Catamount Hill – Bear Brook – 2021 NH State Parks System

I found this trail very well maintained, kudos to the park service. This is the first trail I have been on in a long time that was free and clean from “people trash” .

It starts out just before the state park entry booth (which is not manned this time of year) and heads out along fire road/snowmobile trails for a while until you reach the trail junction for Catamount Hill Trail. There are benches along the way to the viewpoints for those that need to rest although there are rock outcroppings everywhere that work just as well, the first view point (single bench) is narrow but open and you have to go out on a few boulders to get a decent view. The second viewpoint (there are two benches at that location). The view is mostly blocked by what appears to be fairly new forest growth and would be quite spectacular if the trees were not there. I was somewhat disappointed and continued onward towards the actual summit of the hill, which is totally obscured by trees in all directions, and continued along the trail until the elevation started to drop to see if there were any other ledge outcroppings with any view, of which there were not. The highlight of this hike was the very well made and quite tall Cairn to the immediate left of the trail.

A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn [ˈkʰaːrˠn̪ˠ] (plural càirn [ˈkʰaːrˠɲ]). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, from prehistoric times to the present.

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