The Feathered Hat
Active member
In the car, my dad described any diversion away from the most direct line "the scenic route." Sometimes he took the Scenic Route intentionally, not really knowing where we'd wind up, and in this way we discovered, in my childhood in northern California, some unknown out-of-the-way wineries, a few quiet old-growth redwood county parks, and, on one memorable occasion, a secret Air Force installation on top of a backcountry ridge far up the coast. "You should not be up here and you must turn around NOW," ordered the soldier in the guardhouse, glancing down at his carbine for emphasis. Sometimes we took the Scenic Route by mistake, and in this way we found ourselves a few times in some San Francisco neighborhoods that don't usually make the news, like the small enclave of Russian ex-pats out in the part of the city called "the avenues." You can do worse as a kid than wander into a Russian bakery in San Francisco.
Years later I figured it out, once I learned the meaning of "euphemism." Dad was never lost. We were taking the Scenic Route.
Here in the White Mountains, I've grown a fondness for the two backside paths up to the top of Kinsman Ridge -- the Mt. Kinsman Trail and the Reel Brook Trail. The Kinsman trail has the advantages of three sweet stream crossings, a flume, and the mid-point views from Bald Peak. The Reel Brook offers scenery too, but its best feature is solitude. In the handful of times I've walked the Reel Brook Trail over the past couple of years, I've never met anyone. The streak includes yesterday.
The Reel Brook trailhead is on a 0.6-mile gravel-road spur off of Highway 116, just after the Paine Road turnoff in Easton. The small trailhead parking area is still unplowed and roadside parking is sparse; there's just enough room for a single car at the mouth of the parking area. My dog Tuckerman and I got ourselves underway at 10 a.m. after some morning flapjacks.
The first mile featured very hardpacked snow, hard enough for barebooting, although we noted that a moose had postholed extensively in sections of the trail. A couple sets of snowshoe tracks headed up the trail and some XC ski tracks too; judging from the melt, I'd say the tracks were two or perhaps three days old. Snow bridges still cover the larger stream crossings, but spring runoff is definitely underway and I wouldn't count on the bridges for much longer.
At the third crossing of Reel Brook, about two miles in, I put on snowshoes for the steep climb up toward the spine of Kinsman Ridge. (This climb, which ascends 600 feet in about a half-mile, can be very muddy in the spring and in summer after thundershowers -- in my experience the best seasons for walking this trail are winter and summer after a dry spell.) Near the top of the steep section Tuckerman and I made the first of two surprising discoveries of the day: snowmobile tracks. They came down the trail toward us, and we met the tracks where the snowmobile driver had decided to turn around and head back up to less steep territory. I assumed the tracks would veer off toward the broad, open powerline scar that's to the left of the foot-trail and that we'd meet them again when we crossed beneath the powerline on the Kinsman Ridge Trail.
The second surprise of the day awaited us at the junction of the Reel Brook and Kinsman Ridge trails: the KRT going east toward Eliza Brook Shelter and the Kinsman Ridge peaks was unbroken. I hadn't expected that. No matter; the untracked snow was firm and smooth beneath snowshoes. On the other hand, this part of the KRT, which threads through a dense forest, can be difficult to follow in snow -- the AT white blazes seem few and far between. But I knew where the powerline was to our left and I knew we had to cross beneath it, so losing the trail occasionally here and there wasn't really an issue.
The snowmobile tracks showed up again just where I expected them, beneath the powerline. But rather than follow the powerline, they veered into the woods, following the KRT. Okay; easy walking now. Then the tracks began a long southeasterly descent -- and that didn't feel right. I looked for some white blazes but found none. After following the snowmobile tracks for a half-mile or so, I knew we should be higher up on the slope if we were to eventually find the Eliza Brook Shelter, our goal for the day.
So Tuck and I took off uphill, bushwhacking over the hard snow and through the trees -- the Scenic Route. But we found no white blazes and not even a hint of a trail's path. We continued uphill until reaching a very steep and rocky wall, then turned east in the direction of Eliza Brook. I knew that once we got to the brook (it turned out to be a quarter-mile's walk), if we found the KRT on the north side of the stream we would be upslope from the shelter, because the KRT crosses over to the north side of the brook just below the shelter. That indeed turned out to be the case: Tuck and I found still-frozen and snow-covered Eliza Brook, crossed over to the north side and shortly found the KRT and even a few AT white blazes. I didn't know how far above the shelter we were, though.
In fact, we missed the spot were the KRT turns at a right-angle toward the brook and the shelter (later, I discovered that the white blaze marking the turn is painted on a birch that's severely peeling). Now we were below the shelter, darn it, and who knew how far. At least the country was fairly flat, and walking among the well-placed trees in the open forest was easy. We turned around once again for a new Scenic Route and headed back up Eliza Brook. In 100 yards we found a KRT trail sign and, at last, the short spur path to the shelter. Yes!
After lunching at the shelter, Tuck and I got on the KRT for the mile walk back to the junction with the Reel Brook Trail. But we hadn't gone more than 100 yards before we lost the trail again. (Who's in charge of blazing around here, anyway?!) Oh well, just more Scenic Route exploring -- and this time we'd be scenically routing over landscape that we'd scenically routed before. We were, ahem, not lost. In 15 or 20 minutes we found the snowmobile tracks, and I was glad, actually, to see them, because now I knew just where they led. In 15 more minutes we were at the powerline. This time, rather than follow the KRT back up to the junction with the Reel Brook Trail, we followed the snowmobile tracks below the powerline -- I already knew that at least one of these snowmobilers had veered off to the RBT, and soon enough we found that guy's track. In a couple of minutes we were back on the RBT and in an hour we were back at the car, fulfilled by yet another beautiful day on Kinsman Ridge in the Whites.
Up from the RBT trailhead to the Eliza Brook Shelter and back again is about eight miles. I'm going to add another mile for the various Scenic Routes that Tuck and I explored. We needed just under five hours to cover the distance. I thought about continuing from the shelter on up to the summit of South Kinsman, but that would've added another three or four miles to the day and the last mile to the peak from this direction is a bear even with the pleasant diversion of Harrington Pond. Tuckerman isn't yet six months old and I don't want to push him too far too soon.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/sets/72157615672331171/
Many apologies for the length of this report -- thank you for your patience!
Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
_____________________________________________
Tuckerman's report for dogs:
Lots of running water now, so you're never thirsty. Hard, smooth snow at the top of the Reel Brook Trail -- excellent for belly-sliding.
Big Boss Man called one part of the trail "the steep section," but who is he kidding? Not steep at all for a dog.
Snowmobile-track fu. Moose-print fu. Coyote-poop fu: Tuck-Bob says check it out.
*** Three sniffs (out of four).
Years later I figured it out, once I learned the meaning of "euphemism." Dad was never lost. We were taking the Scenic Route.
Here in the White Mountains, I've grown a fondness for the two backside paths up to the top of Kinsman Ridge -- the Mt. Kinsman Trail and the Reel Brook Trail. The Kinsman trail has the advantages of three sweet stream crossings, a flume, and the mid-point views from Bald Peak. The Reel Brook offers scenery too, but its best feature is solitude. In the handful of times I've walked the Reel Brook Trail over the past couple of years, I've never met anyone. The streak includes yesterday.
The Reel Brook trailhead is on a 0.6-mile gravel-road spur off of Highway 116, just after the Paine Road turnoff in Easton. The small trailhead parking area is still unplowed and roadside parking is sparse; there's just enough room for a single car at the mouth of the parking area. My dog Tuckerman and I got ourselves underway at 10 a.m. after some morning flapjacks.
The first mile featured very hardpacked snow, hard enough for barebooting, although we noted that a moose had postholed extensively in sections of the trail. A couple sets of snowshoe tracks headed up the trail and some XC ski tracks too; judging from the melt, I'd say the tracks were two or perhaps three days old. Snow bridges still cover the larger stream crossings, but spring runoff is definitely underway and I wouldn't count on the bridges for much longer.
At the third crossing of Reel Brook, about two miles in, I put on snowshoes for the steep climb up toward the spine of Kinsman Ridge. (This climb, which ascends 600 feet in about a half-mile, can be very muddy in the spring and in summer after thundershowers -- in my experience the best seasons for walking this trail are winter and summer after a dry spell.) Near the top of the steep section Tuckerman and I made the first of two surprising discoveries of the day: snowmobile tracks. They came down the trail toward us, and we met the tracks where the snowmobile driver had decided to turn around and head back up to less steep territory. I assumed the tracks would veer off toward the broad, open powerline scar that's to the left of the foot-trail and that we'd meet them again when we crossed beneath the powerline on the Kinsman Ridge Trail.
The second surprise of the day awaited us at the junction of the Reel Brook and Kinsman Ridge trails: the KRT going east toward Eliza Brook Shelter and the Kinsman Ridge peaks was unbroken. I hadn't expected that. No matter; the untracked snow was firm and smooth beneath snowshoes. On the other hand, this part of the KRT, which threads through a dense forest, can be difficult to follow in snow -- the AT white blazes seem few and far between. But I knew where the powerline was to our left and I knew we had to cross beneath it, so losing the trail occasionally here and there wasn't really an issue.
The snowmobile tracks showed up again just where I expected them, beneath the powerline. But rather than follow the powerline, they veered into the woods, following the KRT. Okay; easy walking now. Then the tracks began a long southeasterly descent -- and that didn't feel right. I looked for some white blazes but found none. After following the snowmobile tracks for a half-mile or so, I knew we should be higher up on the slope if we were to eventually find the Eliza Brook Shelter, our goal for the day.
So Tuck and I took off uphill, bushwhacking over the hard snow and through the trees -- the Scenic Route. But we found no white blazes and not even a hint of a trail's path. We continued uphill until reaching a very steep and rocky wall, then turned east in the direction of Eliza Brook. I knew that once we got to the brook (it turned out to be a quarter-mile's walk), if we found the KRT on the north side of the stream we would be upslope from the shelter, because the KRT crosses over to the north side of the brook just below the shelter. That indeed turned out to be the case: Tuck and I found still-frozen and snow-covered Eliza Brook, crossed over to the north side and shortly found the KRT and even a few AT white blazes. I didn't know how far above the shelter we were, though.
In fact, we missed the spot were the KRT turns at a right-angle toward the brook and the shelter (later, I discovered that the white blaze marking the turn is painted on a birch that's severely peeling). Now we were below the shelter, darn it, and who knew how far. At least the country was fairly flat, and walking among the well-placed trees in the open forest was easy. We turned around once again for a new Scenic Route and headed back up Eliza Brook. In 100 yards we found a KRT trail sign and, at last, the short spur path to the shelter. Yes!
After lunching at the shelter, Tuck and I got on the KRT for the mile walk back to the junction with the Reel Brook Trail. But we hadn't gone more than 100 yards before we lost the trail again. (Who's in charge of blazing around here, anyway?!) Oh well, just more Scenic Route exploring -- and this time we'd be scenically routing over landscape that we'd scenically routed before. We were, ahem, not lost. In 15 or 20 minutes we found the snowmobile tracks, and I was glad, actually, to see them, because now I knew just where they led. In 15 more minutes we were at the powerline. This time, rather than follow the KRT back up to the junction with the Reel Brook Trail, we followed the snowmobile tracks below the powerline -- I already knew that at least one of these snowmobilers had veered off to the RBT, and soon enough we found that guy's track. In a couple of minutes we were back on the RBT and in an hour we were back at the car, fulfilled by yet another beautiful day on Kinsman Ridge in the Whites.
Up from the RBT trailhead to the Eliza Brook Shelter and back again is about eight miles. I'm going to add another mile for the various Scenic Routes that Tuck and I explored. We needed just under five hours to cover the distance. I thought about continuing from the shelter on up to the summit of South Kinsman, but that would've added another three or four miles to the day and the last mile to the peak from this direction is a bear even with the pleasant diversion of Harrington Pond. Tuckerman isn't yet six months old and I don't want to push him too far too soon.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/sets/72157615672331171/
Many apologies for the length of this report -- thank you for your patience!
Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
_____________________________________________
Tuckerman's report for dogs:
Lots of running water now, so you're never thirsty. Hard, smooth snow at the top of the Reel Brook Trail -- excellent for belly-sliding.
Big Boss Man called one part of the trail "the steep section," but who is he kidding? Not steep at all for a dog.
Snowmobile-track fu. Moose-print fu. Coyote-poop fu: Tuck-Bob says check it out.
*** Three sniffs (out of four).
Last edited:
