Oak Hill Fire Tower (Oak Hill City Forest)
Hike Type: Out and Back
Distance: 3.97 miles
Elevation: 663 feet
Time: 1 hour, 37 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes moving)
Hiking Challenges: New Hampshire Fire Tower Quest
Hiking Challenges: New Hampshire Fire Tower Quest
The Hike
Vacation was technically over but school break was still going strong! After tweaking my knee doing something on Wednesday at Saddleback, I took my mandatory day of rest on Thursday. Now it was Friday, and it was time to get back into it! The end-plan for the day was to meet Emma at Cochran's Ski Area in Richmond, VT for some rope-towed night skiing (for $5), so I backwards-planned my day to start with an early morning hike, continuing to finish up the New Hamphire Fire Tower Quest list (you get the patch for 5 towers, but I want to finish the list still). My alarm went off just before 5:00am and it was a STRUGGLE to get up. Thankfully, I had an easy drive to Hooksett with a successful christening of the bathroom. I got two stuffed hash browns for first breakfast, and a sandwich for second breakfast that I would eat after my hike. I made it to the Oak Hill City Forest parking lot on Shaker Road at 6:45am and was delighted to see 1) a plowed lot and 2) not a single other car. Skies were overcast with a breeze and it was 19 degrees out. I brought snowshoes but the trail looked well-packed, so I made the decision to hike it in just my spikes.
The trail starts at a kiosk and follows yellow blazes the whole way. The snow was a little softer than expected, and in hindsight it would have been good to practice hiking in snowshoes, but I was fine. The wind was causing the trees to do some spooky creaking and I was gleefully following many deer tracks as the trail meandered through the woods, intersecting with many other trails (all blazed in blue, red, or yellow, and were mostly well-signed). My nano puff came off at 0.25 miles and my fleece came off at 0.5 miles. I noticed tracks on these intersecting trails and wondered if they could be used to make a loop (or partial loop), but they were significantly less-traveled and would have required snow shoes (I should have brought them...).
The Tower Trail skirted a semi-recently-logged area that had tree views to either Kearsarge South or Cardigan (not sure which one, I'm guessing Kearsarge) and MANY private property signs. The trail got choppier here and continued to be less-packed as it entered a denser forest, crossing a couple of bridges.
Right at the one-mile mark there was a "1/2 way" sign, and the Tower Trail intersected many other criss-crossing trails, but now most weren't broken out. It was relatively flat in this area, and I was starting to get ready for some uphill as I was getting chilly. The trail eventually came to a sharp turn at a granite marker that marked the Concord/Ludon town line, and then the trail followed a power cut for a final push up to the tower.
The final push was a bit more moderate, which was welcomed at this point. The snow here really could have used snowshoes, as the firm monorail was about 4" wide (I only postholed once, though!). Up top, there was an old cabin, an abandoned RV, a few communication towers, some form of old machinery, and of course, the fire tower! The climb, similar to other NH towers, was steep and narrow, but not nearly as sketchy as some others. The view was a little grown-in, but I could see Monadnock, Kearsarge South, and Cardigan, which was super fun! It was 15 degrees up here with 15 to 20 mile per hour winds (I got a new anemometer! I also wrote my name, address, and phone number on this one...). I opted for no hot chocolate or break, as I just wanted to keep moving and stay warm. I also hit the two-mile mark at the top of the tower!
'
Mt. Monadnock.
Mt. Cardigan (Possibly)
Mt. Kearsarge (Likely)
I postholed once again going down, but still only once! Some blue skies were beginning to pop out, and the rest of my return trip was nice and easy. This was a great spot to explore just off the highway, and I'd be curious to wander around some of the other trails in the forest! Now, though, it was time for a quick change and a drive to Whaleback Mountain for some skiing!
Step-by-Step
- Park at Oak Hill City Forest trailhead on Shaker Road.
- Hike to Fire Tower out-and-back on yellow-blazed trail.
"Oak Hill (In Loudon; 941 ft.)" from Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide, 5th Ed. (2021)
Oak Hill is a long ridge running east and west in Loudon and Concord. A fire tower on the wooded summit was refurbished in 2019 and offers pleasant views of the surrounding countryside and hills. Other outlooks lie lower on the mountain.
"Tower Trail" from Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide, 5th Ed. (2021)
This yellow-blazed trail is the most direct route to the summit and fire tower from the main Shaker Rd. trailhead and also serves as a trunkline trail where several other trails branch off, making various loop hikes possible. Grades are generally easy the whole way and footing is mostly good aside from a few rocky sections. The immediate area around the summit has been impacted by logging but the trail itself is only slightly affected.
Tower Trail leaves the parking area at a kiosk and branch of Concord's Little Free Public Library and ascends easily along a wide path to a junction at 0.2 mi. where blue-blazed Lower Trail diverges right for the Vista Way trailhead. Tower Trail bears left, immediately passes the closed former section of Ledges Trail on the right, then in 25 yd. passes a junction on the right with the current route of that red-blazed trail. At 0.5 mi. Tower Trail passes a junction on the right with red-blazed Upper Trail, which leads to the scenic vista and Oak Hill Rd. trailhead. It ascends easily, levels as it passes north of Potter Ridge, then descends to a four-way junction at 0.9 mi. where red-blazed Dancing Bear Trail leaves left (turn left onto this trail to reach the Swope Slope Vista) and blue-blazed Potter Ridge Trail leaves right.
Tower Trail continues traight ahead and footing becomes rockier. At 1.2 mi. it passes through a lower four-way junction with the blue-blazed Krupa Loop, climbs easily over an unnamed 775 ft. bump, then descends to an upper four-way junction with Krupe Loop at 1.3 mi. Tower Trail continues an easy ascent, with a few minor ups and downs, and reaches an old stone wall at 1.7 mi. which, along with an engraved granite post on left, marks the boundary between Concord and Loudon. Here, red-blazed Ron's Way departs right.
Tower Trail passes through the wall, turns sharply left and follows a power-line corridor at easy to moderate grades. At 1.9 mi. the fire tower comes into views as the trail makes the final ascent to the summit. The trail crosses two newer skid roads, jogging left then right at the second one, and emerges onto the broad summit clearing at 2.0 mi. When leaving the summit, Tower Trail diverges right at a fork (sign: "Tower Trail") where Oak Hill Summit Rd. bears left by the communications tower.
"History of the Oak Hill City Forest" from Trailhead Kiosk
The bedrock of what is now called Oak Hill (elev. 980 feet) formed 410 to 365 million of years ago in the late Devonian period. It consists of a rock type called Concord Granite and is part of the same rock formation that is quarried in Concord on the west side of the Merrimack River. Oak Hill came into being when the softer rock that had encompassed the granite slowly eroded away. Part of the granite formation can be observed on the Ledges Trail. The most recent geologic event that helped shape Oak Hill was the ice age. When the glacier receded about 12,000 years ago, it deposited the soil and the boulders presently found on the hill.
Settlers first moved into the Concord area in the early to mid 1700's. They probably found Oak Hill covered by a forest of red oak, white oak, American chestnut, and a scattering of hemlock, red maple, black birch, and hickory mixed in. Most of the forest was cleared in the mid to late 1700's for agriculture. Many of the trees that were cut down were burned to create charcoal that was used in area mills and forges. The Tower Trail crosses directly over an old charcoal pit which is located about halfway between the trail's intersections with the Upper Trail and the Dancing Bear Trail. Old deeds referenced that some of the chestnut groves were left standing as the chestnuts provided nutritious food for both humans and livestock.
Due to the steepness and rockiness of the soil, most of the hill was only suitable for pasture. As a result, only one farmstead can be found on the City Forest as there was not enough productive cropland to support more than one family. Stone walls and rock piles tent to mark the areas used for growing crops. Those areas can be found along the Tower Trail between the northern trailhead and the Ledges Trail turn-off, and in the area along Skaker Road immediately south of the farmstead site at the southern trailhead. A small amount of granite was quarried from the hill during the colonial era. Some large boulders were split along the west side of the Lower Trail just south of the footbridge and the bedrock itself was quarried near the hill's summit on the Loudon Town line. Due to poor soil conditions, most of the pasture land was abandoned in the mid to late 1800's and quickly grew in with a mixture of pine, hemlock and chestnut. Unfortunately, the chestnut was killed off by a blight in the 1920's, though many of the dead stems were salvaged. The blight intensified growing concerns about forest protection and a system of fire towers was developed throughout the State. Because Oak Hill commanded spectacular views of central New Hampshire, a fire tower was constructed on its summit in 1928. Most of the pines that developed in the abandoned pastures were logged off in the early to mid 1900's which allowed the present oak forest to develop. The areas that were used for growing crops were eventually converted to hayfields until they too were abandoned in the early 1900's and they also grew in with the white pine currently found there. Severe Gypsy Moth infestations in 1980 and again in 1990 killed off many of the hemlocks and numerous oaks, though the forest seems to have now recovered from that ordeal.
The City of Concord started acquiring land on Oak Hill in 1975 for conservation purposes. Between 1975 and 1999 the City obtained six parcels of land that totaled approximately 300 acres. In 1989, the City started an intensive forest management program by setting up two timber sales and then used some of the skidder trail to initiate the hiking trail system. A goal of creating a trail to the firew tower on the summit of Oak Hill was soon developed. In 1999, the City purchased a tract of land that connected the City Forest to the Loudon Town Line. Permission was obtained in 2000 to cross the private land on the summit of Oak Hill in Loudon to complete the trail to the fire tower.
As with other City Forests, the City of Concord manages the Oak Hill City Forest under the Multiple-Use concept where consideration is given to timber production, recreation, wildlife habitat improvement, watershed protection and education. It is hoped that a sound forest management program will continuously provide the public with the many benefits that a well-managed forest has to offer.
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