"bagging" near Keene

After the Wachusett race I headed off into the southwest corner of New Hampshire to hit some towns I hadn’t run in and also to bag a few peaks that had been former sites of fire towers.  I was definitely feeling beat up after the race but figured a nice “easy” run would help to loosen things up.

 I had a little trouble finding the trailhead for Crotched Mountain.  The trip reports I read had mentioned that it was located behind the rehab facility.  There were a bunch of buildings but nothing seemed right.  I decided to head back out to the main road and 100 meters from where I’d turned in was an obvious parking area and trailhead.

 I took the very gentle and very well groomed trail that ended at a viewing platform.  The trail was a bit rougher and a lot steeper after that.  The summit didn’t have much in the way of views but it did have the footings from the old fire tower and a couple of bench marks.  I took a couple of pictures and headed back down.  I stopped at the viewing platform on the way down for a few nicer pictures then finished the 4 mile round trip run.

 

Onward to Keene!  I parked next to the gated paved road to the summit of Beech hill.  It was a very short trot to the top where a fire tower had been.  I got a nice view in while running the summit loop trail then it was back down the road and added on a bit on a side trail to get in 2 miles and a total of 18 miles for the day.