Jazzbo
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
- Messages
- 1,199
- Reaction score
- 171
I had time for short hike before heading home Sunday so I drove over Bear Notch Road to visit Table Mountain by way of the Attitash Trail. This appeared to be 3.8 mile RT out and back with maybe 1400’ elevation gain. It was late in the day so I did it in a hurry. It only took me about 2 ¼ hours to do. I’d heard it had nice views so even though it was cloudy I figured I’d check it out just to try it. The trail follows a lovely smooth forest road for the first ¾ mile.
It crosses a river and runs along another river with some fine waterfalls. The trail leaves the road and turns left slabs up one side of a tributary to the river for another ¾ mile. Here the trail has a nice organic treadway. At one time someone installed a lot of really nice rock steps and waterbars on this trail. It’s odd to see such nice rockwork on such a lightly traveled trail. I think it may be a throwback to a time when the Bear Mountain region had a network of established trails over and around it. For example see this historic topographic map from 1950.
I’m inspired to explore the area to look for remnants of these old trails. Apparently there was a number of trails that connected with the Swift River Valley. The trail reaches 2000’ elevation at a saddle between Table Mountain and Bear Mountain. It climbs steeply from there making the last 600’ in something like ½ mile. It starts with a couple of switchbacks and then goes pretty direct by a combination of steep open slabs and spruce forest. Views are very fine offering views of familiar favorites like Moats, Chocurua, Paugus, and Passaconaway from interesting points of view.
The view of Bear Mountain is very fine
Views toward Bartlett Haystack, Tremont, Carrigain, Lowell Region
I encountered two rock climbers who had just climbed up to summit ledges from the south facing cliffs. They accessed the climb from Bear Notch Road and rappelled down from summit ledges to do the climbs. Table Mountain is definitely worth coming back to for longer visit on a nicer day. The old USGS map shows there was a trail leading from the col to below the cliffs.
It crosses a river and runs along another river with some fine waterfalls. The trail leaves the road and turns left slabs up one side of a tributary to the river for another ¾ mile. Here the trail has a nice organic treadway. At one time someone installed a lot of really nice rock steps and waterbars on this trail. It’s odd to see such nice rockwork on such a lightly traveled trail. I think it may be a throwback to a time when the Bear Mountain region had a network of established trails over and around it. For example see this historic topographic map from 1950.
I’m inspired to explore the area to look for remnants of these old trails. Apparently there was a number of trails that connected with the Swift River Valley. The trail reaches 2000’ elevation at a saddle between Table Mountain and Bear Mountain. It climbs steeply from there making the last 600’ in something like ½ mile. It starts with a couple of switchbacks and then goes pretty direct by a combination of steep open slabs and spruce forest. Views are very fine offering views of familiar favorites like Moats, Chocurua, Paugus, and Passaconaway from interesting points of view.
The view of Bear Mountain is very fine
Views toward Bartlett Haystack, Tremont, Carrigain, Lowell Region
I encountered two rock climbers who had just climbed up to summit ledges from the south facing cliffs. They accessed the climb from Bear Notch Road and rappelled down from summit ledges to do the climbs. Table Mountain is definitely worth coming back to for longer visit on a nicer day. The old USGS map shows there was a trail leading from the col to below the cliffs.
