Phillips Brook Recreation Area

Today, our adventure took us just a short drive to the Phillips Brook Backcountry Recreation Area, which is about 5 miles from our house, in Dummer, NH. The PBRA has many miles of well-graded dirt roads, and many miles more of hiking trails. The only issue we had, is that nothing is well-marked. A great map of the whole area would be really handy.

Driving in, we saw a hunter with his gun. We'd heard that it was a well-used hunting area, and here was our proof. On Saturday, we invested in some blaze orange, for all three of us -- a baseball cap for me, a vest for Michelle, and an orange and yellow reflective coat for Birdie! We were glad we put them on before we left.

We parked several miles into the reserve, and walked on a well-graded road to Little Dummer Lake. The lake was so still that it was like glass. We can't wait to come back here at other times of the year. If it's this gorgeous without all the leaves on the trees, we can't imagine what it will look like when the leaves are green, or changing in the fall.

We continued past Little Dummer Lake on the graded road for several miles, following the road to see where it would lead.

The literature promised us wildlife (and said moose sightings were likely) but we didn't have much luck. Michelle saw a large hawk in a tree-top, and we saw some chickadees, but that was about it. (Not counting the dead mouse Birdie tried to eat!)

The forecast threatened rain, but it never came. And, the temperature was surprisingly warm, in the low 60s.