Finally! A Mountain!

Hey! As everyone says these days, it’s been a minute. But you should know, I really missed being here. In my defense, there’s been a helluva lot going on. I’ve hardly even had a chance to walk my dog around the block, and if I’m being honest, if I can’t even find enough time for him, I’m probably not going to stay in touch here. He is, despite his aroma, the most loyal compadre a guy could have, so yeah—he gets dibs.

But things are about to change. Everyone’s summer plans are winding down, and September schedules are starting back up. This will free up time for me to focus on writing again. Contrary to public opinion, Dad does have to work, so when my time gets squeezed the first thing that gets neglected is my writing. Then my hiking. Then my laundry. Then my dog. Then my work a little bit. And lastly, my family. Hopefully they notice.

But everyone cheer, September is here! It’s time to buckle down and get back to doing what WE do. Time to dust off those dreams, pursue those goals, go after that promotion, and conquer whatever it is you want to conquer. September is when we get to take back control of OUR calendar and live according to OUR terms, and yes, that’s even if you have a job working for someone else.

Because September is about balance. It’s the time when you are allowed to prioritize what’s important to you rather than manage your calendar according to everyone else’s expectations. Before you know it, November and December will be here and you’ll have lost control again, but for the better part of the next six weeks, you have this opportunity to set some ground rules for how you’ll tackle life in the foreseeable future. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to take this opportunity. I’m optimistic I can do it too, because this weekend, after a month-long absence, I finally made my way to the mountains again.

I needed this…

Pick a Mountain, Any Mountain

I was thinking of tackling West Rattlesnake, a small mountain near Squam Lake, but when I arrived it was raining and the parking lot was full. I could have found some space on the street maybe, but I had the dog with me, and I wanted to let him off leash. There was no way I was going to be able to do that on the Old Bridle Path to the summit of West Rattlesnake, so I kept driving. After grabbing some provisions at the Squam Lake Restaurant and Marketplace, I decided to head to Stinson Mountain, knowing the rain would likely thin out by the time I arrived there.

Lucky me, it did. And even though I had a feeling nobody else would be heading up Stinson on a cloudy day like Sunday, it still surprised me when I pulled into the trailhead and found nobody else there. These days it feels like you can’t head anywhere, no matter how remote a spot it is in New Hampshire, without finding someone else parked at the same trailhead. It’s nice to know that if you want to go against the grain, there’s still space for you to do that.

Had the place all to myself.

Stinson Mountain Revisited

To be totally straight with you, I never thought I’d climb Stinson again. Not because I have bad memories of it, but because it didn’t stick out in my memory at all. I knew the summit would provide a view of the wind turbines on Tenney and Fletcher Mountain, but other than that, I didn’t really have a clue what I’d see. I only chose to climb it because I didn’t have any hiking boots or a pack to bring supplies with me. But Stinson isn’t a very long climb and because it’s on the 52 With a View list, I figured it would be pretty enough for my needs. All that really mattered to me was finding a place to move my feet in nature.

And Stinson served its purpose. At a distance of almost four miles, it was roughly twice the effort it would take to climb West Rattlesnake and it certainly tired out Bullet. Here we are, two days later, and he is still sleeping off the effort. But overall, it was actually a very easy four miles for a mountain. I think it took us about fifty minutes to ascend and maybe thirty to get down. Mix in a ten-minute break at the summit, and we guesstimate the entire hike took us about an hour and a half.

Old Lookout Tower Foundations on Stinson Mountain

Truth Be Told

Now to be fair, I jogged a good chunk of it. Especially in the lower sections. The trail is very soft underfoot for the first mile or so, and creeps upwards at a relatively slight incline, so it’s not hard to make good time to the halfway point. After the first mile, the trail does get rockier and ascends more rapidly, but still, it’s way less rocky, and way less steep, than what you would expect on most of the larger mountains in New Hampshire. This makes the hike enjoyable despite the lack of visual rewards along the way—especially in late August when the creek beds run dry and there is little left flowering in the thick green foliage.

But it is a 52 With a View mountain, and as the list deems, the view from the summit is great. It might not be for everyone as there are a decent amount of wind turbines in the picture, reminding climbers of the technological advances of man. If you’re looking to “get away from it all,” Stinson might not be the place for you. But if you’re looking for a very nice view in relatively short order, this is a good one to tackle. More importantly though, for me, getting a chance to get out there again means that more “me time” is becoming available, and if I can find time to hike, then I can find time to write!

Enjoy it out there.

We do.

Ascent Details

Trail: Stinson Mountain Trail
Trailhead: End of Lower Doetown Road, Rumney, NH
Distance: ~3.9 miles out-and-back
Elevation Gain: ~1,395 ft
Summit Elevation: 2,890 ft
Difficulty: Moderate
52 With a View Peak

Pictures from Stinson Mountain