WeRmudfun
New member
This hike brought us to West Royce and East Royce Mountain in Bachelder's Grant, ME. #72 on the list of 93 fire towers that are standing, once stood or were proposed. West Royce Mountain is also on 52WAV. This was a first for us, we started in Maine to get a mountain in NH. We parked at the East Royce Trailhead. There was plenty of parking available and we only saw one group of 3 hikers all day. Believe it or not we didn't need bug spray either. 
The East Royce Trail, starts out going UP right away and all the trails were blazed in yellow. The trail was all boulders that were wet and slippery from the storms the night before. With the exception of a couple of extremely short flat sections, it was a steady incline all the way to the Royce Connector.
Once we were on the connector, the trail ascent was nice. It was a short 0.2 miles over to the Royce Trail, but an enjoyable one. Just a gentle walk through the woods. That brought us to the Royce Trail which started out being a mild trail along the base of the mountain. Trail Maintenance has done an excellent job on these trail especially on the Royce Trail and we do thank them for it.
After about 0.7 miles the ascent of West Royce started out steep with switchbacks going right up the side of the mountain. Working our way to the summit, we encountered scrambles and open ledge areas. Once on the summit we walked right by the short spur trail leading up to the tower remains. As the trail started to head down we turned around and saw the spur trail.
The views from when the tower was there must have been very nice, but it's not there now so there are no views. We explored the area looking for all the remaining artifacts, then had lunch before heading back to Maine!
When we got back to the East Royce Trail we started our hike up. This trail was the steepest of the day. We were glad we waited to do it last as it gave the sun a chance to dry all the ledge. There was a lot of scrambling on this part of the trail and it was a relentless UP.
We finally reached what we thought was the summit with great views and a big cairn, but something seemed wrong. There was a trail sign facing in a strange direction. Looking at the GPS we saw that the actually summit was another 0.11 miles away. We were able to make out a defined path, so we followed it. There were no blazes or cairns at all after the ledges with the view. We walked until we hit the high point and the GPS showed we were on the middle of the actual summit...the viewless summit. This was our first Maine mountain! From there we went back to take a break and admire the views.
The hike back down was uneventful except for the group of 3 hiker and a dog that we saw.
We did post a video for anyone who might be interested in seeing this hike. Just click the link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdBAn9KO97E&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
The East Royce Trail, starts out going UP right away and all the trails were blazed in yellow. The trail was all boulders that were wet and slippery from the storms the night before. With the exception of a couple of extremely short flat sections, it was a steady incline all the way to the Royce Connector.
Once we were on the connector, the trail ascent was nice. It was a short 0.2 miles over to the Royce Trail, but an enjoyable one. Just a gentle walk through the woods. That brought us to the Royce Trail which started out being a mild trail along the base of the mountain. Trail Maintenance has done an excellent job on these trail especially on the Royce Trail and we do thank them for it.
After about 0.7 miles the ascent of West Royce started out steep with switchbacks going right up the side of the mountain. Working our way to the summit, we encountered scrambles and open ledge areas. Once on the summit we walked right by the short spur trail leading up to the tower remains. As the trail started to head down we turned around and saw the spur trail.
The views from when the tower was there must have been very nice, but it's not there now so there are no views. We explored the area looking for all the remaining artifacts, then had lunch before heading back to Maine!
When we got back to the East Royce Trail we started our hike up. This trail was the steepest of the day. We were glad we waited to do it last as it gave the sun a chance to dry all the ledge. There was a lot of scrambling on this part of the trail and it was a relentless UP.
We finally reached what we thought was the summit with great views and a big cairn, but something seemed wrong. There was a trail sign facing in a strange direction. Looking at the GPS we saw that the actually summit was another 0.11 miles away. We were able to make out a defined path, so we followed it. There were no blazes or cairns at all after the ledges with the view. We walked until we hit the high point and the GPS showed we were on the middle of the actual summit...the viewless summit. This was our first Maine mountain! From there we went back to take a break and admire the views.
The hike back down was uneventful except for the group of 3 hiker and a dog that we saw.
We did post a video for anyone who might be interested in seeing this hike. Just click the link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdBAn9KO97E&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
