Our short outing today brought us to two pieces of land which were recently conserved by the High Peaks Alliance, Mosher Hill Falls in Farmington and Walrath Woods in Strong.
Mosher Hill Falls has long been a popular destination for Farmington locals with a small informal network of trails. Since their acquisition of the property, the High Peaks Alliance has formalized the trail network, creating a short blue-blazed lollipop loop around the falls and gorge. They have also constructed two sturdy aluminum bridges across the stream. Although there wasn't much water going over the waterfall today, it was still a nice little walk to check out the newly improved trails!
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| New signage at Mosher Hill Falls |
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| One of the new bridges |
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| In the gorge |
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| Mosher Hill Falls |
Located on Route 149 in Strong, Walrath Woods protects over a mile of the Sandy River's eastern bank, and it is now home to the only official non-motorized recreational trail in Strong. We started from the northern trailhead, and followed the trail south. It first passed through a red pine forest on an old woods road, before narrowing as it approached the riverbank. The southern half of the trail closely followed the river, below a steep slope. Just before its end at the southern trailhead, we took a small spur leading to a rock ledge beside the river. At just 0.8 mile long each way and with no steep slopes, a walk on this trail to the ledge is a great outing for hikers of any ability!
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| The northern trailhead at Walrath Woods |
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| Passing through the red pine forest |
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| Sandy River |
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| Sandy River |
