For anyone who reads my "2 Small 2B Big" blog, you might recall a somewhat recent
report (click HERE) about a short
adventure in the Paul T. Doherty Memorial Town Forest which is located in the
Gorham, NH area. In that report I
expressed my surprise that I'd met
another hiker while traveling along an unmarked/unnamed trail in this town
forest. As I further indicated, this individual was very cordial and provided some ideas for other adventures within
the confines of this public land.
One of the
suggestions given to me was to hike a little over a mile up an abandoned
logging road. On the surface, this
sounds rather uninspiring! However, I
was told that the vistas were quite rewarding for such a small hike. You, the reader, will need to judge for
yourself, but I feel I was given a truthful assessment of the views from this
roadway. Shown below are a few of the
snapshots taken during this short adventure.
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| Howker Ridge leading up to Mt. Madison |
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| Pine Mountain (foreground) with Imp Mountain and North Carter in the background |
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| A through-the-trees view of Carter Notch |
If you're curious about details about where to park, and
where to start and end this small hike, please take a look at the Google Earth image shown
below (click to enlarge).
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| Google Earth image showing details about this small hike |
From the spot where you park, you'll need to walk about a
tenth of a mile eastward on Jimtown Road to reach the entrance to the logging
road. You'll know you're at the right
place when you see the road gate off to your left with a nearby sign that reads
"Paul T. Doherty Memorial
Forest" (see photo below).
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| Sign at beginning of hike along the abandoned logging road off Jimtown Road |
Obviously, it wouldn't be worth driving long distances
just to do this particular hike.
However, if you're already in the area, then it might be worthy of consideration
if you only have the time/energy for a short hike. And, from the same parking area as used for this hike, you could launch another small hike to Peboamauk Fall, as was described in
my blog report referenced earlier (Click HERE).
I've not as yet XC-skied the hike described in this
report, nor the trek to Peboamauk Fall.
However, I think they both would be an enjoyable ski.
(In recent days, I
researched another small hike in the Bethlehem area. Click HERE
to view that report.)
~ THE END ~
Thanks for posting this! I have to travel to berlin periodically for eldercare duties, so this would fit in fine with my limited "free time" when I'm up there! I'll add these to my "list."
ReplyDeleteHiking lady
Hi Hiking Lady,
DeleteIt’s beyond terrific to read that you have found some value with hikes that I’ve posted to my “2 Small 2B Big” blog.
Thank you for taking time to post your comments!
John
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteLooks like you found a couple of my frequent haunts in my 'hood'. This old road make for a great xc ski with a fun downhill. Where you turned around (according to map-track) if you had gone straight (bear left) the trail continues to climb towards Black Crescent and is an excellent ski trail for considerable more distance. It gets a little brushy beyond this point, but is easy to work through with good snowpack. If you had gone on the right branch of the road where you turned around and through that large gate, the road goes on for miles, but it is broken up by deep waterbar after waterbar (culvert removal) that is a challenge even with deep snow. But the views on this stretch are striking.
Lower down on the road there is a old trail that connects a route of old logging road sections that can carry you east to eventually connect to Moose Brook park near Perkin's (Town) Reservoir. Unfortunately I have not been up there to track anything out this year to see what obvious, but quite often I am surprised to encounter more than one group of people enjoying this area on an afternoon.
Mega-thanks for your very informative response! Armed with the info you’ve so kindly shared, I’m very eager to get back over there for some more exploration!
DeleteAlthough it wasn’t mentioned in my report, I did “tippy-toe” a short distance beyond the stopping point shown on the map posted on this Blog. As you indicate, once you bear left and head in the direction of Black Crescent, things do begin to get brushy. For this particular adventure, I opted to go no further since I hadn’t allowed enough time to explore, and didn’t really know if the corridor would eventually peter out. Also, I did a bit of exploration by going to the right. When I came to the gate that you mentioned I saw the huge collection of culverts that had been removed. I stopped there, once again because of time constraints, plus not knowing if it was worthwhile to continue onward.
Prior to the stopping point shown on my map, I saw quite a number of old snowshoe tracks leading off to the east. My assumption was that folks were possibly headed over to Perkins Brook Road, either to do a loop, or perhaps that is where they lived. And actually, at the stopping point shown on my map, there were fresh snowshoe tracks leading eastward and they closely followed the red boundary line markers painted on the trees. I did follow this track and within about 10 minutes I ended up at a point lower down on the same road that I’d taken on my ascent. Not sure what that was all about? :-)
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge about this area with me. I’m truly appreciative! You live in a terrific “hood”! :-)
John