An Outdoor Recreation for Seniors (ORFS) Celebration of Spring

This Tuesday’s 10 am trek for the Outdoor Recreation for Seniors (ORFS) was very special. It began with a choice of doing a 3-mile hike around Lake Kolelemook in Springfield, NH, or doing a snowshoe trek on the Protectworth Trail, part of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG).

More so, after the hike, the annual celebration of the March Equinox would begin at our hosts, the Coombs.   Kathy and Bill invite the ORFS to adorn themselves with provided flowers and greenery and partake in Kathy's Spring Offerings.  We dance to our own music and participate in a "New Beginnings" ceremony.

Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) is a great circle of trail corridors and conserved lands providing hikers with minimally-developed access to the mountains, lakes, vistas and historical sites of the region. The “necklace” trail comprises over 75 trail miles, created with the cooperation of landowners and local authorities, through the forests, over mountains and, where appropriate, via old roads, now unsuitable for wheeled traffic but more extensively used as much as two centuries ago. 

The Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway Trail Guide topological Map 4 below shows the Protectworth Trail in Springfield, NH. We trekked on the trail about one and a half hours. This trail is Class VI.  It had been previously groomed for snow mobiles, cross country skiers, and hikers.  Besides staying on the main trail, we also added some bushwhacking (making our own side trails in deep snow).

We did not hike the full Protectworth Trail (4.3 miles) today, but after 45 minutes on the trail, we turned around and returned to the route 114 trail-head from whence we started.  I got enough sense of this beautiful trail, to plan a return to complete the full Protectworth Trail within the SRKG.

Given I chose the Protectworth Trail to snowshoe, the video below gives you a sense of our trek, and then continues to the “party peoples” celebration of spring and new beginnings … and Bill’s sharing of his UFO experiences.

References

• ·        Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Coalition (SRKG and Greenway http://www.srkg.com/
• ·        New London, NH Conservation Commission web site. http://outdooradventurers.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-friend-just-shared-below-new-london.html
• ·     Kearsage Chapin Center Council on Aging http://www.coachapincenter.org/index.html

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