Moosilauke via Beaver Brook, 1/22/2007

[BIGEarl]

Beaver Brook Trail round trip

7.6 Miles, 3,100 Feet

Hiked with Jennifer.

We headed out from Nashua at approximately 7:00am under cloudy conditions. As we traveled north the clouds started to clear. By the time we reached the trailhead lot in Kinsman Notch we were enjoying bright sunny conditions. Great start! After paying the parking fee and taking a couple pictures we were off on the Beaver Brook Trail. We had a light dusting of snow and the footing was good. Jennifer wore Stabilicers and I was bare booting to start.

The initial part of this trail is an easy walk through the woods, crossing two bridges leading to the bottom of the cascade. Along the way we came upon a couple signs indicating the trail difficulty and possible dangers in continuing. We continued and started to encounter more icy sections as we gained elevation. The footing was becoming unpredictable and I was experiencing a number of small slips. At approximately 2500 feet we decided to pull out the crampons. The footing was still reasonably good but there were enough hidden ice patches to be a problem, plus we were dealing with a very steep and rough trail. The crampons provided all the traction we needed. We continued with no traction-related problems but the climb on this trail was impressive. It seemed like the walk to the base of the cascade was approximately .5 miles with little elevation gain. From there to the Beaver Brook Shelter was approximately one mile with a little less than 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Interesting! And, hard work (at least for me). When we reached the spur to the shelter we decided to make the side trip and stop for a quick snack.

Back on the trail we were again headed up a steep trail but life got a little easier as we approached the Asquam-Ridge Trail junction. There was no sign of traffic on the Asquam-Ridge Trail. From here to the junction with the Benton Trail we passed around the south side of Mt. Blue in a combination of steep sections (up and down) and a good amount of drifted snow in the col between it and Mount Moosilauke. We continued with the crampons. Along the way to the trail’s high point on Mt. Blue we found a sheltered and sunny place. Jennifer was developing a hotspot on her left foot and decided to take care of it before she had a blister. After this short break we were off on the final piece to the Benton Trail junction and then .4 miles to the summit of Moosilauke. The Benton Trail showed no sign of recent traffic. We stopped for a brief break and a couple pictures and headed to the tree line and then the summit. Here we found a good news/bad news situation. Good news: there was no wind. The exposed summit was a very comfortable place. Bad news: a hazy sky had developed limiting the view. We could see north to North Kinsman, west into Vermont, and limited to the east and south. We took the necessary summit pictures and headed back down the trail. We also decided to change over to snowshoes at the Benton Trail junction feeling we would be able to move faster. This turned out to be a good decision, for a while.

We made very good time back to the Asquam-Ridge Trail and down to the Beaver Brook Shelter spur. This was probably where we should have changed back to crampons but we continued with the snowshoes. At approximately 3,000 feet, after a few unintended glissading events , we decided the change couldn’t be delayed further. We stopped to retire the snowshoes and pull out the crampons. Back with the traction security of crampons we were heading through this very steep descent without any additional problems. At the base of the cascade we kept the crampons in place and continued to the trailhead lot. We arrived back at the lot late afternoon. We quickly packed our things, Jennifer gave me the keys to her car, and we were off to the Dunkin Donuts in Lincoln for Jennifer’s post-hike coffee.

I’ve now hiked Moosilauke via Gorge Brook in the summer, Glencliff in the winter, and Beaver Brook. Clearly, the Beaver Brook hike was the most difficult of the bunch. There are two more, one via the Carriage Road and the other via the Benton Trail, both of which I’ll handle in warmer conditions.

I have some pictures of the hike posted.

BIGEarl's Pictures

 

[Jen-san]

BIG Earl,
Great TR! I like your reference to the "unintended glissading events" that occured when we were snowshoeing down the steep grade. You looked like poetry in motion compared to me! Of course, it didn't help that it was only the second time in my life I had ever had snowshoes on my feet !

Jen-san

 

[David Metsky]

I’ve now hiked Moosilauke via Gorge Brook in the summer, Glencliff in the winter, and Beaver Brook. Clearly, the Beaver Brook hike was the most difficult of the bunch. There are two more, one via the Carriage Road and the other via the Benton Trail, both of which I’ll handle in warmer conditions.

You forgot Asquam Ridge, and the abandoned Slide and Asquamchumakee trails.

Nice trip report.

-dave-

 

[una_dogger]

Sounds like a fun day, you two!!!!

Thanks for the trail beta on the Beaver Brook Winter conditions!

S

 

[BIGEarl]

You forgot Asquam Ridge, and the abandoned Slide and Asquamchumakee trails.

Dave,

Thanks. My Moosilauke to-do list is now a little longer. I'm sure the views from the top are great, but I've never enjoyed them on previous visits. With a couple more hikes I'm sure my odds have improved.

In completing Beaver Brook did I get the "tough" one out of the way?

Earl

 

[Seeker]

Great pics! Makes me eager to get out there in that beautiful snow!

 

[blacknblue]

Nice TR! I love the Beaver Brook Trail - definitely one of my very favorites anywhere. It's amazing to see the pic of the shelter and how little snow there is. I have a pic where the snow is up to the roof and we had to climb down to get in the shelter!

 

[Jazzbo]

Thanks for the TR!

Big Earl

Thanks for the great TR on a route I've often considered doing. I've been up Glen Cliff and other trails on Moosilauke numerous times and have always been interested trying Beaver Brook. Most people I hike with recommend not doing BB in winter. I've steered away from it in winter thinking I'd wait until 3-season time to visit it myself and form my own opinion. From your TR it appeared BB is physically challanging, but maybe not particularly scary with regard to exposure. I'd appreciate your opinion with usual provisos.

1. Was footing particulary good or bad. Did it look like it could be hazardous (even with crampons) to hike in bad conditions like major ice?

2. Northern exposure could make this trail bad in high winds. Apart from the summit approach, is majority of trail sufficiently in trees so sheltered from high winds?

3. Was above tree line summit approach any longer than other routes?

4. Was trail broken out? Did it appear to get much usage?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[David Metsky]

I can't answer for this particular trip but in general:

1) There can be a lot of ice on BB. I wouldn't go up in winter without full crampons. Going down is definitely trickier then going up.

2) Yes, you're in pretty deep woods until you pop out on the Benton trail.

3) It's longer then Gorge Brook, less then the Carriage Road.

4) It's often broken out, but the wind blows in a lot of snow on the section above the shelter and at the start of the ridge. Snowshoes are often needed to make progress, but perhaps not this year yet.

-dave-

 

[BIGEarl]

Big Earl

Thanks for the great TR on a route I've often considered doing. I've been up Glen Cliff and other trails on Moosilauke numerous times and have always been interested trying Beaver Brook. Most people I hike with recommend not doing BB in winter. I've steered away from it in winter thinking I'd wait until 3-season time to visit it myself and form my own opinion. From your TR it appeared BB is physically challanging, but maybe not particularly scary with regard to exposure. I'd appreciate your opinion with usual provisos.

1. Was footing particulary good or bad. Did it look like it could be hazardous (even with crampons) to hike in bad conditions like major ice?

2. Northern exposure could make this trail bad in high winds. Apart from the summit approach, is majority of trail sufficiently in trees so sheltered from high winds?

3. Was above tree line summit approach any longer than other routes?

4. Was trail broken out? Did it appear to get much usage?

Thanks for sharing!

Jazzbo,

1. The footing was generally good. We had a coating of fresh, dry powder that was very nice. The crampons came out when we started to experience more hidden ice, and the trail became very steep. Once the crampons were on we had no further problems or safety concerns. It’s entirely possible that Stabilicers would do the job but Crampons offer a great deal more security, in my view. That added security allows me to relax and hike better in difficult conditions. My Stabilicers spent the day on my pack.

2. I feel this trail is very sheltered from the trailhead to the tree line. Mt. Blue offers a great deal of protection all the way to the ridge.

3. I've also approached from Gorge Brook and Glencliff/Carriage Road. If there is a west/northwest wind, this approach will probably be very similar to Glencliff/Carriage Road. The amount of exposure seems to be roughly equivalent.

4. There were clearly signs of traffic, perhaps from a few days earlier, below the junction with the Asquam-Ridge Trail. After this point, everything was drifted in. We never used snowshoes until heading out starting at the junction with the Benton Trail. We could have saved time and used them on the way in too. On the way out we noticed at least two new sets of tracks that led to the bottom of the cascade and returned to the trailhead after we came through in the morning.

This isn’t a scary hike but does require clear thinking and a variety of equipment. I wouldn't hesitate to do the hike again in the winter. I honestly don’t think there was a time when I had a safety concern. We went with crampons before they were required and probably should have changed from snowshoes back to crampons at the Asquam-Ridge Trail junction on the way out. We pushed that decision a little too far but got away with it. We paid for that procrastination with some unplanned glissading.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to fire away if there are more.

Earl

 

[sardog1]

Thanks for the trip report -- it brought back memories. Beaver Brook was the first trail I hiked in the Northeast, newly arrived from Alaska several years ago. I had camped at Wildwood with my dog and went looking for something away from the crowds on other trails. It was an icy, "interesting" April hike, to be sure. I had to bushwhack coming down to keep him safe in some stretches.

 

[RoySwkr]

You forgot Asquam Ridge, and the abandoned Slide and Asquamchumakee trails.

How could you forget Snapper

And then there's that long-abandoned rough one on the W side

This isn’t a scary hike but does require clear thinking and a variety of equipment. I wouldn't hesitate to do the hike again in the winter. I honestly don’t think there was a time when I had a safety concern.

I do sometimes find this trail scary in winter perhaps because I always do it alone, out of 7 trips through the cascade section I have skipped the summit 3 times because I wanted to be down before dark and before I was tired. I find it easier with lots of firm snow so you can snowshoe the whole way, with slippery powder snow or mixed rock/ice it can get touchy. There is one spot that is so often bypassed in winter that it even looks like the trail - if you remember climbing a gully to the L with a couple fallen trees at the top that was the bypass. Actually the woods are open along the cascades and you can bypass most anything you don't like. I predict that someday the A.T. will be relocated there, the present route can be just a little exciting when slippery particularly with heavy packs.