bintrepidhiker
New member
The original plan was to do the Tripyramids via Sabbaday Brook Trail but since the stream crossings weren't possible, i had to turn around after a mile. I got to visit the falls though which were really flowing after the recent rainfall to hit the area. Since it was still early i had time to try and find something else to hike and luckily Passaconaway wasn't far and didn't have many stream crossings so that became my choice. By 9, i was set to go.
The beginning part of this trail is nice and flat. Occasionally i ran into some real muddy spots but not surprising again because of the rainfall we had. Walking along i reached the Passaconaway cutoff in under an hour and after shedding a layer or 2, continued on. Met a couple coming back saying the stream crossing ahead didn't look good, not what i wanted to hear. Upon getting there i realized they were right but i was determined to get across so i did the only thing i could think of, i tried jumping it. Came up only a foot short but with the shallow water there, i didn't totally submerge my foot and just got lightly splashed. Still was a little chilly for a while as i dried off. The trail remined fairly flat for a little while then the up part began. Most of the time i felt like i was walking in a river with all the runoff coming down, made for interesting manuvering around. Looking at the mountain to the right it never seemed to get that much closer and i could hear the nearby stream rushing along. For a while i thought it was wind but only feeling the occassional gust there wasn't much. Just below the Sandwich Wilderness boundry the snow starting making itself known on the ground, a patch here and there that kept filling in the more i went up. Makes me realize that this is just the beginning of what hopefully will be a snowy winter.
Continuing on now with the Square Ledge Trail it stopped briefly being wet and was just snowy instead. Made for some pretty scenery. Then i joined the Walden trail where there was a nice view looking south. It was partially obscured with clouds but still looked nice seeing somewhere that had sunlight. From here I started up the cone and wow was that steep. Didn't help either it was a mix of ice, snow and water that made for a difficult acent. I kept telling myself the top was near and kept on going hoping every turn that would be the end. After climbing for maybe 20 mins there it was, the forested summit of Passaconaway, #28 for me. I thought about checking the viewpoint but after walking down for a minute and not having any kind of stable footing, hearing the strong winds and knowing how cloudy it looked coming up i turned back and headed back to the other viewpoint i found. When i got there it had cleared out a lot more and decided this would be a great place for lunch. Had to eat quickly though because i could slowly feel my hands and feet numbing up so i started off again after a 15 minute rest.
The trip down required a lot of tree-hugging
but i managed to get thru the worst of it without much of a problem other than my boats starting to soak up. The lower i got though the warmer i started getting and was able to enjoy the trip out. The sun also made an appearence after getting back on the cutoff. Figures it always clears out when i start heading down Wasn't surprised too much by the lack of people on this trip today. I passed one group at the cone, another as i was coming down then a pair of single hikers on the cutoff and that was it really. I arrived at the lovely stream crossing and thought it through more before crossing. There was a log upstreamthat looked stable and with care i was able to get across without slipping. From hre it flattened out again and was a nice gentle walk out of the woods and to the car. Total for this trip was 10.2 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes. With the conditions i had to work with thats pretty good. Adding in my time on the Sabbaday trail its 12.2 miles and 6 hours 40 mins
The beginning part of this trail is nice and flat. Occasionally i ran into some real muddy spots but not surprising again because of the rainfall we had. Walking along i reached the Passaconaway cutoff in under an hour and after shedding a layer or 2, continued on. Met a couple coming back saying the stream crossing ahead didn't look good, not what i wanted to hear. Upon getting there i realized they were right but i was determined to get across so i did the only thing i could think of, i tried jumping it. Came up only a foot short but with the shallow water there, i didn't totally submerge my foot and just got lightly splashed. Still was a little chilly for a while as i dried off. The trail remined fairly flat for a little while then the up part began. Most of the time i felt like i was walking in a river with all the runoff coming down, made for interesting manuvering around. Looking at the mountain to the right it never seemed to get that much closer and i could hear the nearby stream rushing along. For a while i thought it was wind but only feeling the occassional gust there wasn't much. Just below the Sandwich Wilderness boundry the snow starting making itself known on the ground, a patch here and there that kept filling in the more i went up. Makes me realize that this is just the beginning of what hopefully will be a snowy winter.
Continuing on now with the Square Ledge Trail it stopped briefly being wet and was just snowy instead. Made for some pretty scenery. Then i joined the Walden trail where there was a nice view looking south. It was partially obscured with clouds but still looked nice seeing somewhere that had sunlight. From here I started up the cone and wow was that steep. Didn't help either it was a mix of ice, snow and water that made for a difficult acent. I kept telling myself the top was near and kept on going hoping every turn that would be the end. After climbing for maybe 20 mins there it was, the forested summit of Passaconaway, #28 for me. I thought about checking the viewpoint but after walking down for a minute and not having any kind of stable footing, hearing the strong winds and knowing how cloudy it looked coming up i turned back and headed back to the other viewpoint i found. When i got there it had cleared out a lot more and decided this would be a great place for lunch. Had to eat quickly though because i could slowly feel my hands and feet numbing up so i started off again after a 15 minute rest.
The trip down required a lot of tree-hugging
but i managed to get thru the worst of it without much of a problem other than my boats starting to soak up. The lower i got though the warmer i started getting and was able to enjoy the trip out. The sun also made an appearence after getting back on the cutoff. Figures it always clears out when i start heading down Wasn't surprised too much by the lack of people on this trip today. I passed one group at the cone, another as i was coming down then a pair of single hikers on the cutoff and that was it really. I arrived at the lovely stream crossing and thought it through more before crossing. There was a log upstreamthat looked stable and with care i was able to get across without slipping. From hre it flattened out again and was a nice gentle walk out of the woods and to the car. Total for this trip was 10.2 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes. With the conditions i had to work with thats pretty good. Adding in my time on the Sabbaday trail its 12.2 miles and 6 hours 40 mins 
