Exploring the Wild River Wilderness

[J&J]

How it began.

He: (sitting on the side of Mt. Jefferson on Monday checking in with his better half. Yes I have become one of those people) Hi. I’m doing fine. At the junction of the Cornice and Castle trails.

She: (at work) I’m looking at the map. What do you think of this loop?

He: Shouldn’t you be working?

She: I should be but I’m looking at the map. We go up East Branch trail to Wild River trail to Rainbow trail to Carter Dome. Go down Black Angel trail, cross by Spider Bridge, up Black Angel to Basin Rim trail to Mt. Meader and then down Mt. Meader trail. It's about 21 miles. Water levels are low. What do you think? The weather looks good and I’ve already asked for Wednesday off tentatively.

He: Let’s do it.

And just like that we have hiking plans for Wednesday.

A few pictures of our day.

The East Branch trail can be wet and muddy.

In fact it is wet and muddy. More moose prints than people.

A nice patch of Twinflowers.

Welcome to the Wilderness. A blowdown to greet you as you cross over.

Lots of water crossings during the course of the day. Pick a low water day.

The Perkins Notch shelter. It will most likely be removed this year. It was slated for destruction last fall but is still standing.

One last blowdown as we leave the Wilderness.

The Rainbow trail could use a little brushing in spots.

The birch glades on the Rainbow trail rival those on the Fire Warden's trail on Mt. Hale.

Nice views from the top of Rainbow Ridge. One of the best views in the Whites.

The summit of Rainbow Ridge (in the foreground) from the trail closer to Carter Dome.

Mt. Hight and the other Carters from the summit of Carter Dome.

To be continued..........

 

[J&J]

We dropped down the Black Angel trail. There were way too many blowdowns in the first 1/2 mile. It's steep uphill and steep downhill on both sides of the blowdowns so we had to go over, under and between the blowdowns. It was a workout. Bring a small saw if you go. We regretted not having ours.

Along the Black Angel trail.

The big Wild River crossing. In high water this is very difficult to cross. Today in low water, very easy to cross.

The site of the old Blue Brook shelter which was torn out a couple of years ago.

Our last major climb of the day, up to Mt. Meader.

Pale Corydalis on our approach to Mt. Meader.

Great views of South Baldface dropping down the Mt. Meader trail.

The hike came in at 21.2 miles including a little foray across the cutoff from Blue Brook shelter area to the Basin trail and back. We did not see another person all day. Mid-week hiking and trails less traveled will do that.

 

[una_dogger]

Me likes the way she thinks

 

[Jimmy Legs and Little D]

Great way to plan for a great hike!

Donna

 

[cooperhill]

We dropped down the Black Angel trail. There were way too many blowdowns in the first 1/2 mile. It's steep uphill and steep downhill on both sides of the blowdowns so we had to go over, under and between the blowdowns. It was a workout. Bring a small saw if you go.

...or an axe.

I think the Black Angel trail is actively adopted (at least it was last year) so hopefully it will be cleared soon.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[1HappyHiker]

Awesome!

I'm guessing it was somewhere in the vicinity of a 12± hour day of hiking??

 

[bigmoose]

That East Branch Trail is best left to the frogs and salamanders. You can avoid it by taking a dry, well-built old road that parallels it up the ridge a tad.

 

[cooperhill]

That East Branch Trail is best left to the frogs and salamanders. You can avoid it by taking a dry, well-built old road that parallels it up the ridge a tad.

And it's on a list of trails proposed to be decommissioned.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/74609_FSPLT2_033396.pdf

 

[J&J]

Awesome!

I'm guessing it was somewhere in the vicinity of a 12± hour day of hiking??

John- It was just about 12 hours total including our two shelter stops, food stops, view stops and slow hiking in the blowdowns on the Black Angel trail.

 

[J&J]

That East Branch Trail is best left to the frogs and salamanders. You can avoid it by taking a dry, well-built old road that parallels it up the ridge a tad.

JT- Where's the fun in that though??? And we didn't see any frogs or salamanders either.

 

[J&J]

And it's on a list of trails proposed to be decommissioned.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/74609_FSPLT2_033396.pdf

Coop- There are three parts to the East Branch trail: what I will call the southern, middle and northern sections. The Forest is looking to close only the southern and middle sections. Both of those sections can be avoided by taking the East Branch Rd off Slippery Brook Rd to the northern section of the East Branch trail which accesses the Wild River trail.

I hiked the two lower sections a couple of weeks ago. The southern section is an old logging road that has not had any maintenance done on it for years but is still relatively easy to follow. The middle section- forget about it. It starts off nicely enough but then turns to crap in a hurry. Very difficult to follow. Mud wallows probably waist high. Floating mats of tree branches which look sturdy enough to hold one until one steps on it and realizes there's nothing holding it in place, it's merely floating on the water. At many points there is no trail bed to follow. Many water crossings with no bridges. When the last river crossing is made, the trail turns nice again. Overall it is probably the toughest "trail" I've ever followed in the Whites. Yet at the same time oddly satisfying that I was able to maintain some sort of semblance of trail finding. The middle section of the East Branch trail, even though it is not in a Wilderness area, is probably wilder than any trail in any of our Wildernesses in the Whites.

 

[una_dogger]

Those big blowdowns near the top were there a year ago when I hiked Black Angel--one has pulled some large slab over with it and is particularly difficult to get around --- it's going to take multiple people to clear that area and some of it may be dicey work, IMHO .

 

[MichaelJ]

The Map Adventures map splits the trail into 3 sections as well. They actually show the middle 1.2 miles, from the road crossing to the parking area at the end of East Branch Road, with a dotted line and the notation "Trail obscured, use road."

 

[PETCH]

Wow, killer hike and great pics. kudos.

Petch

 

[NeoAkela]

Nice! I love the Wild River wilderness.

 

[Early Bird]

Great TR and pictures. You are lucky ducks.

 

[forestgnome]

Outstanding pics and TR!!! Thanks for posting! Really like the flower close-up

 

[Bill and Sheep]

That's absolutely one of my favorite areas to hike in the Whites. I try at least once a year to camp at the Wild River Campground and do a 20 mile loop over some of the Carter Range. I just love how remote and quiet that whole area feels. Thanks for posting!

 

[RoySwkr]

Those big blowdowns near the top were there a year ago when I hiked Black Angel--one has pulled some large slab over with it and is particularly difficult to get around --- it's going to take multiple people to clear that area and some of it may be dicey work, IMHO .

Several years ago I met a trail crew on the upper Black Angel, 4 kids with clippers etc. From their talk they didn't particularly care for trail work and were hoping to be sent west to a fire. But they didn't leave any blowdowns.

 

[mtnpa]

So, while he hikes she is getting paid...to plan his next hike.

Living the dream