1HappyHiker
Well-known member
Alright already! I’ve read and heard about the great views from Rogers Ledge. However, I’ve resisted expending energy on an 8+ mile round-trip hike when 8+ miles will get you to so many other extraordinary places with names like "Mount this" and "Mount that".
So, since the higher elevations were a bit windy today, I decided to take the plunge and do Rogers Ledge. Was I ever pleasantly surprised! You know how the mileage on some trails (like Mt. Tremont, for example) seems much longer than the “book mileage”? Well, even though the round-trip “book mileage” is over 8 miles for this trek, it goes very quickly and seems far less. It took under 2 hours to get to Rogers Ledge from the trailhead.
The trail begins with a very pleasant walk along the shore of South Pond. And, as the trail progresses, it never becomes overly steep, rocky or damp. It’s sort of a “goldilocks” trail, i.e. it’s not too much this, or too much that, it’s just right!
OK, so the trail is nice, and can be hiked much quicker than expected. What about the views? Personally, I thought the views were spectacular! There are unobstructed views of the northern peaks of the Presidentials, the Carter Range, the Mahoosucs, and the Pilot Range.
So overall, I was really pleased with my Rogers Ledge experience, and will likely repeat this hike again sometime.
However, the same cannot be said for Devil’s Hopyard! Since it took much less time than expected to do Rogers Ledge, it was decided to take the side-trip to Devil’s Hopyard on my return. This isn’t intended to offend anyone with a particular fondness for this spot, but for this hiker, it seemed like a wasted effort. After trekking over slippery rocks with treacherously large gaps between them, the “payoff” is to arrive at the bottom of a huge cliff. And, to add insult to potential injury, the terrain provides no practical way to even get a decent photo of the cliff from top to bottom.
The link below contains a few photos taken on this trek to Rogers Ledge and Devil’s Hopyard:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/560290006AkqxMu
So, since the higher elevations were a bit windy today, I decided to take the plunge and do Rogers Ledge. Was I ever pleasantly surprised! You know how the mileage on some trails (like Mt. Tremont, for example) seems much longer than the “book mileage”? Well, even though the round-trip “book mileage” is over 8 miles for this trek, it goes very quickly and seems far less. It took under 2 hours to get to Rogers Ledge from the trailhead.
The trail begins with a very pleasant walk along the shore of South Pond. And, as the trail progresses, it never becomes overly steep, rocky or damp. It’s sort of a “goldilocks” trail, i.e. it’s not too much this, or too much that, it’s just right!
OK, so the trail is nice, and can be hiked much quicker than expected. What about the views? Personally, I thought the views were spectacular! There are unobstructed views of the northern peaks of the Presidentials, the Carter Range, the Mahoosucs, and the Pilot Range.
So overall, I was really pleased with my Rogers Ledge experience, and will likely repeat this hike again sometime.
However, the same cannot be said for Devil’s Hopyard! Since it took much less time than expected to do Rogers Ledge, it was decided to take the side-trip to Devil’s Hopyard on my return. This isn’t intended to offend anyone with a particular fondness for this spot, but for this hiker, it seemed like a wasted effort. After trekking over slippery rocks with treacherously large gaps between them, the “payoff” is to arrive at the bottom of a huge cliff. And, to add insult to potential injury, the terrain provides no practical way to even get a decent photo of the cliff from top to bottom.
The link below contains a few photos taken on this trek to Rogers Ledge and Devil’s Hopyard:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/560290006AkqxMu
