Atop Whiteface Mtn Ledge with Passaconway in background
Deb, Glenn and I drove down to the White Mountains on Wednesday July 17th for a quick 2 day trip before returning to Canada on the 20th. Unfortunately Glenn had a foot injury destined for surgery and was not able to hike so instead he brought his fly fishing rod to fish the mountain rivers instead. After a chilly but peaceful night camping along the Mad River in at the State Campground in Waterville, we drove the hour or so around to the Ferncroft trailhead to begin our hike.
Our route today was to ascend the Blueberry Ledges trail and then continue up over Whiteface Mountain via the Rollin's trail and then tee up with the Dicey Mills trail to ascend and descend Passaconway. This would create a loop to bring us back to the car. The parking lot at Ferncroft is a bit unusual in that you walk back out on the road out of the parking lot to access the trailhead. We found the Blueberry Ledges trail and quickly followed a nice gradual forest path. Not far in you meet a slab section of trail and ascend on rock. Luckily after the rain the night before the rock was dry! The cut-off trail meets the Blueberry Ledge trail in the slab section. At this point I could see why the trail got it's Blueberry name. Almost the entire length of the trail was bordered with blueberry bushes which were not quite ripe at this point in July unfortunately. After the slab section, the next chunk of trail was a steep ascent on rock stairs. Here we could already feel the July hot air and sweat began to pour out of us. We took a few breaks to catch our breath and before we knew it we hit the ledges. The ledges were a series of short cliff scrambles followed by a fantastic lookout. I enjoyed this section of trail as it required full attention. Some of the rock had become slippery due to wear and grip was somewhat sketchy. We didn't waste any time with some of these moves. We had a sunny dry day to tackle the ledges and glad we picked that route up. The lookouts were fabulous! I used my Peak Finder App to identify a mountain I didn't know in the distance: Mount Chocura! One of the big lookouts had a bunch of trail signs and I thought for sure it was the summit but it is not. You need to continue on the ridge to a treed summit with a cairn. A huge let down after the beautiful vistas we saw on top of the ledges.
Continuing on the Rollins trail we met two ladies who were hiking up to Whiteface and had lots of questions about the ledges. They were avoiding the ledges on purpose and thought we were crazy for ascending that way. Once we explained our rock climbing background, they understood why. The Rollins trail required some foot placement focus, but we enjoyed being up high in the breeze and shade. A few big steps up and down required the use of poles and I found out my new Black Diamond Carbon Cork Poles needed to be tightened with an Allen key I didn't have to prevent it from collapsing. Almost over to the Dicey Mills trail, we hadn't seen any other hikers in over an hour. We heard a stick snap in the distance so I assumed it was people ahead. Then it sounded like people doing trail work - the noise sounded destructive. As the noise got louder, I could identify it as a stump being ripped apart which could only mean one thing: a bear! Only 20m away, a black bear was intensely ripping apart a stump to feast on insects. The bear was so distracted it didn't hear us or smell us despite being upwind. We pulled out our cameras but couldn't get a good shot. It ended up taking off after it caught our scent so we made noise and blew whistles to shoo it off. How exciting!
Soon after the Rollin's trail intersects with the Dicey Mills trail where we had to take two left turns to stay on it and head up to the summit of Passaconway. We enjoyed the switchbacks on this trail as it was an easy ascent until the last couple hundred feet of steep rocky trail. We got to a lookout but continued past it to hit the summit proper. I find it weird in the White Mountains that most of the mountain summits don't have a sign or marker. Lots of times you have to guess! We took our obligatory summit photo and then descend down the beautiful dirt ramp that is the Dicey Mills trail. It was a great descent expecially for one of my heels that had an old blister that had been irritated on this hike. Before we knew it we were back at the trailhead where Glenn had drove in to pick us up. Another great day in the mountains!
Hike Stats:
Distance: 18.72km
Elevation Gain: 4039ft
Time: 7hrs, 16 minutes
NE115er list: Peaks #91 and #92 for me!
Our route today was to ascend the Blueberry Ledges trail and then continue up over Whiteface Mountain via the Rollin's trail and then tee up with the Dicey Mills trail to ascend and descend Passaconway. This would create a loop to bring us back to the car. The parking lot at Ferncroft is a bit unusual in that you walk back out on the road out of the parking lot to access the trailhead. We found the Blueberry Ledges trail and quickly followed a nice gradual forest path. Not far in you meet a slab section of trail and ascend on rock. Luckily after the rain the night before the rock was dry! The cut-off trail meets the Blueberry Ledge trail in the slab section. At this point I could see why the trail got it's Blueberry name. Almost the entire length of the trail was bordered with blueberry bushes which were not quite ripe at this point in July unfortunately. After the slab section, the next chunk of trail was a steep ascent on rock stairs. Here we could already feel the July hot air and sweat began to pour out of us. We took a few breaks to catch our breath and before we knew it we hit the ledges. The ledges were a series of short cliff scrambles followed by a fantastic lookout. I enjoyed this section of trail as it required full attention. Some of the rock had become slippery due to wear and grip was somewhat sketchy. We didn't waste any time with some of these moves. We had a sunny dry day to tackle the ledges and glad we picked that route up. The lookouts were fabulous! I used my Peak Finder App to identify a mountain I didn't know in the distance: Mount Chocura! One of the big lookouts had a bunch of trail signs and I thought for sure it was the summit but it is not. You need to continue on the ridge to a treed summit with a cairn. A huge let down after the beautiful vistas we saw on top of the ledges.
Continuing on the Rollins trail we met two ladies who were hiking up to Whiteface and had lots of questions about the ledges. They were avoiding the ledges on purpose and thought we were crazy for ascending that way. Once we explained our rock climbing background, they understood why. The Rollins trail required some foot placement focus, but we enjoyed being up high in the breeze and shade. A few big steps up and down required the use of poles and I found out my new Black Diamond Carbon Cork Poles needed to be tightened with an Allen key I didn't have to prevent it from collapsing. Almost over to the Dicey Mills trail, we hadn't seen any other hikers in over an hour. We heard a stick snap in the distance so I assumed it was people ahead. Then it sounded like people doing trail work - the noise sounded destructive. As the noise got louder, I could identify it as a stump being ripped apart which could only mean one thing: a bear! Only 20m away, a black bear was intensely ripping apart a stump to feast on insects. The bear was so distracted it didn't hear us or smell us despite being upwind. We pulled out our cameras but couldn't get a good shot. It ended up taking off after it caught our scent so we made noise and blew whistles to shoo it off. How exciting!
Soon after the Rollin's trail intersects with the Dicey Mills trail where we had to take two left turns to stay on it and head up to the summit of Passaconway. We enjoyed the switchbacks on this trail as it was an easy ascent until the last couple hundred feet of steep rocky trail. We got to a lookout but continued past it to hit the summit proper. I find it weird in the White Mountains that most of the mountain summits don't have a sign or marker. Lots of times you have to guess! We took our obligatory summit photo and then descend down the beautiful dirt ramp that is the Dicey Mills trail. It was a great descent expecially for one of my heels that had an old blister that had been irritated on this hike. Before we knew it we were back at the trailhead where Glenn had drove in to pick us up. Another great day in the mountains!
Hike Stats:
Distance: 18.72km
Elevation Gain: 4039ft
Time: 7hrs, 16 minutes
NE115er list: Peaks #91 and #92 for me!
RSS Feed
