Newbury Trail to White Cliff Overlook

The view in the morning from the hill at Dexter's Inn, where we stay with the church group every year.

Hiked on February 10, 2024

Yes, I have been hiking.  Mostly, though, it has been in the form of long, flat, walks.  Life is chaotic sometimes. Our youngest is wrapping up high school.  The other boys are living their post-college lives. Al is reaching the final stretch of her doctorate and I am trying to spend time with everybody while doing my own work and studies.  It is hard to get away in circumstances like these.  Once you add in the puppy, things become even more difficult.  Allison says I need to have at least seven projects going on at one time or I will get depressed.  She probably isn't wrong.

We did get out with the dog to do Mount Watatic.  It is always the best.  I didn't write it up, though.  After all, I already have and the addition of Al and Carrigain--yes, we named her after a mountain--didn't add enough variety for yet another post.  This weekend, though, we climbed over South Sunapee to catch the views off White Cliff Overlook.  It was proof that there is plenty to do and see on a relatively short hike.

It is different now that the NH48 list is over for us.  In previous years during the Eliot Church Winter Retreat weekend, we would find something relatively famous.  We hiked the Hancocks one year.  Last year we went up Mount Kearsarge. This time, we just picked a trail.  Our criteria had to do with not having hiked recently ourselves along with concerns about how far we could big the pup.  In the end she was fine and we were OK.

The weather--while beautiful--was not ideal for winter hiking.  The sun was out and the temperature was in the low-50's.  During the 3.5 hours we were out, the snow developed the sort of "mashed potato" consistency that we usually try to avoid.  Maybe it is because we were out of practice, but we didn't quite gear up the way we should have in the slush.  Gaiters would have been nice snowshoes would have been better.  We left both in the car.

That said, the hike was worth it.  It was about 5 miles round trip and--like many New England trails--started steep and got steeper.  Total elevation for the route we chose was somewhere over 2,000 feet, so we certainly felt the incline! There were few places to stretch our legs so we put our heads down and soldiered on.  I will say, though, when we lifted our heads we were treated with lovely views of the forest and--through the trees--glimpses of the mountains around us.

The trail was well-blazed (orange on Newbury Trail mostly until the very end when it switched to white). With the dog leash attached to my belt, I helped Carrigain work out how to participate in our little team. She is not ready to go off-leash in a place like this and--honestly--I am comfortable following the rules, which frequently require leashes and poop-bags. The challenge is keeping her from wrapping herself--and me--around a tree.  This is easily done.  It just takes practice. She was a trooper.  It is different with a dog and I am not sure if we will be doing any big climbs together soon. Half-day walks with her are fine, though.  Al and I can do the big stuff on our own.

The view, itself was nice, too.  Of course it wasn't like the ones on the "lists".  It felt less grand and more domestic.  However, given the snow conditions and the company, I would say it was a success. I will take it.  In fact, I might do it again.