Joe English Hill was a strange one. Just a few hundred vertical feet, it climbs relatively gradually from its north side, steeply dropping down a cliff face on its south side - impressive for a hill of its size. The trail is very confusion. After the short drive over from Goffstown, I parked in a cul-de-sac and walked up what appeared to be a driveway based on a rock that had a house number on it adjacent to it. The trail does eventually appear (albeit without markers), eventually fading into a poorly maintained but graveled logging or quarry road. You pop back out onto a set of better maintained access roads; choked with rubber traction pads, construction equipment and human impact. It's not necessarily the most pleasant, and it's quite confusion without a trail map, but is officially correct and legal to follow. Well, eventually the road does fade back to actual trail and you enter a low-angle sloping hill that appears to be gladed quite nicely; though with shrubs and undergrowth occasionally getting in the way. The trail is well-traveled and you can follow it for a little bit before encountering a sign stating that you should not proceed; the land beyond is property of the Air Force and anyone entering the area can and will have their person and possessions searched.
Well, if you missed the sign on the way in (it is off the trail a bit) or theoretically continued, one might say you'd probably be easily able to follow old trail a few minutes further to 3 different viewing points; seeing the Uncanoonucs, Monadnock and other peaks quite clearly. At one of the viewing points, a very well built up stone firepit looking well-used and filled with old coals sits with stone chairs - at one point in the last couple years, there used to be Adirondack chairs apparently. Viewing from the south of the mountain, you would likely see the New Boston Space Force base, with its geodesic domes - of unknown purpose to me.
The experience was interesting, but not necessarily enjoyable with the confusing route finding and the human impact. Could there potentially be 150-250 vertical feet of skiing to be found in the low angle slope? Probably. Would it be worth it? Doubtful - it likely would require the perfect amount of light snowfall such that everything is covered, but not so deep that you get stuck. It was cool to see once, but I don't think I need to come back in the winter to check its viability. I chatted with a couple groups of people when I returned to my car; them getting ready to take dogs for a walk on the trails. I would suggest you drive around to the base of the hill and look up at the impressive cliff face though! Probably much better without the leaves.
The Pinnacle came last. My original plan was just to check it out, then come down. Didn't plan to go to Mount Rose, but I ended up hitting it, going down its back side, out along the old logging road and back up the steep main road to my car. At this point, maybe you've figured out that each of these places tend to have one of two elements in common - that their trails have either a maintenance road for low coverage skiing, or have a consistent north-facing slope that the trail ascends. The Pinnacle was no different.
There certainly were parts that were skiable. Occasional spots opened up, looking nearly glade-like but mostly full of waist high sticky underbrush. Most of these veered away from the hiking trail as well, so I didn't investigate much further. I'm not entirely sure it would be a great ski given the rises and falls. Anyway - Pinnacle was quite to reach, with decent views. Lyndeborough didn't have much - more a check-off-the-list peak with barely any rise than anything else. The trail from there to Mt Rose was nice - soft mulchy coverage, relatively flat, decently wide and had a nice steady rise to the summit. It did feel remote, which was nice. Rose was much more interesting, grand views of Monadnock and other peaks with a few quiet sitting areas with vantage points. I sat and rested for a little while at one of them, watching a hawk coast and the wind lightly toss branches from side to side. The trail down took a lot out of me as I ran - relatively rooty compared to most of the others I'd been on that day, kind of tight, and slightly wetted with fresh leaves on the ground - not yet crunchy. There were sections of steady but tight descent, but occasional flats and uphills that would prevent this from being a good tour for me with simple downhill skis and skins. It could be enjoyable for someone with fish scales, waxless skis or just better equipment than I. Anyway - I was pretty tired after the ~10 miles already completed that day of trail running and fast walking, so I split my time walking the uphills, jogging the downhills on my way to the main road. Fully walked the rest of the way up as the incline was steep and my knee had a dull, pinpoint pain that I would need to let rest.
All in all, was an enjoyable day! If I had to provide any suggestions - I'd say don't bother with Joe English. The rest are worth a morning hike!
Pictures, as usual, here:
https://imgur.com/a/GFMK7vh
