We'd been driving through the southern part of the state, and with a few hours to kill decided to swing by the Derry tower. It sits on the 605' peak of Warner Hill, which as far as firetowers in NH go is the lowest one we have. For comparison, the tower on Magalloway Mountain sits at 3,360'. But what Warner Hill Tower lacks in location it somewhat makes up for in size by being one of the tallest in NH. That nugget of info came to us directly from a retired firefighter named Wally. More on him in a moment, but first it's confession time. We didn't actually hike the meager 605' of Warner Hill "Mountain", we were lazy and drove up the access road instead. But in our defense Logan and I had completed a 9 mile mountain bike ride earlier that day, and ol' jelly legs just wasn't up for any more exercise. I'll let you decide which one of us that was.
Although you're free to climb their stairs, firetowers are tall, narrow, rickety things that not everyone is willing to dart right up.
Derry tower is no exception to this, and Tina is just one of those hesitant people. So while she remained on the ground doing her best impression of the Little Engine That Could, Logan and I started up. We reached the top platform and immediately noticed something was different. The trap door opening to the cabin, which every other time we had climbed a tower was shut and locked, was swung wide open. Someone was up there.
Not wanting to disturb whoever was inside, we spent a few minutes looking around and pretending we knew which mountains we could see in the distance, when I heard a voice from above.
"You coming up?"
An invitation to actually go inside a firetower? You bet we were. Next thing I knew Logan and I were standing inside the cabin looking out.
The fellow who had beckoned us up introduced himself as Wally, and here's the first of several things I learned that day - New Hampshire's firetowers are still active. Somehow I'd never considered that they were. But I'd never considered that they weren't, either - I simply thought they were fun to climb. They're still in use though. Not every day, but whenever the fire danger is at level 3 or higher the towers are manned. And Wally could speak with authority on this because he'd been manning this particular tower for 31 years.
I asked him the last time he'd spotted something worth reporting and he said it was about a week ago in Candia, which turned into a 3-day fire after making its way underground into the roots. He then spent some time showing us his tools of the trade, which consisted of radio equipment, binoculars, and this map which he used to help us locate distant sites such as Boston to the south and Mount Agamenticus - or Mount "Aggy" - to the north.
We talked a bit longer and learned the history of the Derry tower. It was an ex-military lookout that was used in WWII to watch for planes coming in over the Atlantic. Had any been spotted, the tower would have radio'd over to Manchester Airport for support. After the war the lookout was converted to a fire watch tower, and without a need to see over the ocean the trees in that direction had been allowed to grow rampant and obstruct the view of the water.
It was about this time that the combination of affirmations and Dramamine must have worked their magic, because Tina braved the tower and joined us in the cabin. We were just wrapping up, but Wally was happy to give her the tour all over again and allow us more pictures. He ended by telling Tina that his wife was the reason he still came up here to do this job, so that he could have his alone time. Then he gave us the kind of wink that said he may or may not be kidding.
There are sixteen firetowers still standing in New Hampshire, and fifteen of them remain on public land and open to climb. Next time you're in the mood for a hike, consider a mountain with one of them at its peak - chances are if you live in New Hampshire there's one within an hour drive from you. And if you're lucky, you may even find a host as gracious as we did.
Links:
New Hampshire Fire Tower List
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