Rain and warmer temperatures were forecasted so it didn’t seem wise to try to do any skiing. Instead, I headed to Pillsbury State Park (via I-89, NH-10 and NH-31) this morning, hoping to do some hiking. When I first arrived (0950), I found the gate closed and there was a steady sleet/drizzle. After waiting 15 minutes for dryer conditions, I tentatively left the car in a “parking spot” near the welcome sign and started walking the park access road. Temps were in the mid 30s and I was only wearing two layers. It looked like there had been many snowmobiles in the area - it wasn’t quite a groomed trail but I think I could have actually skied the road. I checked out several park buildings, some campsites and pretty picnic areas along the way and concluded that this would be a great place to get away from town. There were several large lakes that reminded me about the imminent paddling season. After reaching the middle of the park, I decided to take a trail that advertised “Balanced Rock”. Without any mileage markers, the subsequent plunge into the woods required a bit of faith… Up to this point, I hadn’t been seeking any climbing but I soon got as much as I had when I’d climbed Mount Sunapee the previous day. It hadn’t been obvious at first but I soon realized that I was hiking in a cloud. The sleet was intermittent there but the deeper (around seven inches) snow had already turned slushy - this made me remember that I’d neglected to bring my trekking poles. Since I had no way of knowing how far I had left to go in my seemingly-never-ending ascent up Bryant Mountain, I nearly turned around a few times. Fortunately, though, I had brought my microspikes and, after putting them on, was able to regain some traction. My persistence and determination paid off: the Balanced Rock was quite impressive! I looked at it from multiple angles but couldn’t figure out how the top rock could have landed in the bottom rock so perfectly… I started downhill again and found the trail surface to be quite difficult to navigate, even with my “outbound” boot prints as a guide. For this reason, I exited the main trail when I passed a large logging field I’d seen. I bushwhacked back to the park access road without much difficulty (just had to jump some narrow streams) and was glad to have a good walking surface again. The sun came out as I was finishing my hike (1225) - it felt so warm! Overall, I hiked close to six miles in about 2.5 hours. It was a relief to see my car was still where I left it because of the plethora of “no parking" signs... I backtracked to I-89 and decided to stop at Eastman Cross Country Center to check out the Forbes Tavern there. Even though I've skied here many times, the place always seemed to be closed. Today, however, I learned they have a Sunday afternoon happy hour - this enticed me to stay a bit longer and actually eat lunch (sat down at 1315). After meeting several local folks at the bar and enjoying my meal, I drove towards home (stopped for gas at Irving in Hanover (1445). Today was definitely one of those “make lemonade from lemons” day - with the “Snow Miser” losing the battle with “Heat Miser”, I’ll have to continue being creative with my itineraries...
