INTRODUCTION:
You
might like this blog posting if you take pleasure in bushwhacking just for the fun of it, and enjoy visiting
places that are new to you . . . but otherwise . . . then maybe not so much! :-)
This
small adventure took place a few miles east of Stark, NH in early July 2016.
The destination was a place called Location Hill. I've been unable to locate any documentation regarding
the derivation of this rather unusual name.
Shown
below is a map with a large red arrow pointing to Location Hill. As I understand it, the more traditional
bushwhack route to this little mountain is to park at junction of Kelly Rd and FR 64B,
and then do about a 1-mile trek up the western slope of Location Hill. However, for no particular reason, I opted to
launch my bushwhack from the public WMNF land that touches highway NH-110. From there, I trekked about 1-mile southwards
to the viewless summit, and then continued onward a few hundred feet to a ledge
(44°35'58"N, 71°20'41"W) where there are some limited views.
PHOTOS:
The
route I used was generally easygoing, with just a few gnarly sections here and
there. Plus, there were a few bands of
small cliffs which were easy to work around.
Shown below is one of the small band of cliffs.
On
the north side of Location Hill, not far from the summit, I came across the pool
of water shown in the next photo. Upon
seeing it, I thought this looked like it would be a nice "moose
hangout" spot. Then, lo and behold,
one of my Facebook friends posted a comment indicating that he had indeed once
seen a moose at this watering hole!
The
next two photos show vistas from the small ledge located a few hundred feet SE
of the summit of Location Hill.
 |
| High peaks on the distant horizon include Shelburne-Moriah mountains, and North and Middle Carter |
 |
| Bumps on the horizon include (L to R): Square Mountain; Rogers Ledge; North Peak; The Horn; Mt. Cabot. Plus, a small slice of Rocky Pond is seen in foreground at bottom right. |
After the bushwhack to Location Hill, I drove to the nearby South Pond Recreation Area. By trekking off-trail for a few tenths of a
mile along the western shore of South Pond, I got the perspective shown in the
next photo.
 |
| Location Hill is at far RIGHT. The larger mountain seen in the distance at far LEFT consists mainly of the sprawling mass of Long Mountain. |
~ THE END ~
4 comments:
Hi John - Nice outing! It looks like this is a great please for a view! I noticed in the map above, there are a bunch of forests/state forests that abut each other. I've never seen forest boundaries clumped like that.
I think the last picture is great...getting a good pic of the profile of the hill really ties together this trek.
As always, great report and pics!
Karl
Karl, many thanks for your kind words about this blog posting. Much appreciated!!
As you correctly note, the public land holdings in the vicinity of Stark, NH is quite a patchwork quilt of Federal, State, and local jurisdictions. And as you know, hiking trails are sparse in this North Country region of NH. This lends itself to plentiful off-trail adventures to places that are seldom explored. :-)
John
I agree with Karl. I really liked the final photo, which added perspective to this post.
Our area of Utah is parched right now, no rain for quite awhile. So I love seeing all the greenery and the water. The ponds—even the moose hangout—look so refreshing!
Another nice post, John!
Hi Rita,
It’s great to know that you and Karl both liked the final photo in this posting. Funny thing is that it was sort of an afterthought to wander to the spot where the snapshot was taken. Following the bushwhack, I ended up with a bit more extra time than I’d anticipated. And so, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to spend this time by doing a trek along the pond’s shoreline to get a perspective on the place I’d just visited.
John
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