Short run in HHNP

I went for a 40 min run in Horse Hill Nature Preserve last night to put some more miles on some trail shoes I'm testing for an 'unnamed' company. I say unnamed only because I'm not sure I can disclose or write about them.....yet.
Anyways, HHNP became my favorite place to snowshoe last year but it hasn't really been my favorite place to trail run. Although there are some decent trails out there, most are not well established and can get overgrown a bit. That will change over time. The other problem is it's just so friggin wet/muddy on a lot of sections. I don't mind the mud but the wet spots are there year round, bordering on swamp-like. A couple well placed bridges or walkways may solve the problem and would sure make traveling a bit easier.
I still think this plot of land has great potential. There are some dedicated folks doing some nice work (bridge work, trail signs, maps) and I hope the effort continues. I'd like to see a few more trails designed as well. I'm not sure what's going on on the south end though (by the Watanic Bowmen parking area). Looks like a logging operation or something. I only briefly saw it since I was running along the Loop Trail but I plan on heading back out later this week just to see what's up in that particular area.

Ticks, horse flies and mosquitos oh my!

It's been a few weeks since I spent any serious time running in the woods, now I know why. I decided to go for a trail run in Grater Woods in Merrimack this morning. It felt like I was running in the Amazon. There was a heavy fog and high humidity (although the temp was only 65-70). I was dripping wet after about 5 minutes of running. Anyways, the plan was to run from the new middle school over into Amherst and explore the trails near Pond Parrish Rd. These trails (and woods) are still new to me so I haven't quite figured out the trails yet so every once in a while I stop to get my bearings and check my GPS watch. The problem is when you stop it's like a mosquito pit crew jumping the wall. They seem to come out of know where. They don't seem to bother me 'while' I'm running but boy, if you stop you risk bleeding out. So, no brainer, I decide to move on and guess my way instead. That's when the next insect assassin decides to attack..the horse fly (or some annoying close relative). These things amaze me. They have this ability to fly in circles around your head...while you're running. Think about it, how the heck do they do this? I'm running at 7mph or so and they're flying around my head. So first they need to fly as fast as me (I know, it's not that fast). But how do they hover AND fly at 7mph? On top of that they seem to know exactly where my hand, hat, water bottle or anything else in my hand seems to be coming from. I don't think I've ever made contact with a horse fly, ever. The other thing is they follow you for MILES. After about 2 miles of running I couldn't take it anymore. Between the horse flies and the rain forest like conditions I just wasn't having any fun so I turned around and headed back to the car. That's when I noticed (felt) the trifecta of this group, the tick, stuck to my lower leg. I HATE ticks. They totally freak me out. I brushed it off but it never really feels like it's gone. I got back to my car soaking wet, did a quick 'tick check' and headed home. While driving home I felt something moving on my leg. Figuring it was sweat rolling down my leg I pretty much ignored it until I finally extended my leg and saw another TICK. Damn little blood suckers. I stopped the car, got out and started brushing everything off like I was on fire. Man, I HATE ticks.
I'll stick to the roads for a while.

Uncanoonuc Mt....times two

My friend Dan and I have been talking about doing a trail run on and around Uncanoonuc Mt in Goffstown. Actually there are two mountains, North Mt and South Mt and both are nearly identical in elevation (approximately 1320 ft) and about a mile apart as a crow flies. The plan was to cover as many of the surrounding summit routes and hit both summits in a single run. Unfortunately we never really found any decent trail maps of the area, just an old map from the 1930's when they used to have a snow train to the summit. The others were mountain bike GPS maps from various riders. We printed out what we had, packed our GPS watches along with a compass and headed to the Base Rd parking area below South Mt.

We headed up South Mt. first via the Summit Trail (or U.S.C. Trail on the old map). Very steep climb but it didn't last too long. We didn't follow it to the summit though, opting for a side trail labeled 'Walker' as we approached the summit. The trail gently traveled around the NE side of the mountain before hooking up with the Incline trail just short of the summit. It did offer nice views to the NE of downtown Manchester however.

View of Downtown Manchester from Walker Trail.

Incline Trail on South Mt.

We then turned right and headed up the last bit of the Incline Trail. Once at the summit we looped around once looking for the Eastside Trail. Not sure if we found it or not but after a VERY steep decent, we did find an awesome single track around the south side of the mountain, eventually hooking up with Summit Rd. A quick trek down the road to the powerlines and we were off on our next trail, following the lines for nearly 2 miles.


Powerline Trail

At this point we went on a several mile detour (aka lost), eventually coming out on a residential road. We were looking for a cross trail from South to North Mountains. After stopping and asking a neighbor for directions, we headed up Mountain Road and eventually found the trail we were looking for: Dorsey Ravine Trail. We followed this trail all the way to the summit. Stopped for a quick snack, snapped a couple of pictures and off we went down the other side of the mountain, hoping to find the infamous cross trail back to South Mountain.

Dorsey Ravine Trail on North Mt.


Near the summit of North Mt.


View of South Mt. from the summit of North Mt.

Shortly after passing a beaver dam and pond we can across a familiar sign: Bickford Lookout. Actually just Bickford was familiar since we saw a sign for Bickford Trail back at the start of our run earlier this morning. We must have finally found the cross trail. After taking a short detour to the lookout and taking the picture below we headed back to South Mountain.

Bickford Lookout

In all we traveled just over 10 miles, with nearly 3,000 ft of elevation gain (and 3,000 ft of elevation loss). All in all a pretty good workout for a couple of hours.