Warmup #2: Mt. Rowe - 5/17/20
1680 feet - 4.2 mi
Mt. Rowe lies in Gilford, NH, about an hour from our house. It is a member of the Belknap range, which includes the better known peaks Mt. Major and Gunstock Mountain, althought the Gunstock ski area is in fact partially on the slopes of Mt. Rowe. The dog and I had hiked this one in the past, via a different route than what we ended up taking.
We started from the parking area near Gilford Elementary School, which can be seen in the upper left of the map. The sky was a bit gray but the temperature was comfortable and sun was expected for later. We followed the Mt. Rowe trail (blazed blue) until it crossed a stream, which Lana was so eager to leap across that she tugged on the leash and almost sent me into the drink. Right after the stream, around half a mile in, there was an intersection with the Yellow Trail. The Yellow Trail ascends steeply and more or less in a straight line, whereas to continue on the Mt. Rowe trail would mean a slightly longer hike of switchbacks up the mountain. We decided to take the Yellow Trail. A sign at the intersection described it as "unmaintained" but it was in great shape and well marked.
We took it slow up the first half of the trail, the steepest section, to avoid tiring ourselves out right away. It wasn't to difficult of a climb and the footing was good. We had to jump into the trees to the side at one point as a group of mountain bikers came careening past us, but besides them we saw no other people on the trail. Shortly after the bikers, I noticed something big moving through the trees. At first I thought it was more bikes, but it turned out to be a deer. And then another, and another. A group of five does, probably spooked by the bikes, ran downhill about 50 yards away from us. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, unfortunately. Lana was extremely interested in them, very alert, but she made no attempts to run after them which I was very happy about.
The slope of the Yellow Trail eventually decreased, and we took a water break at the crest of the steepest part. We bought this water bottle with a bowl-like attachment for the dog, specifically for hikes. It works very well, especially for shorter hikes, and doesn't take up as much space as carrying a separate bowl or container would. The bugs were bad at this point, and although we had used bug spray, Mary was still getting devoured so she put her sweatshirt over her head and I snapped a picture.
Not long after this the Yellow Trail meets back up with the Mt. Rowe Trail just before it connects to the Ridge Trail, which runs across the whole Belknap Range. We followed the Ridge trail north towards the summit of Mt. Rowe. There are some excellent views along this ridge. You can see glimspes of the nearby Lake Winnipesaukee, other nearby mountains, and much of the Gunstock ski area is visible, including chair lifts, and the large dirt parking lot which is perhaps the only thing that detracts from the view.
At the true summit of Mt. Rowe there is an interesting device, a sensor that detects tectonic plate movement, placed there by UNAVCO, a university-governed, NASA-funded geoscience consortium.
There was another group of hikers at the summit, and one of them was kind enough to share her apple with Lana. We continued a little way past the summit, no more than a few hundred yards, to the base of the WLKZ-FM radio tower. After a picture and a joke about burning down 5G towers, we headed back towards the summit to begin our descent.
By the time we were heading back Mary had gotten fed up with the bugs and wanted to be out of the woods, so we decided to descend the same way we went up, via the Yellow Trail. I don't think I would do this again on a future hike. It wasn't perilously steep and we got down with only one minor slip on some pine-needle-covered rock, but I don't think the more direct descent was worth the added strain on ankles and knees. Once we joined back up with the Mt. Rowe Trail and hopped back over the stream, the remainder of the hike was pretty uneventful. We passed a couple other hikers and Lana was very well behaved, as usual. We got back to the car, drank some more water, and loaded up. Once home, everyone napped happily ever after.
The End.