BobC
Active member
Last year a group of Rocksontop members hiked the Baldfaces on Labor Day weekend, and we had so much fun that had to do it again this year. So plans were made and a group was assembled: Bob & Geri Hayes, una_dogger, MichaelJ, Salty, jdr6453, happyhiker, kpmmbm, rocket21, New Hampshire, and myself (not sure if all of these people are on VFTT, but most are).
We hit the trail around 9:00 and made good time to the South Baldface shelter, where una_dogger shared some delicious chocolate chip cookies. We then set out to climb the South Baldface ledges, and what would be about 4 miles of above-treeline hiking. The ledges are quite a fun and somewhat-tough scramble.
The weather was great, with just a few clouds and almost no wind - much different from out trip last year when the wind was so strong that we had to hunker down behind rocks on the South Baldface summit. Along the way up and over the ledges, we had to negotiate our way around an ornery ledge troll.
When we got up over the tough stuff and came to a reasonably flat spot, we stopped for a snack break, and una_dogger shared some more cookies. Everyone marvelled at the fantastic 360 views.
We then set off for the final climb to South Baldface, stopping only briefly at the stone bench along the way, at the junction of the Baldface Circle and Baldface Knob trails.
On the South Baldface summit we took a break for lunch and soaked in more views.
As we headed over to North Baldface, we ran into a familiar face: Erin (ScenicNH), who's now one of our newest Rocksontop members. We'll get him on VFTT soon, too.
At this point, our group broke into two. I still feel bad about this, but after most of the group continued toward North Baldface, New Hampshire (Brian), Salty (Mike), jdr6453 (Joe) and I stayed behind to chat with Erin, which turned into at least a 20-minute stop. Mike & Joe hadn't met him, but I hadn't seen him for over a year, since Brian, Erin and I had done a Bonds traverse. So we couldn't resist stopping to chat for a while. We kept looking over at the rest of the group as they summited North Baldface and stood around on the summit for a while, probably cursing us for staying behind for so long. Eventually they gave up and continued on down off the North Baldface summit, and the rest of us finally decided to start hiking again. :wink:
So our little sub-group of four hikers made good time from our little chat-stop up to the North summit, where we stopped only briefly, and then continued towards the junction with the Bicknell Ridge trail. As we were leaving the North summit, we could just see the rest of the group descending below as they headed into some trees.
The four of us took another break at the trail junction, and then headed down Bicknell Ridge. This was a slight change from the route I had hiked last year, since we had gone over to Eagle Crag and then descended via the Baldface Circle trail. But Joe had done this hike in June and thought that trail was kind of boring (I didn't remember it much), and we decided that Bicknell Ridge might be more interesting. It turned out he was right, as this trail took you in and out between wooded areas at least five open ledges with great views over to South Baldface.
At one point Salty mentioned that he had "view overload", and I kind of knew what he meant. It was almost hard to concentrate on your footing on the trail, after looking at the great views all day. But we enjoyed what we had left of them before heading into the trees. The last part of the Bicknell Ridge trail turned out to be very mellow - almost a level trail - and then we intersected with the Baldface Circle trail and made a stop at Emerald Pool.
We were pleasantly surprised to run into the other part of our group here - I didn't think we'd see them again after our lagging behind below North Baldface. I decided not to jump into the frigid water this year; I guess I needed Dave Bear around to coax me.
When we got to the trailhead, we all shared some drinks and chatted for a while before heading home. The hike took just under 8 hours. I'm sure we'll all want to go back to the Baldfaces again at some point - this is one of the best hikes in the White Mountains.
I've uploaded some pictures here.
We hit the trail around 9:00 and made good time to the South Baldface shelter, where una_dogger shared some delicious chocolate chip cookies. We then set out to climb the South Baldface ledges, and what would be about 4 miles of above-treeline hiking. The ledges are quite a fun and somewhat-tough scramble.
The weather was great, with just a few clouds and almost no wind - much different from out trip last year when the wind was so strong that we had to hunker down behind rocks on the South Baldface summit. Along the way up and over the ledges, we had to negotiate our way around an ornery ledge troll.
When we got up over the tough stuff and came to a reasonably flat spot, we stopped for a snack break, and una_dogger shared some more cookies. Everyone marvelled at the fantastic 360 views.
We then set off for the final climb to South Baldface, stopping only briefly at the stone bench along the way, at the junction of the Baldface Circle and Baldface Knob trails.
On the South Baldface summit we took a break for lunch and soaked in more views.
As we headed over to North Baldface, we ran into a familiar face: Erin (ScenicNH), who's now one of our newest Rocksontop members. We'll get him on VFTT soon, too.
At this point, our group broke into two. I still feel bad about this, but after most of the group continued toward North Baldface, New Hampshire (Brian), Salty (Mike), jdr6453 (Joe) and I stayed behind to chat with Erin, which turned into at least a 20-minute stop. Mike & Joe hadn't met him, but I hadn't seen him for over a year, since Brian, Erin and I had done a Bonds traverse. So we couldn't resist stopping to chat for a while. We kept looking over at the rest of the group as they summited North Baldface and stood around on the summit for a while, probably cursing us for staying behind for so long. Eventually they gave up and continued on down off the North Baldface summit, and the rest of us finally decided to start hiking again. :wink:
So our little sub-group of four hikers made good time from our little chat-stop up to the North summit, where we stopped only briefly, and then continued towards the junction with the Bicknell Ridge trail. As we were leaving the North summit, we could just see the rest of the group descending below as they headed into some trees.
The four of us took another break at the trail junction, and then headed down Bicknell Ridge. This was a slight change from the route I had hiked last year, since we had gone over to Eagle Crag and then descended via the Baldface Circle trail. But Joe had done this hike in June and thought that trail was kind of boring (I didn't remember it much), and we decided that Bicknell Ridge might be more interesting. It turned out he was right, as this trail took you in and out between wooded areas at least five open ledges with great views over to South Baldface.
At one point Salty mentioned that he had "view overload", and I kind of knew what he meant. It was almost hard to concentrate on your footing on the trail, after looking at the great views all day. But we enjoyed what we had left of them before heading into the trees. The last part of the Bicknell Ridge trail turned out to be very mellow - almost a level trail - and then we intersected with the Baldface Circle trail and made a stop at Emerald Pool.
We were pleasantly surprised to run into the other part of our group here - I didn't think we'd see them again after our lagging behind below North Baldface. I decided not to jump into the frigid water this year; I guess I needed Dave Bear around to coax me.
When we got to the trailhead, we all shared some drinks and chatted for a while before heading home. The hike took just under 8 hours. I'm sure we'll all want to go back to the Baldfaces again at some point - this is one of the best hikes in the White Mountains.
I've uploaded some pictures here.
