grouseking
Well-known member
These mountains were not easy, and I know easy is all relative when you are hiking in the Whites. But the last several mountains I have really been spolied with easy climbs. The last rough White Mtn hike I had was the Tripyramids, and this one ranked up there. But there were several good things that occurred during the day. I'll get into them now.
We left Lyndonville, VT around 7:15 on a bright and sunny morning, so me and Bri thought the weather would hold throughout the day. Both weekend days had a chance for showers, but Saturday was a gem of a day, so why not Sunday as well?
The ride to Ferncroft is oh so long, having to take exit 25 from Plymouth then onto 175, Rt 3/25, Rt 113 and then Rt 113A, probably 45 minutes from Plymouth. But when we arrived there, I was blown away by the beauty of the old town atmosphere, much like an 1800s town. Whiteface looked like a long way away. But after a few minutes to get ready, we were off by 9:55am.
Instead of taking the Blueberry Ledge the whole way up, we took the Blueberry Ledge cutoff because I can't resist paralleling a brook. Foliage is still peak to slightly past peak down low, lighting up the forest as only it can. Further in, this trail got steep, i mean really steep! And it was eroded with deep leaves. The topo map did a horrible job showing the steepness, so I was already down for the count by the time we reached the junc with the main trail. It was gonna be a long day I thought. Oh well at least the sun was still out.
After a break to let my heart calm down, we were off up the trail. I thought there would be more ledgesheading up, but instead we ran into steady to occasionally steep terrain, mixed with easier, flat terrain. As is usually the case, the higher one climbs, the steeper it became, and some of the hardest climbing IMO was actually before the ledges. I'm not very agile, but I had no problem with them. At this point, clouds had increased and lowered enough and they produced some light snow flurries! It's my first snow of the year. It continued to snow almost thru the rest of the hike! Winds were gusty and temps in the upper 20s to near 30 made it feel quite cold when I stopped.
The ledges were lots of fun, and not too hard to climb, but i can see them being hell in wet or icy weather, which clearly warrants the warning in the guide. We only took a short break on the top of the ledges as it was windy and cold. Off we went, taking a slightly longer break at the Kate Sleeper junc, then bagged Whiteface, a truly inspiring summit. Number 26 for me, 46 for Bri! As much as we wanted to rest time was already running low so we pushed down the Rollins Trail, which is much rougher than it looks on topo. To make matters worse, many of the rocks had some nice smooth ice clovering them, making the descent rough, challenging and occasionally dangerous. Once we got to a certain elevation though, the ice melted and we dealt with mainly dry ground with occasional muddy patches. We took a break at one of the view points along the Trail and enjoyed the vistas over to Passaconaway, the Bowl and beyond. With some food in me, we were feeling a little better so we got rolling.
I don't remember the exact time, but we arrived and Dicey's Mill junc and started heading up Passaconaway without taking a break. We should have done this because the final climb up that mtn was much rougher than I thought it was. I almost died going up that, and to make matters worse, things got icy again. I seriously considered saying screw it and heading back down becasue I had little/no energy left. But as usual, I found something in me to keep me going. Maybe it was the two spruce grouse we saw up there, I don't know! But at 4pm, we made it to the top...kind of a ho hum if you ask me but another peak on the list...number 27. For Bri it was 47 and all he has left is Owls Head....go him! We barely took time to breathe as we only had two more hours or so to get out before major darkness set in. Off we went down the other side of the loop trail, which was even steeper than the ascent. Thank god we didn't go up that.
Once off the summit cone, we made pretty descent timing back to Dicey Mill junc, and by 4:45 we headed down. I was very worried we wouldn't be out in time, but we had headlamps and flash lights, so not too worried. The trail was very moderate but covered in leaves, making for tough walking. Time seemed to creep along but I know we were making fairly good timing. Views across to Wonolancet thru the trees and up to the Square Ledage trail area were quite beautiful. Just before the junction with the Tom Wiggin trail, the snow finally stopped falling and the clouds broke up a little. At about 5:35, we left the Tom Wiggin junc and tried to cover the next 1.8 back to the car before it got dark. Our saving grace was that the forest was still in peak color, making it easier to walk in the dark. If there had been green leaves on the trees, or it had been winter with no snow and the clouds being around like they were yesterday, we would have needed headlamps. But it never truly got dark and we waltzed out to Ferncroft around 6:15pm, just as darkness really set in.
Reflection: I wish we had more time on this. I pushed myself too much and didn't stop to enjoy the views. An extra hour of daylight would have helped immensely, but we didn't think it was going to take SO long to get to the trailhead. Passaconaway is prob one of those peaks I don't be hiking up again for a long time....only if it doesn't include Whiteface. I'll most certainly be back to Whiteface though, as the views were gorgeous and I'll pick a sunny and warmer day to soak up the sun.
Here are the pictures from the hike. Enjoy
grouseking
We left Lyndonville, VT around 7:15 on a bright and sunny morning, so me and Bri thought the weather would hold throughout the day. Both weekend days had a chance for showers, but Saturday was a gem of a day, so why not Sunday as well?
The ride to Ferncroft is oh so long, having to take exit 25 from Plymouth then onto 175, Rt 3/25, Rt 113 and then Rt 113A, probably 45 minutes from Plymouth. But when we arrived there, I was blown away by the beauty of the old town atmosphere, much like an 1800s town. Whiteface looked like a long way away. But after a few minutes to get ready, we were off by 9:55am.Instead of taking the Blueberry Ledge the whole way up, we took the Blueberry Ledge cutoff because I can't resist paralleling a brook. Foliage is still peak to slightly past peak down low, lighting up the forest as only it can. Further in, this trail got steep, i mean really steep! And it was eroded with deep leaves. The topo map did a horrible job showing the steepness, so I was already down for the count by the time we reached the junc with the main trail. It was gonna be a long day I thought. Oh well at least the sun was still out.
After a break to let my heart calm down, we were off up the trail. I thought there would be more ledgesheading up, but instead we ran into steady to occasionally steep terrain, mixed with easier, flat terrain. As is usually the case, the higher one climbs, the steeper it became, and some of the hardest climbing IMO was actually before the ledges. I'm not very agile, but I had no problem with them. At this point, clouds had increased and lowered enough and they produced some light snow flurries! It's my first snow of the year. It continued to snow almost thru the rest of the hike! Winds were gusty and temps in the upper 20s to near 30 made it feel quite cold when I stopped.
The ledges were lots of fun, and not too hard to climb, but i can see them being hell in wet or icy weather, which clearly warrants the warning in the guide. We only took a short break on the top of the ledges as it was windy and cold. Off we went, taking a slightly longer break at the Kate Sleeper junc, then bagged Whiteface, a truly inspiring summit.
Number 26 for me, 46 for Bri! As much as we wanted to rest time was already running low so we pushed down the Rollins Trail, which is much rougher than it looks on topo. To make matters worse, many of the rocks had some nice smooth ice clovering them, making the descent rough, challenging and occasionally dangerous. Once we got to a certain elevation though, the ice melted and we dealt with mainly dry ground with occasional muddy patches. We took a break at one of the view points along the Trail and enjoyed the vistas over to Passaconaway, the Bowl and beyond. With some food in me, we were feeling a little better so we got rolling. I don't remember the exact time, but we arrived and Dicey's Mill junc and started heading up Passaconaway without taking a break. We should have done this because the final climb up that mtn was much rougher than I thought it was. I almost died going up that, and to make matters worse, things got icy again. I seriously considered saying screw it and heading back down becasue I had little/no energy left. But as usual, I found something in me to keep me going. Maybe it was the two spruce grouse we saw up there, I don't know! But at 4pm, we made it to the top...kind of a ho hum if you ask me
but another peak on the list...number 27. For Bri it was 47 and all he has left is Owls Head....go him! We barely took time to breathe as we only had two more hours or so to get out before major darkness set in. Off we went down the other side of the loop trail, which was even steeper than the ascent. Thank god we didn't go up that.Once off the summit cone, we made pretty descent timing back to Dicey Mill junc, and by 4:45 we headed down. I was very worried we wouldn't be out in time, but we had headlamps and flash lights, so not too worried. The trail was very moderate but covered in leaves, making for tough walking. Time seemed to creep along but I know we were making fairly good timing. Views across to Wonolancet thru the trees and up to the Square Ledage trail area were quite beautiful. Just before the junction with the Tom Wiggin trail, the snow finally stopped falling and the clouds broke up a little. At about 5:35, we left the Tom Wiggin junc and tried to cover the next 1.8 back to the car before it got dark. Our saving grace was that the forest was still in peak color, making it easier to walk in the dark. If there had been green leaves on the trees, or it had been winter with no snow and the clouds being around like they were yesterday, we would have needed headlamps. But it never truly got dark and we waltzed out to Ferncroft around 6:15pm, just as darkness really set in.
Reflection: I wish we had more time on this. I pushed myself too much and didn't stop to enjoy the views. An extra hour of daylight would have helped immensely, but we didn't think it was going to take SO long to get to the trailhead. Passaconaway is prob one of those peaks I don't be hiking up again for a long time....only if it doesn't include Whiteface. I'll most certainly be back to Whiteface though, as the views were gorgeous and I'll pick a sunny and warmer day to soak up the sun.
Here are the pictures from the hike. Enjoy
grouseking
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