Madame Sherri's Forest: A Hidden Gem in Southwestern NH

Although it was the 2nd day of fall according to the calendar, summer definitely had a hold of yesterday's forecast, and the clear, sunny skies and warm temperatures begged for us to get outside; so my wife, my pup, and I set out to a spot I actually stumbled upon a while back thanks to the VisitNH Instagram page, Madame Sherri's Forest in Chesterfield, NH.

You can't get much more southwest in New Hampshire than Chesterfield. From Manchester, it was about an hour and half drive for us down to the town that butts up against the Connecticut River, the border between New Hampshire and Vermont. Before heading to the forest, we stopped at the Chesterfield Gorge Natural Area to check out the cascades running through it as mentioned in the extremely thorough New England Waterfalls book by Greg Parsons and Kate Watson. If you're interested in all the waterfalls New England has to offer, I highly recommend it.

A cascade along the Chesterfield Gorge

The gorge was an easy 0.7-mile loop "hike" that was more of a nice warm up walk in the woods. It was mostly wide with easy footing with a couple quick ups and downs to get the legs going. Fencing on either side of the steeper parts of the gorge kept us from taking a tumble if we got close to the edge, but we were able to find a spot to carefully walk down next to the stream to get a couple photos of one the sections of cascades. Even with the stream not running at full strength, the cascades were still a beautiful way to start to our adventures, and our pup certainly enjoyed an early dip in the water!

From the gorge it was only about a fifteen minute drive down to the Madame Sherri's Forest parking area. The main parking area was packed full (about 12 cars), but luckily there was more parking right across the street in an overflow area. We were worried from this that the trails would be more crowded than we expected, but we actually only ran into a handful of people the rest of the afternoon.

The famous staircase at Madame Sherri's mansion site

We started our visit to the forest as most anyone does by making a stop at its most famous spot, the ruins of Madame Sherri's mansion. She was a famous costume designer in the 1920's known for throwing wild parties at her house in the woods. Her "castle" as she called it, burned down in 1962, but the stone foundation, some columns, and the most notable feature, a large spiral stone staircase, still remain. As we walked through the remains, we could only imagine how surreal this scene must have been when this house was full of people, music, and laughter. In fact–if you're one to believe in such things–people have said to have heard ghostly parties of the same sort going on at the ruins to this day, with some folks even saying they've seen the ghost of Madame Sherri ascending the stone staircase. A good biography of Madame Sherri, the mansion sight, and its ghostly folklore can be found here.

What looked to be an old side entrance into the mansion

Back to the hike review, we continued from the mansion site into the main trail network of the forest, starting with a wide easy trail with good soft footing up to the Ann Stokes Loop junction. We took the right/shorter 0.5-mile option up to Indian Pond, as we planned to watch the sunset from Wantastiquet Mountain that evening. From the junction to Island Pond trail rose with an easy side of moderate elevation gain. The trail was narrow in spots, but still fairly wide in most places up to the pond.

Start of the Ann Stokes Loop

Panoramic view of Indian Pond

Indian Pond was a lovely, quiet spot that we enjoyed all to ourselves. Our pup took several dips in it before we began the real climb of our trip up the Mine Ledge Trail to the summit of Wantastiquet Mountain. From the pond upward our climb got narrow and steep, with rough footing and rocks and roots all over. Luckily, this trail wasn't overgrown anywhere along the way so we never ran into any wayfinding issues. About halfway up the trail, dirt and roots gave way to a short rocky scramble reminiscent of climbing the big boulders above the treeline in the White Mountains, leading to a nice viewpoint looking east over Indian Pond and some smaller mountains in the vicinity.

One of several views along the Mine Ledge spur trail

From this view point the trail was pretty steep for a short while longer before leveling off on a ridge with much better, softer footing heading up to the the spur trail to the Mine Ledge viewpoint. Seeing that we had time to fit it in, we took the quick descent down some rocks and onto the ledge to take in the views. Be warned that the "ledge" part was no lie, as we stepped onto the first outlook boulder and saw a straight drop below us! The summit of Wantastiquet dominated the view to our right, with more rolling hills stretching out from there. From the rocky end of the trail, we could see Mount Monadnock rising to the west above all the smaller summits in the region.

After taking in the Mine Ledge, we headed back on the ridge up to our main summit for the day. From where the spur trail departed up to the summit of Wantastiquet, the ridge was a rocky, rough roller coaster. There were several steep ups and downs on large rock slabs and rough boulders followed by treks through thick forest. Still, the trail, although narrow, wasn't overgrown anywhere along the way.

Sunset over Vermont from Wantastiquet north summit. Brattleboro, VT at the bottom

Once on the south summit of Wantastiquet, noted by the communication tower on our left, we took the short walk a little further down a wide, old forest road to the lookout over the Connecticut River on the slightly smaller north summit of the mountain. Here, Brattleboro, VT was in the near foreground, with the rest of of Vermont's rolling hills and mountains stretching out into the distant horizon. We watched as the sun set directly in front of us, casting an array of colors over the mountains, town, and sky.

Madame Sherri's Forest definitely won us over yesterday. We left so much to explore, including the rest of the Anne Stokes Loop, nearby Daniels Mountain, and the trek up Wantastiquet from the other side of the mountain right next to the river. It is definitely a hidden gem tucked into a quiet corner of southwest New Hampshire. As we finished our hike in the dark, we heard the rustling and calls of all sorts of woodland creatures, and we passed back by the mansion ruins we did hear the sounds of music, growing ever more distinct, somewhere in the distance...from a house we would later see was right next to where we parked, haha!

A great map of the trails of forest can found at the SPNHF website here.

Below is a breakdown of our hike:

• Start from Madame Sherri's mansion - 4:34 p.m.
• Indian Pond - 4:50 p.m.
• Mine Ledge viewpoint - 5:30 p.m.
• Wantastiquet summit - 6:05 p.m.
• Left Wantastiquet summit - 6:42 p.m.
• Back at car - 7:41 p.m.

Sunset Hill: Living Up to Its Name

Starting up the Sunset Hill Trail

This past Saturday night, the mix of clouds and sun were shaping up to create a magical sunset, so I searched online for a nice quick hike to enjoy it. I hadn't been around Lake Sunapee in a while, so I decided to try and find a hike in that area to get a good view. Looking on the Forest Society's website, I came across the Hay Reservation which encompasses the trails and summit of Sunset Hill. Seeing as it was only 1.2 mi to the top, I knew this would be a quick climb for my pup and I to enjoy the evening.

We arrived at the trailhead around 5:45 p.m. It is directly across the street from the Fells Historic Estate and Gardens. I wasn't sure if I could park in the Fells parking lot itself, so I parked just outside of the grounds on the side of NH-103A, where there is room for about 3-4 cars along the road. The sound of cars zooming down the highway was still very audible as we started into the forest, and continued until we made the final push to the top. The beginning of the trail was a quick moderate climb up to the first trail junction pictured above. All of the junctions leading to the summit were marked very clearly like this, making for no confusion on the way up.

Along the Sunset Hill Trail

From this junction the trail was flat and wide. The trail actually followed some old woods roads most of the way. Even after the rain we had on Friday, the trail was basically dry the whole way, with a few small damp spots near the top. After this flat stroll the trail swung right and began what was first a gentle and then steady moderate rise. The trail never got steep, but the ascent was consistent enough to get the legs and lungs working until we reached the summit and turned towards the lookout.

On the summit looking towards the lookout

We ran into three people at the lookout when we arrived who left shortly after we settled in. The rest of the time we had the whole summit and the rest of the hike to ourselves, and after seeing the views take shape, I couldn't believe we got to enjoy it in solitude.

First colors of sunset taking shape

Simply put, the hill lived up to its name and then some. The sunset that evening was one of the most magical I've ever seen, and to enjoy it from that perch with that view was something special. Having heard so little about this hill before we hiked it, I can confidently say that it is highly underrated. I would definitely save it as a sunset trip to get the full effect. As you'll see from the rest of my photos below, it is well worth the trip.

Orange and purple glow descending on the distant mountains

Lake Sunapee and distant mountains

Lookout cairn, lush trees, Lake Sunapee, distant mountains and a magical sky. Perfection.

The NH Forest Society has a great trail map that I used in planning this hike. I'm so glad they have this space preserved for all of us to enjoy such amazing views as those I took in Saturday evening.

In terms of a time break down, it was 32 min to the top of the hill, a little over an hour on it, and then 27 min. back down, going 1.2 mi each way for 2.4 mi round trip.

A Fantastic, Flatter Adventure: Halibut Point State Park

One of many amazing sunset views on along the coastline

Not every adventure has to be a treacherous climb to soaring heights to have a wonderful day outdoors with magical views. Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, MA was the complete opposite of those long mountain treks, yet it still provided nice trails, interesting history, and spectacular views.

A couple weekends ago, my wife and I wanted to get out along the seacoast, so we set out to Halibut Point for some easy exploring and to satisfy my wife's shelling addiction (mission accomplished, haha!). The park is set around an old quarry that's been out of use since the 1920's. When we arrived, the quarry was now serving as a nice home for several dozen seagulls gliding along the coast.

Seagulls resting in the old quarry

There was a great brochure at the kiosk in the main parking area that provided a wealth of information on the interpretive trail that went around the quarry. We started with that stroll to learn a little more of what used to go on here. The brochure went into just enough detail about the entire process of quarrying the granite on site to make what would be a quick, simple loop a little more interesting.

Clouds stretching as far as you could see along one of the seaside trails

From there we strolled along one of the trails closer to the seashore, enjoying the views that stretched all the way to the Isle of Shoals in New Hampshire and Mt. Agamenticus in Maine. The sky was absolutely unbelievable that day, with clouds spreading in magical formations in all directions. We knew it was going to come together to be a pretty fantastic sunset, so my wife made sure she went shelling long enough (not a hard task to achieve) for us to check it out.

Panoramic view of quarry along interpretive trail

We caught our first glimpses of how awesome the early evening would be as we circled back around the interpretive trail to head towards The Rocks, a stretch of flat rock slabs stretching out into the ocean that would provide a perfect spot to take in the sunset views. The early array of colors made the quarry seem like a vast moat guarding the fire control tower turned visitor center sitting above it. We were more than ready to catch more views from right along the shoreline.

As usual, words can't do justice to the sky we saw, so I will wrap this post up with a few pictures from that magical sunset. This park was a major surprise in how fun it was to explore both around the quarry and along the shoreline. Even without the added bonus of a marvelous sunset, I would still recommend this park to anyone who enjoys getting out by the ocean. I know my wife and I will be back for future relaxing days.