East & West Rattlesnake Squam Lake NH 1/10/10

Just a little report to say how nice East & West Rattlesnake are to visit. We parked at TH parking lot located just off Pinehurst Road which is off Rt 113 not far from TH for Mt Morgan. We did a triangle shaped route heading up East Rattlesnake first then traversing over to West Rattlesnake along Ridge Trail. Then down. It's only 600' elevation gain from the TH and maybe 3.5 mi RT.

Snow is pretty shallow in general. Ridge Trail was well broken out, but Pasture and East Rattlesnake Trail are less traveled.

Nice views of Red Hill and Ossippee Range across Squam Lake.


Views to west towards west and Mt Cardigan. Bare ice looked really cool!

The bare ice is great for skating and ice boating this year. But, be careful there are still some thin spots around Squam Lake.

Pictures

Do you have any pictures looking towards Mt. Morgan and Percival?

Mike

Great views! I've never been up there in the winter - beautiful shots!

Morgan & Percival View (Almost)

I didn't take any pictures of them since, you only have a through trees view of Morgan & Percival. I did take this picture of the ridge to west of them. You can see Rt 113 down below.


Here's another picture of icy Squam with Belknaps in distance.


As a post script I went back to West Rattlesnake this afternoon after hiking Mt Roberts and Faraway Mt. I hiked up to where Mrs Jazzbo took a tumble. I probed around in the snow with my trekking pole and low and behold I managed to find the camera she had lost last sunday. It spent the week buried in the snow. The camera still worked!! This certainly scores big husband points!!!

Thanks

Thanks for posting additional pictures from your Rattlesnake mountain hike(s).
We will have to put that on our "to do" list; maybe this coming winter trip the end of February, beginning of March. We did Mt. Morgan and Percival this past Fall.

It's alway a good feeling to find a lost item.
Many years ago I left a knife in the field while hunting; a week later I returned to find the knife still laying near a hedgerow.
I'm sure many VFTTers have similar stories.
That would sure make a good commercial for the durability of that make of camera.

Mike

Very nice collection of views, esp. of Red Hill, with the west profile of the Ossipee Range to its left. (I had fun trying to identify each peak.) The Rattlesnakes are some trails I've been meaning to get around to for years - your pix motivate me to try them this Winter.

All that bare ice confirms that we need snow, for all the sub-4K hikes and for XC.

Nice photos

that route is my favorite after work workout..maybe that should be out of work work out hike....

steep enough to raise the cardio a bit..great foot beds almost the entire loop, the excellent viewpoints along the way..

good stuff!!

Silverfox said:

Nice photos

that route is my favorite after work workout..maybe that should be out of work work out hike....

steep enough to raise the cardio a bit..great foot beds almost the entire loop, the excellent viewpoints along the way..

good stuff!!

Click to expand...

I forgot to mention on way up I got a long look at a Pileated Woodpecker exploring all over a big dead white pine. There's enough big dead trees in forest to support this fellow. Good indicator of a quality forest.

Great images, Jazzbo! Fun to see what Red Hill looks like from the Rattlesnakes. Remembering our summer day hike with Audrey, Pat and Cil on Red Hill. Much nicer to hike on a crisp winter day!