Mount Deception East Peak Bushwhack #85

[docross]

Thanks to Eric Savage for his directions and map.
Four of us, including Buckette, Steve and Rita set off from Campsite No. 7 on the Old Cherry Mountain Road at 8:15 this morning. The weather was predicted to be chance of snow showers, breezy and cooling, and we found all of that. The temp at the trailhead was 38, and we noted snow at a pretty low level on the mountains as we drove through Franconia Notch.

Luckily we could get a good fix on the West peak of Deception, so we set off from the campground down a steep slope to a small brook, which we crossed on a downed tree. Following a bearing of 120 deg M, we climbed easily through open woods full of moose browse. We saw plenty of fresh moose signs, but no live animals.

As we climbed from the campground elevation of 1950 and closed in on 2700 feet, we started running into patchy snow. Around 3000 feet we started encountering blowdowns, and had to make excursions to avoid them. At no time did we have a hard time with the BDs.

Eric had said he had found the old trail at the summit of the west peak, running over to the east peak and on, presumably to Dartmouth. Therefore, we climbed very steeply to the summit of the west peak (it was now 11:00), but didn't find a trail. Heading toward the east peak on a bearing of 95 deg M, we eventually encountered the old trail, but it was of little help, since all the blowdowns seemed to be concentrated right along it.

We consistently deviated to the north as we skirted the BDs, and made the summit and the canister at about noon. The last entry was June 5, 2005; the previous one was August of 2004.

Before reaching the west peak we had started experiencing snow showers and snow pellets, and these became more and more frequent until a half-inch had accumulated by the time we summitted. We paused for lunch, then headed down, purposely staying north of our ascending track, because we had no need to climb the west peak and because we thought we could avoid the BD patch to the west of the west peak.

As a measure of our success, we came out in a little over 2 hours, navigating to the same downed tree below the campground. We still had a very steep descent from the west peak, but essentially no blowdowns. Goes to show you what a few dozen yards one way or another can make!

Total elapsed time 6:40 for the ca. 4 mile roundtrip.
A GPS track is viewable on my website.

 

[post'r boy]

hey doc!!!
that old trail doesn't go to dartmouth. but you can follow it off and on over to the peak just before you'd drop into the col in between it and dartmouth. the human moose and myself found it when we did a loop over millen,dartmouth and deception one time from jeff notch rd!

 

[audrey]

Pat and I climbed both peaks with Peakbagger at Gathering #2. We also started from Cherry Mt Road at a large campsite just south of a beaver pond. We found the old trail just west of the west peak and were able to follow it most of the time (except right in the col) to the east peak. It was excellent. On the return we dropped off the east peak so as not to climb the west and it was a bit tougher, with mossy boulders to negotiate. We hit the same clearcut on the way down and found an old road leading out of its far right end and were able to follow it and then left on another road exactly to our starting place. Overall, a very easy whack.

You never know what 6 or 7 years will do!

 

[Nate]

If there's an old trail that connects the two peaks on Deception, was it ever an officially maintained trail, or it is a herd path that has arisen with all the people passing between the two peaks? If it's the former, does anyone know if it connected to anything else, or why it ceased to be a maintained trail?

 

[docross]

Dartmouth Range Trail??

If there's an old trail that connects the two peaks on Deception, was it ever an officially maintained trail, or it is a herd path that has arisen with all the people passing between the two peaks? If it's the former, does anyone know if it connected to anything else, or why it ceased to be a maintained trail?

I don't have the answer, but Roy Schweiker may know.

 

[dms]

The 1966 AMC White Mountain Guide describes the Mt. Deception Trail as starting on Cherry Mountain Road about .9 mi from 302. The trail ended on the summit of Mt. Currier. The map shows the trail going over both bumps. It also shows an old trail going over Little Deception from the Bretton Woods area.

 

[post'r boy]

it's on this map. http://docs.unh.edu/NH/mtws38sw.jpg
put your cursor on the bottom right part of the map,click on the thing that pops up,then scroll around,and you'll find it.

 

[Nate]

Since there really was a trail, I wonder why it fell to disuse. Also, is it common for people for hike up the old route in order to bag Deception, or is it simply easier to go straight up the west peak of Deception?

 

[docross]

Old Dartmouth Range trail

Hmm, it looks as though the old trail DID go over the west peak. What surprises me is that it did NOT go over Dartmouth, but instead headed north over Pine Mtn. I had understood there was a trail along that whole ridge.

When you BW Deception, you do want to start south of the beaver ponds, (seen on the current topo). Since blowdowns can be a major problem with any BW, you may want to follow my "descending" track on the GPSr track I posted on my website.

 

[dms]

I did it from the east, it was a straight wack from a sand pit on the base road directly right to the summit, very uncomplicated approach.

 

[docross]

East approach to Deception

I did it from the east, it was a straight wack from a sand pit on the base road directly right to the summit, very uncomplicated approach.

I have heard that the Base Road approach was good in past years, but more recently the route has been plagued with numerous BDs. Absent the BDs, that would indeed be the straightforward way to go.

 

[dms]

Ahhh blowdowns! The bane of the bwer's existence. I'd rather fight thick spruce than bd's!

 

[post'r boy]

when the human moose and myself did all of them from jeff notch rd,we walked straight off the summit of east deception to the base road,didn't find it to be a problem at all!! got a little confusin' on the flat part at the bottom,but we came out approx. 1 mile from our car spot!
that was 8-22-04

 

[RoySwkr]

Since there really was a trail, I wonder why it fell to disuse. Also, is it common for people for hike up the old route in order to bag Deception, or is it simply easier to go straight up the west peak of Deception?

The FS has discontinued many trails, in the past they were often closed temporarily for logging and not reopened, now it's often wetlands issues. Just look at the old maps to see what you're missing.

I have snowshoed up Deception using the old trail, and have also done the D-D loop from Base Rd. If you want both the loop is better unless you have 2 cars and can start at Jefferson Notch

The Little Deception Trail was being maintained informally for X-C ski a few years ago, maybe Ranger D has stopped that too :-(