Gap Mountain

It's a holiday!  Even though we've already been plenty busy this Columbus Day weekend, there's still time to squeeze in one more hiking adventure.  It will just be Betsy & me today and we need to be home in time for Betsy to teach afternoon lessons.  I check out my Southern New Hampshire Hiking Guide and find an "easier" hike less than an hour away.  This one is called Gap Mountain in Troy, NH.

  

There are two approaches to climb to the summit of Gap Mountain.  We opt for the one from the north parking lot because the book says that it is a little less steep in the approach.

It's always a good idea to double check the directions and trail maps before hitting the trail.

See?  We just have to follow the white rectangular blazes to get to our destination.

The treckking poles really help when you have to ford a stream.

Yes, lots of green still on the trees, but lots and lots of leaves falling, too.

You'd think this would be the top with a flag planted here, but as it turns out, it was just a false summit.  Some other hikers who we started with turned around here without knowing they missed the summit.

Finally we see lots of fall colors.  But the haze persists, so we aren't able to see
 the top of Mount Monadnock to the east.

Here's the proof that we we really did make it to the top.

We had to hoof it back down the mountain, since as I mentioned, the Music Studio of Betsy Fiedler did not take this as a holiday.  We worked up a sweat, but we made it with a little time to spare.  Our adventure today was 2.66 miles with an elevation gain of 817 feet.  I promised Betsy it would be less of climb than Wachusett, but it turns out it was only 200' less.  

I've included the elevation chart, so you can see it pretty much up then down.  Next time, maybe I'll try the approach from the south to compare.