Chocorua redlining & bee stings

[Maineman]

This weekend I hiked my last remaining trails in the Mount Chocorua & Eastern Sandwich Range. This is the first section of the WMG I have redlined completely (six other section are below 10 miles remaining) and it was a great feeling of accomplishment - plus, my dog didn't die!

I was joined by two of my favorite beings: Oscar, my wonderful hiking schnoodle and my sweetheart Emily.

We started from the Champney Falls trailhead, and parked a looonngg way away from the overflowing trailhead. "Don't worry, we won't see ANY of these people where we're going" I assured Em. I was right!!

We took the Bolles trail and began the 10 brook crossings, all easy rock hops. After a serious grunt to the height of land our reward was a steep descent to the Beeline junction. We turned West onto the Paugus Branch of the Beeline, waded the brook and found some nice camping at the top of the berm. We setup our tents and dropped our sleeping bags & pads before setting off to hike up the Beeline.

After over 1000 miles of redlining, this section of The Beeline gets my vote as one of the "The Sh**tiest Trails in the Whites". Super steep and horribly erroded, with zero rock steps to aid in the climb - it was pretty tough sleddin'!

Soon we were at the Old Paugus Trail, which I had hiked before. I recalled it was a relatively descent trail heading south, until you reach what I mistakenly referred to as the "death gully" - the steep, rocky and wet area below the cliffs. Emily asked why I called it the death gully so I renamed it the "Path of Joy & Enlightenment".

Down, down, down to the Whittin Brook Jct, then we turned right for a short walk to the Big Rock Trail junction followed by a 180 - and back down to the Old Paugus Trail which we followed to the Bickford/Bolles junction.

The trail up the Bolles trail is an old logging road in good condition and soon we were back at the Beeline Junction and after getting water and a foot soak we were back in camp.

We had a great night and in the morning Oscar was on patrol, circling our campsite and generally being a silly dog. Oscar was out of site for a few minutes and when he returned something wasn't right. He was lethargic, lying in the dirt and seemed out of it. A minute later he pooped himself w/o getting up. I tried to lift him up and he was limp. Extreme panic now has set in. Shortly afterward he vomited. I felt totally helpless but after a while he began to feel better and upon inspecting him we saw the culprit - he had several nasty looking bee stings all over his crotch - poor guy. He ended up being 100% fine but what a scare! I will now carry Benedryl on every hike.

We walked down the Beeline Cutoff and then back up Bolles AGAIN - and this time took the East branch of the Beeline which is in much better shape than the Paugus side! The Brook Tr junction marked the end of my redlining for this section. The ledges on the Brook trail were semi-dry and we made it up to the bad weather cutoff. From here it was apparent that there was a teeming throng of people on the summit. Having already summited Chocorua sixteen times previously, we chose to skip it.

On the way down we saw dozens of hikers. Apparently someone at the trailhead was handing out poorly behaved, off-leash dogs for people to hike with today, as it seemed about half the groups we encountered were preceeded by a growling/barking dog. But hey, it's a Sunday in the summer on an incredibly popular trail - it is to be expected. I'll miss you Eastern Sandwich Range, we had some great times together!!

Only 348 miles left!

 

[TJsName]

Congrats!

I heard similar complains about the Paugus branch of Beeline from a friend last year (though he only went down it). I hope you had fun on the pick-up 'sticks' on the middle section of the Old Pagus trail.

 

[Maineman]

Pleased to report that the wall of blowdowns has been cleared on the Old Paugus Trail since my last visit - meant to mention that in my report

 

[TJsName]

Pleased to report that the wall of blowdowns has been cleared on the Old Paugus Trail since my last visit - meant to mention that in my report

Woah! That's impressive - some of those were HUGE!

 

[psmart]

The entire Beeline Trail is maintained by my good friends at the Chocorua Mountain Club, but they tend to focus on the more popular Chocorua side of the trail than the Paugus side.

Very glad to hear your dog was OK. By coincidence, we had a dog choking emergency very near that location some years ago.

 

[Amicus]

The entire Beeline Trail is maintained by my good friends at the Chocorua Mountain Club, but they tend to focus on the more popular Chocorua side of the trail than the Paugus side.

When I hiked the Paugus side of the Beeline Trail in November 2012, the sign for it at its western terminus at the Old Paugus Trail was conspicuous by its absence. The bolt-holes where it had been fastened beneath the Old Paugus Trail sign were quite distinct. From that and the very poor condition of that section, I inferred that it had been abandoned. Is that sign back?

 

[psmart]

When I hiked the Paugus side of the Beeline Trail in November 2012, the sign for it at its western terminus at the Old Paugus Trail was conspicuous by its absence. The bolt-holes where it had been fastened beneath the Old Paugus Trail sign were quite distinct. From that and the very poor condition of that section, I inferred that it had been abandoned. Is that sign back?

I don't know what happened to the sign, or if it has been replaced. But the trail has not been abandoned (not formally, anyway!)

 

[TJsName]

I don't know what happened to the sign, or if it has been replaced. But the trail has not been abandoned (not formally, anyway!)

I recall passing a sign for the Bee Line last August (2013) on our way down the OPT. I do not specially remember if it was on a post or bolted to a tree though, but I am confident there was a sign.

 

[cooperhill]

The entire Beeline Trail is maintained by my good friends at the Chocorua Mountain Club, but they tend to focus on the more popular Chocorua side of the trail than the Paugus side.

Very glad to hear your dog was OK. By coincidence, we had a dog choking emergency very near that location some years ago.

re: Beeline

I went out last weekend and axe'd out three blowdowns near the junction of the beeline cutoff. They looked very old (and were). I started down the beeline cuttoff but turned around as it looked unmaintained.

 

[Maineman]

re: Beeline I went out last weekend and axe'd out three blowdowns near the junction of the beeline cutoff. They looked very old (and were). I started down the beeline cuttoff but turned around as it looked unmaintained.

The Beeline Cutoff was actually in pretty good shape.

As a maintainer of a fairly remote trail section myself, I fully appreciate the efforts required to get into these places with the heavy tools required to get the job done - thanks to all who volunteer to help keep our trails clear.

Anyone who is a member of this board is obviously an enthusiastic hiker - if you don't already do so, please consider giving back to the trails you love by volunteering to adopt a trail!!