Yesterday on returning to my Brookline, MA home from the doctor I found a PM from Harry (peakn) suggesting that we hike together today, and unwisely agreeing to do whatever I wanted. Five years ago I had gone with Dave Metsky up Algonquin and down Smart's Brook; all I remembered was that the views were spectacular and there were a few "interesting" scrambles. Since I had survived them five years ago I figured I would survive them again.
I left Brookline at 6 AM, reached Thornton at 9 AM, and was at the Drake's Brook trailhead a bit before 10 AM. We drove together to the Algonquin trailhead, the road was as bad as I remembered.
The first mile or so of the trail was an easy, almost level, walk through open hardwoods. At 0.9 miles the trail leaves the old logging road that it was following, and starts to climb steeply, with many good rock steps.
Then we reached the first of the difficult scrambles. The WMG writes (italics added):
In addition to the two rocky pitches mentioned in the WMG there are quite a few scrambles that, while much easier, require care.
So the bad news is that we found the trail challenging. The good news, of course, is that the views are as fabulous as I remembered them. There are a large number of ledges with open views, at varying elevations, so each view is different. We had interesting views of the peaks on the east-to-west ridge of Sandwich Dome (Black Mountain, Sachem Peak and Jenning's Peak on the AMC map), with Welch and Dickey across Rt 49, and the usual northern views (low down the summit of Mt Tecumseh loomed above the top of the ski lifts).
Low down we saw one pond (Kiah Pond is my guess), then we started seeing more ponds and the more distant lakes. Ultimately we had excellent views of Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee, with lots of mountains, some of which we could identify (Squam Range was obvious, as was Red Hill at the eastern end of Squam Lake), others were there to enjoy.
I love hikes where you get multiple discontinuous vews (the Inlook Trail is another such trail). Each new viewpoint is a surprise, as opposed to a ridge walk where you know you will have views all the time.
Foliage must be at its peak; the nearer trees could be individually distinguished, while in the distance there was this mass of colored vegetation.
Ultimately we reached the summit, tired but delighted at the scenery we had enjoyed. The summit has good views, which we enjoyd while having a well earned lunch.
The descent by the Sandwich Mountain and Drake's Brook trails was viewless, but it was easy, which is what we needed at this stage. We had toyed with the possibility of visiting Jenning's Peak on the way down; we bypassed it with no regrets. We had had our fill of views for the day.
Did I ever mention previously that life is good
I left Brookline at 6 AM, reached Thornton at 9 AM, and was at the Drake's Brook trailhead a bit before 10 AM. We drove together to the Algonquin trailhead, the road was as bad as I remembered.
The first mile or so of the trail was an easy, almost level, walk through open hardwoods. At 0.9 miles the trail leaves the old logging road that it was following, and starts to climb steeply, with many good rock steps.
Then we reached the first of the difficult scrambles. The WMG writes (italics added):
The first bypass is not obvious at first sight; we only found it when we backed off the rocky climb. It is very rough, and is clearly not "the established route of the trail". The second bypass, on the other hand, is almost trail-like in quality.
In addition to the two rocky pitches mentioned in the WMG there are quite a few scrambles that, while much easier, require care.
So the bad news is that we found the trail challenging. The good news, of course, is that the views are as fabulous as I remembered them. There are a large number of ledges with open views, at varying elevations, so each view is different. We had interesting views of the peaks on the east-to-west ridge of Sandwich Dome (Black Mountain, Sachem Peak and Jenning's Peak on the AMC map), with Welch and Dickey across Rt 49, and the usual northern views (low down the summit of Mt Tecumseh loomed above the top of the ski lifts).
Low down we saw one pond (Kiah Pond is my guess), then we started seeing more ponds and the more distant lakes. Ultimately we had excellent views of Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee, with lots of mountains, some of which we could identify (Squam Range was obvious, as was Red Hill at the eastern end of Squam Lake), others were there to enjoy.
I love hikes where you get multiple discontinuous vews (the Inlook Trail is another such trail). Each new viewpoint is a surprise, as opposed to a ridge walk where you know you will have views all the time.
Foliage must be at its peak; the nearer trees could be individually distinguished, while in the distance there was this mass of colored vegetation.
Ultimately we reached the summit, tired but delighted at the scenery we had enjoyed. The summit has good views, which we enjoyd while having a well earned lunch.
The descent by the Sandwich Mountain and Drake's Brook trails was viewless, but it was easy, which is what we needed at this stage. We had toyed with the possibility of visiting Jenning's Peak on the way down; we bypassed it with no regrets. We had had our fill of views for the day.
Did I ever mention previously that life is good
