Fox Forest Southern Ridge Trail
| Date: | 1-25-2024 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, NH |
| Distance: | 6.4 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 523′ |
| Total Time: | 5 hr 42 min |
| Parking: | 20+ cars |
Back at Fox Forest to explore the southern section of the area. My buddy Jack and I decided to do the Ridge Trail West this time. This runs along the perimeter of the forest although it looks more like the south side.
We arrived at the parking lot nice and early and were out on the trail just before 8am. The temp was about 1 degree. So it was pretty cold out. We were the only car in the parking lot when we arrived. The sky was blue and the sun was shining.
We set off across the street on the Ridge Trail. This trail is marked with a white square and a red square in side of it. This trail goes in for a ways and crosses some foot bridges along the way. We decided to do our route counter clockwise.
We came to a junction where we picked up the Swamp Trail and followed that for a short ways. The trails were covered with about 2-3 inches of snow. After a shot while we got on to the White Cross Trail. We were only supposed to stay on this trail for a short ways but we missed our trail.
We ended up following the White Cross Trail to the end where it met the Ridge Trail. From here we sayed on the Ridge Trail the rest of the day. We passed the Fischer Cat trail and the Barred Owl Trail. These trails are more like class 6 roads in most spots.
After we passed the Swamp trail we started to climb a bit until we reached the height of land on our trip. Up there, there were a series of houses and a nice stone wall that the trail followed. At this point we were the only ones who have been on the snowy trail.
The decent was nice and gentle. We continued around the Ridge Trail which took us near Route 202. We could hear the cars going by on the road. A little further down the trail took us by Saint Mary’s Cemetery.
At this point we were both getting a little hungry and started to pick up the pace a bit. Hurricane Road and the Ridge trail were one and the same. We passed a number of side trails that would take us back the center of the forest, but we stayed on the outskirts.
Before we knew it we were back at the junction of Hurricane Road and the Ridge Trail meet. From there we were just a short jaunt back to the parking lot.
This was a fun trail to explore. There are a lot of beautiful old trees and some nice stone walls. Lots of nature and a pretty easy walk in the woods.
