Trish Herr and I decided last winter that it's been too long since we've hiked together, but the next time both our schedules allowed that was this summer. Yesterday we finally took that hike.
First, however, I climbed Mount Kearsarge on the drive up Saturday. Kearsarge is on the New England Fifty Finest list, which I am pursuing. It might be the easiest peak on the list. I took the Winslow Trail up and the Barlow Trail down. They're 1.1 and 1.7 miles respectively to cover about 1100 feet, so the WT is short but steep and the BT is a little less short and not so steep. The weather was warm with scattered cumulus and cirrus clouds. The summit of Kearsarge is open, with a communications tower and a fire tower. On Saturday it also had lots and lots of people.
I then drove up to the Whites. Since I was due to meet Trish at 5:30 Sun. morning at Hancock Trailhead I figured I'd car camp at Hancock Campground or one of those other campgrounds on the Kanc. They don't take reservations, so I figured that if I got there early afternoon I could get a spot. That was wrong. I got there about 2:30, and every campground on the Kanc was full. I started driving up 302 hoping to get a site at one of the commercial campgrounds around Twin Mtn. and hoping I didn't have to spring for a motel. I got to a commercial campground in Crawford Notch and stopped to ask if they had any available sites. They had one; I grabbed their last spot.
On Sunday before dawn I met Trish at the hairpin turn. Her daughters Alex and Sage, and their dog Max, were with her. Our original plan had been to hike Northwest Hancock, which Alex needs for the Trailwrights list, but the forecast was for thunderstorms that afternoon, and Trish didn't want to be up on the ridge when they hit. We might have been able to get up and down before then, but it's partly a bushwhack, and the timing of a whack is always uncertain.
So we decided to do Tremont instead, which Sage needed for the 52 with a View list. We decided to do it from the south, instead of the more typical northern approach, because we didn't want the hike to be too short, and the southern approach seemed to be a good distance (5 miles each way) to have a good day's hike and still be off the trail before the storms. Which is exactly what happened.
The skies were partly cloudy all morning. It was hot, not terribly so, but enough that when there was a breeze it was much appreciated. Except for the section near the trailhead it was buggy. The bugs (mostly mosquitoes, no black flies) were bothering Trish and the girls a lot more than they were me, but I still got bitten.
We started on Sawyer Pond Trail on the Kanc and almost immediately had to ford the Swift River. I did it barefoot; it came up to mid-thigh. Trish and the girls forded it in their shoes, and Max swam. Sawyer Pond Trail was in good condition, but after about a mile we turned onto Brunel Trail, which was much less well maintained. It needed brushing and there were a few blowdowns which had to be whacked around.
After about a mile of this we came to a wide dirt road. There was a signpost but no sign. It was not clear from the map where we were supposed to go. Finally we guessed that we should follow the road to the right. It soon turned north, which looked right, so we kept following it, past snowmobile trails which weren't on the map, until we came to where the trial reentered the forest. There, fortunately, there was a sign, so we knew we were where we wanted to be. This section of the trail starts much better, but then gets a little sketchy. Up until this point most of our hike had been on fairly flat trail, but then it got steep up to the Owl's Cliff spur (which we would take on the way down). It's then fairly flat again for a while and then ascends steeply again to Mt. Tremont summit. One thing I learned on this hike is that those Herrs are fast. I had no trouble keeping up with them on the flat sections, but they don't slow down when it gets steep. I hope I didn't hold them back too much.
Mt. Tremont has good views, although it was very hazy on Sunday. Green's Cliff and Sawyer Pond were right in front of us, and I was able to identify Carrigain to our right.
We hung around the summit a while, where there was enough of a breeze to keep the bugs from bothering us much, and then returned the way we came. This time we took the spur to Owl's Cliff. It has basically the same views as Tremont from a little less height. It also had a dead luna moth right on the trail.
When we were back on the dirt road we turned a corner and there was a cow moose in front of us. That was cool.
When we got back onto Sawyer Pond Trail we started meeting people; both coming and going on the trail and just coming to swim in the river.
This time when I forded the river it came almost up to my waist. Since we were almost back to the car and there were still no signs of rain we decided to just hang around the river for a while. The girls went swimming.
I stopped in Lincoln on the way home for ice cream and while I was there the sky started to get ominous. While I was driving through Vermont it started pouring.
I'd like to thank Trish, Alex, and Sage for letting me tag along for this hike. I hope we can do it again sooner than the three years which had passed since our last hike together.
Kearsarge is number 36 on the New England Fifty Finest list for me. I'm not sure how far Sage is on the 52 with a View list, but she's one peak further than she was last week.
Here are the pictures for Kearsarge (Saturday).
Here are the pictures for Tremont (Sunday).
--
Cumulus
NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 27/39; WNH4K: 32/48; NEFF: 36/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
First, however, I climbed Mount Kearsarge on the drive up Saturday. Kearsarge is on the New England Fifty Finest list, which I am pursuing. It might be the easiest peak on the list. I took the Winslow Trail up and the Barlow Trail down. They're 1.1 and 1.7 miles respectively to cover about 1100 feet, so the WT is short but steep and the BT is a little less short and not so steep. The weather was warm with scattered cumulus and cirrus clouds. The summit of Kearsarge is open, with a communications tower and a fire tower. On Saturday it also had lots and lots of people.
I then drove up to the Whites. Since I was due to meet Trish at 5:30 Sun. morning at Hancock Trailhead I figured I'd car camp at Hancock Campground or one of those other campgrounds on the Kanc. They don't take reservations, so I figured that if I got there early afternoon I could get a spot. That was wrong. I got there about 2:30, and every campground on the Kanc was full. I started driving up 302 hoping to get a site at one of the commercial campgrounds around Twin Mtn. and hoping I didn't have to spring for a motel. I got to a commercial campground in Crawford Notch and stopped to ask if they had any available sites. They had one; I grabbed their last spot.
On Sunday before dawn I met Trish at the hairpin turn. Her daughters Alex and Sage, and their dog Max, were with her. Our original plan had been to hike Northwest Hancock, which Alex needs for the Trailwrights list, but the forecast was for thunderstorms that afternoon, and Trish didn't want to be up on the ridge when they hit. We might have been able to get up and down before then, but it's partly a bushwhack, and the timing of a whack is always uncertain.
So we decided to do Tremont instead, which Sage needed for the 52 with a View list. We decided to do it from the south, instead of the more typical northern approach, because we didn't want the hike to be too short, and the southern approach seemed to be a good distance (5 miles each way) to have a good day's hike and still be off the trail before the storms. Which is exactly what happened.
The skies were partly cloudy all morning. It was hot, not terribly so, but enough that when there was a breeze it was much appreciated. Except for the section near the trailhead it was buggy. The bugs (mostly mosquitoes, no black flies) were bothering Trish and the girls a lot more than they were me, but I still got bitten.
We started on Sawyer Pond Trail on the Kanc and almost immediately had to ford the Swift River. I did it barefoot; it came up to mid-thigh. Trish and the girls forded it in their shoes, and Max swam. Sawyer Pond Trail was in good condition, but after about a mile we turned onto Brunel Trail, which was much less well maintained. It needed brushing and there were a few blowdowns which had to be whacked around.
After about a mile of this we came to a wide dirt road. There was a signpost but no sign. It was not clear from the map where we were supposed to go. Finally we guessed that we should follow the road to the right. It soon turned north, which looked right, so we kept following it, past snowmobile trails which weren't on the map, until we came to where the trial reentered the forest. There, fortunately, there was a sign, so we knew we were where we wanted to be. This section of the trail starts much better, but then gets a little sketchy. Up until this point most of our hike had been on fairly flat trail, but then it got steep up to the Owl's Cliff spur (which we would take on the way down). It's then fairly flat again for a while and then ascends steeply again to Mt. Tremont summit. One thing I learned on this hike is that those Herrs are fast. I had no trouble keeping up with them on the flat sections, but they don't slow down when it gets steep. I hope I didn't hold them back too much.
Mt. Tremont has good views, although it was very hazy on Sunday. Green's Cliff and Sawyer Pond were right in front of us, and I was able to identify Carrigain to our right.
We hung around the summit a while, where there was enough of a breeze to keep the bugs from bothering us much, and then returned the way we came. This time we took the spur to Owl's Cliff. It has basically the same views as Tremont from a little less height. It also had a dead luna moth right on the trail.
When we were back on the dirt road we turned a corner and there was a cow moose in front of us. That was cool.
When we got back onto Sawyer Pond Trail we started meeting people; both coming and going on the trail and just coming to swim in the river.
This time when I forded the river it came almost up to my waist. Since we were almost back to the car and there were still no signs of rain we decided to just hang around the river for a while. The girls went swimming.
I stopped in Lincoln on the way home for ice cream and while I was there the sky started to get ominous. While I was driving through Vermont it started pouring.
I'd like to thank Trish, Alex, and Sage for letting me tag along for this hike. I hope we can do it again sooner than the three years which had passed since our last hike together.
Kearsarge is number 36 on the New England Fifty Finest list for me. I'm not sure how far Sage is on the 52 with a View list, but she's one peak further than she was last week.
Here are the pictures for Kearsarge (Saturday).
Here are the pictures for Tremont (Sunday).
--
Cumulus
NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 27/39; WNH4K: 32/48; NEFF: 36/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
