BobC
Active member
Monday, 4/20 was a holiday for me - Patriots Day (a Mass.-only holiday). I always try to make at least a plan A and plan B when I'm hiking solo, and often don't decide on my destination until I'm on the road. Plan A was going to be a non-summit hike to Ethan Pond and Thoreau Falls, while plan B was Kearsarge North. When I woke up Monday morning, the call of the views won out and I decided on plan B.
Driving through North Conway on the way to the trailhead, I could tell I was in for a beautiful day. The temperature at the trailhead was a balmy 45 degrees. The Kearsarge trail leads to the summit of Kearsarge North in 3.1 miles and 2650' elevation gain. The trail started out pretty dry and with no sign of snow, but I still had the snowshoes strapped to my pack, just in case. The trail starts out fairly level for a while, then climbs at a steady, moderate grade for quite a while. It passes over some ledgy areas which had quite a bit of water trickling over them, making them look slippery and requiring a little extra caution. The sky was blue, the birds were singing, the temperature was very mild, and I was having a great time. I kept wondering if and when I would see any significant snow, but for most of the way up there were only very minor patches of snow and ice. Finally, about a 1/2 mile below the summit, I ran into the snow and pretty quickly decide to put on the Microspikes, since the trail was getting steeper, and the snow was hard-packed and slick. I managed to make it all the way to the summit without postholing once - always a neat trick at this time of year. I met a woman hiking down with her dog, and she warned me about a tricky steep spot up ahead that was very icy. Upon reaching that spot I did just what she recommended - stayed to the left and did some creative bushwacking to get around.
When I got to the summit area and out of the trees, the snow disappeared and I while stopping to take off my Microspikes, I got my first view of the summit tower. I had forgotten what I had read about it, that it's an enclosed tower with windows all around - nice. As I approached the tower I could smell smoke but couldn't tell where it was coming from. When I entered the tower I was a little taken aback to see two teenagers with sleeping bags, gear, food and assorted junk strewn all over the inside of the tower. Clearly they had spent the night there. Hmmm. I greeted them but kept my less-positive thoughts to myself. Hopefully they cleaned up the mess before they left. Later on in the hike, on the way down, I spoke to another hiker that was on the summit at the same time as me, who said he had had a few words to say to the kids about the fire they had built on the summit. :roll:
Anyway, back to the good part. While I ate my lunch in the cozy confines of the tower, I looked out on some of the most fantastic 360-degree views in the White Mountains. This is yet another less-than-4K mountain that puts many of the 4Ks to shame. It's just a great place to go if you want a reasonably short hike but still want amazing views.
After lounging around for about 45 minutes, I headed down and got back to my car at 1:00. I was still feeling pretty energetic and it was still early, so after a stop at the Saco Ranger station to pick up a new parking pass, I headed over to check out the Boulder Loop trail off the Kancamagus highway. I've wanted to check this out for a while but it wasn't worth a drive up north on it's own. It's a 3-mile loop with 1,000' feet elevation gain, and some nice views to Mt. Chocorua and down into the Swift River Valley. I was a little surprised that such a short "touristy" hike was so haphazardly blazed, though. There were several spots where I had to look long and hard for a blaze, as the trail was a bit hard to follow. Then all of a sudden I'd come to an area that just went straight, yet I could see 5 blazes just standing in one spot. Overall though, it was a nice easy hike that managed to give me some extra exercise and round out a great day of hiking.
Kearsarge North pics
Boulder Loop pics
