Mt Tremont, Saturday July 17, 2010

[una_dogger]

Stats:
Mt Tremont 3371, gain 2600'
Mt Tremont Trail, out and back: 5.6 miles
Y Alpine, 74/100

Finally got around to hiking Mt Tremont today, after having it on my bucket list for about two years now! Taking it nice and easy and the use of hiking poles made this a comfortable hike and we were in and out in five hours, with plenty of time for pictures and a very leisurely summit break.

The Mt Tremont trail enters the woods on the south side of Rt 302 and begins by following a gentle old logging road. Within a short walk, it reaches a beautiful babbling brook that it follows for some time. The brook travels through a deep ravine, and pristine hemlock and beech forests frame either side. There are many cascades and flumes. This is a very special trail and I was very glad we chose to hike here today.

At the top of the ravine, the trail crosses the brook, and climbs (we counted!) 28 switchbacks to the summit of Tremont. The trail is narrow, well maintained, and very easy under foot; soft and mossy with ivy and clintonia growing right up to its sides. I don't think Mt Tremont sees much traffic, and we only saw three others today. At one point, the trail seems to cross the rubble of an old slide. There is also the remains of an extensive blow down area on the climb. Limited views of the Presidentials and the Davis Path can be seen along this section.

The grade steepens significantly for the final ~ third mile to the summit. The forest here is very mossy, and its reminiscent of Mt Nancy just down the road a stretch. I saw a wood toad hop across the trail near the summit and wondered "how the heck did he/she get up here?". Nature is always inspiring.

When we reached the summit, we were rewarded with *amazing* views into the Sawyer River Wilderness and the surrounding mountains, from Chocorua to the far East, Square Ledge, Passaconnaway, Whiteface with its northern slide in the Downs Brook Valley clearly visible from this angle, across the Tripyramids, Oseolas, twisty bits of the Kancamangus, the Hitchcocks, Hancocks, Carrigan, Vose Spur, an amazing perspective of Carrigain Notch. In the foreground, Green Cliff stands like an island within the expansive Sawyer River Wilderness with its many ponds and moose wallows. A truly White Mountain Wilderness Experience and one of the finer views I've enjoyed in some time. I can imagine what it must have been like back in the day when the Sawyer River Rd and Livermore Rd were a more prominent feature of this landscape.

A trip to Owl Cliff and across the Sawyer River Wilderness is definatley in my plans for my return visit to Mt Tremont. The trail off the backside of Tremont drops a staggering 800 feet to Owl Cliff, and from where we stood, it looked straight down.

I highly recommend this hike. The woods, the flumes, cascades and brook, the hemlock forest, the well constructed switchbacks, the mossy upper reaches of the trail, and the amazing views make Tremont a new favorite of mine. And Terra concludes that its very dog friendly, with many streams for drinking and pools for dipping.

A short detour east on 302 took us to the perfect summer apres hike refreshment, iced coffee and a cider slushee from the White Mntn Cider Company in Bartlett. Two thumbs up!!!

A few choice pics:

Cascades

Footpath

Mossy

Peaceful

Nearing the top

Us

Carrigain Notch

Green Cliff Drama

More Summit Drama

Dipper

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Nice!

Glad you enjoyed this as much as we did. We need to go back!

KDT

 

[MichaelJ]

This was a fun little hike. Well, not so little. It's short mileage, but you sure do earn that fast heart rate with all the climbing. It really is 28 switchbacks between the last water crossing and the summit, and they just go up up up up up. The views from the top are worth the climb, though ... what a stellar angle out across Sawyer Pond to everything along the Kanc from Chocorua around to to Carrigain Notch. I was fascinated by the fact we could even see the Waterville Valley ski slopes, and the summit of Tecumseh. The heat and humidity were rough, but that cold cider slush at White Mounter Cider was *delicious* and highly recommended. I've got pics in the works, and will post a link when they're up, but Sabrina's really do cover the gamut of this trip. Another great hike with u_d & t!

 

[Silverfox]

nice job guys on a fine hike with pics..t looks mellow in the brook..

such a happy couple as well...congrats

 

[grouseking]

I like all the pictures of the trail, because it feels like you are on that thing forever, with all those switchbacks! I hiked this in early June, and it we have similar photos esp at the top. It looked kind of like the same day too cloudwise, except it was only like 50 the day I went. I assume it was warmer yesterday. Well done!!

Hope the storms were not too rough and tumble last night!!

 

[1HappyHiker]

Sabrina, what a lovely report! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and details of your trek.

One might think that there is a built-in bias on my part since I maintain this trail, but even without this personal involvement, I'd still be in total agreement with your assessment that "This is a very special trail . . .". I was hooked on this trail beginning the very first time I hiked it. I guess you could say it "had me at hello"!

I'm impressed that you guys took the time to count the switchbacks! I knew that there was a heck of lot of them, but must admit I never got an accurate count. I've had good intentions of so doing, but each time I've set out to do this, some trail maintenance issue has distracted me and messed up my count.

Glad that you & Michael (and little doggie Terra . . . or is it Tara??) enjoyed the hike!

 

[MichaelJ]

Yeah, there was this one branch on the ground near the 14th switchback ...

Just kidding! Trail is in great shape! There was one spot where we got a big confused, the blazes are good but there's no specific treadway, just different routes through an indistinct area, and I was wondering if there was a reroute over there at one time? This was just after crossing the old, grassed-over road.

Speaking of which, that road is on my USGS ... have you taken it? It appears to go through the Tremont/Bartlett Haystack col, past some ponds that are the Douglas Brook headwaters, then out to Bear Notch Road.

 

[una_dogger]

Speaking of which, that road is on my USGS ... have you taken it? It appears to go through the Tremont/Bartlett Haystack col, past some ponds that are the Douglas Brook headwaters, then out to Bear Notch Road.

Now that is going on the list.

 

[1HappyHiker]

Yeah, there was this one branch on the ground near the 14th switchback ...

Just kidding! Trail is in great shape! There was one spot where we got a big confused, the blazes are good but there's no specific treadway, just different routes through an indistinct area, and I was wondering if there was a reroute over there at one time? This was just after crossing the old, grassed-over road.

Speaking of which, that road is on my USGS ... have you taken it? It appears to go through the Tremont/Bartlett Haystack col, past some ponds that are the Douglas Brook headwaters, then out to Bear Notch Road.

Hmmm! I'll need to get out there and remove that branch on the 14th swithchback!

Michael, I know exactly the area that you're talking about. It can indeed be a bit confusing, even with the blazing. And yes, I think your hunches are correct! It's my understanding that the trail goes through this confusing area as a result of a trail re-route. At the spot on the trail when you come to the first double-blaze to indicate an abrupt change of direction, if you look closely, you can see evidence of where the old trail continued straight.

Regarding your question about the road that shows up on the USGS, if we're talking about the same road, I once followed it for a short distance from the end that begins off Route 302 (near the the Fourth Iron Campsites). I used the road to launch a bushwack to a slide on the north end of Mt. Tremont. From that slide there were some nice views looking northward up the Crawford Notch.

 

[MichaelJ]

Regarding your question about the road that shows up on the USGS, if we're talking about the same road, I once followed it for a short distance from the end that begins off Route 302 (near the the Fourth Iron Campsites).

Yup, that's the other end of the road in question - nice!!!

 

[KRobi]

Would agree on everything you said in your TR. My wife and I with Damselfly and her husband hiked it about a 10 day ago. We didn't count the switchbacks but they made a steep climb much easier. The beginning of the trail along the water is really enjoyable. We also saw a very large toad near the top of the trail. Must find good bugs up there. Thank you for the pictures. The day we did it the peak could have been on 52 without a view list. We could see to the pond but that was about it. Oh well will just need to return. The highlight on the day was laying in the pools near the bottom after a very hot hike. Great for dogs but also for people.

 

[MichaelJ]

We also saw a very large toad near the top of the trail. Must find good bugs up there.

There were close to a dozen enormous dragonflies buzzing around the summit chomping away at the lesser bugs. They had a feast and I loved watching them (I adore dragonflies).

 

[Bob Kittredge]

A trip to Owl Cliff and across the Sawyer River Wilderness is definatley in my plans for my return visit to Mt Tremont. The trail off the backside of Tremont drops a staggering 800 feet to Owl Cliff, and from where we stood, it looked straight down.

On my first trip up Tremont I planned to continue on to Owl Cliff. After a few tenths of a mile of steep descent, I started having real trouble following the trail because it was so overgrown. So I turned back and signed up to be a trail maintainer of that section. It took me two outings before I finally made it over to the Cliff and was then disappointed by the view. I was also so exhausted by these trips that I decided to leave trail maintenance to younger folks. I don't know if anyone else adopted this trail, so it may be grossly overgrown again.

Nice pics, by the way.

 

[MichaelJ]

My photo album is up!