We headed to the Ossipee Range to take on Big Ball mountain, Black Snout and Mt Shaw. Mt Shaw was #52 for us on the NH fire tower list, it is also on the 52WAV list. These 3 mountains also got us up to 5 on the Ossipee 10 list, funny we weren’t even going to do that list. LOL
We parked at the Mt Shaw trailhead which starts out as a carriage road. We walked over to a couple of the waterfalls off to the left of the trail that were flowing nicely. We took a right at Mt Tate/Italian Trail it is blazed in red and green. You have to pay attention on this trail as there are a lot of side trails that cut off from it.
The trail itself is not a hard trail, it is not full of boulders and roots, so the footing was easy and parts of it were a steady up. The trail leads up to the Banana Trail which goes left and right. We took the trail to the right first for a Geocache, and got a bonus with the views. We got a great view of the lake and the Belknaps. Looking at Mt Rowe from a distance, it seems amazing that we were able to do 6 miles of exploring on that mountain last week. LOL
After leaving the views we followed the Banana Trail to the summit of Big Ball mountain. We didn’t stay too long as we had seen better views from the outlook. As we were leaving the summit we got a great view of our next mountain…Black Snout.
The hike over to Black Snout started out as a nice walk in the woods right until the UP. It was the first time we hiked over boulders the whole day. The area had a lot of blowdowns and the blazing was limited. The trail leads right up to what we believe was a carriage road. It looked like it had been just mowed too. A lot of moose poop though, it was all over the place. We took a left and went to the summit.
On the summit we took in the views and located the geocache. We took a small break and then headed down the nice grass covered road with a view of Mt Shaw in front of us. Did you know there was a sacrificial stone on Mt Shaw?
The views on the summit were fantastic even though there was a haze. We located the geocache, these things are everywhere, then sat down for lunch and just enjoyed the views. After lunch we searched for and found the remains of the fire tower that once stood there. It started as an observatory tower when the area was call Ossipee Mountain Park. The state got permission to use it as a fire tower from 1916-1922.
The last thing we did before leaving the summit was look for the sacrificial stone, yes there is one on the mountain somewhere. After the fire of 1953, its location was lost and with the regrowth it’s been covered. We found what some believe is a portion of it uncovered, but we don’t agree, not that our opinion matters on the subject. The interesting thing we found through research on it is that Mr Aleister Crowley,’ the wickedest man in the world’ used the stone during his NH Magical Retreat. Yes Mr. Crowley the one that Ozzy Osborne sings about in the song with the same name.

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Another great video. I really like the Ossipees, although I haven't hiked a lot of them and find their maze of trails, snowmobile roads, forest roads, logging slash and herd paths confusing at times. There's a lot to see there and I'd like to finish the 10 this year so I'm glad they allow use of the place, since most of it is privately owned. Very interesting about the sacrificial table too. Surprised nobody has dug it up more if that is indeed thought to be it. You guys sure do some serious research before setting out on these hikes. And lastly, any idea what kind of snake that was with the red ring around it's neck?

Thanks GG. An uneducated guess on the snake would be that it is a Ringneck. They apparently don't bite humans...mustn't like the taste! LOL

Hi Chuck. I'm heading to bed, but I'll be up by 4am as usual.
I really want to see your video. I'll check it out when I get up.

I really like the Ossipee's, but agree that views to the S from Roberts, Faraway [lookout], Bald Knob, Big Ball, Black Snout, and to a lesser degree even Flagg and Sentinel create an awfully similar effect. It's a great range and a good list, but is probably best spread out over a couple years. Maybe this could be said for most lists or ranges, of course.

Glad that you're not experts on sacrificial stones, by the way. That might be creepy.

(And probably now there will be somebody who finds this site/thread in about 4 years and comes on to tell me/us all about how sacrificial stones aren't weird at all, as long as the public doesn't see people using them. . . .)

And tell us all how they plan to be a contributing member of the forum and post reports and aren't just here to push their agenda...

Sacrificial surfaces are OK as long as you drape a piece of cloth over them.

At least, that's what the priest told me back before I left the church

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Did anyone else ever read the report of a sasquatch in the area?
A few years back I saw a newspaper article ( I think in the Mountain Ear) where somebody claimed to have seen one in the Ossippees.

And of course there are UFO reports and something about a secret burial site of 8 ft tall humanoids, excavated and hushed up by the Smithsonian

I think you guys took the best route. I've been up Shaw a couple times, and some of the paths are pretty wooded.

We have seen all the same articles that you have but decided to only focus on the sacrificial stone. Here is a link to the one about the sasquatch.
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/storie ... angeNH.htm

Ah! so it was the Sun, not the Mountain Ear that I saw it in

I'd imagine it's likely the same story is included in the "Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire" book.

The evil music was great in the video. LOL


Yeah, me too. I went food shopping there yesterday. Ft Eddy Road.
I found it very steep....in prices though.

I heard a few times about the stone. Why not bring a spade and clear away the grass on top to see if that's what it actually is, instead of it just being a random grooved rock?

I went back up(I'm one of the guys in the video) and focused on the grooved rock.


It's definitely strange, but I'm not sure what it is. I regret not looking back at the stacked rocks I found earlier in the video, I always felt like that was the table. I'll probably go back soon because it's irking me. Anyways, Shaw is a great hike, just watch out for bull moose.

Oops, thought he linked our video. Here's ours, the table is near the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=turX7cxRFMw&t=1379s