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KTS TRAIL
SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The Kearsarge Trail Snails
Snowmobile Club maintains about 100 miles of trails in and around
Warner, NH. The focal point is Mt. Kearsarge, which can be approached from a variety of
directions, all eventually converging to our Trail 8. Much work was done
back in the Fall of 1998 on the trails leading to and through the
"dugout" on Sawyer
Hill, which allows us to take all of our grooming equipment right up to the mountain. The
Club grooms Trail 8C, the Auto Road, with its magnificent vistas, to the parking lot about a half mile short of
Kearsarge's summit. There's
a hiking trail to the summit from there--steep, rocky, icy, and ungroomed--but worth the effort when the conditions
are right. The 360-degree views let you take in everything from the Presidential Range, to the Green Mountains, to
Monadnock and the flatlands to the south and east. At the bottom of the
Auto Road, Trail
8 continues up and over to Gage Hill, where the Sutton club takes over.
Heading south from the mountain area, State Primary Trail #345 and
continuing south on our Trail 1 will take you all the way to the Warner River, where our 185' suspension
bridge gets you across the Warner River and into Contoocook. Or, you can
stay on Trail 345 which crosses
Pumpkin Hill and takes you down into town, across the Warner River
through the Covered Bridge, and then out into the Mink
Hills and then connects with State Primary Trail 380 in Henniker. Look for Trail
4C or Trail 4D (which connects to 4C) at the bottom of Pumpkin Hill and take
trail 4C over to Exit 9 for gas and food.
State Primary Trail 345 heading northeast from the mountain area takes
you to the eastern edge of the KTS trail system, the Blackwater
River. Primarily on U.S. Government property, the Blackwater trails meander along both sides of the river, with
KTS primarily responsible for the west side of the river and the Andover Snowmobile Club responsible for
the east side. When heading Easterly on State Primary Trail 345
turning left at Trail Jct. 12 onto Trail 2B takes you over Mill Brook.
Groomers from both clubs overlap on the way towards Salisbury. Turning right
you then can head south on the west side of the river on Trail 2
from
Trail Jct. 13. There's a road bridge either way that can get you safely
to the east side of the river or you can stay on the west side, traveling south all the way to the Blackwater Dam,
across Lake Winnepocket, conditions permitting, and back to Warner
using various other trails. Trail 2 south also intersects with Trail 3,
at Jct. 10, near the flood
control dike at the bottom of Little Hill, which goes towards
Knights Meadow. Continue along Trail 3 adjacent to Knight's Meadow and you'll eventually
wind up back on Trail 1 at Trail Jct. 8 on its way to Contoocook.
To the west, we groom smooth and wide on Class VI Town roads through the Mink Hills to Henniker. Trail 4 will take you
down to Pleasant Pond, right next to Exit 7 off of I-89. Cross the pond,
conditions permitting, go under the Interstate highway and then you can turn
right at Jct. 20 to go to Contoocook or turn left and come back towards Warner on Trail 1. Farther back on Trail 4, you can
take a right onto trail 4A, which is Dummer Road and then head to the Bound Tree Intersection
(Jct. 1). Riding on Trail 5 from the Jct.1 and then turning onto Trail 5A is the Bear Pond Bypass.
Trail 6A will take you through Daisy Hollow
to Trail 7 where you can either take it to Lake
Massasecum or go south on Trail 7 to Liberty Hill and State Primary Trail 380. The Henniker Trail Travelers do a fine job
of grooming as well.
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