NH SRKG Section 3 and Ad Hoc AT Connector Section 1

Mt. Sunapee from North Road

Time to finish up the northbound section of the SRK Greenway in Sunapee and then continue northbound on my own ad hoc route. A cold rain was forecast for the entire day, but it started out dry and I headed north from the cemetery on North Road. This road just goes straight up and down hills, at times pretty steeply. No curves. I got a last look back at Mt Sunapee. Bye!

Ledge Pond, Ledge Pond Road (gravel)

The asphalt soon ended at the junction with Trow Hill Road and the road name changes to Ledge Pond Road at some point. This was a much nicer stroll than the asphalt ups and down of North Road.

Ledge Pond Road, not a bad walk

Eventually there is a gate across the gravel road, and a turn-around where you can park. The greenway markers went past the gate and then veered right to stay on a smaller woods road that was a delight to walk.

Ledge Pond Road continues past a gate and turns into more of a trail

It had started drizzling, but wasn't bad under the trees. Then woods road began to parallel a powerline corridor, then the landscape opened up at a farm. Here, the trail enters the town of Grantham and the road surface became hardened as the road name changed to West Road.

Ledge Pond Rd becomes West Road at the Grantham line

The last bit of the SRK Greenway for me was a moody stroll down Hogg Hill Road. No traffic, just a steady drizzle.

A very quiet Hogg Hill Road

And there it was. The junction with Stoney Brook Road. It doesn't look like much of anything, but from this point you can follow trail markings continuously south all the way to the shore of Long Island Sound in Guilford, Connecticut. A pair of SRK Greenway markers pointed emphatically to the right to take trail users east-bound around the big loop. I went left.

Departing from the official trail: Jct Hogg Hill Road and Stoney Brook Rd

And for no particular reason, I just kept on going north. There's a gap in the long distance trails but, as the crow flies, the Appalachian Trail is only thirteen miles away. And once you get on the AT, there are lots of options. The White Mountains. Maine. Canada. Vermont.  Hey, why not?

The gap between the trail systems.
SRK Greenway to the south, Appalachian Trail to the north

I'm still working on my routing, but the goal is to use existing trails (including snowmobile trails) and woods roads whenever possible.

Long, peaceful walk along Stoney Brook Road

So I continued along Stoney Brook Road for a good ways. I don't remember any cars passing me and this road walk turned out to be much better than expected, especially listening to a good podcast.

Winterberry

On the right were glimpses of ponds and bogs, although some "no trespassing" signs kept me on the road and I never got a clear view of the water. It seemed like a good place for moose.

Cattails 

Didn't see any moose, but a couple of deer were foraging along the road in the mist up ahead.

Deer along Stoney Brook Road

Hello

The rain was picking up when I got to the location of the first snowmobile road I intended to use, leading into Donas J. & Margaret Reney Memorial Forest.  Back home, I had contacted the local snowmobile club to ask whether it was OK to walk these trails. I got an immediate response, and was told it was fine to walk the trails as long as the property owner did not post the property 'no trespassing', and that in their area, property owners rarely did that. Great.

I think this is the snowmobile trail

The next step was trying to figure out exactly where these snowmobile trails were located. There was a map online but it was very conceptual, like a subway map. Not useful for a hiker. Then I stumbled upon a website that sold gps routes and mapping of the entire snowmobile trail system in New Hampshire for $30. I'll pay $30 to not get lost. So I had that loaded in my gps.

When I got to the spot on Stoney Brook Road where the snowmobile supposedly turned in per the gps, I didn't see anything at first.  Then I realized I was looking right at it. Following the gps route through the weeds, I came upon a gate within a few hundred feet of the road. Perfect.

Yup, it's the snowmobile trail

This was a pleasant walk through the rain. No problems following the snowmobile trail. The park map showed this portion of the trail as Barton Road.

Nice.

An old building appeared ahead. I checked my park map and found the building on the map in the middle of the snowmobile trail (which is also shown on the park map). A sign on the building tells snowmobilers to 'stay on the trail or stay home'.

Snowmobile trail along old building

The trail here got rather lumpy and overgrown. It didn't seem to be following an old road any longer. Easy to twist an ankle. Something to keep in mind about these snowmobile trails. They aren't designed for walking.

Junction with the hiking trail loop

Eventually I came to the junction with the Reney Forest hiking trail system. Thankfully, the trails were well cleared and well marked. You just never know. Sometimes there are trail maps online and you get there and there's no trail. Because several years ago maybe an Eagle Scout cleared a trail, but then no one maintained it.

A well-cleared trail through very thick brush

This trail was obviously being maintained, and it must be a lot of work. The forest is very open, probably logged not too long ago, and it's therefore thick with brush and saplings.

Go right, to the library

Down near the bottom of the hill there was a junction. I felt like I should continue straight to the parking lot, but my gps route had me going right towards the library.

First moose track since Sunapee Ridge

It was a pretty walk, though the cold rain was coming down harder. Moose like this part of the trail, apparently.

Very open forest, great for wildlife

They've done a beautiful job with this conservation area and I really enjoyed being able to get off the road and walk through the woods for about a mile and a half, even if it was raining pretty steady at this point.

Dunbar Library parking lot on Rt 10

I would have continued but for the cold rain, and got picked up at the Dunbar library. Went back to the Sunapee Lake Lodge, took a nice hot shower, went out for a hot bowl of chowder, and then we drove around for the rest of the afternoon. There really wasn't any place we could find to shop other than the Morgan Hill bookstore in New London.  We enjoyed a visit to the Shaker Museum in Enfield, located roughly where I'm headed on the trail. And that was it for our mini-vacation.