NH Cohos Trail: Kelsey Notch to Dixville Notch

Windmill service road & ATV trail, looking back south

This last section of the trip was pretty short, maybe six miles. We had no trouble finding the drop off point in Kelsey Notch this time (the gravel service road north of the Baldhead lean-to) and we spotted my car in Dixville Notch at the flume. The trail started out by following the windmill farm service road uphill for a good ways. This road also functions as an ATV trail, but none were out in the morning, and it was a peaceful stroll up the road with occasional stops to look back at the expanding view to the south.

Windmill blade turning in the wind

Eventually I did hear a weird noise, mechanical but not loud. It was the blades of nearby windmills turning in the stiff breeze. The big blades were just visible above the trees, churning away. Another hiking first. It was at this point that the trail finally turned off the gravel road and headed into the woods.

Into the woods!

It's always a pleasure to step onto a wooded footpath after a road walk, not that I don't like the variety that occasional road walks bring to a hike. This part of the trail is called Dixville Bypass on the trail map, and it parallels both an unimproved ATV trail and a line of seven windmills on the ridge to the east.

You're getting your feet wet for sure.

It was  nice woodland walk, slowing down for some wet spots where the trail crossed over expanses of sphagnum moss, and then the trail came to an unimproved ATV road. I didn't see any markings directing me, but the reverse markings made it obvious the trail turned left down the road, and the gps track on my phone verified that. 

Turning left onto an unimproved ATV trail

The road had better footing and no ATVs were out yet, so it went quickly and quietly. I had noticed on the gps track that the guy who recorded the track had taken a wrong turn and then doubled back, so I was on the lookout for the trail to go right somewhere.

ATV trail

A big mudhole and curve in the road marked the wayward spot. There were some signs and markings, but I could see how they could be missed by hikers, especially if the vegetation had grown up in front of them earlier in the season. A big ATV mudhole was a hassle to get around. This is the sort of thing that the hiking trails in Connecticut are reduced to because of illegal ATV usage. A bunch of 14-year-old boys on quads and dirt bikes will race down the middle of busy streets and onto the trails. They've destroyed regional suburban hiking trails built in the 1930s. Their parents will say inane things like "would you rather they were doing drugs?"  As if they aren't doing drugs.

Cohos heads off to the right here 

But in rural New Hampshire, I've seen no sign of illegal ATV use on the hiking trails or snowmobile trails. There's lots of space, a low population, and everyone has their own trail and respects everyone else's trail. It works, and there seems to be mutual respect.

ATVs blocked off of the Cohos with tape and signs. 

This section is called the Wilderness Link on the map. Next up was the Balsams ski slope. And a cell phone tower! I'm always happy to see those. I know some people complain about the towers but I like having cell phone service and you can't have that without towers. The ridge off to the right was lined with the windmills I'd seen earlier, but they had stopped turning.

Ski Slopes for the Balsams Resort - and a cell tower 

The trail followed the open top of the ski slope for a good ways and there were great views walking past the ski lanes.

Great views at the ski lanes

We're going this way

At the far end, the trail headed down the last ski trail, which was marked as the "Easiest Way Down." And it was named the" Connecticut Trail." That seemed maybe a little insulting to Connecticut. Having walked up from Connecticut, though, I have to admit that the New England Trail in Connecticut was probably the easiest part of the journey. So, touché.

The 'easiest way down' is called "Connecticut"

Eventually the trail turned off from the easy ski slope, and from this point down to Dixville Notch there were sporadic signs reflecting usage by patrons of the Balsams Resort. This part of the trail is labeled Table Rock Link on the map. There were random numbers tacked to trees and an educational sign about Yellow Birch.

Random markings presumably associated with the Balsams Resort

Table Rock was magnificent. It's a narrow rock formation that juts far out from the cliff faces that rise dramatically above the mountain pass.  I didn't go all the way out to the end of the rock formation where a group of young people were hanging out. Didn't matter. The views were spectacular from where I was. To the right, Route 26 ran along the bottom of the deep notch, the furthest north of any mountain pass in New Hampshire. To the left, the grand Balsams Resort hotel was framed by Abeniki Mountain to the rear and Lake Giorette in the foreground.

Table Rock, with Route 26 far below

This resort, which is currently closed down for economic reasons, functions as a town hall of sorts and is where they vote. The population of Dixville in 2010 was only twelve. It's one of the first places to declare its results in political primaries, with residents voting shortly after midnight, and as soon as everyone has voted, the results are released. This can be within a minute or two after midnight. Dixville and some other New Hampshire locales compete with each other to see who can publish their results first. Apparently Dixville does pretty well in this competition.

The Balsams Resort

The only thing ruining this incredible vantage was the sound of an ATV motor grinding away far down the valley. The acoustics were such that the sound just bounced its way up to us. It never stopped and I finally left just to get away from the noise. One guy in an ATV was ruining the experience for everyone trying to enjoy this beautiful location. I really wish they would switch to silent electric motors. Harley Davidson is working on electric motorcycles because their sales are falling and the younger crowd doesn't crave noisy engines like their macho elders.  Tesla cars have incredible power and are completely silent.  Electric vehicles have come a long way. It's time for quiet ATVs.

There are a couple different trails that head down from Table Rock. The Table Rock Trail heads most directly and steeply down towards the Balsams Resort, but the Cohos takes a more gentle route via the Three Brothers Trail. I had been worried this might be quite steep, but was pleasantly surprised. Most of it was quite moderate.

A pretty easy hike down

Near the bottom, it did steepen a bit near the top of a deep ravine. The sound of rushing water filled the gorge. According to the guidebook, a woman was seriously injured here when the top of the bank gave way. Ouch.

Top of a ravine

Water levels were low, so the cascades weren't much more than a trickle.

Huntington Cascades

Winter is Coming....and so is a spider

Overall, it was a pleasant stroll down to the bottom of the notch. There was an interesting bridge collapse at the bottom. The bridge wasn't old. Looks like maybe the stringer boards hadn't been fastened to each other very well. What a shame.

Engineering Disasters: Trails Edition

There was a big picnic area and huge dirt parking lot, all empty as I passed through on a Saturday afternoon. At the parking lot I wasn't sure which way to go without looking at the gps track on my phone. It angled to the right across the parking lot, and directly ahead was a small, fenced-in cemetery plot. A sign next to it titled "Earliest Settlers" explained that John and Betsey Whittemore were the first and only settlers of Dixville until 1865. They came in 1812 and suffered through isolated winters with no passable roads. In 1815, Betsey died, and John moved to Colebrook.

Family cemetery plot for John and Betsey Dixville

Cohos Trail markings were directly behind the sign, so I followed those across Route 26 and along a babbling brook a short ways to the Flume Brook Cascade parking area, where my car had been spotted.

Dixville Flume

That was it for this trip, about sixty miles of trail covered, mostly backpacking. And about sixty miles left to the border. But there was lots of work to do at home, and the last stretch would have to wait.

NH Cohos Trail: Nash Stream Rd to Kelsey Notch

Gadwah Notch Trail

This section was one of my favorite hikes anywhere, especially the meadows going up Gadwah Notch Trail. What a joy. I only regret that I was now slack-packing. I would have loved to spent the night at the edge of one of the meadows, under the stars.

Doll's Eye (White Baneberry)

It would have made more sense to continue backpacking through to Dixville Notch, but I had needed some day hiking sections along the Cohos, allowing me to walk the trail while my husband golfed, which is our 'weekend get-away' routine. I start out backpacking, he picks me up after a few days, and then I switch to slackpacking. It's worked great so far. But when it came time to spot my car at Kelsey Notch, Google Maps said it was going to take one hour and fifteen minutes to get there from our hotel. Wow. Still not used to the distances here. So we abruptly changed plans. I would get dropped off on the far end of Nash Stream Road, my husband would play golf and whatever, and then he'd pick me up at Kelsey Notch on a gravel service road for a windmill farm.

This is the kind of trail you can stroll

It had been wonderful sleeping in a real bed and eating real food the night before in a Lancaster hotel after backpacking three nights, and we were lazy about getting up in the morning, so it was 9:00 am before I started walking. This would have been a great place at dawn. Oh well. The day pack felt like a feather and the weather was perfect.

Pink Earth Lichen on the grassy road

The first part followed Gadwah Notch Trail, which rises gradually up towards the notch. It was another old gravel road covered with grass. A joy to walk. There were occasional meadows that I understand are mowed once a year. Just gorgeous. Julie Andrews started singing in my head.

"Muise Bowl" 

The landscape rises until you are surrounded by hills on three sides, and then a routered sign announces that you are at Muise Bowl. According to the Cohos guidebook, this is a great place to see moose. There didn't seem to be any roads or trails for miles, other than the one I was on. Fantastic. Wow.

Heading up towards Gadwah Notch

Eventually the grassy road section ended and the way forward wasn't clear. I checked the gps track stored on my phone and could see where the backpacker recording the track had also been confused, first going forward and then coming back and going to the right. So I cut to the chase, turned right, and quickly found some cairns and blazes. I know some old-school hikers look down on using gps, but that's OK. Let them take the wrong turns. I'll be going the correct way.

Some wet areas through Gadwah Notch

There is no cell phone reception anywhere in here. I had checked Verizon's coverage map and it looked like I'd be able to send a text in Gadwah's Notch, but there was no signal at all. Too bad. It's nice to touch base with my husband to let him know how things are going. And it gives him an idea of when I'll be done. But after a pleasant walk through the forest I eventually got a great signal near the Baldhead lean-to and was able to send off my status (spoiler alert: there's a cell-phone on the trail up ahead at Dixville Notch). The lean-to looks like it used to have a great view, but the view was mostly obstructed by trees.

Baldhead Lean-to

Heading down rather steeply on what was now called the Kelsey Notch Trail, I crossed paths with two young men, 30-ish, backpacking southbound. They had done the southern half of the trail the year before, up to Stark, and were trying to complete the northern half. They started grumbling about being a year older and everything being harder and I could not help cracking up. "Try being 58!" and they did that thing young hikers do when I tell them how old I am, as if I just said I was 125 years old. I also asked about the weird screechy truck noise I was hearing, thinking it was related to the windmill farm up ahead, but they said it was logging.

Logging in progress. Had to pick up some slash from the trail.

The trail eventually came upon an extended area on the left that was currently being logged, and an area on the right that had been logged a few years ago, a more open area affording some brief views. The new area had a bit of slash on the trail, and I picked up some of it, but for the most part the trail was fine.

The Presidential Range far in the distance off to the south

I have no problems whatsoever with logging operations. I grew up bushwhacking (there were no trails) in an area that was mostly owned by paper companies and logging was just the way of things. When out for a walk, we learned that the best place to see wildlife was in those areas that had been logged a few years ago. There's more food and shelter in those brushy areas. I think of logging as habitat enhancement.

Kelsey Notch Trail lined with Spinulose Woodfern

After crossing a few active log skidder pathways, the trail came out onto a wide gravel road and took a right to follow the road. Although it was just an ATV/logging road, it looked good enough to drive a car down.

Gentian in Kelsey Notch

This was an easy stroll along the gravel road with log piles to the side and windmills on the horizon. Working land.

Logging/ATV road in Kelsey Notch. Windmills on the horizon.

Before long, I reached the big three-way junction with the windmill service road. Lots of signs here for hikers, ATVs, snowmobilers and probably loggers. My ride wasn't there yet, so I pulled off my boots and sat down next to a big boulder. That was nice for a spell, but then groups of ATVs started coming by, kicking up huge clouds of dust that I choked on. I can't imagine how much dust the riders in the back of the group must breath in. I finally got up and started walked down the road a bit just to get away from it. I was surprised by how many ATVs there were.

Major trail junction with windmill service road at Kelsey Notch
(my pick-up point)

After maybe an hour my husband drove up and boy was he happy to see me. Seems he had quite a bit of trouble finding the correct location, in part due to his cell phone malfunctioning and Google "My Maps" not loading. He was using the paper trail map to navigate, and the road names were not on it. Google Maps was incorrect (it shows an open road that is gated and road names that didn't match the signs), but it did show his current location, which he compared to the trail map. And there were unmarked side road. He took one by mistake and came to a washed out bridge. He thought he was going to have to get out and walk. But then he rechecked the maps and figured he was on the wrong road. But after a nerve-wracking and heroic effort, he finally saw me walking down the road. Mission accomplished!

How to drive to Kelsey Notch (highlighted in yellow)

These gravel roads are substantial, but they aren't really driven by normal cars, apparently. It's mostly ATV and some service trucks. They weren't bad, though, and the SUV did fine on them. Navigation was the real issue. So I've added a how-to map here and description in case anyone in the future needs to drive to Kelsey Notch. If not for a day hike, then for an unplanned pick-up. Like if someone twists an ankle.

West Branch Road at Route 26.
This road is shown unlabeled on the Cohos Trail map, but not on Google Maps.

Kelsey Notch from Route 26 heading south/east: Continue 1.8 mile past the Huntington Cascades Picnic Area parking lot. There will be a big gravel area on the right that looks like a parking area. That's the entrance to a gravel road that is signed "West Branch Road" but Google has listed at "Robichaud Brook Road." Who knows. Continue straight on that and after 3/4 mile keep left at the "Y". Google Maps shows the correct option as "Connector Road" while they have "Robichaud Brook Road" going off to the north. You soon come to a major "T" in the road with a gate blocking off the option to the left, so turn right. This is West Branch Clear Stream Road. Google thinks you can go left or right, but you can only go right. (Navigating from Route 26, Google will try to take you directly on this road, but the gate prevents that). Continue for about 2.5 miles, then take a right onto the windmill service road. Google does not know this road exists.

The Windmill/ATV/Logging Road
Note the big powerlines come from the windmills

After 1.2 miles on the windmill road, you'll come to a major road/trail junction with a logging/ATV road going straight and the windmill service road/ATV trail going uphill to the right towards the windmills. The Cohos Trail goes in both of those directions along the road. There is a huge boulder here at the junction, and room for vehicles to pull over and out of the way. This was my pick-up point. It's possible to drive further in both directions, but parking is easiest at this junction.

It would not be impossible to drive a compact car on this road, but you would be winding around the bumps and holes in the road. An SUV can handle the road much better. 

NH Cohos Trail: Percy and Nash Stream

Lots of toads and garter snakes in these parts

After sleeping like a log near the Devil's Rest Shelter, I woke to the sound of a wailing loon off in the distance. The sound was drifting up from Christine Lake, which is located below the shelter (but not visible from the shelter). Ahh, more North Woods sounds. It's been a long time since I've heard a loon, and this one was really howling.

Then it was time to head up towards the twin peaks of North and South Percy. These are the peaks that the Cohos Trail logo is based on. This was the steepest hiking since Owl's Head and there were some tricky scrambles. Since it had rained the night before, the rock was still wet and slick and the dirt was untrustworthy. Mostly not that bad, but there was one spot where I resorted to taking off my pack, heaving it up the rock, and ascending in a lightened state.

Heading up Percy

There was an elevation gain of about 1500 feet, and I was sad to discover there really weren't any views because the visibility was great. The Cohos brings you to a spur that goes up to the North Percy summit, but it's a significant climb up the spur and I chose not to venture that way. At this point, I was trying to make time, which is the downside of backpacking. When I was day-hiking the New England Trail in Connecticut, I explored every side trail and looked for letterboxes. I returned to some spots three or four times and was in no particular hurry. But the Cohos Trail was too far from home and my goal was to get to the Canadian border by the end of the month. I needed to get going. I had three potential pickup points on Nash Stream Road for 3 pm. I hoped to get to the third point, but would really need to hustle. So I blew past the North Percy spur and continued on.

Bonnie's Pool

From Percy to Nash Stream Road was a pleasant and easy hike, mostly downhill. The terrain and plants at this lower elevation started to become more similar to Connecticut than the boreal ridgelines of  the Kilkenny or Franconia Ranges. The trail was well-cleared, blazed, and easy to follow.

Whorled Aster

One difference from southern New England where I started were the big logged areas. In Connecticut, an area like this would mean a bunch of McMansions were about to be constructed and the trail would be closed down or routed into a narrow corridor consisting of swamp, rock ledge, or both. Up here, it just meant the area had been logged for timber or paper, and a new habitat was replacing the old forest. Dense new growth would provide food and shelter to moose and deer and grouse. And these open areas had views of the surrounding hills.

View from logged clearing

Eventually the trail came to the bottom of the Nash Stream Valley and crossed Trio Ponds Road, the first of several gravel roads I'd encounter over the next few days. I loved this next section. The guidebook had warned about a ford that could be flooded, but when I arrived there was a simple bridge across the stream. Great! I started across and all was going great until I stepped on the second part of the bridge and the boards rotated unexpectedly. I nearly fell. After uttering a few choice exclamations, I continued on through a low area full of moose poop.

Be careful with that second section. Pond Brook Falls Trail.

Soon I started hearing the roar of water up ahead and figured the ford I was supposed to have encountered must be the roaring stream up ahead and not the once I'd already crossed. It did not sound promising. But it turned out that the trail didn't cross this brook, it just ran along the side a short ways in a gorgeous spot with roaring water and sculpted rock.  If I'd had more time, I would have lingered.

Ponds Brook Falls. Photo does not do justice to this location. 

It was shortly after noon that I reach the first designated pickup point on Nash Stream Road. The Cohos weaves back and forth across the road three times, so each crossing became a designated pickup, with the pickup time being 3:00 - 4:00 pm. There's no cell phone service down in the valley, but I had texted my progress earlier. So I wrote a big "TT" in the sand to show my husband I'd been there, and crossed the road to follow the Cohos markings over a snowmobile bridge across Nash Stream.

Snowmobile Bridge

Nash Stream

The Cohos soon joined up with a gravel road marked for ATVs and head uphill. I had not expected to get this far and my map for this section was packed away, so I just followed the markings and my gps track without really knowning what to expect.  I didn't realize quite how far uphill the trail would go along the ATV road. My hope was to get to the second Nash Stream Road crossing by 1:30 pm, allowing me to continue to the third pickup point, so I was in a mindset of traveling quickly and making time.

West Side ATV Road

The ATV road went uphill a lot longer than I expected and I ran out of steam. At one point, an active backhoe blocked the road. After spending about five minutes trying to get the operator's attention, I finally gave up and bushwhacked through the forest around the backhoe. I bet that operator was surprised to see some lady pop out of the woods in front of him. I bet he didn't even know that part of the ATV road was being used as a hiking trail.

Had to bushwhack around this backhoe on the ATV road

Up and up and up on the ATV road, then the Cohos veered right onto what I guess was a snowmobile trail (now a pleasant grassy road) and it was more up and up and up. I was tired and wasn't expecting the hill, so it seemed to never end, but finally the hill came to a crest, whereupon I collapsed and had some lunch. And then the grassy road went back down the hill, passing the Old Hermit Shelter and continuing down uneventfully to Nash Stream Road. I'm not sure what the point of that up and down was. Most of the uphill was on an ATV gravel road. I would rather have just walked up Nash Stream Road, which was also gravel, but a lot easier.

Nash Stream (again)

I had hoped to reach the second pick-up point by 1:30 pm, but 2:10 pm was the best I could do. Pickup time was between 3 and 4 pm, so I figured I'd hustle and go for pickup point #3 on Nash Stream Road, which is the farthest you can drive up this gravel road. Otherwise I'd have to tack a couple extra miles on to the next section, which I was going to slack pack. This last part of the trail today would follow East Side Trail roughly parallel to Nash Stream. It looked pretty easy on the map.

Pearly Everlasting

Of course it took longer than expected. The trail started out beautifully right along the edge of Nash Stream, but then climbed up the hill above the brook through rougher terrain. Normally it would have been a pleasure and a nice stroll, but since I was in a hurry and already tired, the rocks, roots, and trail twists were just aggravating. Eventually the trail followed an old logging road, and I made good time, but then just as the trail was about to come out onto Nash Stream Road for a brief roadwalk, it turned off from the mapped route and went a new way. Argh! It was already after 3:00 pm and I imagined my husband there on Nash Stream Road waiting for me.  This part of the route had "new trail syndrome", making the footing tedious and slow as it paralleled Nash Stream Road. But eventually it dropped down to the road near a pair of gates. And my ride wasn't there. Huh.

Nash Stream Road

This trip was the first time that our little weekend getaway system didn't work well. What we had done since central Massachusetts was this: I would drive up first and do some backpacking. My husband would drive up a later day and pick me up. We'd stay in a hotel and eat out, and then the next couple days I would slackpack while my husband golfed. The pickup points were frequently in low areas with no cell phone, but it still worked. One thing that was different during this trip was the shear distance involved. Everything was farther than we expected. In this case, it was a 40 minute drive up gravel roads to get to Pickup Point #3, and my husband was just starting that after being stuck behind road construction on Route 3.

But I didn't know any of that and instead began to comically overthink things. Nash Stream Road had a few deserted camps and no fresh tire tracks. What if it was a gated road and all the camps all have gate access? Maybe they do things differently up here. How would I know? My ride would be stuck at the gate. If that were the case, then I needed to walk out. Pickup Point #2 had been a public parking area, so I started walking down the road in that direction. I passed lots of interesting and fun-looking camps, none occupied. I was nearly back at the second pickup point when my husband pulled up. Yay!!

Overlook on Route 2 while retrieving the car from Jefferson

After a nice hot shower, we drove into Jefferson to retrieve my car. On the way, a scenic overlook of the Kilkenny beckoned. So beautiful!