Finally this year, I got, if not to the Whites, at least to NH, and hiked the Wapack Trail from NH101 to the northern end. Some years ago I had gone up the Marion Davis Trail and down the Wapack, I thought I'd like to visit North Pack.
Drove up Tuesday, stayed with some friends in Dublin, went to Del Rossi's for a great dinner. Wednesday morning, we spotted a car at the Mountain Road lot at the northern end of the Wapack, and drove down to the parking lot at the State Park just off NH101, paid our fee, chatted a bit with the ranger, and set up the Wapack. It was warm enough that the jacket was a bit of overkill. There are some views from the ledges early on in the hike, but it was overcast with low clouds and hazy, so the views were a bit spotty.
I'm very slow, and Al let me set the pace, gave me a chance to find the trail. I'm now used to trails in CT that are pretty easy to follow, but the footway and blazes were clear enough that I only got a few feet off the trail a couple times, mostly just had to stop for a few seconds to determine where the trail really went from where I stopped. My slow pace gave Al plenty of time to look about and he kept up a running commentary about the various birds, mushrooms, mosses, ferns, plants and trees he spotted, which made the hike interesting. The rocks were not exactly wet, but not exactly dry, and I lost my footing a couple times, but managed to catch myself without any damage. More on this later.
Reached the summit of South Pack and took a bit of a break, climbed the tower (the cab wasn't open) and checked out the views. Still a low overcast and hazy, so the views were not extensive, best ones to the south. The only folks we encountered all day were at the summit of South Pack. It was sufficiently warm that the jacket went into the pack, and I spent the rest of the day with just the t-shirt.
We left South Pack, and stopped for a few minutes at the hawk watch site. The air was pretty still, and there wasn't much bird activity there, so we headed toward North Pack. The ranger had told us that there had been some recent moose sightings in the col between the two Packs, so we kept an eye out, but never sighted one, not even any droppings. Between the Packs, we encountered a few drops of rain, but just a few, and they alternated with some glimpses of sun. Another slip on the rocks resulted in the deepest split I've managed in years - my front foot just shot right out in front of me, while the back foot remained planted.
I was a bit disappointed that the views at North Pack were limited by trees. Best views were to the West, but it was still hazy. We had a late lunch on the bare open area just north of the North Pack summit, and took in the western views. As we left, we found a jacket tied to a tree. Since we hadn't seen anyone since leaving South Pack, we figured we'd take it with us.
Shortly on the descent from North Pack we began encountering what would become fairly large numbers of small, white, winged insects. Al couldn't identify them, but after he got home he sent me an a-mail telling me that they were Woolly Aphids. They weren't pesky, but I was surprised that they were present at all, given to recent cold weather, and in points were quite numerous. They were less numerous the lower we got, but we never lost them completely. Somewhere on the descent, Al spotted some wintergreen with some berries, and we munched on a few of the berries, which were quite refreshing.
But all the way way down, I was starting to slip on the rocks more extensively, after a while I got a bit spooked by it. Al didn't seem to be having as much difficulty, maybe something about my boots, they just weren't getting a good grip on the rocks. A couple times I skidded down bare ledge until I could grab the trunk of a handy tree. But I managed to remain upright. I don't remember ever having as much trouble with slipping. And it wasn't due to leaves, this was on bare rock.
In a few places the trail is marked with a cairn rather than blazes, and there was one place where it seemed there was 'a maze of twisty herd paths, all alike', but we picked our way through it. Eventually the trail levels out a bit, crosses some bog bridges, and reaches the lot on Mountain Rd.
We discussed what to do with the jacket we had found on North Pack, and settled for tying it to the kiosk at the parking lot (Lost and found report posted seperately). We hopped in the car we had spotted, retrieved mine, and headed to Harlow's in Peterborough for a couple beverages and a bite to eat.
Drove up Tuesday, stayed with some friends in Dublin, went to Del Rossi's for a great dinner. Wednesday morning, we spotted a car at the Mountain Road lot at the northern end of the Wapack, and drove down to the parking lot at the State Park just off NH101, paid our fee, chatted a bit with the ranger, and set up the Wapack. It was warm enough that the jacket was a bit of overkill. There are some views from the ledges early on in the hike, but it was overcast with low clouds and hazy, so the views were a bit spotty.
I'm very slow, and Al let me set the pace, gave me a chance to find the trail. I'm now used to trails in CT that are pretty easy to follow, but the footway and blazes were clear enough that I only got a few feet off the trail a couple times, mostly just had to stop for a few seconds to determine where the trail really went from where I stopped. My slow pace gave Al plenty of time to look about and he kept up a running commentary about the various birds, mushrooms, mosses, ferns, plants and trees he spotted, which made the hike interesting. The rocks were not exactly wet, but not exactly dry, and I lost my footing a couple times, but managed to catch myself without any damage. More on this later.
Reached the summit of South Pack and took a bit of a break, climbed the tower (the cab wasn't open) and checked out the views. Still a low overcast and hazy, so the views were not extensive, best ones to the south. The only folks we encountered all day were at the summit of South Pack. It was sufficiently warm that the jacket went into the pack, and I spent the rest of the day with just the t-shirt.
We left South Pack, and stopped for a few minutes at the hawk watch site. The air was pretty still, and there wasn't much bird activity there, so we headed toward North Pack. The ranger had told us that there had been some recent moose sightings in the col between the two Packs, so we kept an eye out, but never sighted one, not even any droppings. Between the Packs, we encountered a few drops of rain, but just a few, and they alternated with some glimpses of sun. Another slip on the rocks resulted in the deepest split I've managed in years - my front foot just shot right out in front of me, while the back foot remained planted.
I was a bit disappointed that the views at North Pack were limited by trees. Best views were to the West, but it was still hazy. We had a late lunch on the bare open area just north of the North Pack summit, and took in the western views. As we left, we found a jacket tied to a tree. Since we hadn't seen anyone since leaving South Pack, we figured we'd take it with us.
Shortly on the descent from North Pack we began encountering what would become fairly large numbers of small, white, winged insects. Al couldn't identify them, but after he got home he sent me an a-mail telling me that they were Woolly Aphids. They weren't pesky, but I was surprised that they were present at all, given to recent cold weather, and in points were quite numerous. They were less numerous the lower we got, but we never lost them completely. Somewhere on the descent, Al spotted some wintergreen with some berries, and we munched on a few of the berries, which were quite refreshing.
But all the way way down, I was starting to slip on the rocks more extensively, after a while I got a bit spooked by it. Al didn't seem to be having as much difficulty, maybe something about my boots, they just weren't getting a good grip on the rocks. A couple times I skidded down bare ledge until I could grab the trunk of a handy tree. But I managed to remain upright. I don't remember ever having as much trouble with slipping. And it wasn't due to leaves, this was on bare rock.
In a few places the trail is marked with a cairn rather than blazes, and there was one place where it seemed there was 'a maze of twisty herd paths, all alike', but we picked our way through it. Eventually the trail levels out a bit, crosses some bog bridges, and reaches the lot on Mountain Rd.
We discussed what to do with the jacket we had found on North Pack, and settled for tying it to the kiosk at the parking lot (Lost and found report posted seperately). We hopped in the car we had spotted, retrieved mine, and headed to Harlow's in Peterborough for a couple beverages and a bite to eat.
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