I was driving along the coast and I saw a patch of conservation land owned by SELT (Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire). I have seen this name before. One with the Awcoming Marsh and group of trails associated Stratham Hill Park. I went to the SELT website and found a group of additional trails. The web site is https://seltnh.org/trails/ . There are handouts that are printable or you can just read them. In the handouts there are trails which described the trail. The trails are from easy to moderate challenge, and all have a view. There are enough trails that will keep you busy.
Category: adventure
Ordiorne State Park
This is a fantastic place to visit. There are so many features there that you could spend all day there. I will probably write three blogs on this place. It not only only have great walking places, but a research center that any one one enter and much history associated with the park. I will describe the walking paths in this post and describe the other features in other post(s).
It is a state park so like most New Hampshire state parks pets are not allowed there. It costs 4 dollars for each adult to enter and 2 dollars for each child. It is well worth it. The walking paths extend throughout the park and they are well taken care of. Periodically when you are walking you run into picnic tables in the middle of nowhere. These picnic tables usually have a view of the water.
Most of the trails are flat. Many people do cross country skiing in the winter. As one walks in the park one approaches historic sites. It does have sites from where the explorers first came to New Hampshire to WWII sites. I will describe them in another post. The paths are both in the woods and along the ocean.
There is also a well equipped playground for the kids when they get bored from walking. Here are some pictures of the trails.
One can spend all day there exploring and look out over the water at the ships there and the mansions in Portsmouth and New Castle. There are also a few lighthouses in the ocean. Bring some binoculars. I also heard at times there is good fishing. I will talk more about Odiorne state park at another time regarding the history behind it or its scientific encounters. Here are some other places on the web regarding this park. NH State Parks : Welcome is a key place in the web to visit. There is a map and a video that will show the point in greater detail. I would suggest for all to come and bring food. There is no snack bar. A YOUTUBE episode is https://youtu.be/9ag_tVm1A5g. It is a man with a abbreviated journey through the park on a four wheeler. There are many others. Some good and some not. There are many short features on YOUTUBE. There is no substitute for an actual visit.
Geocache
Geocaching is a great activity to do. It can be done with your kids, a friend or by yourself. It requires walking which is good exercise. All you need is a means of transportation and a GPS. I have a GPS, but need a computer to find where on the map where the cache is located. If you have a Smart Phone and you have the internet, you can download a Geocache App and see on the phone a map on where it is located.
The people who don’t geocache are called muggles (taken from Harry Potter). The caches are hidden in just anything. Some are in ammo boxes, some in cigar containers. I found one where they used the front porch steps. Whenever you find a cache, it should have a piece of paper where you sign your cache name. The cache name is just a name you will go by when you are geocaching. It can be anyname that you can remember. One needs to register the name on the geocache website (https://www.geocaching.com)
There are clues to where the cache is. The website will tell you where it is located using latitude and longitude. The GPS will use the latitude and longitude and superimpose the coordinates on a map. It sounds complicated but with the tools in front of you, it is easy.
There are many kinds of caches. There is the standard cache where you go to the location pointed out on the computer. There are virtual caches such as the one at the petrified forest at the NH seacoast area. A real cache would be flooded out at high tide. Another one is at one of the forts in New Castle NH. They weren’t sure the requirements in Federal property to hide a cache.
Another is where you get instructions to go to the first cache. You will get numbers to insert into the coordinates of the next one and so on. In Amesbury Mass there is Geocaches like this and don’t stop until one finds all the history.
There is other styles like in the White Mountains. There is a group of caches that imitate the game Battleship. Each cache has a message the says “Miss” or “You hit my carrier”. You keep finding them until you sink the ships. Another similar to that is like in the NH seacoast area. It is called “Snow White and the seven Dwarfs.” As you find the dwarfs each will give a hint to find Snow White.”
My last one I am going to describe is the traveling bug. You buy the bug on line. You hide it in an appropriate location and record it on the web site. Another will pick it up and hide it in another location and record it. I hid one. Last I checked the bug had gone all over the country and gone a total of 5000 miles.
There are other style geocaches. You can even make up your own style. You are limited by your imagination.
There is two types of membership. There is the free membership. The is the type of membership with a small fee which you get added benefits. This is a great activity to do by yourself , family or friends.
Adventures in Hampton NH 