Take a snowshoe this coming Monday and discover a protected treasure of the Lakes Region which offers a short hike, outstanding views and a respite from the crowds on neighboring Mount Major. The President's Day hike will kick off a series of late winter and early spring hikes across the state to properties protected by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. They are a sure cure for cabin fever. These are all free and introductory in nature. They are guided opportunities to help you explore some of the Forest Society's many outstanding properties across the state and are led by people who know the land and how to read its landscape. If you cannot make it Monday, the next snowshoe hike will be held March 1 in Bethlehem at the Forest Society's Bretzfelder Park from 1 to 3 p.m. Winter Wildlife Tracking is the subject of that walk with Nigel Manley, an experienced wildlife tracker leading the way. Learn about winter mammal ecology, habits and habitats that are commonly found in New Hampshire during this snowshoe. Visitors can look for tracks of snowshoe hare, squirrels, mice and deer on the property and learn about some of their predators including fox, coyotes and bobcats.The third trip in the series is planned for March 18 in Lyndeborough. It will be a visit to a maple orchard. There, you will meet Chris Pfeil of "The Maple Guys LLC" at his sugarhouse for a special tour of the sugar bush at 11 a.m. The event, which will run through 1:30 p.m., will include an introduction to forest management for maple sap production and a visit to the high-efficiency working sugarhouse. The final hike in the series is April 6 when the weather has hopefully turned toward spring. This hike is to the McCabe Forest in Antrim where visitors will learn about amphibian breeding at this time of year. The property along the upper Contoocook River is filled with vernal pools used by wood frogs and yellow-spotted salamanders as breeding grounds.These temporary breeding habitats can be found all over New Hampshire when winter snowmelt fills these natural depressions. Learn about fairy shrimp, fingernail clams, caddis fly larvae and more. The walk is from 4 to 6 p.m. and after the walk, share some pizza in Antrim and celebrate the coming of spring. The first trip is to the Morse Preserve, which was protected in 2008. It offers some of the best views for the effort I have ever encountered in New Hampshire. Step-by-step, this 1.7-mile hiking loop on 431 acres offers the most bang for your viewing buck in the Granite State. Standing at the top of Pine Mountain at elevation 1,400 feet, you get a huge, 220-degree view of the center of the state. From your left, you can see as far south as the Bow power station. Moving along the horizon, you can see ski trails on Mount Sunapee, Mount Kearsarge standing off on its own, the Belknap Range in the foreground, including nearby Mount Major and the lift tower at the top of Gunstock. The view also includes most all of frozen Lake Winnipesaukee below, including the Rattlesnake Islands then up to the north with the White Mountains in the distance including Mount Tripryamid and Whiteface. To your right you can see the Ossipee Range to the hills of Strafford County. Below, is Alton Bay as it narrows toward the southern tip of Lake Winnipesaukee. The walks are great family-friendly, educational opportunities to be outdoors in New Hampshire in late winter and early spring. The series will also include a pub night with the Forest Society's Dave Anderson on March 16. Dave and I will talk about the outdoors, discuss some of our favorite spots, play some trivia games and answer outdoor questions for those who attend the free event. The location of the pub night is still being worked out, but more information will be available on WMUR's Escape Outside in the coming weeks. Jack Savage, spokesman for the Forest Society, said the idea for the series was inspired by the success of last summer's WMUR-Forest Society Five Easy Hikes series, which focused on offering guided hikes of some rather publicly unknown properties in southern New Hampshire. It was such a wild success the Forest Society and WMUR are again partnering to promote and offer more such guided trips in 2017. "We want to welcome and introduce people to the trails so that they can come back to enjoy them at different times of the year," Savage said. In addition, the series is also partnering with Stay Work Play New Hampshire. I had never been to the Morse Preserve, but on Tuesday, after we cleaned off all the snow, I was lucky enough to meet Suzanne Marvin of Alton Bay at the trailhead for a trek.We could not have had a more perfect day in the snow and sun. Marvin, who is one of the Forest Society's volunteer land stewards, lives nearby and makes the hike at all times of the year. She broke trail for most of the time and told me what it looks like during the three other seasons, when it is known for its wild blueberry barrens. To get there, take Route 11 to Rand Hill Road in Alton Bay and then turn on to Alton Mountain Road where you will catch glimpses of Lake Winnipesaukee below. Turn left on Avery Hill Road and you will see a small plowed parking area on your right, owned by the Town of Alton. The trailhead is across the street.Bring your snowshoes, some water and a snack and dress in layers for the hike at 10 a.m. Monday.It's a moderate loop trail which includes spectacular views of the Lakes Region, White Mountains and Central New Hampshire. Savage noted that the view is pretty much the same as you get on nearby Mount Major, but it is a much shorter climb and it is far less busy, year-round. Pine Mountain, at an elevation of 1,400 feet, is not to be confused with Pine Hill, which is nearby. The trail is marked with yellow blazes and can be confusing in some places including the top and an open field at the base of Pine Hill. To avoid getting lost, take the guided hike Monday and then venture back on your own at another time once you are oriented. We began by entering the property at its gate on Avery Hill Road then followed what must have been an old road to a clearing where the Morse Farmstead once stood. While the buildings are gone, there are still open fields and stone walls. It is in this field where there are two marked trails to access Pine Mountain. They form a loop which will bring you back to the open farm field. Our snowshoes were cutting trail through a blown-in trough of powder while we ascended through the hardwood forest. It was moderately strenuous and we stopped to take breaks and talk about the land and what it must have been used for over the years. Suzanne loves this area, which she has been visiting since childhood, and knows it well. She and her husband Ken are volunteer land stewards. The hike will include lots of stops and information from leaders Jenn Seredjeko and Carrie Deegan of the Forest Society who will also help lead. It was such fun to be in the newly fallen snow. I realized last winter that I never used my snowshoes, but this winter they are getting plenty of use. Both Suzanne and I fell a few times in the drifts but were able to get ourselves back up. Wind created sculptures and frozen waves of snow, which were beautiful.I was thankful to have my hiking poles, but I kept losing one of the baskets and miraculously finding it each time. When we got near the summit we saw a flock of cedar waxwings. The flock alighted as one and circled round the hillside. The temperature was about 25 degrees and it was sunny with no wind except for a light breeze at the wind-scoured summit. There is a wild blueberry barren here and you can almost imagine the warmth and delicious snacks to enjoy here in mid July.While dogs are permitted on the property, the Forest Society requests that you leave pets home on this introductory hike.For more on these and other Forest Society events visit https://forestsociety.org/even...