The Feathered Hat
Active member
Cindy needed the car on Sunday, so she dropped Tuckerman and me off at the trailhead for the Gordon Pond Trail (elevation: 900 feet), just west of Woodstock, NH, on Highway 112. Our plan was to cross Kinsman Ridge via the Gordon Pond Trail (GPT), Kinsman Ridge Trail (KRT) and Reel Brook Trail (RBT), which would put us, by the hike's end, on the other side in Easton, just a few miles from our home.
The AMC's White Mountain Guide includes this enticing sentence in its description of the GPT: "It is lightly used and may be overgrown in places, and cannot be recommended for inexperienced hikers; it may be abandoned in the near future." Hmmm, "lightly used"... "overgrown in places"... "may be abandoned"... some of my favorite trail descriptors! I figured Tuck and I wouldn't run into crowds on our Kinsman crossing, but I began to wonder if we would see anyone at all.
Even if there were other hikers on the GPT, there's a good chance they might wind up in Lincoln rather than up on Kinsman Ridge. The first couple of miles of the GPT are a real challenge to follow due to multiple intersections and overlaps with snowmobile trails; signage can be confusing. Indeed, even finding the beginning of the trail isn't easy -- the Guide references a "No Trespassing" sign that doesn't apply to hikers, but I discovered the sign doesn't apply to the trail, either. It's about a tenth of a mile up from Highway 112; when you see it, bear right and follow the dirt road. In a half mile another road splits off to the left; stay right. Once the power lines are reached things improve a bit, but I continued to refer to the Guide and my map several times in the first hour of the hike. None of the snowmobile sings refer to Gordon Pond or to the Gordon Pond Trail, but fortunately the Guide's directions are pretty accurate. However, the route crosses beneath the power lines again at mile 2.0, and it's very easy to miss the crossing because another, clearer trail, which appears to be the GPT but is actually a snowmobile trail, follows the power lines uphill for awhile to a nice bridge over Gordon Pond Brook. The actual GPT crosses straight under the power lines and re-enters the woods in about 75 yards. There's a blue blaze on a tree at the entrance back into the forest.
The reward, however, for the sometimes confusing route-finding is beautiful walking (albeit with the occasional mud-pit) on gentle paths through a broadleaf forest that's so brilliantly green right now your eyes hurt from the glow. It's just like walking in an English or French woods except without the funny spellings or availability of good soft cheese.
In a quarter-mile from the power lines the GPT crosses Gordon Pond Brook, which was a bit of a challenge after all the rain. Tuck and I found an adequate crossing just downstream from where the trail crosses, and I kept my boots dry. Now the GPT climbs gently uphill through more gorgeous broadleaf forest (we seemed to be behind a large moose, which we never saw, alas: fresh hoof prints on the trail and in the mud for more than a mile, and *lots* of fresh poop piles), makes a couple of interesting brook crossings, and finally reaches lovely Gordon Falls at 4 miles and 2,300 feet elevation. More boggy, muddy walking follows, and a couple more stream crossings, but some recent work has been done on the trail and there are new bypasses for some of the wettest bogs. The trail re-crosses Gordon Pond Brook to the left at a spot that's not entirely clear, but going straight ahead brings a reward: pretty and quiet Gordon Pond at last. A couple of friendly young fellows were camped on the shore and reported having had a beautiful previous night -- no wind, stars out, not a soul around. I noticed a nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels among their gear, so the night must've been a fine one indeed. These two nice guys turned out to be the only people Tuck and I met the entire day.
On top of the ridge, just above the pond (trail junction elevation: 2,700 feet), we followed the KRT for a bit more than three miles, up over 3,500-foot Mt. Wolf, to the junction with the RBT. This section of the KRT is a slog -- rocky, with some boulder faces to scramble over, lots of roots, some tight squeezes, plenty of mud. Come to think of it, this section of the KRT is pretty much like every other section of the KRT. The climb up to Mt. Wolf is tougher than the map would lead you to believe; several of the pitches are steep, with some awkward boulder negotiation, followed by flatter stretches. There are a couple of rewards, though: mysterious, secretive Failing Water Pond, and magnificent views to South Kinsman, Cannon Mountain, Franconia Ridge, Mt. Carrigain and the Hancocks from an outlook, about 50 yards off-trail (there's a sign), on the east knob of Mt. Wolf.
About a mile shy of the RBT junction the rain that had threatened all day finally arrived and continued for an hour. No matter: the RBT has some muddy stretches even on the best days, so a wet RBT was nothing new. The KRT-RBT junction is just above the old traditional Kinsman Notch, and here is where we finally began our descent on the other side of Kinsman Ridge.
The RBT is an old favorite route for me, a great back way up South Kinsman. The AMC Guide describes this trail also as "lightly used," and in fact I can't think of a time when I met anyone at all while walking its three miles, no matter the season. Yet it's a beautiful trail, steep in a few places but not terribly so. Tuck and I descended quickly, with just a couple of small slips on the mud, crossed Reel Brook at the bottom of the trail's steepest section, followed the singing, rain-swollen brook for a mile before crossing under the power line (yep, same power line we crossed under on the other side of the ridge), then walked the last mile and a half through another beautiful broadleaf woods to the RBT trailhead, which is near the end of a dirt road about a half mile from Highway 112 in Easton. Right up to the end Tuckerman was scampering back and forth on the trail and into the woods with boundless energy, but when we got home, after Cindy picked us up on the highway, he collapsed on his bed and was barely heard from again until this morning. Not much different for me, actually.
Total mileage: 11.1 miles, trailhead to trailhead.
Time: Six hours, 40 minutes.
No. of people seen: Two.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/sets/72157619007922067/
Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
__________________________________
Tuckerman's report for dogs:
Mud! Mud! Oodles of mud! Mud so deep I postholed! Heaven!
Lots of moose poop. Lots of moose tracks (Big Boss Man: "Not the ice cream, alas").
Many, many stream crossings. Swim in Gordon Pond!
Nothing too steep. Some big boulder scrambles up on Kinsman Ridge but of course four legs are much better than two for these sort of maneuvers.
***.* Three-and-a-half sniffs (out of four). Tuck-Dog says check it out.
The AMC's White Mountain Guide includes this enticing sentence in its description of the GPT: "It is lightly used and may be overgrown in places, and cannot be recommended for inexperienced hikers; it may be abandoned in the near future." Hmmm, "lightly used"... "overgrown in places"... "may be abandoned"... some of my favorite trail descriptors! I figured Tuck and I wouldn't run into crowds on our Kinsman crossing, but I began to wonder if we would see anyone at all.
Even if there were other hikers on the GPT, there's a good chance they might wind up in Lincoln rather than up on Kinsman Ridge. The first couple of miles of the GPT are a real challenge to follow due to multiple intersections and overlaps with snowmobile trails; signage can be confusing. Indeed, even finding the beginning of the trail isn't easy -- the Guide references a "No Trespassing" sign that doesn't apply to hikers, but I discovered the sign doesn't apply to the trail, either. It's about a tenth of a mile up from Highway 112; when you see it, bear right and follow the dirt road. In a half mile another road splits off to the left; stay right. Once the power lines are reached things improve a bit, but I continued to refer to the Guide and my map several times in the first hour of the hike. None of the snowmobile sings refer to Gordon Pond or to the Gordon Pond Trail, but fortunately the Guide's directions are pretty accurate. However, the route crosses beneath the power lines again at mile 2.0, and it's very easy to miss the crossing because another, clearer trail, which appears to be the GPT but is actually a snowmobile trail, follows the power lines uphill for awhile to a nice bridge over Gordon Pond Brook. The actual GPT crosses straight under the power lines and re-enters the woods in about 75 yards. There's a blue blaze on a tree at the entrance back into the forest.
The reward, however, for the sometimes confusing route-finding is beautiful walking (albeit with the occasional mud-pit) on gentle paths through a broadleaf forest that's so brilliantly green right now your eyes hurt from the glow. It's just like walking in an English or French woods except without the funny spellings or availability of good soft cheese.
In a quarter-mile from the power lines the GPT crosses Gordon Pond Brook, which was a bit of a challenge after all the rain. Tuck and I found an adequate crossing just downstream from where the trail crosses, and I kept my boots dry. Now the GPT climbs gently uphill through more gorgeous broadleaf forest (we seemed to be behind a large moose, which we never saw, alas: fresh hoof prints on the trail and in the mud for more than a mile, and *lots* of fresh poop piles), makes a couple of interesting brook crossings, and finally reaches lovely Gordon Falls at 4 miles and 2,300 feet elevation. More boggy, muddy walking follows, and a couple more stream crossings, but some recent work has been done on the trail and there are new bypasses for some of the wettest bogs. The trail re-crosses Gordon Pond Brook to the left at a spot that's not entirely clear, but going straight ahead brings a reward: pretty and quiet Gordon Pond at last. A couple of friendly young fellows were camped on the shore and reported having had a beautiful previous night -- no wind, stars out, not a soul around. I noticed a nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels among their gear, so the night must've been a fine one indeed. These two nice guys turned out to be the only people Tuck and I met the entire day.
On top of the ridge, just above the pond (trail junction elevation: 2,700 feet), we followed the KRT for a bit more than three miles, up over 3,500-foot Mt. Wolf, to the junction with the RBT. This section of the KRT is a slog -- rocky, with some boulder faces to scramble over, lots of roots, some tight squeezes, plenty of mud. Come to think of it, this section of the KRT is pretty much like every other section of the KRT. The climb up to Mt. Wolf is tougher than the map would lead you to believe; several of the pitches are steep, with some awkward boulder negotiation, followed by flatter stretches. There are a couple of rewards, though: mysterious, secretive Failing Water Pond, and magnificent views to South Kinsman, Cannon Mountain, Franconia Ridge, Mt. Carrigain and the Hancocks from an outlook, about 50 yards off-trail (there's a sign), on the east knob of Mt. Wolf.
About a mile shy of the RBT junction the rain that had threatened all day finally arrived and continued for an hour. No matter: the RBT has some muddy stretches even on the best days, so a wet RBT was nothing new. The KRT-RBT junction is just above the old traditional Kinsman Notch, and here is where we finally began our descent on the other side of Kinsman Ridge.
The RBT is an old favorite route for me, a great back way up South Kinsman. The AMC Guide describes this trail also as "lightly used," and in fact I can't think of a time when I met anyone at all while walking its three miles, no matter the season. Yet it's a beautiful trail, steep in a few places but not terribly so. Tuck and I descended quickly, with just a couple of small slips on the mud, crossed Reel Brook at the bottom of the trail's steepest section, followed the singing, rain-swollen brook for a mile before crossing under the power line (yep, same power line we crossed under on the other side of the ridge), then walked the last mile and a half through another beautiful broadleaf woods to the RBT trailhead, which is near the end of a dirt road about a half mile from Highway 112 in Easton. Right up to the end Tuckerman was scampering back and forth on the trail and into the woods with boundless energy, but when we got home, after Cindy picked us up on the highway, he collapsed on his bed and was barely heard from again until this morning. Not much different for me, actually.
Total mileage: 11.1 miles, trailhead to trailhead.
Time: Six hours, 40 minutes.
No. of people seen: Two.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/sets/72157619007922067/
Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
__________________________________
Tuckerman's report for dogs:
Mud! Mud! Oodles of mud! Mud so deep I postholed! Heaven!
Lots of moose poop. Lots of moose tracks (Big Boss Man: "Not the ice cream, alas").
Many, many stream crossings. Swim in Gordon Pond!
Nothing too steep. Some big boulder scrambles up on Kinsman Ridge but of course four legs are much better than two for these sort of maneuvers.
***.* Three-and-a-half sniffs (out of four). Tuck-Dog says check it out.
