Amicus
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- Aug 28, 2005
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Trail Bandit had been talking since last summer about a hike that would follow the perimeter of the Ossipee ring-dike all the way from south to north. He planned a route over the inner rim, from the grounds of Castle in the Clouds to the various summits of Faraway, and then a long bushwhack curling northeast over unnamed summits before reaching Bald Mountain, then on to Mt. Whittier and east to Gilman Valley Road, off Route 25 near its West Ossipee junction with Route 16.
Today suited the three of us and the forecast wasn't bad, so we met at GV Road, spotted a car and drove to the hikers' parking area by the bottling plant at the Castle in the Clouds. We took the Castle road to its enclosed spring, then followed a string of herd-paths NNE that took us in nearly a straight line to the Faraway Outlook on the High Ridge Trail. That soon took us to the old Tom Plant carriage road to the high point on the Faraway ridge, which a utility now uses to service its radio towers on the high-point plateau. The utility has done a lot of clearing along the side of that road recently, which exposed some of Tom Plant's stonework, from c. 1915.
From there, a distinct herd-path leads you about .75 mile to "Faraway No.," which also sports radio towers, and a gravel heli-pad to boot (which had recently been used). It has much better views than the summit plateau, especially to the N and SE. At that point (nearly 3 miles), our herd-paths ended. That's when your 'whacking begins. We dropped down and then back up to another rocky knob at 2,690, at which point the perimeter ridge that runs north over Roberts and then the Faraways trifurcates. One sub-ridge runs NW to Black Snout, while another proceeds N to Johnson Mtn. We took the third, NE over four summit bumps to Bald Mtn, then Whittier on the north edge of the ring-dyke. Those bumps lack names, but the first three at least rate elevation "x's" on the USGS topo - x's 2,064, 2046 and 2,294. (The last before Bald is also c. 2,290.)
Terrain varied and this 'whack had it all: boulders and well-browsed brush, bugs and blowdowns, bogs and sudden ridges to surmount, sweet view-rocks and shin-stabbing sticks. We saw no moose or bears but they left fresh calling cards all over the place. The ring-dike's volcanic origins could be seen in a field of jointed boulders and rocks that looked like the workshop of a skilled stonemason, and by igneous intrusions here and there. The best views are from south-facing ledges - x2,046 has a fine spread of them. Bald Mtn. hasn't been bald for decades, I'd guess, but it has a summit jar, on the SE end of its wooded plateau. The last before us to sign were 1HappyHiker, Keith D of the AMC and Steve Smith, on their hike from Bayle last November.
By the time we ended the long, rough run-out east from the wooded summit of Whittier to Gilman Valley Rd., we all felt that more would be superfluous. Our total miles were 11.3, while vertical feet of 3,850 ft. (per my GPS) shows what happens when you decide to go up and down all day. This is a great way to take in a big chunk of the Ossipees, but not an easy way.
Not a great day for photos, but I took a few anyway.
Today suited the three of us and the forecast wasn't bad, so we met at GV Road, spotted a car and drove to the hikers' parking area by the bottling plant at the Castle in the Clouds. We took the Castle road to its enclosed spring, then followed a string of herd-paths NNE that took us in nearly a straight line to the Faraway Outlook on the High Ridge Trail. That soon took us to the old Tom Plant carriage road to the high point on the Faraway ridge, which a utility now uses to service its radio towers on the high-point plateau. The utility has done a lot of clearing along the side of that road recently, which exposed some of Tom Plant's stonework, from c. 1915.
From there, a distinct herd-path leads you about .75 mile to "Faraway No.," which also sports radio towers, and a gravel heli-pad to boot (which had recently been used). It has much better views than the summit plateau, especially to the N and SE. At that point (nearly 3 miles), our herd-paths ended. That's when your 'whacking begins. We dropped down and then back up to another rocky knob at 2,690, at which point the perimeter ridge that runs north over Roberts and then the Faraways trifurcates. One sub-ridge runs NW to Black Snout, while another proceeds N to Johnson Mtn. We took the third, NE over four summit bumps to Bald Mtn, then Whittier on the north edge of the ring-dyke. Those bumps lack names, but the first three at least rate elevation "x's" on the USGS topo - x's 2,064, 2046 and 2,294. (The last before Bald is also c. 2,290.)
Terrain varied and this 'whack had it all: boulders and well-browsed brush, bugs and blowdowns, bogs and sudden ridges to surmount, sweet view-rocks and shin-stabbing sticks. We saw no moose or bears but they left fresh calling cards all over the place. The ring-dike's volcanic origins could be seen in a field of jointed boulders and rocks that looked like the workshop of a skilled stonemason, and by igneous intrusions here and there. The best views are from south-facing ledges - x2,046 has a fine spread of them. Bald Mtn. hasn't been bald for decades, I'd guess, but it has a summit jar, on the SE end of its wooded plateau. The last before us to sign were 1HappyHiker, Keith D of the AMC and Steve Smith, on their hike from Bayle last November.
By the time we ended the long, rough run-out east from the wooded summit of Whittier to Gilman Valley Rd., we all felt that more would be superfluous. Our total miles were 11.3, while vertical feet of 3,850 ft. (per my GPS) shows what happens when you decide to go up and down all day. This is a great way to take in a big chunk of the Ossipees, but not an easy way.
Not a great day for photos, but I took a few anyway.
I mean, it’s not like they are on a trail . . . it’s a bushwhack! 
