bintrepidhiker
New member
Not a bad day, but it could have been better.....
I drove up to the Ferncroft parking lot Friday night and camped out in my car to have a early going the next morning. Got halfway there before realizing I left my camera on my desk at home! Good thing my head is attached or I'd forget that! After a surprisingly good night's sleep and a breakfast consisting of Oatmeal and banana bread, i started out around 6:15. There were some clouds keeping the sun from showing but the temps weren't that bad; probably in the 40's somewhere. The trip was to consist of going up Blueberry Ledge Trail to Rollins Trail to ascend Whiteface then loop around to Dicey's Mill then come back down while maybe stopping my Passaconaway if i was feeling good. Early on, there was no snow anywhere in sight and the trail was nice and dry. A couple of spots had mudd, but going around it or leaping over it was no hassle. Not many blowdowns either down low and the trail was very well marked with blue blazes. I never had a problem following this trail, it was great! I reached the Blueberry ledge cutoff rather quickly and took in the first views of the area. Still wasn't much in the way of sun but the temps were still pleasent; even took the opportunity of shedding my light jacket and going up in a t-shirt with a long sleeve over it. Was maybe another half hour when I saw my first patches of snow mainly in the woods but some on the trail as well. This continued off and on for a short time before reaching another viewpoint that i stopped to admire then turned my back to see snow everywhere. From here snow was to be the tale of the trip.
Luckily there were others that had gone in front of me at some point and left good places for me to step in so i didn't need to put on the snowshoes yet. The snow was hard packed so there was no sinking in more than a couple inches if at all. Much better compared to my last trip 2 weeks ago! The snow still slowed me down some but i was still cruising along at a good clip before reaching the rock walls. When they say rock scrambling, they weren't kidding. Some parts were tricky with snow and rock to contend with. Long as care was taken, there was no problem climbing up and the blue blazes continued to mark the way. Getting past that and going back into the woods, the snow was deep from what i could see from past postholes; along the lines of 2-3 feet still. The trail without the foot holes would have been more difficult to follow but I followed the holes along and finally reached the next junction with Mckilney Trail. This was a nice spot to take a look around and see the Lakes area to the south. By now the sun started peaking out more and warming up the area and it felt nice! From here, the trip took a turn...
I had lost my footholes to walk in so the snowshoes went on. So nice using these and not sinking into the snow any. I made my way up past the Kate Sleeper Trail and went into a mess of a trail. There were blow downs everywhere and the trail was impossible to follow. I know i at least tagged the summit due to the slight descent, then going up again then starting back down before getting completely lost. I couldn't make heads or tails of what was a trail and what wasn't. There were no marks on the trees and nothing in the snow to follow. After wondering around for maybe half an hour I was forced to turn around. Had I been on this trail before I might have chanced it but I didn't want to take the risk, especially being by myself. So I headed back to the last junction nad took a 15 mins break taking in the best views I was likely to have today. Then i began my decent. I put the snowshoes away since this was on rock faces that were exposed and it was steep. There was a reason I didn't want to go down this way, especially with snow on the trail. I slipped quite a few times but thanks to a lot of tree hugging i didn't go far. For awhile it was slow going then i could pick it up a little by the time i reached Tom Wiggins trail and my first encounter with other hikers for the day. I continued down, finally reaching that one viewpoint that told me the snow would would be minimal from here on out, as well as meeting a line of fellow hikers heading up. By the time I was past the deep snow, I stipped off the legs of my pants and was down to the t-shirt alone. It was really quite warm by now, least it felt that way.
Short time later I reached the Blueberry Ledge cutoff junction and decided this was a good spot to stop for lunch. There was still a view sort of and the sun was great here in the wide open area. It was also going on 11:30 so it was time to eat something. After 20 mins of that, I started down Blueberry Ledge cutoff. This part of the trip reminded me more of Fall than spring. There were leaves all over and none of the trees had leaves. It was also very steep coming down. Care had to be followed to avoid slipping of the leaves in many places. It really flew by fast though. I took a brief break at a small stream to cool off (aka dipping whole head into the water) which felt really good then met up with Dicey's Mill Trail. I crossed the bridge (which looks fairly new) and wasn't long before I was on the road heading to my car. Was about 12:35 when i officially ended the day. Didn't get the longer trip I was planning but I still knocked off another mountain on my list to do. Now down to 17 remaining of the 48. Hopefully after my vacation to Florida next week, (yes i'll be visiting Mickey) there will be next to no snow in the Whites for an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!!
Time: 6.5 hours Distance: 7.2 miles
I drove up to the Ferncroft parking lot Friday night and camped out in my car to have a early going the next morning. Got halfway there before realizing I left my camera on my desk at home! Good thing my head is attached or I'd forget that! After a surprisingly good night's sleep and a breakfast consisting of Oatmeal and banana bread, i started out around 6:15. There were some clouds keeping the sun from showing but the temps weren't that bad; probably in the 40's somewhere. The trip was to consist of going up Blueberry Ledge Trail to Rollins Trail to ascend Whiteface then loop around to Dicey's Mill then come back down while maybe stopping my Passaconaway if i was feeling good. Early on, there was no snow anywhere in sight and the trail was nice and dry. A couple of spots had mudd, but going around it or leaping over it was no hassle. Not many blowdowns either down low and the trail was very well marked with blue blazes. I never had a problem following this trail, it was great! I reached the Blueberry ledge cutoff rather quickly and took in the first views of the area. Still wasn't much in the way of sun but the temps were still pleasent; even took the opportunity of shedding my light jacket and going up in a t-shirt with a long sleeve over it. Was maybe another half hour when I saw my first patches of snow mainly in the woods but some on the trail as well. This continued off and on for a short time before reaching another viewpoint that i stopped to admire then turned my back to see snow everywhere. From here snow was to be the tale of the trip.
Luckily there were others that had gone in front of me at some point and left good places for me to step in so i didn't need to put on the snowshoes yet. The snow was hard packed so there was no sinking in more than a couple inches if at all. Much better compared to my last trip 2 weeks ago! The snow still slowed me down some but i was still cruising along at a good clip before reaching the rock walls. When they say rock scrambling, they weren't kidding. Some parts were tricky with snow and rock to contend with. Long as care was taken, there was no problem climbing up and the blue blazes continued to mark the way. Getting past that and going back into the woods, the snow was deep from what i could see from past postholes; along the lines of 2-3 feet still. The trail without the foot holes would have been more difficult to follow but I followed the holes along and finally reached the next junction with Mckilney Trail. This was a nice spot to take a look around and see the Lakes area to the south. By now the sun started peaking out more and warming up the area and it felt nice! From here, the trip took a turn...
I had lost my footholes to walk in so the snowshoes went on. So nice using these and not sinking into the snow any. I made my way up past the Kate Sleeper Trail and went into a mess of a trail. There were blow downs everywhere and the trail was impossible to follow. I know i at least tagged the summit due to the slight descent, then going up again then starting back down before getting completely lost. I couldn't make heads or tails of what was a trail and what wasn't. There were no marks on the trees and nothing in the snow to follow. After wondering around for maybe half an hour I was forced to turn around. Had I been on this trail before I might have chanced it but I didn't want to take the risk, especially being by myself. So I headed back to the last junction nad took a 15 mins break taking in the best views I was likely to have today. Then i began my decent. I put the snowshoes away since this was on rock faces that were exposed and it was steep. There was a reason I didn't want to go down this way, especially with snow on the trail. I slipped quite a few times but thanks to a lot of tree hugging i didn't go far. For awhile it was slow going then i could pick it up a little by the time i reached Tom Wiggins trail and my first encounter with other hikers for the day. I continued down, finally reaching that one viewpoint that told me the snow would would be minimal from here on out, as well as meeting a line of fellow hikers heading up. By the time I was past the deep snow, I stipped off the legs of my pants and was down to the t-shirt alone. It was really quite warm by now, least it felt that way.
Short time later I reached the Blueberry Ledge cutoff junction and decided this was a good spot to stop for lunch. There was still a view sort of and the sun was great here in the wide open area. It was also going on 11:30 so it was time to eat something. After 20 mins of that, I started down Blueberry Ledge cutoff. This part of the trip reminded me more of Fall than spring. There were leaves all over and none of the trees had leaves. It was also very steep coming down. Care had to be followed to avoid slipping of the leaves in many places. It really flew by fast though. I took a brief break at a small stream to cool off (aka dipping whole head into the water) which felt really good then met up with Dicey's Mill Trail. I crossed the bridge (which looks fairly new) and wasn't long before I was on the road heading to my car. Was about 12:35 when i officially ended the day. Didn't get the longer trip I was planning but I still knocked off another mountain on my list to do. Now down to 17 remaining of the 48. Hopefully after my vacation to Florida next week, (yes i'll be visiting Mickey) there will be next to no snow in the Whites for an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!!
Time: 6.5 hours Distance: 7.2 miles
