Mt. Major 2/6/11

"Frozen" (pictures)

Difficulty: Moderate (steep and rough especially on ledges)


Directions: From Alton, NH take Rt. 11 West and follow it for about 6 miles. Trail head parking lot is on the left (blue sign)

Report: The wind was howling outside as we awoke at 6:30am. It was an interesting night! What was originally supposed to be 3-6 inches of snow turned out to be an inch of snow and a night of sleet and freezing rain. To top that off a thunder storm rolled through about 11pm which took me by surprise! The sun was shining however this Super Bowl Sunday morning. The clouds were a-glow in dark orange as the sun rose from behind the hills. I quickly decided to scrap what was supposed to be a fresh powder snow shoe up Locke's Hill and instead do the undoubtedly ice covered Mt. Major. It had been some years since I have done Major in ice and I was excited.

We arrived at the trail head at 8:00am. Art was right on time (a Mt. Major regular) and he was heading up his usual way up the Express route off the boulder trail. We geared up, deciding to leave the little used snow shoes behind as the trail was well packed and holding a fresh crusty inch of snow. Threw the micro-spikes on and headed up the Mount Major trail. Trees were coated in ice and made an erie noise as the wind blew the branches to and fro. The rising sun shined through lighting them up like glass. I threw aside the occasional branch that lay in the trail, apparently not able to withstand the weight of the gripping ice on it's bow and falling to it's doom.

As we climbed the temperatures got cooler and the winds picked up. Scott began to fall behind but I pushed on and coaxed him along. We slowly snaked our way around bent frozen trees and snow drifts to the first ledge followed by the second ledge and then the third and final. We arrived at the summit at 9:30am. Winds were whipping at a face numbing 40 mph. Views were beautiful as always, although the Ossipee mountains and beyond were wrapped in gray snow clouds. Ice covered trees shined brightly in the sunlight up here. Snow was deep, nearly a foot and crusty on top.

Scott rejuvenated took the lead down as usual. We made our descent of the ledge and crossed paths with a lady hiking up with two dogs. One of the dogs this tiny little black thing was so cute and adorable! We talked with the lady a bit and the little dog kept barking at her to "let's go!" We soon arrived at the cut off for the Express route and made quick time down the softening snow. We passed Art on his second trip up this trail today! We chatted, I updated him on my parents whom he passed often on the trail and we returned to our descent. We arrived back down quickly, hitting the Boulder trail for a short 100 feet then back on the parking lot at 10:00am Always the perfect little hike on any day!

Kearsarge North 1/9/11

"A Mixed Bag" (pictures)

A little bit of everything today. I talked to my brother (Jeremy) the night before who was possibly going to join us Sunday. In the morning he texted me saying he was coming but running late. When he showed up we took off for North Conway. My brother hadn't brought a sandwich and wanted to grab one from a store on the way. I stopped at the Subway in Ossipee, not yet open. Tried the store in the same lot, nothing. Then stopped at the Log built gas station down the road whose sandwich fridge was broken. 3 strikes your out! Chocorua was partially in the clouds as we passed by, looking cold and snowy. I made one final stop at the Circle K in Conway for gas where Jeremy finally got his Sandwich from Amato's. The Mountains that circled Conway were all visible looking pretty good. Temperatures and wind wasn't too bad as we arrived at the Hurricane Mt. Road and parked. The sun was shining through partly cloudy sky's.

We began the hike at 9am. The forest was void of any snow so we left my snow shoes behind. The trail began with some minor ice then remained frozen dirt with occasional patches of ice. Once we huffed and puffed up the moderate climb we arrived at the ledges. Ice began to increase but there was still too much rock for micro-spikes. So we carefully made our way over slippery ice and rock hopping. We passed two guys coming down who questioned our not having spikes. We told them we had them with us. Turns out we would need them!

The view of the day yielded Whitehorse ledge and clouds of snow squalls now covering the Moats and the Mt. Washington Valley. It looked brutal. After Jeremy and I played around on some ice hills Scott and I finally decided it was time for the spikes. Jeremy didn't have any and so would have to suffer it out. With all the energy he has however it didn't slow him down the least bit!

Above the ledges the trail swung around the mountain then made a steep climb before leaving the pines and into the partially open summit. We passed a man just before this coming down with an orange hat. He mentioned we were close and was dissapointed there wasn't a log book in the tower this time. Winds were stronger here but still didn't seem bad. Despite the ice we made book time and arrived at the summit of Kearsarge North (3268') at 12pm. We headed for the enclosed fire tower and chowed down on some much needed food! The wind was whipping around the frozen windows of ice crystals. Views extended to, well, the doubleheads and Black Mountain Ski area and that's it to the North! Cranmore and the Green Hill Preserve and that's it to the South. Ah well!

It did look like blizzard central North and West of Conway. We were possibly the only 3000' + mountain in the clear all day! At least from this perspective! At least we were warm! Just as we were finishing up an older couple joined us. After some small talk we packed up and went back out into the cold. We froze in seconds. The temperatures seemed to have dropped, the wind picked up and it was snowing! We climbed over the rocks and threw our spikes back on.

We then spent the first half of the hike carefully negotiating the ice and assisting Jeremy when needed as he slid, swung and jumped his way down the trail! Once back down to the ice hills Jeremy got his last slides in and soon there after the spikes came off. This turned out to be a mistake of sorts because we now had to re-adjust to not having the traction. And there was still ice in sections. I forgot I didn't have spikes on and hit the ice and went down. Scott went down as did Jeremy. One section Jeremy was complaining about the ice not being slippery in one spot, just as he said this he slipped and went flat out on the ice! I cracked up laughing, lost my footing and went down the ice behind him. It was painful but funny!

We passed several people coming up as we continued and made our way through sun light and snow squalls. We passed the orange hat guy again on the ledges taking in the blustery view. After loading my report on Newenglandtrailconditions.com I noticed the same report by Waumbek. Perhaps that was him? An interesting hike for sure. Full of laughs. We reached the truck at 2pm. Total time: 5 hrs. Mileage: 6.2 Elevation Gain: 2600'

Eagle Craig 2/6/10

Scott & I actually rested and up early for once arrived at the Baldface Circle Trail to find all but 1 car in the lot! It was cold but nothing like the weekend before! We geared up and headed across the street to the trail head at 9:38am. The trail was hard and crusty and well packed, temps. were in the upper 20's. We made a stop at Emerald Pool and continued on with thick ice coating many sections of the trail. We took a right at the loop junction on to the Baldface Circle Trail (counter clockwise) and arrived at the Charles Brook crossing, which was not passable at this spot. We headed up river about .1 miles to find a safe and suitable crossing. Then simply cut through the woods to the trail which runs perpindicular to the river. The trail here gets really icy as water runs through these trail sections. We negotiated our way keeping to the sides of the trail for traction on the snow. We finally made our way to the Bickell Ridge junction at the bank of Eagle Brook taking another right keeping on the BFC Trail. The snow pack became a little deeper but only 5 or so inches with grades remaining at a moderate climb, until about 2700' where steep pitches started to work themselves in.

We arrived at the first rock scramble at about 1pm, this time of year a snow & ice scramble and this one proved to be the most difficult. Still we did fine bare booting then easily made the second scramble. We crested the ridge, took a right at the trail junction and arrived at the Eagle Craig summit with light but constant winds around 1:20pm. We took pics, made our way back to the somewhat more sheltered trail junction and ate a quick sandwich. Temps. dropped to the mid teens and with the windchill I would say it was in the single digits. Views were stunning as they were in the summer with views across the rocky Eagle Craig over to Evans Notch, the Wildcat/Carter/Moriah Ranges, a glimpse of the Southern Presi's, the Baldfaces, and across the valley to Maine.

With frozen faces & fingers we packed back up and headed to the Bicknell Ridge Trail which we decided to descend by. We dropped down into the pines to find a cold, snow accumulated area and grumbled our way back up and out to the rocky ridge crest to the trail junction. We had some trouble finding the trail entrance into the pines and decided to follow the fox tracks as he seemed to know where he was going on our ascent trail. Sure enough it led us the right way. We very quickly discovered that this trail was nto a good choice. Not packed out and full of much more snow due to the pines and semi-openess of this ridge we were post-holing every few steps up to our knees. This trail would make an awesome summer ascent though, with many open ledges with South Baldface right in your face!

We continued on in this exhausting fasion all the way down the ridge arriving at the Eagle Brook river crossing just before the junction. Again we had to look for a suitable crossing which was found 100 ft. up stream. I was having a little fun on the ice trail sliding down it, Scott tried video taping it and just caught the end of it as I slipped and fell, OWCH! Another dumb moment by me! Back down quickly to the Charles Brook crossing and back on the main trail we gunned down it getting back to the road at 4:20pm. A beautiful day, a wonderful hike and it was topped off with a SPECTACULAR sunset. I got a few shots of it from Rt. 113 and was so hopeful to find a clear shot of the fiery orange over Chocorua but no such luck.

Pics of this hike here

White Ledge 12/19/09 Trip Report

With such a nice day forecasted I thought this would be my last chance this year to make another run on White Ledge which Scott & I did back in May '09. The sky's were clear as we came to the White Ledge Campground where we would park at the gate. Unfortunately the entrance was not plowed and there was no place to park on the road. I pulled my trail book out and got the details to the secondary trailhead which starts across the street from the Pine Knoll Campground Sign. We parked on the side of this street and headed across Rt. 16 at 10:00am. The only sign at this spot is a sign saying "White Ledge Campground Ahead", the trail follows an old town road which starts between 2 driveways. The trail was not broken in which made for some tuff footing right off. We passed a house on the left and a cabin on the right before the road narrowed slightly and made it's was past a large boulder on the right.

We made it to the Loop trail at 10:30am. Unfortunately the trail wasn't broken in here either, the problem being we don't have snow shoes which would have made things much easier in the 4-6 in. snow cover. We followed the logging road grade, first gradual before climbing steadily up to the top of the bluff marked by a large clump of rock on the right, a boulder field on the left and an erratic just past this on the right. Now all that work climbing was erased as we made our way down the other side of this bluff, our ankles and feet frozen from snow getting into our boots. Snow shoes and gaiters would have been helpful! We thought about turning back but we were determined to make the loop.

The ledges now visible on our left we trudged on eventually turning left and up the North-East side of White Ledge. I had expected semi-bare rock and some ice on the ledges but we encountered more snow, getting deeper now, knee high in spots. The ledges on this side not being steep, hold right on to the snow apparently! Views now opened up North to the Moat Mountains, Cranmore, Peaked & Middle Mountains and a glimpse towards what looked like Crawford Notch and the Pemi Wilderness. After snaking our way through the various ledge areas we finally reached the White Ledge Head at 1:30pm. We took a much needed break and ate our lunch, views East into Maine at a dramatic, secluded mountain "clump" in the distance which I am going to guess is the Pleasant Mountain Range? We cleaned the snow from the boots and put our foot warmer insoles on that we keep in our bags for just such an ocassion.

Heading back down was nice. We crossed more ledge and views down to Ionna Lake and Whitton Pond. Our feet began to warm up now too, YAY! We soon came to the Chocorua view I was excited for! And even got a tiny patch of a rainbow to the left of it! We quickly decended coming down to the stream which was in prime photo condition with just enough ice to make the running water a photography heaven! Past this the woods open up and after reaching our trail junction made our way back down the road and reached our parking spot at 3:30pm. We barely, bare booted this loop! VERY EXHAUSTING!!

Pics of this hike here> http://www.flickr.com/photos/excape1/sets/72157623032737636/

Trip Breakdown:
Total Mileage - 4.3 miles
Elevation Gain - about 1400 feet
Time - 5.5 hours
Weather - 29-26 degrees all day, no wind / mostly sunny am. to mostly cloudy pm. / Snow 4in.- 1ft.

Sandwich Dome 10/17/09

We made our last minute preperations Friday for a Hike-NH group hike for Saturday. I invited my brother along as he had the day off. I was sticking to my plan to hike Guinea Pond trail to Black Mt. Pond trail. I new this would be a longer hike but figured the weather wouldn't be all that great anyway, so the chances of summiting Sandwich Dome was probably not going to happen.

We arrived at the trailhead and got on the trail at a nice and early 8:00am. Once the thermometer readings leveled after being in the warm truck temps. read a brisk 37*, but crystal clear sky's. It was cold, the frost on everything was proof of that. It was very pretty though against the bright foliage. At one point, ice crystsals on the trail where the sun was hitting looked like glitter scattered about. This entire section of trail is a logging road up to our Black Mountain Pond junction, passing several marshes and beaver ponds.

Now on Black Moutain Pond trail we crossed a river and gradually climbed up to a side path to Mary Cary Fall. Not much to look at right now, but must be pretty cool in the spring. Soon we arrived to the pond's camping area and unfortunately no campers, particularly no "Peesalot" whom I was hoping to see as she had planned on camping here for the hike. We took in the beautiful sights of the large pond and the ridge behind it we would be climbing. The sky's were still clear with temps. in the upper 40's and though there was a slight breeze it was perfect weather.

We passed two more beaver ponds then made the climb with intermitent steep sections and a couple minor scrambles. Snow was now present here and ther on the trail but not a hinderance at all. Views from the ledges were magnificent! We took our lunch break not far from the Algonquin trail junction and once at the junction decided to continue on to Sandwich Dome as the conditions were perfect! Footprints in the snow showed that others had been up here today...perhaps Tim, Brian & Joe... I have to say, this being the second time on this ridge, these are some of the best views in the Whites. You could see Lake Winnipesaukee, snow capped Moosilauke, Franconia range & Presidentials, the Osceolas, Tecumseh, Rocky Jennings Peak & Sachem Peak, black mountain pond and all the other smaller peaks in between. It is quite a place!

Once over the high point on this ridge the trail drops to a col. As we began this steep climb down the snow on the trail made it slippery and slow going. We immediately assesed the situation and decided it was too much. With such a long hike back the extra hour or so to the summit, half hour on top and hour back would be pushing it if we wanted to get back to the truck before it got dark and cold. I drew "Excape was here" for the others to maybe see if they came back this way. Fighter Jets that we had heard all day were now visible as we made our way back down the ledges. They were doing manuevers which was pretty neat from this vantage point.

Once back down to the camping area a tent was now set up and a fire going. A man asked if we were with Hike-NH, we said yes just as Peesalot came walking over. We talked for 10 miuntes or so, very friendly couple whom I was glad to meet! (P.S. Peesalot, I have seen your truck before...lk2hk license plate and I will never forget that "terrorist hunting permit" sticker, the first time I saw it I was like, I love that sticker!) We continued down the now thawed out trail and back to the truck at 3:00pm. Perfect day, awesome hike. Hope to meet the others on the next Group Hike! Pictures of this hike here> http://www.flickr.com/photos/excape1/sets/72157622489421305/