The NH foliage tracker website indicated the Belknaps were likely past peak but possibly the Pawtuckaway mountains were a little less so.
Pawtuckaway is a little closer and not such hard work to haul a DSLR up, so I decided that was my destination on a very nice Tuesday.
Reservation Road in Deerfield was in fine shape, but, as always, the Tower Rd required slow & careful going. Just before the Middle Mountain trailhead the road was kind of lopsided. It was drivable, at least by my truck, but I opted to park just past the last bog instead of pushing to the tower base parking.
I walked up the road , headed for Round Pond Rd, past the outhouse ( why is it that the door is always left open? the latch works fine and there's even a sign asking that it be left closed. Maybe raccoons can't read 🙄) and the shortcut down to Round Pond. A brief pause for reflection at the WWII memorial marker , then a quick descent to Round Pond Rd and a few shots at the beaver pond above Round Pond. The beaver pond was pretty low, the woods are still very dry, so I was able to get a little farther out than usual. There are signs tacked onto almost every trailhead sign calling for No Fires and No Smoking. I hope everyone honors them. One of my favorite spots out there is still recovering from a human caused 😡 fire a few years back .
On down the road to Round Pond. The afternoon sun lit the eastern & southern shore nicely; I really liked the way it spilt over the western ridge. Almost like a waterfall over the golden leaves.
Following the South Ridge Trail around Round Pond the ground was still dry despite last night's rain. It must have been torrential at times judging from the paths plowed thru the treadway leaves. There is a blowdown on the trail that was inconveniently large and possibly precarious. It lies radially toward the pond and the bank is very steep. It was hard to get around, but I didnt trust the stability enough to commit myself to clambering over it. No desire to go for a sled ride down the bank. I'm a cautious fellow.
The climb out of Round Pond is steep, but familiar, as was the rest of the trail up South Ridge to the tower.
The tower had signs warning of possible wasp activity. I only saw one, and we were happy to leave each other alone. Saw several several conifer bugs, too ( I think). They were more a nuisance than the wasp 🙄
The tower afforded a nice view of Belknap to the north
and Lake Pawtuckaway to the south.
It was late in the afternoon so the view west was a little too into the sun. And it was a bit hazy out toward Kearsarge.
A few more people showed up at the tower before I headed down. Altogether I think I saw 8 or 9 people.
Pretty good attendance for a weekday afternoon !