Mt. Israel. December 1, 2011

[TrishandAlex]

Copied from http://www.trishalexsage.com/2011/12/tuesday-trip-report-mt-israel-december.html

Accompanying pictures can be found there.
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Wentworth Trail, 4.2 miles roundtrip.

The day's hike had to be a short one; we'd a Christmas party to go to in the evening, and it was very important to the girls that we be off the trail in time to ready ourselves for the shindig. We therefore chose Mt. Israel, a 52 With a View mountain that stands fairly close to our home.

The day was bright as we set off. We marveled at the complete lack of snow; that's odd around these parts for this time of year.

Wentworth Trail has few rocks and roots (compared to the usual White Mountain trail, anyway). It was easy going all the way up.

A nice set of stone steps...

A fairly easy water crossing...

We stopped at this statuesque tree and took a quick break.

Moving on...

We passed a ledgy area, then dipped down a bit, walked a few tenths of a mile, and arrived at...the summit!

Views from the top...

We hung out for a while -- it was a gorgeous day! -- and ate, did some schoolwork, told jokes.

On the way down, we checked out a ledge with a view...

It was a swift descent.

'Twas another great day on the trails (and we were home in plenty of time for the party).

 

[Cymbidium]

One of my favorite little mountains! Nice report!

 

[TrishandAlex]

Thanks! The girls and I like having so many options on where to hike. Alex and Sage share my sense of adventure and, though they enjoy repeating favorite 4K peaks, are primarily interested in exploring new territory. 52WAV mountains are lovely, and they don't take all day so they're easier to fit into the schedule.

 

[hikerfast]

Israel is a nice lesser known little gem. I love going down towards Guinea Pond and doing a loop. Great views that you don't get from anywhere else to the area behind sandwich range and the sandwich range itself.

 

[TrishandAlex]

Agreed, it's a great mountain.

We're really digging that 52WAV list. Looking forward to checking out some of its other mountains once the 4K winter hiking thang is over and done with. It's nice to take a casual hike up to a summit that has great views...and then come back down and still have half your day left.