200th Bushwhack at West Baldface

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Curious1

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I'm one of those people who believe when you accomplish something fun, interesting, amazing, whatever it is that it is nice to share the accomplishment with others. On that note I'm sharing a friend's very cool accomplishment because I think some of you may find it interesting and he isn't the type to write a trip report about it.

I'm not a bushwhacker (more of a peakbagger) but I wanted to be there for Fred Shirley's accomplishment of finishing his 200 highest in NH at West Baldface. I was pleasantly surprised with how nice of a bushwhack it was, I guess after my last (also first) experience at Bear Mountain most bushwhacks would be an improvement! :rolleyes: It is a good bushwhack for those of us that like trails- we followed East Branch trail for....miles then bushwhacked to the summit. Along with Fred was his bushwhacking mentor Keith who lent his expertise in finding open woods and moose path often. Keith's girlfriend Julie and their beautiful dog Katahdin came for the celebration as well. East Branch trail is nice with some boggy areas, it must be a mess on rainy days but Saturday it only got one of my boots once. From the trail we headed to the summit through mostly open woods, no safety glasses needed! :) With the bushwhacking experts we quickly made it to the ridge and found beautiful open ledges on the summit. Great spot for lunch and to check out the almost peak foliage, hard to leave and head back down on such a nice day.

On the way down we took a more direct route and had a bit of steep tricky spots for a few minutes but found many moose paths, open woods, and old logging roads. I guess I won't give up on bushwhacking yet! ;)

Note: the details of the bushwhack are intentionally brief and vague, that is the fun I'm told of bushwhacking- the figuring it out for yourself! :D Don't want it too easy for Marc either!

Link for pictures: http://www.nhmountainhiking.com/baldfacew.html

Keith wanted to add this for Fred:

Once again Fred great job! You couldn't have picked a better peak or day to finish your nine year long journey. For those of you not familiar with this list it's the NH 3k's combined with a few other's to make 200. Many of these peaks are located far north beyond the White Mountains. Sometime's getting to these mountains can be tougher than the actual whack itself. Very few have completed this list due to these circumstance's. Julie and I really enjoyed our trips with you to get some of these obscure peaks. Especially our winter trips and our Pittsburg adventure.

Great Job!
Keith D'Alessandro
 
Congrats Fred. You had a nice day for it. :)

You guys must have signed in right after we did. We whacked down from N. Baldface. We did Eastman while we were in the neighbor too.
 
That's one I hadn't heard of - I'll have to add it to my list! Nice hiking site you have as well! :)
 
Nice!

Wouldn't it be easier to hike to this summit from Baldface Circle Trail, which has many similar views in the same directions? North and South Baldface have stunning views and they are on the way. It's a great loop hike trail, and it's always in great condition, and you could bag the peak from there.

East Branch Trail is usually extremely boggy. It was dry until Sunday because we hadn't any rain for weeks....I'm sure this trail is back to it's normal, boggy condition. Miles through swamp, then uphill bushwacking.

happy trails :)
 
Thank you to Curious 1 and Keith. It was an amazingly fun 9-year journey and fun to have hiking friends who care.
 
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