Stewart's, Fox/Monroe Hill, Bald Land Ski & Eagle Mountain | 12/30/26

While I wasn't necessarily looking to hike during the remnants of Monday's ice storm, I must say the results on the trail were somewhat beautiful in the days following. This New Year's week, I enjoyed some low-elevation firetower hikes and a creative adventure through Jackson!

Stewart's Peak & Fox Hill (Monroe Hill)

Although Liz and I were worried about the hilly dirt roads we were due to drive on Tuesday, we were surprised to find that northern Hillsborough County is generous with sand. With the roads allowing us to the end of Horne Street in Warner, we parked in one of the two trailhead spots and began our short hike.

Though blazed bright in yellow, this trail is not on Gaia. At times, it almost seemed the trail corridor was decorated festively with a combination of flagging, blazes, and property boundaries- so I wouldn't call this a bushwhack. The trail at first descends to a small col, then rises sharply as it climbs rather relentlessly to the wooded summit through open woods.

Liz heading up Stewart's

Along the way, I enjoyed the sound of wacking the ice-crusted trees and the way that they glistened like tinsel in the sun. From the top, we had some obstructed views south, but nothing we could begin to make out. We also noticed a red-blazed trail heading in the direction of Mink Hills, but did not explore it as it was very cold and not on our map.

Stewart's Hill summit

On the descent, we quickly tried to regain the warmth the 6-degree real feel stole from us, and soon enough arrived back at the car after our brief 1.4-mile journey.

After Stewart's, we headed south to Hillsboro, where we had hoped to take the fast path to Fox Hill via Molly Jackson Road off of Center Road. As we passed, it was clear that the snow banks would not allow parking there, and I am not one to park on the side of a main road in the winter.

We pivoted to parking at the large Fox Forest Headquarters just back down the road, and took Concord Exit Road, Ridge Trail, and Monroe Hill Trail in a great loop around the summit. While another Monroe Hill sits just north of the one we hiked, it is private property with a home on top. To do our due diligence, we topped out the "tower" and summited Fox Hill (Monroe Hill) instead.

Fox Hill "Tower"

Despite being about 8 steps tall, the Fox Hill Tower had some lovely views south to what I thought was Pat's Peak, yet I now realize was Crotched Mountain! From there, we completed our loop and again passed over a logging cut with a nice explanatory sign about what had happened there.

Liz walking down the Tinsel Forest

Car to car, we did about 2.3 miles, but it seems there is far more to explore in this lovely state forest!

Bald Land Trail & Eagle Mountain

On New Year's Eve, Ian and I joined forces again to hit some winter-friendly trails out in Jackson. Though I had desperately hoped Doublehead would have magically avoided the consequences of the ice storm, we unfortunately decided it would be a mess after taking a quick look at it from the bridge at the beginning.

Thankfully, I'd thought up a plan B that would work with any conditions, and we headed over to Bald Land Trail by Windy Hill in Jackson. Although we had spikes, snowshoes, and skis ready for the variable conditions we anticipated, the skis were really calling to me.

After booting up and exchanging some glances of uncertainty, we started our tour up the road and then right onto the Bald Land Cross Country Trail. Notably, the Jackson XC signs gesture to a right turn onto Bald Land before Gaia does, and that was the correct turn to take.

Although there was a decent amount of snow on the ground, it was truly like glass to punch through. Sans the prior tracks in the ground, the snow really wasn't even malleable to a ski sliding through unless it was in the sun. Despite the ground conditions, the only real problem was that we couldn't carry on a conversation over the sound of the snow!

As we toured uphill to the view spur, which has no view, we found 2 massive blowdowns off the spur that required a bear-crawl on skis to pass. Very fun!

Gnarly blowdown on the way to the "view" spur

Behind turning back from the "view," things really got interesting as we left Jackson XC's property and downhill (survival) skied to East Branch Fireroad 38. Although we transitioned with 0.7 miles to the road, we made approximately 1 turn the entire time, as skiing down a hiking trail is never ideal... but with ice and poor drainage, it really is not ideal!

Ski the whites, I guess!

By the time we leveled out at the bottom, I threw the skins back on for the last stretch to the road, and then we had a much easier journey getting back up and over to the HOL by the view spur. Although we would've had a great ski down from there in any other snow conditions, I ended up keeping my skins on as we headed back to the car, which was frankly a great time in my opinion. I'm not a thrill seeker if you couldn't tell!

I'm not sure I'd recommend skiing this particular trail if you're redlining, but I had a great time, so do what you will with that!

After our ski, we were pretty happy to get out of our boots and into hikers. With almost nothing left for me to cross off in Jackson, we settled on Eagle Mountain 8 minutes down the road. Though it starts unassuming from the back of the Eagle Mountain House, the final summit push is rather steep, and good traction is necessary for the foreseeable future. Despite the light push at the top, the views spanning south to Attitash and east to North Kearsarge were just fantastic. Definitely worth doing again for a quick one!

Looking south from Eagle Mountain

All in all, the tour was 5 miles, and the hike another 1.66. Not a bad way to close out the year!