Willoughby
Member
Kerry13 and I met up on the Willey Range earlier this summer, and we wanted to hook up for another hike together. The stars aligned today when we headed over to Whiteface and Passaconaway.
Kerry had scouted Mt. Whiteface a few weeks prior, so we met up at the Squam Lakes Nature Center and convoyed over to Ferncroft Rd. The route is straightforward, except for the crucial final turn from 113A to Ferncroft Rd. There is a sign for Ferncroft Rd, but it is angled so that it's nearly impossible to see when approaching from the west. If you make a right-angle turn in front of a white church (on the left) with fields on the right, you've gone too far.
Once we got to Ferncroft Rd, we parked and headed up the Blueberry Ledge Trail. The trail is very pleasant, more your walk-in-the-woods than the usual White Mountain rock-hopping. At least - until you reach the ledges. They involve some pretty notable rock-scrambling, or more accurately boulder-scrambling, sometimes edging along mini-ledges less than a boot-width wide. I was very glad to be going UP and not DOWN the ledges. The views from the Ledges are pretty nice as you get higher, and we did see some actual blueberries.
After the Ledges there's some more small-l ledge scrambling through the woods, and then you top out on the South Summit. The South Summit isn't really the summit, so after a few quick photos we headed on up the Rollins trail. We found a high spot where Rollins Trail headed down, and stopped there for lunch (after more photos). But once we got going again, Rollins headed back up - and we found a higher spot complete with a small cairn. The true summit at last!
The Rollins Trail from Whiteface summit to the base of Passaconaway is another pleasant walk-in-the-woods. For much of the distance there is a serious drop off down the ridge, sometimes only inches from the trail. There are occassional views - especially nice of Chocorua - although the trail seemed longer than its rated 2.5 miles. But we eventually arrived at Dicey's Mill Trail, for the hike up Passaconaway.
Dicey's Mill is mostly an easy uphill climb, with a couple stretches of steeper rock-hopping. At the top there is a well-signed side trail to the Passaconaway summit, which leads off into the woods and peters out. The summit itself is unmarked, and matters are confused by a herd path to (what seems to be) an alternate summit. Both bumps are completely wooded and fairly uninteresting.
We retreated to a ledge (small-l again) along Dicey's Mill for a break and nice views of the Tripyramids and Osceolas. Then it was back out, along Dicey's Mill all the way back to Ferncroft Rd. Here there is more pleasant walk-in-the-woods (once you get below the Passaconaway rock-hopping), and one more mystery. The WMG describes a crossing of the Dicey's Mill River at 2.3 miles from Ferncroft Rd, followed by a junction with the Tom Wiggins trail. We never saw the Tom Wiggins Trail - and all the trail junctions so far had been well-marked - and the closest thing to a river crossing seemed much closer to Ferncroft Rd than 2.4mi.
All in all, a very nice hike on a lovely day, not too hot, with good views along the way but unimpressive summits.
Pictures here
Kerry had scouted Mt. Whiteface a few weeks prior, so we met up at the Squam Lakes Nature Center and convoyed over to Ferncroft Rd. The route is straightforward, except for the crucial final turn from 113A to Ferncroft Rd. There is a sign for Ferncroft Rd, but it is angled so that it's nearly impossible to see when approaching from the west. If you make a right-angle turn in front of a white church (on the left) with fields on the right, you've gone too far.
Once we got to Ferncroft Rd, we parked and headed up the Blueberry Ledge Trail. The trail is very pleasant, more your walk-in-the-woods than the usual White Mountain rock-hopping. At least - until you reach the ledges. They involve some pretty notable rock-scrambling, or more accurately boulder-scrambling, sometimes edging along mini-ledges less than a boot-width wide. I was very glad to be going UP and not DOWN the ledges. The views from the Ledges are pretty nice as you get higher, and we did see some actual blueberries.
After the Ledges there's some more small-l ledge scrambling through the woods, and then you top out on the South Summit. The South Summit isn't really the summit, so after a few quick photos we headed on up the Rollins trail. We found a high spot where Rollins Trail headed down, and stopped there for lunch (after more photos). But once we got going again, Rollins headed back up - and we found a higher spot complete with a small cairn. The true summit at last!
The Rollins Trail from Whiteface summit to the base of Passaconaway is another pleasant walk-in-the-woods. For much of the distance there is a serious drop off down the ridge, sometimes only inches from the trail. There are occassional views - especially nice of Chocorua - although the trail seemed longer than its rated 2.5 miles. But we eventually arrived at Dicey's Mill Trail, for the hike up Passaconaway.
Dicey's Mill is mostly an easy uphill climb, with a couple stretches of steeper rock-hopping. At the top there is a well-signed side trail to the Passaconaway summit, which leads off into the woods and peters out. The summit itself is unmarked, and matters are confused by a herd path to (what seems to be) an alternate summit. Both bumps are completely wooded and fairly uninteresting.
We retreated to a ledge (small-l again) along Dicey's Mill for a break and nice views of the Tripyramids and Osceolas. Then it was back out, along Dicey's Mill all the way back to Ferncroft Rd. Here there is more pleasant walk-in-the-woods (once you get below the Passaconaway rock-hopping), and one more mystery. The WMG describes a crossing of the Dicey's Mill River at 2.3 miles from Ferncroft Rd, followed by a junction with the Tom Wiggins trail. We never saw the Tom Wiggins Trail - and all the trail junctions so far had been well-marked - and the closest thing to a river crossing seemed much closer to Ferncroft Rd than 2.4mi.
All in all, a very nice hike on a lovely day, not too hot, with good views along the way but unimpressive summits.
Pictures here
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This is a great loop. Fair share of great viewing from the ledges on Whiteface and even the one ledge just below Passaconaway summit. The smell of balsam all the way was just fantastic and bugs and deer flies were not an issue at all. Actual summits were disappointing. If it wasn't for the fact that we intended to do Rollings Trail over to Passaconaway, we may not have reached the summit of Whiteface. Warning to all who just do Whiteface, the book is somewhat misleading. There are a couple ups and downs after south peak and the true summit is after the second up. Passaconaway summit is even more vague. We can only assume we hit the summit as the couple herd paths all dead ended within 10 - 15 yds of the where they forked. Can someone help verify Davids summit photos where indeed the summit of Passaconaway. Descending Dicey Mill is a most pleasurable descent. Certainly one of the best quad/knee friendly descents. In fact, as David pointed out, most of the loop is like a walk in the woods. The location of the trail heads and drive in by Squam Lake on 113/A is just beautiful. And the ledges, well speaking for someone who doesn't like heights, they aren't that bad going up. The trail meaders in and through so the exposure is not significant most of the time and there are plenty of hand holes. This was my second time through the ledges and it gets better each time. I have been down them once and that was not too bad either. I would avoid them at all cost if they were wet or icy. Great way to spend a monday.
