NorthShore
Member
Full trip report / photos at:
Number 48 was a great day. The company, the weather, the route, all of it.
My son Sean, with whom I have hiked more than half of the peaks was with me for my 48th as were my regular hiking pals MtnSister3 (Connie), GRT (Gail), Grace and Mike plus MarysGirl (Debbie), her friend Rick, and Harley. Long Island Bill developed a rare blister the day before on the Franconia range and he and his son Tom had to take a pass, but they met us after the hike.
We started from the Beaver Brook trailhead on Rte. 112 hoping for a scenic and less traveled route on the busy Labor Day weekend. Beaver Brook was a success on both counts. The guidebooks are full of warnings about this trail and the trailhead signage has some colorful description of the dangers ahead. Basically, the first mile and change of the trail is alongside one of the longest series of cascades that I have seen. A slip in some spots could have dire consequences and the trail was quite steep, but for the most part not particularly scary. I sensed that the warnings were mostly a result of the beautiful cascades being a dangerous attraction to flip-flop wearing, child toting families, rather than experienced hikers. I should add that dogs can be a little problematic as Harley gave us near heart failure once or twice running into the middle of the stream on potentially slippery rocks and slab, and also was a player in a moment of high anxiety on the way back down.
The Beaver Brook Trail goes over a lot of steep smooth slab next to the cascades, but wherever it is tricky there are wooden steps bolted into the rock or iron rebar handholds drilled in. I can imagine this trail being potentially unsafe when wet or icy, but it wasn't a problem on a dry day assuming one avoids the tourist temptation to go over to the water for a closer look. After about a mile and a half the trail gets gentler near the Beaver Brook Shelter. The shelter is a real nice spot for a break no more than 100 yards off the trail and features the older and remodeled versions of "Berts Bath" side by side as well as signage containing pithy sayings and exhortations courtesy of the Dartmouth Outdoor Club.
We encountered a few other hikers along the trail, and a few more near the junction with the Asquam ridge trail, but not too many given the fine weather on Labor Day weekend. Past Asquam, the trail is much less steep, but with a few short steep and rough spots as it curves around the ridge above the Jobildunc Ravine. There were some nice views over the ravine and the first views towards the summit at a number of viewpoints. We noted the herd path to Mt Blue as we passed it.
After passing the Benton Trail junction we emerged quickly above timberline with just under a half mile to go to the summit. It is a discontinuous timberline as there are several islands of small trees surrounded by the Alpine grasses below the summit.
We could see a fair sized crowd as we approached the summit; many more people than we had seen on the way up Beaver Brook. As we reached the summit a bunch of people cleared away from the summit sign and we marched right up to touch the sign and pose for some pictures, the first being with Sean who has been hiking with me for a long time. We did our first 4000 footers together, a traverse of Mt Washington and the southern Presidential range when he was 14. Then MtnSister3 pulled out a banner she had made for the occasion that really floored me. She is a great friend and awesome hiking partner.
We paused for some group shots and also a shot with me and Rick. While it was my 48th of the NH 4000 footers it was Rick's first. He made the climb with little or no difficulty and was stoked to go hike some more. Another peak bagger is born. Noticing a more or less continuous line of hikers arriving up the Gorge Brook Trail, we left the summit sign and found a nice spot for lunch on the rocks. MarysGirl brought a bottle of Berkshire Brewing Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale which was a really nice surprise and also very tasty.
The skies were a very deep blue punctuated by a few wispy high clouds and we lingered more than we might have taking in the views and more photos. The Green Mountains in Vermont were very clear, and the Adirondacks were plainly visible beyond them.
When we finally did leave the summit we hiked back only as far as the herd path to Mt Blue and decided it must be worth a visit. The herd path was a little longer than we thought it would be (but not long) and lead through a viewless but beautiful forest to a summit area which had a couple of plastic bottles hanging from a tree containing a log book and pencil in one and what seemed to be a sort of geocache in the other. Most of us are quite accustomed to signing in at canisters on trail-less Catskill summits, so we signed the log first and asked questions later. It turns out Mt Blue doesn’t have a lot of prominence, but enough to make the Trailwrights list. Trailwrights is not on my radar, but Mt Blue was a nice little side trip before hiking back down Beaver Brook to the parking lot.
The hike back to the Beaver Brook trailhead went pretty fast with one area briefly freezing up Harley and making for a stressful moment or two getting him down. Mike, who had been our slowest hiker / pace-setter, flew down the trail ahead of everyone else and was seldom seen until we reached the parking lot.
At the parking lot, someone had set up to provide some trail magic to passing thru-hikers and Bill and Tom had also arrived with a growler from Shilling Beer company in Littleton for a brief impromptu celebration before we left for dinner at the Woodstock Inn. Sean celebrated by successfully consuming the Double Death by Hamburger while people looked on in shared horror and amazement. He didn’t want me to taste any of it because he thought that would be cheating. I thought that was rather akin to searching for the highest rock on a peak where the trail is commonly accepted as the summit. He did vow afterwards never to do anything like that again, but I made no such vow with respect to hiking more peaks. Ah, to be young.. Of course young and not quite so young alike had a great time and that was the point.
We continued the celebration on Sunday with a hike of the Willey range and I am looking forward to many more great days in the mountains with my friends and family.
Number 48 was a great day. The company, the weather, the route, all of it.
My son Sean, with whom I have hiked more than half of the peaks was with me for my 48th as were my regular hiking pals MtnSister3 (Connie), GRT (Gail), Grace and Mike plus MarysGirl (Debbie), her friend Rick, and Harley. Long Island Bill developed a rare blister the day before on the Franconia range and he and his son Tom had to take a pass, but they met us after the hike.
We started from the Beaver Brook trailhead on Rte. 112 hoping for a scenic and less traveled route on the busy Labor Day weekend. Beaver Brook was a success on both counts. The guidebooks are full of warnings about this trail and the trailhead signage has some colorful description of the dangers ahead. Basically, the first mile and change of the trail is alongside one of the longest series of cascades that I have seen. A slip in some spots could have dire consequences and the trail was quite steep, but for the most part not particularly scary. I sensed that the warnings were mostly a result of the beautiful cascades being a dangerous attraction to flip-flop wearing, child toting families, rather than experienced hikers. I should add that dogs can be a little problematic as Harley gave us near heart failure once or twice running into the middle of the stream on potentially slippery rocks and slab, and also was a player in a moment of high anxiety on the way back down.
The Beaver Brook Trail goes over a lot of steep smooth slab next to the cascades, but wherever it is tricky there are wooden steps bolted into the rock or iron rebar handholds drilled in. I can imagine this trail being potentially unsafe when wet or icy, but it wasn't a problem on a dry day assuming one avoids the tourist temptation to go over to the water for a closer look. After about a mile and a half the trail gets gentler near the Beaver Brook Shelter. The shelter is a real nice spot for a break no more than 100 yards off the trail and features the older and remodeled versions of "Berts Bath" side by side as well as signage containing pithy sayings and exhortations courtesy of the Dartmouth Outdoor Club.
We encountered a few other hikers along the trail, and a few more near the junction with the Asquam ridge trail, but not too many given the fine weather on Labor Day weekend. Past Asquam, the trail is much less steep, but with a few short steep and rough spots as it curves around the ridge above the Jobildunc Ravine. There were some nice views over the ravine and the first views towards the summit at a number of viewpoints. We noted the herd path to Mt Blue as we passed it.
After passing the Benton Trail junction we emerged quickly above timberline with just under a half mile to go to the summit. It is a discontinuous timberline as there are several islands of small trees surrounded by the Alpine grasses below the summit.
We could see a fair sized crowd as we approached the summit; many more people than we had seen on the way up Beaver Brook. As we reached the summit a bunch of people cleared away from the summit sign and we marched right up to touch the sign and pose for some pictures, the first being with Sean who has been hiking with me for a long time. We did our first 4000 footers together, a traverse of Mt Washington and the southern Presidential range when he was 14. Then MtnSister3 pulled out a banner she had made for the occasion that really floored me. She is a great friend and awesome hiking partner.
We paused for some group shots and also a shot with me and Rick. While it was my 48th of the NH 4000 footers it was Rick's first. He made the climb with little or no difficulty and was stoked to go hike some more. Another peak bagger is born. Noticing a more or less continuous line of hikers arriving up the Gorge Brook Trail, we left the summit sign and found a nice spot for lunch on the rocks. MarysGirl brought a bottle of Berkshire Brewing Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale which was a really nice surprise and also very tasty.
The skies were a very deep blue punctuated by a few wispy high clouds and we lingered more than we might have taking in the views and more photos. The Green Mountains in Vermont were very clear, and the Adirondacks were plainly visible beyond them.
When we finally did leave the summit we hiked back only as far as the herd path to Mt Blue and decided it must be worth a visit. The herd path was a little longer than we thought it would be (but not long) and lead through a viewless but beautiful forest to a summit area which had a couple of plastic bottles hanging from a tree containing a log book and pencil in one and what seemed to be a sort of geocache in the other. Most of us are quite accustomed to signing in at canisters on trail-less Catskill summits, so we signed the log first and asked questions later. It turns out Mt Blue doesn’t have a lot of prominence, but enough to make the Trailwrights list. Trailwrights is not on my radar, but Mt Blue was a nice little side trip before hiking back down Beaver Brook to the parking lot.
The hike back to the Beaver Brook trailhead went pretty fast with one area briefly freezing up Harley and making for a stressful moment or two getting him down. Mike, who had been our slowest hiker / pace-setter, flew down the trail ahead of everyone else and was seldom seen until we reached the parking lot.
At the parking lot, someone had set up to provide some trail magic to passing thru-hikers and Bill and Tom had also arrived with a growler from Shilling Beer company in Littleton for a brief impromptu celebration before we left for dinner at the Woodstock Inn. Sean celebrated by successfully consuming the Double Death by Hamburger while people looked on in shared horror and amazement. He didn’t want me to taste any of it because he thought that would be cheating. I thought that was rather akin to searching for the highest rock on a peak where the trail is commonly accepted as the summit. He did vow afterwards never to do anything like that again, but I made no such vow with respect to hiking more peaks. Ah, to be young.. Of course young and not quite so young alike had a great time and that was the point.
We continued the celebration on Sunday with a hike of the Willey range and I am looking forward to many more great days in the mountains with my friends and family.
