Sisters of Chocorua and Steam Mill Brook area

[forestgnome]

Hiked Champney Falls Trail, Middle Sister Cut-Off, Middle Sister Trail to the saddle of Mt. Blue, then bushwacked down the Steam Mill Brook drainage valley area.

Here's a view north from the old slide along the MS Cut-Off...

The Sisters are awesome for rhodora. many pollenators are out in force. I even had a very close encounter with a hummingbird at 3,200' while quietly watching this butterfly!

blueberry and billberry(?) blossoms abound as well...

From the junction of Carter Ledge Trail, the Middle Sister Trail see very little use...

a nice view ledge along the trail...

a huge hawk cruising around the summits...( not enough time to draw the big lens )

happy trails

 

[cooperhill]

Great pictures. I see alot of what i thought was bog laurel on Piper. Maybe its what you refer to in your report as rhodora. I'm a plant iD neophyte.

I'm the adopter on Piper and I helped out clearing the lower reaches of Middle Sister last year. As you say, this trail does not see much use.

 

[forestgnome]

Thanks for all that work, Cooperhill! Do you know if the Middle Sister Trail has an adopter? If not, I could get up there at some point and help out.

happy trails

 

[cooperhill]

It's not clear. There were some folks last year working on Carter Ledge and Middle Sister but I'm not sure how far they got. I did see these trails on the Saco Ranger District adopt-a-trail list, so I guess they are not returning this year.

If I head up there, I'll post on here. Maybe we can get a few people together to keep an old trail on the map.