WeRmudfun
New member
The final hike of last weeks vacation brought us to Little Attitash Mountain, #73 of the 93 (or possibly 94) Fire Towers that are standing, once stood or were proposed. We also had friends join us on this ski slope and bushwhack adventure to the summit of Little Attitash. Unlike our Mount Rosebrook hike, there would be no free chairlift rides. 
We started out on the left side of the main building working our way up to Lower Highway using an access road. We walked right by the Mountain Coaster which was sending test cars down, but was in full operation when we came back down later in the day. We were trying to stay on intermediate slopes going up, being that our other choice was Black Diamonds. Lower Highway took us to Middle Highway which took us to Upper Highway. It was on Upper Highway that we had to walk pass the starting area for the Alpine Slide and also where we had decided to take the Tightrope Slope, yup a Black Diamond!
We made the best of it even though it was very steep. The choice of slope by this time was made by how tall the grass and weeds were on the slope. The Tightrope went to the Upper Saco which was a nice relief. Before we knew it we were seeing the observation Tower and the summit of the ski area. We stopped for a break and went up to check out the views on the tower. The views were very hazy which we later found out were caused by fires up in Canada. After the views and a break we started to look for the old trail that we had heard about to get us close to the summit of Little Attitash. We did find it and it had been blazed in red at one time, but the paint is very faded. We got to within 0.15 of the summit and the trail disappeared, so the bushwhack began.
We hit some very tight areas on the bushwhack, but eventually made our way through the trees out to the ledges and got a small view. From this point it was a little easier to navigate a path on the bushwhack. We hit every bump and every high point we could find until we found the right one. How do we know, well we found the canister! Before we got there only 2 people had signed in, now a total of 4 have signed it.
We took summit pictures and had a bite to eat before leaving. As we started to head back though, we found an artifact that more than likely is proof that the fire tower was on the summit of Little Attitash, but we'll leave that up to the powers that be to decide.
The hike back down was uneventful but quick. Our friends had wanted to see the abandoned passenger rail cars, so seeing how there was still plenty of time, we went there. Oh and no the bear was not there this time, glad we videoed it the first time.
We did post a video of our hike for anyone who made be interested in seeing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2wC_njli4k&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
We started out on the left side of the main building working our way up to Lower Highway using an access road. We walked right by the Mountain Coaster which was sending test cars down, but was in full operation when we came back down later in the day. We were trying to stay on intermediate slopes going up, being that our other choice was Black Diamonds. Lower Highway took us to Middle Highway which took us to Upper Highway. It was on Upper Highway that we had to walk pass the starting area for the Alpine Slide and also where we had decided to take the Tightrope Slope, yup a Black Diamond!
We made the best of it even though it was very steep. The choice of slope by this time was made by how tall the grass and weeds were on the slope. The Tightrope went to the Upper Saco which was a nice relief. Before we knew it we were seeing the observation Tower and the summit of the ski area. We stopped for a break and went up to check out the views on the tower. The views were very hazy which we later found out were caused by fires up in Canada. After the views and a break we started to look for the old trail that we had heard about to get us close to the summit of Little Attitash. We did find it and it had been blazed in red at one time, but the paint is very faded. We got to within 0.15 of the summit and the trail disappeared, so the bushwhack began.
We hit some very tight areas on the bushwhack, but eventually made our way through the trees out to the ledges and got a small view. From this point it was a little easier to navigate a path on the bushwhack. We hit every bump and every high point we could find until we found the right one. How do we know, well we found the canister! Before we got there only 2 people had signed in, now a total of 4 have signed it.
We took summit pictures and had a bite to eat before leaving. As we started to head back though, we found an artifact that more than likely is proof that the fire tower was on the summit of Little Attitash, but we'll leave that up to the powers that be to decide.
The hike back down was uneventful but quick. Our friends had wanted to see the abandoned passenger rail cars, so seeing how there was still plenty of time, we went there. Oh and no the bear was not there this time, glad we videoed it the first time.
We did post a video of our hike for anyone who made be interested in seeing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2wC_njli4k&list=UUvonD5mWIH03yQY3eosLwcQ
