots (not all of them!) and post some photos if I manage to take any worth posting. I’m an amateur at that, too.