June 4, 2021.
My daughters and I finished a years-long hiking goal on June 2 – we completed the NH Grid, which is hiking all 48 of NH’s highest mountains during every month of the year (576 ascents). It feels so good to be finished with that massive project. We are happy to have persevered, and we are grateful for all the experiences along the way.
One more NH-based project to go (for me only, not for my daughters). I want to finish “tracing” (used to be called “redlining”) all the trails in the White Mountains. I am almost 90% through that very long list. However, I was recently diagnosed with a giant (17cm+) fibroid. The surgery to have it removed happens Sept 1. In the meantime, I can get very uncomfortable with this fibroid in me and sometimes have issues hiking with it, so it remains to be seen whether or not I will be able to finish tracing the White Mountain trails this summer. If not this summer though, then next summer. What I might do over the next few months is intersperse my Life Quest with tracing to make things a bit easier on myself. All my remaining tracing hikes are very long and difficult, which normally would not be a problem, but with a growing watermelon pressing on all my internal organs…things are less simple than they normally are.
Hence my taking a break from long and difficult trails this weekend (especially after having just finished a series of very long hikes to complete the Grid). Instead, I visited Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, which is about two hours north of my home in NH. It’s beautiful country up there – lots of green and tons of water. This time of year brings lots of biting bugs though, so I walked the four short (less than a mile each) trails quickly. Only two trails are listed on the refuge’s website, but when you get to Magalloway River Trail, you’ll notice there are three trails that intersect (see map in the photo below). They are all short, and it took me about half an hour to walk all of them. Without all the biting bugs, I would have taken more time and better appreciated the scenery. I’d suggest visiting in late summer or early fall to avoid the worst of the black flies, deer flies, and mosquitoes.
The two hiking trail areas are not located at the visitor center – they are both located farther up Route 16. Keep driving a couple miles toward Maine and you will eventually see them on the right, one after the other.
The trailhead for The Roost is located across the street from a canoe docking area. Park at the docking area and walk down the street to your left. You’ll see a sign in the grass. At the sign, look to your right and cross the little bridge. After the bridge, head straight into the woods. There is a short but somewhat steep climb to a nice look-out point above a cliff. The one-way distance is 0.6 miles.
I stopped by the Visitor Center on the way back. A nice young ranger gave me a Blue Goose Passport and stamped the Umbagog page. Yay! That was so kind of him. Now I have to figure out how to get the other NH refuges stamps – the ones I’ve already visited. Maybe they’ll send me a stamp on a piece of paper if I send them a SASE. I could then staple or tape them onto the right places within the book. I don’t want to drive all the way over to each of the ones I’ve already visited again. Plus, I don’t remember seeing a visitor center for John Hay.
