Old Man/Modified Pemi Loop - 4/26/2014

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JCarter

Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
Messages
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Location
Bedford, MA
The Old man is me, since the orginal fell down over a decade ago.

The weather was looking pretty bad, with lots of summits in the clouds, temps just above freezing, gusty winds, and a mixture of rain, snow, sleet, and possible oobleck. I didn't want to skip a weekend of hiking, since I've had so few lately, and it looks like I'm not going to get out for at least the next 3 weekends.

The Modified Pemi Loop starts at the Lafayette Place Campground, and follows the Pemi Trail northound to the headwaters of the Pemigewasset River (Profile Lake). The trail has large open areas, with some segments of monorail remnants. Only in a couple of places was it deeper than a few inches. Took spikes, but they went along for the ride.

Trail is pleasant, and it's easy to ignore I-93 for most of the route. A few small blowdowns, and then one major blowdown just south of the spot where the Pemi Trail and the Bike Path cross below Profile Lake. Just have to pick your way through it. At the outlet of Profile Lake,(at least) one of the bridges has been washed downstream, and the beaver dam/litter pile at the outlet that people use for crossing is about half gone. I didn't want to wade, so crossed on a fallen tree a little downstream, and then climbed over rocks and bushwacked to get back on the trail.

The trail on the west side of Profile Lake looks like it has had a lot less traffic this spring than the trail to the south. One large snow/ice bridge over a tributary into the lake still survives, but I wouldn't expect it to last. Nice hike along the dge of the lake, and then the massive elevation gain as the trail climbs over a ridge and then back down to the Old Man historic site.

I continued north to the Tramway parking lot, and turned south onto the bikeway. And then realized that the walkway to the viewing area led to the same spot...

Followed the bike path back to Lafayette. Still some streches of snow in sheltered areas on the bike path. One blowdown on the section of path on the east side of the highway.

Almost had the trails to myself. Saw no hikers, and only 1 biker on the bike trail.

A few pics here.

No views of the top of Cannon or Lafayette. 4.7 miles total. 2 hours. Lots of wet.
 
Great report! Turns out I've done the modified Pemi-loop also before I knew there was such a thing. Now all the young guys (and gals) will have to rush up 93 to "log" it. There'll still be a seat at the Woodstock Brewery no matter which loop you log...
 
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