Snowflea
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Date: Tuesday, 10/28/14
Trails/Route: Hall’s Ledge Trail, Rt. 16, Hutmen’s Trail, Carter Notch Road, FR 233, Wildcat River Trail, Bog Brook Trail, Maggie’s Run
Trail conditions: Slippery wet leaves were the order of the day, with a bit of mud thrown in for good measure
Comments: This was a trailbagging/redlining excursion. Since I wanted to also hike the lower Wildcat River Trail this day, I opted to start at the new parking area on FR 233, which branches right from the end of Carter Notch Road, the “end” being where there is another gate blocking further passage up that road unless, according to the sign, one is a resident of Jackson.
First up was Hall’s Ledge Trail which began as a gravel road at the CNR gate. The gravel road soon morphed into a grassy X-C ski trail, Hall‘s Ledge Overlook Trail. At the junction with Orchard X-C Trail, there was no sign for Hall’s Ledge so it was unclear exactly where to go. Just as I’d dug out my ripped out pages from the White Mtn. Guide, the map, and iHike GPS app, a group of Jackson X-C Center employees pulled up. I smiled at the perfect timing as they pointed out the correct trail. (The WMG also gives directions with regard to all the intersecting ski trails, although in my case I had to read the descriptions backwards. If you do this hike, bring the WMG description!!) The ski trails seemed to be well maintained and recently bush-hogged/mowed--there was none of the waist-high vegetation I’d read about.
Still on the wide Hall’s Ledge Overlook X-C ski trail and after a climb of about 800 ft., I paused at the awesome overlook south. Another ¼ mile later, now on a much narrower trail, is a picnic table and an interesting view north to snowy Mt. Washington, Boott Spur, and Gulf of Slides. The 1500 foot descent to Rt. 16 seemed rather steep and downright treacherous with all the wet leaves obscuring evil ankle twisting rocks and roots. The route through relatively recent logging activity was well marked with surveyor’s tape and yellow blazes so was easy to follow.
Route 16 was icky, but the 1.3 miles went quickly.
Hutmen’s Trail was a bit tricky to follow in the beginning. I made the “obscure right-hand turn” as mentioned in the WMG but somehow missed the "cairns marking the right and left turns." Instead, I climbed up to a clearing, one with a couple of strange white pipes sticking out the ground, and once again dug out my GPS. Turns out the trail was just to the south, so I did a short ‘whack over to a beautiful little cascading brook. The grade was quite stiff for about ½ mile, ~900 ft up the west slope of Spruce Mtn. There were two large-ish blowdowns that I recall. The ridge was lovely for a bit. Hutmen’s then joined Dana Place X-C Trail and the trail got wider again, first grassy, then gravel, then grassy again. The WMG was very helpful at X-C trail intersections. (Did I mention bringing the WMG description if you do this hike?!)
About ½ mile before reaching Carter Notch Road, I took the “unmarked footpath” mentioned in the WMG which was blazed orange (boundary markers?) and led 0.3 mile to a huge rock with views north to Mt. Washington. Just a bit beyond was a pretty spectacular little ledge looking down onto Carter Notch Road. Overall I did enjoy this hike but it’s probably appealing more to redliners and other strangefolk.
After the ½ mile road walk back to the car, I took a short lunch break before setting off on my next trail, the lower Wildcat River Trail. Having just changed out of my wet socks and trail runners into a dry set and loathe to get my feet wet so soon on this cool (high 40s) damp, drizzly day, I opted for FR 233 in order to skip the 3 water crossings on Bog Brook Trail as suggested by the WMG. Wildcat River Trail is in excellent shape, with many new bog bridges, branch trimming, and very recently cleaned water bars!! As far as my trailbagging compulsion, I had only to go as far as Wild River Trail. On the return, I took Bog Brook Trail instead of FR 233 and, yep! couldn’t get across Wildcat River without a knee-deep ford. Brr... The second water crossing was rock hoppable, but the third was not on this day. Fortunately the car was nearby.
The Jackson X-C employees were finishing up just as I was, having apparently spent the day doing trail work.
On the way home through Crawford Notch, I finished up the new (in 2012) Maggie’s Run trail, which, with a small section of Saco River Trail, makes about a 2-mile loop on either side of Rt. 302 in the area between Dry River Campground and Pleasant Valley Picnic Site. Passing by some impressive pools on the Saco, the west side was a pleasant surprise. Since both pairs of trail runners were cold and wet, I did this in flip flops. The piggies were a tad cold at the end.
Another great day of goofing off in the woods!
Trails/Route: Hall’s Ledge Trail, Rt. 16, Hutmen’s Trail, Carter Notch Road, FR 233, Wildcat River Trail, Bog Brook Trail, Maggie’s Run
Trail conditions: Slippery wet leaves were the order of the day, with a bit of mud thrown in for good measure
Comments: This was a trailbagging/redlining excursion. Since I wanted to also hike the lower Wildcat River Trail this day, I opted to start at the new parking area on FR 233, which branches right from the end of Carter Notch Road, the “end” being where there is another gate blocking further passage up that road unless, according to the sign, one is a resident of Jackson.
First up was Hall’s Ledge Trail which began as a gravel road at the CNR gate. The gravel road soon morphed into a grassy X-C ski trail, Hall‘s Ledge Overlook Trail. At the junction with Orchard X-C Trail, there was no sign for Hall’s Ledge so it was unclear exactly where to go. Just as I’d dug out my ripped out pages from the White Mtn. Guide, the map, and iHike GPS app, a group of Jackson X-C Center employees pulled up. I smiled at the perfect timing as they pointed out the correct trail. (The WMG also gives directions with regard to all the intersecting ski trails, although in my case I had to read the descriptions backwards. If you do this hike, bring the WMG description!!) The ski trails seemed to be well maintained and recently bush-hogged/mowed--there was none of the waist-high vegetation I’d read about.
Still on the wide Hall’s Ledge Overlook X-C ski trail and after a climb of about 800 ft., I paused at the awesome overlook south. Another ¼ mile later, now on a much narrower trail, is a picnic table and an interesting view north to snowy Mt. Washington, Boott Spur, and Gulf of Slides. The 1500 foot descent to Rt. 16 seemed rather steep and downright treacherous with all the wet leaves obscuring evil ankle twisting rocks and roots. The route through relatively recent logging activity was well marked with surveyor’s tape and yellow blazes so was easy to follow.
Route 16 was icky, but the 1.3 miles went quickly.
Hutmen’s Trail was a bit tricky to follow in the beginning. I made the “obscure right-hand turn” as mentioned in the WMG but somehow missed the "cairns marking the right and left turns." Instead, I climbed up to a clearing, one with a couple of strange white pipes sticking out the ground, and once again dug out my GPS. Turns out the trail was just to the south, so I did a short ‘whack over to a beautiful little cascading brook. The grade was quite stiff for about ½ mile, ~900 ft up the west slope of Spruce Mtn. There were two large-ish blowdowns that I recall. The ridge was lovely for a bit. Hutmen’s then joined Dana Place X-C Trail and the trail got wider again, first grassy, then gravel, then grassy again. The WMG was very helpful at X-C trail intersections. (Did I mention bringing the WMG description if you do this hike?!)
About ½ mile before reaching Carter Notch Road, I took the “unmarked footpath” mentioned in the WMG which was blazed orange (boundary markers?) and led 0.3 mile to a huge rock with views north to Mt. Washington. Just a bit beyond was a pretty spectacular little ledge looking down onto Carter Notch Road. Overall I did enjoy this hike but it’s probably appealing more to redliners and other strangefolk.
After the ½ mile road walk back to the car, I took a short lunch break before setting off on my next trail, the lower Wildcat River Trail. Having just changed out of my wet socks and trail runners into a dry set and loathe to get my feet wet so soon on this cool (high 40s) damp, drizzly day, I opted for FR 233 in order to skip the 3 water crossings on Bog Brook Trail as suggested by the WMG. Wildcat River Trail is in excellent shape, with many new bog bridges, branch trimming, and very recently cleaned water bars!! As far as my trailbagging compulsion, I had only to go as far as Wild River Trail. On the return, I took Bog Brook Trail instead of FR 233 and, yep! couldn’t get across Wildcat River without a knee-deep ford. Brr... The second water crossing was rock hoppable, but the third was not on this day. Fortunately the car was nearby.
The Jackson X-C employees were finishing up just as I was, having apparently spent the day doing trail work.
On the way home through Crawford Notch, I finished up the new (in 2012) Maggie’s Run trail, which, with a small section of Saco River Trail, makes about a 2-mile loop on either side of Rt. 302 in the area between Dry River Campground and Pleasant Valley Picnic Site. Passing by some impressive pools on the Saco, the west side was a pleasant surprise. Since both pairs of trail runners were cold and wet, I did this in flip flops. The piggies were a tad cold at the end.
Another great day of goofing off in the woods!
