Successfully completed our loop climbing East Quarry to West Quarry and then onto Mount Rand and back.
4.67 Miles with a 1,293 elevation
Our trip too us roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes. We were taking our time overall and the Mrs twisted her ankle coming down Rand – she was tired – so that slowed us down also.
The key take away from the injury is to take along some snacks. We’ve been doing quite a few of the easy hikes and while it was only two hours if your body doesn’t have enough fuel to keep going you’re bound to get injured.
EAST QUARRY
Both peaks on this trip are tree topped peaks so there are no real views.
We use the AllTrails application on the phone and definitely recommend them, but the reviews are just ok. I like the reviews to learn about which trail to take first or second, travel clockwise, etc. Or even if there is a short cut worth taking. Beyond that, the reviews are very weather and experience dependent.
We read a lot of bad review about this hike. It was on our list so we had to do it. We loved every minute of this hike. Yes some of it was hard and there were no great views, but the trails were fun and what we did see was amazing.
I suppose if you went into this hike under-trained and struggled to summit only to find no view, then yes, you might write a bad review.
From the top of West Quarry we continued on to Mount Rand. Since Rand is slightly lower in elevation and was a comfortable hike where we caught some views.
MOUNT RAND
Along the way to Rand we kept ourselves busy with the 4 Geocaches we found along the way!
And of course posing for a few photos!
It is upon coming back down Rand and before turning onto Gibbon Road that Cat twisted her ankle.
She was a good sport and made it down, but out of commission for the next week for sure.
The shortcut down Gibbon road was perfect instead of us doing a full out and back, especially with Cat’s now twisted ankle. While she isn’t that heavy I probably would have struggled carrying her back up Quarry… Probably.
We had to decided on when to find a cut path to get us back to the original trail, we did and successfully completed the two mountains in the Belknap Range
Only Mount Rowe left on our list!
What about East Quarry?
Another peak with limited views, this was actually the first peak we hit. Just a quick detour to the left and a good climb to the top with the trail barely marked. We guessed while climbing some of it if I must be honest. Not sure why it isn’t on the Belknap Peak list, but figured we would do it just because it was there!
