Strafford County High Point Trip Report
Copple Crown Hill
Date: January 31, 2003
Author: Cliff Young
Drove to NH to do the liner on the side of Copple Crown Hill. I used Dennis Hanson's trip report and
followed directions to Moose Mountain Road which is signed as "Mountain Road." Following it to its
winter end somewhere short of the parking area you will find a red house on the right with a large area
plowed and a sign that says "This road not maintained for winter use." There are snowmobile trails heading
along the road from this point.
I proceeded up the right hand trail which I believe is the road during the snowless months (or weeks).
After 0.8 mile with no sign of a trail I became 1) worried and 2) impatient. I headed off to the southwest
bushwhacking up the slopes of Copple Crown. Impatience won out. I pretty much headed towards
whatever highest ground I could see at the moment. In any case, after a long, arduous climb (it really was
surprisingly tough going because of the snow conditions) I came out on top of the East Peak at 1,820 feet.
From here a blue blazed trail exists which meets the trail mentioned in other trail reports as noted. I agree
with other recommendations of the eastern overlook, I'm glad I accidentally ended up there. About half way
up I realized I left my cheat sheet with the latitude/longitude coordinates in the car and from then on I was
really bummed out because I didn't know if I could convince myself that I had actually reached the correct spot.
You'll see below that luck took care of that concern.
From the junction, I climbed the rest of the way to Copple Crown Summit. Then, using Fred Lobdell's directions,
constant reference to the TOPO Map, my GPS unit, and a huge portion of good luck, I worked
my way down to where I believed I was very close to the county line. I decided to take another gander at
the GPS and while waiting for it to zero in on where on the face of the globe it believed I had taken it,
I looked around and three feet in front of me and four feet to my left was a six inch balsom fir with a dark red
blaze on it. Upon further investigation there were more blazes in a very straight line running in the exact
direction I expected the county line to run. I said to myself "this looks very suspiciously like a county line."
Following them to the south-southeast and then to the north-northwest they went downhill in both directions.
The six inch fir sits very near the highest point in Strafford County, although there is a rock
about 25 feet to the north which sits astride the county line.
There was no evidence of recent surveying activity and I believe these blazes have been there for some time.
The mosquitoes mentioned by both Dennis Hanson and Michael Schwartz were not in evidence.
The container of DEET I had with me went unused.
After another arduous trip down and around the mountain I drove around through Wolfboro and turned east
to the county line. This was the closest I could get on a road that crossed the county line. Sure enough,
there were the same color dark red blazes on the line. This was very close to 3 miles north of the high point
of Strafford County. Upon arriving home I checked the way-point on my GPS and it is only 0.06 seconds
off in longitude and right on in latitude so it gets me to feeling like I can definitely claim the county.