Town bagging

I headed up to New Hampshire to bag a few times on Sunday (01/13/13).  I would have rather raced but my back and foot have been very tender and I just didn't feel up to racing.  I dragged my sorry ass out the door at 5am and began my quest to run in 4 towns and bag 3 town high points.

 

I started in Tilton, parking near the town line (Tilton/Sanbornton) and descended from Sanbornton to the town high point (866') of Tilton.  The high point is on Calef/March road.  I turned back and made a quick stealthy stop at the top of Calef Hill (it wasn't posted but was obviously a driveway and substantial homestead.  I ran a bit after to get in my town bagging minimum of three miles.

 

Next up I drove to the center of Hill NH and then over to Bunker Hill road.  I parked in a pull-out near the bottom of the hill (near a sugar shack) just before Needle shop Brook (874').  I ran up Bunker hill road about a mile to Snow (signed) on the right and a quick right onto the unsigned road.  It was marked "un-maintained road" but not posted.  There had been some vehicle traffic which had packed down the snow and the running was easy.  At 1,020' I took the much steeper path to the right and it was untracked but the snow was great for running (only about 4" deep).  There was a cut/path near the top where I zipped off the main part.  It looked like you could do a loop, but I felt it would be safer to just head back down the way I'd come up and I was back at the car 34 minutes after I departed.

 

The final peak of the day was Dickinson hill, the highest point in Hill, NH.  I parked near the powerline on Currier street at about 1,220'.  I ran up Tioga and turned right onto a somewhat icy Patten road.  After a couple of houses the road was no longer plowed (1,340').  The snow was again great for running and there were no tracks.  The road was signed "private road" but it was not posted for trespassing.  At 1,500' the drive went to the left, again it was not signed and there was no evidence that anyone had been up here since the last snow so I continued.  The house was on a ridge at 1,620', I gave it a wide berth and bushwhacked the final 1/4 mile to the top.  The woods was very open but there was a bit of an icy layer under the 4+ inches of snow.  There were some rocky parts but it was still very run-able (well at this time it was power-walking) woods.  At the top I got some great views of Kearsarge and Belknap both above the low level of fog I'd been in the entire morning.  I ran back the way I came and was back at the car in just over 27 minutes.  It was an excellent morning and I crossed off three high points and four towns from my list.