New Hampshire - Little Monadnocks

Back in our dating years we hiked Southern New Hampshire’s 3165ft high Mount Monadnock.

Mt Monadnock from Little Monadnock

We jokingly remember missing a trail and making the hike a little longer than planned. We’ve hiked it several times since.  A monadnock is an isolated hill or ridge rising above a plain. Mount Monadnock stands out, though some smaller mountains surround it. This past week, we hiked two of these smaller mountains.

The first was PACK MONADNOCK at 2290ft. Pack Monadnock means “little monadnock.” Pack Monadnock holds good memories for us, as we’ve both hiked and driven to the summit with special family and friends. When our daughter, Carrie, was just 3 years old, we were proud of her for hiking all the way up; then she slept all the way down the mountain on Bill’s shoulders.

with Barbara's parents 1998

with Bill's parents 2006

This week we hiked up the Marion Davis Trail – a 1.4mi hike with an 800ft elevation change. Barbara liked this mountain, considering it more her level than the larger monadnock.

Barbara on Pack Monadnock

ladyslippers

Bill at Pack Monadnock summit

 

Our second monadnock hike was the somewhat redundantly named LITTLE MONADNOCK, the smallest of these mountains at 1900ft. This was new territory for us. The trail we took to the top started at Rhododendron State Park with its 0.6 mile handicapped accessible loop trail through an amazing grove of rhododendrons. Some day we’ll have to come back in mid-July when the flowers bloom. Then we took the 1-mile spur trail 700ft up Little Monadnock and, like our previous hike, got a view of Mount Monadnock near the top.

Bill at trail entrance

Barbara on Rhodoodendron Loop Trail

Barbara at Little Monadnock summit

In the meantime we are enjoying our lake view home while still looking at real estate when things come up.

Massachusetts - Section Hiking a Nature Trail

Some people “section hike” trails like the Appalachian Trial or the Long Trail rather than doing it start to finish. They do one section at one time and come back and do another section some other time until they complete the whole trail.  Well Barbara “section hiked” the trail from the campground to the day use area to Otter River State Forest.

HIKE 1 was that hike that Barbara took along the lake from the campground to the day use area watching the ducks. (See previous post.)

Both of us did HIKE 2 (most of the 2 mile part) when we followed letterbox clues from Otter River State Forest. We hiked a long ways following the clues, getting all the boxes, but when we were done getting boxes we turned around to go back to the car.

HIKE 3 put the two hikes together by hiking from the day use area to where we left off after letterboxing. We found out that we were about 10 minutes away from completing the hike when we turned around. Total, it was probably close to 5 miles since we did it in both directions and added trails to the campground and parking lot.

It was a great time to spot wildflowers. Here are just a few.

And wildlife.

snake

toad

With the campground emptying after the Memorial Day weekend we were able to move to a campsite near the water.

Lake Dennison, Winchendon MA

Massachusetts - Doane’s Falls

Our campground at Lake Dennison is in the northern part of the middle of Massachusetts. Barbara noticed that it was near Doane’s Falls, a series of cascading falls in Royalston.

Doane’s Falls, Royalston MA

For Bill, it was new territory to explore. For Barbara, it brought back a fond memory of the long trip there six years ago with her parents – the lovely fall day and negotiating the steep trail with trekking poles.

Al & Miriam on bridge over falls

Things change – now there is a handicapped accessible trail to one of the falls, but it’s still a gorgeous gorge and a fun hike.

Bill photographing one of the falls

We also went to nearby Tully Dam, which created the recreational Tully Lake:

Tully Dam, Royalston MA

Sometimes letterbox clues take us to new and different places. Today a letterbox clue brought us to the mascot for the town of Winchendon, a 4x replica of a toy horse that a Winchendon company used to sell. The box was supposed to be hidden in the right bush. If you look closely at the picture, you might see Bill’s foot as he checked for a box in the bush. We didn’t find the box, but we got to see a unique spot.

mascot, Winchendon MA

Barbara also hiked around Lake Dennison. She saw many yellow butterflies (they didn’t pose for a picture) and watched a family of ducks.

Mark your calendars. Bill actually just sat on this bench watching the sun set over the lake.

Downsizing

Five months ago a couple contacted us who heard we were planning to move. They offered to buy our house at a reasonable price and give us a long time till closing. We thought that would be great as it gave us time to figure out where to buy.

We spent months looking online and touring houses, but just couldn’t find a place we wanted to call home. Certainly there were houses, but none really matched the way we would like to live – a small nice home with one-story living on a lot that would accommodate our trailer. As the closing date drew near, we decided to put our possessions in storage and live in our trailer until something came up. 

Well, we wanted to downsize, so here we go. It will be nice not to have to worry about a house and a yard and to have free time to hike and explore. We will continue to look at real estate and hope something comes up. In the meantime, we are hoping we will have more adventures to share with you as we travel around in our trailer.

We closed on our Sudbury house yesterday, saying good-bye to a very nice home, neighborhood and town, and we especially think about special times there. We lived there almost 20 years – the place where our girls grew up – and a house we fixed up just the way we wanted. It’s a bittersweet good-bye, but now we are on to the next adventure.

First stop is Lake Dennison in Winchendon MA. We arrived to a nearly empty campground, but expect things to fill up today – the start of the Memorial Day weekend. We walked along the lake yesterday and look forward to hiking, letterboxing, and resting.

Here is our home du jour.

Massachusetts - Walks in the Woods

Sometimes we need a break from looking at real estate and we take a local hike or Barbara goes letterboxing.

We explored Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. This former military training base with WWII era ammunition bunkers was cleaned up and transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for conservation in 2000.

Bill at bunker, Assabet River NWR, Sudbury MA, Jan 31

Photographs can't quite capture the enchanting feeling we felt while walking in a totally snow covered woods near our home one day – like a wintry Narnia.  We didn't get much snow this year, but that day was just beautiful.

a snowy day at Wolbach Farm, Sudbury MA, Feb 2

After countless times driving past a conservation area in Concord called the Old Rifle Range, we finally explored the trails in pursuit of a letterbox. The former rifle range provided a training area for the local militia from 1910-1951. It ended up a treacherous walk on ice packed trails, but we liked the view at the end of the trail.

Kennedy's Pond, Old Rifle Range, Concord MA, Feb 22

We found several remnants of old targets along the path.

former target, Old Rifle Range, Concord MA, Feb 22

After a fruitless trip to Virginia where the house we planned to see was sold before we got there, Barbara needed a good hike. She spent a day on her own letterboxing at Ward Reservation in Andover. The area is one of Barbara's favorites.

stones, Ward Reservation, Andover MA, Mar 11

There have been lots of other hikes here and there. We try to keep our eyes open to what we see along the path.

ice, Mt Tom State Reservation, Holyoke MA, Feb 27

fungi, Ward Reservation, Andover MA, Mar 11

rail trail, Sterling MA, Mar 31

stick teepee, Puplit Rock, Bedford NH, Mar 31

White Pine sign, Assabet River Trail, Maynard MA, Apr 9

fairy house, Fairyland Pond, Concord MA, Apr 10

MA, NH & VA - House Hunting Hikes

Our serious travel is stalled while we look for a place to move, but we still got in some day hikes while house hunting.

In January we looked at houses on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Bill hiked by a salt marsh and also walked from one house to the ocean while Barbara hung out at this beach.

beach at Surf Drive, Falmouth MA

So cool to find a house so close to the ocean, but there was a surprising amount of traffic in January that will only be worse in the summer.

The next day Bill hiked a mountain near Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire that was walking distance from a few houses.

view from Pine Mountain, Alton NH

No traffic here and a beautiful view, but we wondered if it was a little too far from things.

Later we went back to the Cape and Bill took an inland hike pretty close to a house we liked. Too bad the extra garage was a little too tight for our trailer.

West Barnstable Conservation Area, Barnstable MA

 In February we went to Southwest Virginia. Bill hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail near Daleville.

Carvins Cove Reservoir viewed from the Appalachian Trail near Daleville VA

We looked at a few houses in the Roanoke area, but didn't find the right home. We did drive a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway and caught a nice sunset.

Blue Ridge Parkway near Buena Vista VA

We also looked at real estate in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts – the area near the Connecticut River. On one of these trips we hiked at Mt Tom State Reservation. Barbara hiked to two rickety towers and despite her acrophobia, climbed both.

Goat Peak Lookout Tower, Mt Tom State Reservation, Holyoke MA

Bill hiked to the top of Mt Nonotuck, saw the remains of a hotel that burned a century ago, and got a view of the Connecticut River.

view from Mt Nonotuck, Mt Tom State Reservation, Holyoke MA

Finally we checked out a couple towns in Southern New Hampshire. We found a house in Hollis that had a marvelous barn for our trailer but the house was, well, not marvelous. It was walking distance from a network of pretty snowmobile trails, but we didn't get a picture. Another trip provided the opportunity to explore the geologically interesting Pulpit Rock Conservation Area in Bedford with its boulders, potholes, and cascading stream.

Pulpit Rock Conservation Area, Bedford NH

We've looked quite a bit at real estate, starting with Florida in the Fall and it's been a challenging process finding the right place, but we've enjoyed some moments along the way.