Jazzbo
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Moosilauke Via Beaver Brook Trail, 9/29/07
This was an NH Chapter AMC hike led by yours truly and the irrepressible Mike Milos. I was nominally the leader, but it’s hard to tell when Mike’s around (I mean this in the most lovable way). Our party of six included Susan, Julie, Bill, Mike, Barry and me. We managed to get an 8:20 start – not bad considering all participants were coming from 100+ miles away. The weather at the trailhead featured low hanging clouds and brisk winds typical of fall in the Whites. In spite of this, Mike and Bill wore shorts with the idea we’d just keeping moving. On account of the dampness, we briefly considered spotting a car at the Benton trailhead, but quickly decided to adhere to original plan to hike Beaver Brook trail out and back.
We got moving and after quickly crossing some small brooks, we started climbing steeply just like the book says. The trail was damp and there were a lot of wet leaves on the many wooden stairs. We had some qualms, but continued on. I could see the Dartmouth Outing Club had been working on the trail. We saw one coil of large diameter rope left behind by the trail workers. Stairs and such are constructed in such a way to keep the trail exciting and challenging. The stairs come to an end at about 2800’ elevation and the steep section tapers off at about 3500’ elevation. The steep section totals about 1700’ based on 1800’ elevation at the trailhead.
The Beaver Brook Shelter is right at the top of the steep section. We strolled over to take a look. A late going AT section thru-hiker (trail name Dionysius) was sleeping in when we arrived at 10:00AM.
Skies continued overcast as we reached junction with the Asquam Ridge Trail at 10:30 AM and 4000’. It began to get windy and we were inside the clouds now. We passed the herd path to Mount Blue and reached junction with Benton Trail at 11:30, which is a good place to layer up for the summit push. We were out of the trees in 10 minutes and battling to maintain our balance in stiff winds that buffeted us from the west. Visibility was limited at best on account of the fog. We arrived at the summit at 11:55. We retreated to the lee side where winds were negligible and we were able to enjoy our lunch. We stopped for quick photo or two and retreated the way we came.
We made good time coming down returning to the TH by 4:20. I was apprehensive about the descending the steep section, but it had dried somewhat and, as usual, the descent turned out to be much easier than expected. Mike made everyone laugh with his moaning and groaning at every steep part. The clouds began to break up and we got some limited long distance views into the valleys. It was a splendid hike in spite of somewhat crappy weather. We had a good group, some I’d hiked with before and new friends made. The AT thru hiker joined us on the way down, and Julie gave him a lift down to Lincoln so he could have a hot meal in town.
I was amazed at the numbers of other hikers we saw considering the mariginal weather. We must have seen dozens of other hikers.
Pics are here.
This was an NH Chapter AMC hike led by yours truly and the irrepressible Mike Milos. I was nominally the leader, but it’s hard to tell when Mike’s around (I mean this in the most lovable way). Our party of six included Susan, Julie, Bill, Mike, Barry and me. We managed to get an 8:20 start – not bad considering all participants were coming from 100+ miles away. The weather at the trailhead featured low hanging clouds and brisk winds typical of fall in the Whites. In spite of this, Mike and Bill wore shorts with the idea we’d just keeping moving. On account of the dampness, we briefly considered spotting a car at the Benton trailhead, but quickly decided to adhere to original plan to hike Beaver Brook trail out and back.
We got moving and after quickly crossing some small brooks, we started climbing steeply just like the book says. The trail was damp and there were a lot of wet leaves on the many wooden stairs. We had some qualms, but continued on. I could see the Dartmouth Outing Club had been working on the trail. We saw one coil of large diameter rope left behind by the trail workers. Stairs and such are constructed in such a way to keep the trail exciting and challenging. The stairs come to an end at about 2800’ elevation and the steep section tapers off at about 3500’ elevation. The steep section totals about 1700’ based on 1800’ elevation at the trailhead.
The Beaver Brook Shelter is right at the top of the steep section. We strolled over to take a look. A late going AT section thru-hiker (trail name Dionysius) was sleeping in when we arrived at 10:00AM.
Skies continued overcast as we reached junction with the Asquam Ridge Trail at 10:30 AM and 4000’. It began to get windy and we were inside the clouds now. We passed the herd path to Mount Blue and reached junction with Benton Trail at 11:30, which is a good place to layer up for the summit push. We were out of the trees in 10 minutes and battling to maintain our balance in stiff winds that buffeted us from the west. Visibility was limited at best on account of the fog. We arrived at the summit at 11:55. We retreated to the lee side where winds were negligible and we were able to enjoy our lunch. We stopped for quick photo or two and retreated the way we came.
We made good time coming down returning to the TH by 4:20. I was apprehensive about the descending the steep section, but it had dried somewhat and, as usual, the descent turned out to be much easier than expected. Mike made everyone laugh with his moaning and groaning at every steep part. The clouds began to break up and we got some limited long distance views into the valleys. It was a splendid hike in spite of somewhat crappy weather. We had a good group, some I’d hiked with before and new friends made. The AT thru hiker joined us on the way down, and Julie gave him a lift down to Lincoln so he could have a hot meal in town.
I was amazed at the numbers of other hikers we saw considering the mariginal weather. We must have seen dozens of other hikers.
Pics are here.
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