timmus
Well-known member
We got a late start Saturday morning (left montreal at 9am) and went for an easy day in the eastern WMNF. Well, that’s what I was expecting. JS told me : only 16-17 km Saturday, then an easy hike up Chocorua Sunday.
So, after eating a very small sandwich, we left the 112 rte parking lot at 1pm. The walk up the trail was easy, but I was fighting a bad stomach ache that I was blaming on bad quality bottled US water. Don’t ask me the brand I don’t remember.
Found the canister there (thanks J&J for a brand new jar), and headed toward Gordon Pond. Then we needed to decide : Wolf or Wolf cub first ? Because it was already past 2pm we decided to bushwhack first and aim for Wolf’s summit by sunset. Past Gordon Pond the old Appalachian Trail (I believe that was it) was easy to follow, especially because the very obvious orange flagging, and soon enough we were standing in the col. We exit the trail pretty fast, probably too fast… We encounter numerous blowdowns fields, you know the ones that has new growth spruce trees all over, plus big boulders (8” tall) popping out every 20 ft. I was not mentally ready for that, so I was kinda discouraged. It took is 1:45 from Gordon Pond to the summit. Up there we found a lot of trash, I don’t know why I didn’t pick it up, maybe because my mind was set on “let’s get the *f* out of here”. It was 5pm and we absolutely needed Wolf today because JS wanted to finish the NHHH list on Chocorua the day after.
We both agreed to get back down in the col and then decide which route to take. It was either back on the trail, up Wolf and backtrack, or straight up the Cliffs on Wolf’s east face. Believe it or not we went down Wolf cub just about 200 ft north of where we went up, and it was beautifully OPEN ! 15 minutes and we were back on the old trail. Because we both prefer woods than trails, we went for the cliffs. That are not that bad after all. We zigzagged in between and found the trail just before loosing the sun. We looked for the canister but didn’t found anything. Too bad, we needed that little cheer up, because we knew the return in the dark would be a long one. My stomach was getting better, but I was getting hungry. The Woodstock Station sounded good, but then we decided to use the money for a motel. Mickey D’s did the job, and then our search for a vacancy sign finished on Haystack Rd… Site #1. Good thing our friend Danny was on #9, it is such a better site.
In the morning we broke camp, got coffee and morning goodies for the road and left for Chocorua. All the way up we had discussions about religion, theory of Evolution, George Bush, aliens etc etc. It was pretty intense and at least one hiker thought that was funny. It was nice to walk at a slow pace and enjoy the perfect weather. By noon we were at the summit, I gave JS a drawing to congrats him on his #108 ascent of a list that is suppose to have 100 mountains.
This mountain is absolutely amazing, one of the best hike I did in the Whites. Very beautiful and fun scrambling up and down the ledges. We took a bypass using the old path near the summit, we still could see the fainted paint blazes on the rocks. It was a little bit more exciting than the new one. We took a long break on Middle sister, another great summit with great views. We were totally alone for 45 minutes, while the crowd was very active on Chocorua. We went down and reached the Kanc late in the afternoon, then stopped by Steve Smith’s book store in Lincoln. While talking to him the phone rang, and we could guess that something bad had happened. It was someone who was confirming the news about Bill Bowden’s. I don’t know much about the man, but JS did and everybody was really sad.
We bought books and an AMC4000 t-shirt for me, and got ourselves a table at Woodstock Station. After the meal I ordered a big coffee for the road, and I’m glad I did because I actually hit a deer on the I-91, and not too much damages have been made because I was enough awake to react on time. Small bump, teeth scratches and saliva on the left side on my car.
Pics online soon.
So, after eating a very small sandwich, we left the 112 rte parking lot at 1pm. The walk up the trail was easy, but I was fighting a bad stomach ache that I was blaming on bad quality bottled US water. Don’t ask me the brand I don’t remember.
Found the canister there (thanks J&J for a brand new jar), and headed toward Gordon Pond. Then we needed to decide : Wolf or Wolf cub first ? Because it was already past 2pm we decided to bushwhack first and aim for Wolf’s summit by sunset. Past Gordon Pond the old Appalachian Trail (I believe that was it) was easy to follow, especially because the very obvious orange flagging, and soon enough we were standing in the col. We exit the trail pretty fast, probably too fast… We encounter numerous blowdowns fields, you know the ones that has new growth spruce trees all over, plus big boulders (8” tall) popping out every 20 ft. I was not mentally ready for that, so I was kinda discouraged. It took is 1:45 from Gordon Pond to the summit. Up there we found a lot of trash, I don’t know why I didn’t pick it up, maybe because my mind was set on “let’s get the *f* out of here”. It was 5pm and we absolutely needed Wolf today because JS wanted to finish the NHHH list on Chocorua the day after.
We both agreed to get back down in the col and then decide which route to take. It was either back on the trail, up Wolf and backtrack, or straight up the Cliffs on Wolf’s east face. Believe it or not we went down Wolf cub just about 200 ft north of where we went up, and it was beautifully OPEN ! 15 minutes and we were back on the old trail. Because we both prefer woods than trails, we went for the cliffs. That are not that bad after all. We zigzagged in between and found the trail just before loosing the sun. We looked for the canister but didn’t found anything. Too bad, we needed that little cheer up, because we knew the return in the dark would be a long one. My stomach was getting better, but I was getting hungry. The Woodstock Station sounded good, but then we decided to use the money for a motel. Mickey D’s did the job, and then our search for a vacancy sign finished on Haystack Rd… Site #1. Good thing our friend Danny was on #9, it is such a better site.
In the morning we broke camp, got coffee and morning goodies for the road and left for Chocorua. All the way up we had discussions about religion, theory of Evolution, George Bush, aliens etc etc. It was pretty intense and at least one hiker thought that was funny. It was nice to walk at a slow pace and enjoy the perfect weather. By noon we were at the summit, I gave JS a drawing to congrats him on his #108 ascent of a list that is suppose to have 100 mountains.
This mountain is absolutely amazing, one of the best hike I did in the Whites. Very beautiful and fun scrambling up and down the ledges. We took a bypass using the old path near the summit, we still could see the fainted paint blazes on the rocks. It was a little bit more exciting than the new one. We took a long break on Middle sister, another great summit with great views. We were totally alone for 45 minutes, while the crowd was very active on Chocorua. We went down and reached the Kanc late in the afternoon, then stopped by Steve Smith’s book store in Lincoln. While talking to him the phone rang, and we could guess that something bad had happened. It was someone who was confirming the news about Bill Bowden’s. I don’t know much about the man, but JS did and everybody was really sad.
We bought books and an AMC4000 t-shirt for me, and got ourselves a table at Woodstock Station. After the meal I ordered a big coffee for the road, and I’m glad I did because I actually hit a deer on the I-91, and not too much damages have been made because I was enough awake to react on time. Small bump, teeth scratches and saliva on the left side on my car.
Pics online soon.
Redington will be done soon though...
