PATN from Haystack / Nubble

[JCE]

Saturday (11-Nov-06) we decided to get an early start and knock off PATN.

Bigmoose had done a trip report and said "One of the easier bushwhacks of the NEHH" so we decided to follow his directions.

Heading towards Twin Mountain, we took a right at the 5 Corners and followed the dirt road to the end / gate and parked there. In a very short distance, you see yellow snow mobile signs, make a right into the woods and follow an old logging road straight up. After about 0.5 mi, you see a small cairn - keep going straight. Soon, you'll see a double cairn (02), we took the right vs. left to Haystack / Nubble. The woods are open and nice to go through. After a little while we found what we thought was a cellar hole (03). There was two pink pieces of tape and a broken (old) bottle and rocks.

We strayed away from the stream and went a little more south / south west than we should have an did get tangled in some nasty, but managable pines. We hooked east to 06 at the top of the slide. Careful, the wet rocks are like ice - very slippery! Go left at the top of slide and pick up a herd path that pretty much takes you to the canister / summit. Note that this slide is almost like a ski trail; it is wide and goes down the mountain for maybe 0.4 miles.

On the way down, we took the slide / stream as far as we could. We entered the woods at 04 because there was a shear rock cliff that we could not do from the slide / stream. The woods were open and we even found an old logging trail - the walk in the woods was awesome, the day was so beautiful.

At point 08, we made a beeline for the stream, crossed it and went to the Hunter's camp (09) and then up to Haystack / Nubble. We enjoyed the afternoon and headed back to the car on a well worn trail. There are a few places were you can take a "wrong branch" off the trail, in general try and always take the left branch to get back to the car.

The GPS track is attached (.jpg).

01 44.14.00 71.35.21 Parking area
02 44.13.53 71.34.40 Double cairn, left to nubble, right to PATN
03 44.13.45 71.34.24 Cellar hole?
04 44.13.31 71.34.09 Leave woods, enter stream
05 44.13.25 71.33.58 Bottom of "slide"
06 44.13.24 71.33.48 Top of "slide"
07 44.13.22 71.33.41 PATN summit
08 44.13.51 71.34.24 Make beeline for stream and cross
09 44.13.54 71.34.22 "Hunter's camp"
10 44.14.00 71.34.27 Haystack / Nubble summit

 

[SherpaKroto]

Very informative post! One small correction. You mention "Haystack/Nubble" implyingthat they are one and the same. Not true, I believe that the Nubble is the small bump NE of PAtN, just below the "L" on your track map. I could be wrong, and I'm sure others will correct me if so. The view from Haystack summit should not be missed!

 

[bobandgeri]

The first time we did PAtN we did it more or less the same way. The past 3 times we have done it we approached from the East and found it much easier with a couple of good view points. Probably do this again this Winter if you want to try it from this approach for a comparison:

http://rbhayes.net/latest/peakabovethenubble/index.htm

 

[Papa Bear]

Very informative post! One small correction. You mention "Haystack/Nubble" implyingthat they are one and the same. Not true, I believe that the Nubble is the small bump NE of PAtN, just below the "L" on your track map. I could be wrong, and I'm sure others will correct me if so. The view from Haystack summit should not be missed!

I believe Haystack=Nubble, and I think the reason for the confusion is a poorly labeled AMC map. This discussion comes up a few times per year. Check This thread Check entry #12 which was my note answering your note and note #19 which has a bunch of maps and a page from the 1966 WMG.