albee
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I had heard of this loop from DMS, and since I wanted to hit all of these peaks on one trip, I had to give it a shot. This area is located just east of Rt 3 outside of North Stratford, NH. While working on the New Hampshire 100 Highest list, I have discovered that there are dozens of beautiful and worthwhile mountains to hike north of the White Mountains! Most don't have trails, but the bushwhacking isn't as thick as what you might find in the Pemi/Kanc region.
I got a late start after catching up on some much needed beauty sleep... I had already been bushwhacking for 3 days, and I took Tuesday off of work to stay in the Great North Woods and avoid the traffic headed southbound. After passing through Groveton, Stratford, and North Stratford, I took a right turn onto Meriden Hill Road, then another right onto Brown Road. This is where the driving gets interesting. The road is littered with protruding rocks and deep ruts. Somehow I navigated my little 1994 Subaru through all this and parked at an obvious fork in the road . I would start the hike on the right fork and (hopefully) return on the left fork.
Setting out on the road was a good way to get warmed up. After 3 long days of hiking, I needed to get both my mind and body worked up to the task of another 8 hours of 'whacking. Before too long, I came to a huge clearing with views of Goback and Teapot Mtns, and a beautiful house on the left. It looked like someone's private estate, so I was hesitant to enter because I didn't know if it was private property. Someone drove by and assured me that the road keeps going after bending around the house. I continued on, and did a short bushwhack over to an old logging road/ATV trail that would take me up closer to West Castle. This road was in great shape, and it took me smoothly up to a clearing at 2,400'. 2 ATV riders passed me, and we had a brief, friendly chat. One of them said I was in for some rough walking after the ATV trail ends... good thing I didn't tell them I would be traversing the whole ridge - they would have thought I was crazy!
From the clearing, there were a number of old skid roads that went straight up. It was actually really easy bushwhacking. There was chest-high hobblebush and thorny raspberry bushes, but with pants and longsleeves on they posed no problems. Eventually I got up into the woods and it was very open and easy almost all the way to the summit. The last 200' is well guarded by blowdowns and spruce, but this could be avoided by contouring to the north of the summit. There were incredible views from the top - I could clearly see the Presidentials, the Carters, Carter Notch, the Longs, Percys, Pilots... I snapped many pictures. It took 1:45 from the car to the cannister.
I took a compass bearing and headed for Gore Mountain. I would have to pass over a shoulder of Castle Mountain and also over Notch Mountain along the way, but neither of these has enough prominence to qualify for the NE 3k list. There were plenty of thick and scrappy sections during his leg of the journey. It seemed like every col had a patch of thick spruce littered with blowdowns. Thankfully I found a way through the mazes - many times by "walking the tightrope" along one blowdown to the next, using nearby green trees for balance. It was fun, but it was slowing down my progress. After an hour and 20 minutes, I was finally over Castle Mountain. I didn't bother to look for the summit - although I kinda wish I had. At Notch Mountain, I found some moose herd paths that took me right up to the summit tree, which is marked with three bands of survey flagging. From there, the herd paths led to yet another blowdown field, and partway through it I came upon a passable skidder path. I followed this to he flanks of Gore Mountain, and started 'whacking up it - it didn't take too long to find the top. What a relief to be done with the hard part - 2:20 ater leaving West Castle.
I signed in on the summit, and headed off through open woods toward Bunnell (Blue) Mountain. About halfway to the col, I stopped to fish something out of my pack and I casually tucked my compass halfway into my pants pocket. I made a mental note to grab it as soon as I was starting up again, but I spaced out and remembered to reach for it about 30 seconds after I resumed walking. Of course it had fallen out, and there was no way I was going to find it in the thick ferns I had been walking through. I took 5 minutes to try to retrace my steps, but it was useless. I looked for my spare compass in my pack, but remembered that I had left it in the car since I had been hiking with partners for the last 3 days so I hadn't been packing one... I briefly panicked at the thought of being lost up there, miles from my car and miles from the trail, but I thought out the situation, and after some visual reference using nearby mountains, my map, altimeter, and the position of the sun, I decided that I wasn't in such bad shape after all. I had to choose whether to continue with the hike or head straight into a valley where I knew there was a brook and a logging road. I decided to forge on... 4.5 hours into an 8 hour bushwhack and I lose my compass. What a fool I am!
I continued on and dropped slightly east of the col, and after regaining the ridge at around 3,300' I came upon some really well defined moose herd paths. I was able to follow these for almost half a mile and right to the summit of Bunnell Mountain. This peak used to be called Blue Mountain, but it was renamed in 2003 after Vickie Bunnell, one of the 4 people killed in the Colebrook shootings back in the late '90s. There were some nice entries in the register from some of her friends - they apparently climb this mountain and use the register as a journal to tell her their thoughts. The old register was filled, so I left a new notebook and continued on towards East Pleasant Mountain.
After less than 100 yards, I came across an old logging road that was very easy to follow. I decided to follow it to avoid having to bushwhack downhill for 600'. Big mistake. The road swung to the north and I dropped too far down the valley in this direction, and I was forced to sidehill through thick, scrappy woods with lots of rocky moss traps until I found the col. This mistake cost me about 45 minutes, but thankfully the ridge from here to East Pleasant had plenty of old skid roads and moose herd paths galore. I followed the ridge over one bump and up to the proper summit, and signed in at my 4th register of the day, just under 7 hours after I started. From there, I kept the sun mostly to my right and dropped into the valley where I knew there eventually was a logging road. It was steep going, but before too long I found a brook that led me to an old skid road, and this led me to the main logging road. I was pleasantly surprised that it was in great shape, and I jogged for 15 minutes back to my car - right where I expected it. Whew!
The whole traverse took 8:05, and I made it out about an hour before sunset. Things could have gone much worse, but I got lucky this time. On the drive home, I made a detour across Route 110 to Milan Hill State Park, where I caught the sunset and some beautiful alpenglow from the top of the fire tower there. What a panorama! If you haven't been there, you have to check it out. The weather was beautiful, what a day! I wrapped up my 4 day weekend with 16 3K peaks total and 4 epic days of bushwhacking. Only managed a few scratches - mostly on my hands and wrists since it is too hot for gloves. I'm up to 100/103 and 102/107 for the NHHH list - depends which version you're using. Hoping to finish next weekend with the Hitchcocks
, Kelsey, Dixville, then Chocorua. Thanks for reading all of this!
I got a late start after catching up on some much needed beauty sleep... I had already been bushwhacking for 3 days, and I took Tuesday off of work to stay in the Great North Woods and avoid the traffic headed southbound. After passing through Groveton, Stratford, and North Stratford, I took a right turn onto Meriden Hill Road, then another right onto Brown Road. This is where the driving gets interesting. The road is littered with protruding rocks and deep ruts. Somehow I navigated my little 1994 Subaru through all this and parked at an obvious fork in the road . I would start the hike on the right fork and (hopefully) return on the left fork.
Setting out on the road was a good way to get warmed up. After 3 long days of hiking, I needed to get both my mind and body worked up to the task of another 8 hours of 'whacking. Before too long, I came to a huge clearing with views of Goback and Teapot Mtns, and a beautiful house on the left. It looked like someone's private estate, so I was hesitant to enter because I didn't know if it was private property. Someone drove by and assured me that the road keeps going after bending around the house. I continued on, and did a short bushwhack over to an old logging road/ATV trail that would take me up closer to West Castle. This road was in great shape, and it took me smoothly up to a clearing at 2,400'. 2 ATV riders passed me, and we had a brief, friendly chat. One of them said I was in for some rough walking after the ATV trail ends... good thing I didn't tell them I would be traversing the whole ridge - they would have thought I was crazy!
From the clearing, there were a number of old skid roads that went straight up. It was actually really easy bushwhacking. There was chest-high hobblebush and thorny raspberry bushes, but with pants and longsleeves on they posed no problems. Eventually I got up into the woods and it was very open and easy almost all the way to the summit. The last 200' is well guarded by blowdowns and spruce, but this could be avoided by contouring to the north of the summit. There were incredible views from the top - I could clearly see the Presidentials, the Carters, Carter Notch, the Longs, Percys, Pilots... I snapped many pictures. It took 1:45 from the car to the cannister.
I took a compass bearing and headed for Gore Mountain. I would have to pass over a shoulder of Castle Mountain and also over Notch Mountain along the way, but neither of these has enough prominence to qualify for the NE 3k list. There were plenty of thick and scrappy sections during his leg of the journey. It seemed like every col had a patch of thick spruce littered with blowdowns. Thankfully I found a way through the mazes - many times by "walking the tightrope" along one blowdown to the next, using nearby green trees for balance. It was fun, but it was slowing down my progress. After an hour and 20 minutes, I was finally over Castle Mountain. I didn't bother to look for the summit - although I kinda wish I had. At Notch Mountain, I found some moose herd paths that took me right up to the summit tree, which is marked with three bands of survey flagging. From there, the herd paths led to yet another blowdown field, and partway through it I came upon a passable skidder path. I followed this to he flanks of Gore Mountain, and started 'whacking up it - it didn't take too long to find the top. What a relief to be done with the hard part - 2:20 ater leaving West Castle.
I signed in on the summit, and headed off through open woods toward Bunnell (Blue) Mountain. About halfway to the col, I stopped to fish something out of my pack and I casually tucked my compass halfway into my pants pocket. I made a mental note to grab it as soon as I was starting up again, but I spaced out and remembered to reach for it about 30 seconds after I resumed walking. Of course it had fallen out, and there was no way I was going to find it in the thick ferns I had been walking through. I took 5 minutes to try to retrace my steps, but it was useless. I looked for my spare compass in my pack, but remembered that I had left it in the car since I had been hiking with partners for the last 3 days so I hadn't been packing one... I briefly panicked at the thought of being lost up there, miles from my car and miles from the trail, but I thought out the situation, and after some visual reference using nearby mountains, my map, altimeter, and the position of the sun, I decided that I wasn't in such bad shape after all. I had to choose whether to continue with the hike or head straight into a valley where I knew there was a brook and a logging road. I decided to forge on... 4.5 hours into an 8 hour bushwhack and I lose my compass. What a fool I am!
I continued on and dropped slightly east of the col, and after regaining the ridge at around 3,300' I came upon some really well defined moose herd paths. I was able to follow these for almost half a mile and right to the summit of Bunnell Mountain. This peak used to be called Blue Mountain, but it was renamed in 2003 after Vickie Bunnell, one of the 4 people killed in the Colebrook shootings back in the late '90s. There were some nice entries in the register from some of her friends - they apparently climb this mountain and use the register as a journal to tell her their thoughts. The old register was filled, so I left a new notebook and continued on towards East Pleasant Mountain.
After less than 100 yards, I came across an old logging road that was very easy to follow. I decided to follow it to avoid having to bushwhack downhill for 600'. Big mistake. The road swung to the north and I dropped too far down the valley in this direction, and I was forced to sidehill through thick, scrappy woods with lots of rocky moss traps until I found the col. This mistake cost me about 45 minutes, but thankfully the ridge from here to East Pleasant had plenty of old skid roads and moose herd paths galore. I followed the ridge over one bump and up to the proper summit, and signed in at my 4th register of the day, just under 7 hours after I started. From there, I kept the sun mostly to my right and dropped into the valley where I knew there eventually was a logging road. It was steep going, but before too long I found a brook that led me to an old skid road, and this led me to the main logging road. I was pleasantly surprised that it was in great shape, and I jogged for 15 minutes back to my car - right where I expected it. Whew!
The whole traverse took 8:05, and I made it out about an hour before sunset. Things could have gone much worse, but I got lucky this time. On the drive home, I made a detour across Route 110 to Milan Hill State Park, where I caught the sunset and some beautiful alpenglow from the top of the fire tower there. What a panorama! If you haven't been there, you have to check it out. The weather was beautiful, what a day! I wrapped up my 4 day weekend with 16 3K peaks total and 4 epic days of bushwhacking. Only managed a few scratches - mostly on my hands and wrists since it is too hot for gloves. I'm up to 100/103 and 102/107 for the NHHH list - depends which version you're using. Hoping to finish next weekend with the Hitchcocks
, Kelsey, Dixville, then Chocorua. Thanks for reading all of this!
