#15 / 52WAV

UNH Trail (counterclockwise loop)

4.84 miles / 1,703 elevation gain / 2hrs 23 mins moving time / 3 hours total

Jen and I hadn’t been up to the mountains together for a few weeks and I had a bonus day off so we decided to go for a bit of an easier hike as the forecast was looking pretty chilly. Pulling into the mostly empty trailhead parking lot we knew this was going to be a good hike as there was ~6 inches of snow/ice on the ground and the sun was starting to peak out of the high clouds. We layered up, put on our spikes and off we went. I love winter hiking! The woods are so peaceful and still, and the rocks and roots on the trail are covered so its pretty much like walking up a ramp of snow. The grades are pretty gradual on Hedgehog and it wasn’t long before we got to the loop junction less than a mile in. We decided to hike counterclockwise as it seemed that the steepest part of the hike was just in front of us and we both would rather climb steeper sections than descend them all day long, except when conditions are good for butt sliding (they were not on this day). After gaining a good amount of elevation we saw a sign for Allen’s Ledge, so we took the spur trail up ~50 yards to a beautiful outlook where we stopped for a bit to take in the views and catch our breath as we were setting a pretty steady pace up and we were both quite warm.

We got back on the main trail for the final push to the summit which proved very tricky to locate. Apparently there is a marker on the ground which of course we couldn’t see as it was covered in snow. We kept hiking along the ridge of Hedgehog and we declared a few times that this must be the summit so we took a few pics and then kept going to find another area that MUST the summit. This happened two or three times until we came to a large outlook overlooking mounts Passaconaway and Pagus. We made that our summit and we cracked open a small nip of Baileys Irish Cream and some of our snacks which included these killer coconut date balls that Jen made for the holidays. After snapping some pics and scarfing down snacks we made our way down the ridge off Hedgehog which had some great outlooks off some pretty steep rock cliffs. We never felt unstable but it would probably be a good idea to keep dogs on leashes and kids close by on these areas. From some of these areas you can look back from where you were standing just a few minutes ago and you can sort of see why its called Hedgehog Mountain. The sparse pine trees on the rounded summit vaguely resemble a little critter of some sort, I suppose and apparently that critter is a hedgehog.

We both commented on how this hike offered views around every corner for very little effort which would make it one of the easiest hikes we’ve been on together. Also the fact that we saw very few people on the mountain made it a very enjoyable hike. Overall Ratings (out of 10) 2 for Difficulty and 9 for Enjoyability/Views. Would be a great hike for families with kids and/or beginner hikers especially in winter.