buddy
New member
Feb.20th, the day we headed out for our annual winter camp/bushwhack trip. This year we decided to approach the Baldfaces from the west. After some research and input from other members we decided to try the Bald land trail to the East river trail and then attempt a bushwhack up one or both of the Baldfaces. We had delayed our trip two days in order to take advantage of a better weather window. We arrived at the trail head at about 8:30 am. We headed up the East pasture trail toward the Bald Land trail on a groomed ski trail maintained by the Jackson Ski Foundation. I spoke to them by phone earlier in the week and found that snow shoeing on the trail was not permitted unless we were just passing through to access other areas. We used snow shoes on the trail and stayed as far to the edge of the skating platform as we could. We did minimal if any damage to the trail and the few skiers we met were not bothered by our presence. That section of the hike flew by due to the hard track. When we arrived at the cut off for the Bald land trail the 24" of powder did not look too inviting so we continued north on the east pasture trail until the grooming ended(at about 2 mi.), then into the powder continuing north on a not currently used logging road. We followed that road for another 1.5 mi. until we felt we were due east from where the East fork leaves the east branch of the Saco, somewhere in the vicinity of the Black brook crossing. Now we had deep powder and thick vegetation to deal with. After some exploration without packs we found what seemed like a doable bushwhack route east to the east branch trail. After .2 mi bushwhack and another .2 mi trail? walk we were in the vicinity of the east fork confluence. We set up camp near the river, had dinner, reflected on our day and hit the sack.Some of the observations of the hike in were as follows. The forest in that area has been continually logged for many years and were it not for the 2 to 3 feet of snow, going off the road or trail would be somewhat difficult and unpleasant. 2 to 3 feet of snow made going off the groomed trail difficult but not unpleasant, esp. with 4 strong( albeit 50 yr old) hikers sharing the burden. Moose moose and more moose in the area. Talk about post holing, they're the masters. Fisher tracks everywhere. 8:00 am up fueled and heading east around 10 am. We are not masters of the morning and we enjoy hanging around camp to much to get a start to much earlier than that. My feet were a little nervous crossing the east branch but after that most all of the other crossings were solid. Good thing, because we basically hiked the east fork stream bed all the way to the open area on the western flank of S. Baldface. We only broke through once and that was a minor incident. The final ascent up the slabs of South Baldface was a blast and it could not have been easier. I was wearing Iverson wooden snow shoes without crampons the whole time and had no problems. The beauty of stream bed bushwhacks really becomes obvious on the way down. We stayed near the summit for sunset, then descended our trail in the purple winter twilight until the crescent moon and Venus took over our lighting needs. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me. A wandering hobbit trail down a mountain stream bed in the moonlight. Back at camp around 8:00 pm, dinner, some cognac and a little bare boot wanderings on our local packed trails.
The next morning we departed camp about the same time and headed up the broken trail towards S. Baldface. Google earth sat pic showed a clear cut near where the N. fork of the E. fork converge so we decided to check out the views from the lower elevations. The clear cut was really cool, kind of like a mountain pasture, but were it not for the wind blown snow crust it would have been gnarly to cross. The gods loved us this trip so we just trucked all over the crusted snow until we decided to head further north over towards W, Baldface. The woods to the N. of the clear cut opened up into beautiful open birch forest with views through the trees to the N.W. ridge going over W. Baldface up to N. Baldface. Very tempting but we decided to make an easier day of it and climb the little peak to the east of the Baldfaces that's labeled 2941' on some maps. We hiked to the col between W.Bald face and the chosen peak, looked over towards the ridge going up N. Baldface and decided that would probably be next years trip, it looks special. Once at the col we headed up the ridge favouring the N. E. side to avoid spruce , then after a relatively short climb punched south to the open slab summit with open views to the west and east and partially obstructed views elsewhere. We enjoyed sunset and reminisced about our past winter trips climbing Mt. Washington via Rocky branch over Boot spur and the two occasions the weather was stable enough for us to summit. We could see the whole route laid out from our perch. The ridge from engine hill to the Boot spur was clear and the rest of the way to the summit was in and out of a dynamic mountain veil of summit generated clouds. I wanted to bushwhack strait back to camp to make more of an adventure out of it but my dear friends wanted the pleasure of a broken trail and the evening light while crossing the clear cut. Who could resist our stream bed highway? The groups common sense prevailed and we headed back to camp in winter twilight and a hazy moon lighting our way. Arrived back at camp about the same time as the previous night and enjoyed one of those perfect winter camp evenings. The temp was 16, the air was dead still( could blow condensation rings that just hung there for ever) and the camp patio was hard flat and lit with many candles placed in snow lanterns. We hung around sipping Calvados, river dancing occasionally to ward off any chills, and reminiscing about trips past and how many more we have in us. The trip out was an uneventful piece of cake on our solidified broken trail, and we were pleased that others enjoyed our efforts buy skiing our broken trail. This was a great trip for the given snow conditions because the streams were trails and elevation gains happen evenly over most of the day hikes making the trail breaking much easier. I could see how under some conditions this might not be a fun trip, but when things go right, it's a gem. Thanks to all who offered input during the planning phase of this trip, the suggestions to check out W. Baldface were spot on and we will return to this area. Buddy
The next morning we departed camp about the same time and headed up the broken trail towards S. Baldface. Google earth sat pic showed a clear cut near where the N. fork of the E. fork converge so we decided to check out the views from the lower elevations. The clear cut was really cool, kind of like a mountain pasture, but were it not for the wind blown snow crust it would have been gnarly to cross. The gods loved us this trip so we just trucked all over the crusted snow until we decided to head further north over towards W, Baldface. The woods to the N. of the clear cut opened up into beautiful open birch forest with views through the trees to the N.W. ridge going over W. Baldface up to N. Baldface. Very tempting but we decided to make an easier day of it and climb the little peak to the east of the Baldfaces that's labeled 2941' on some maps. We hiked to the col between W.Bald face and the chosen peak, looked over towards the ridge going up N. Baldface and decided that would probably be next years trip, it looks special. Once at the col we headed up the ridge favouring the N. E. side to avoid spruce , then after a relatively short climb punched south to the open slab summit with open views to the west and east and partially obstructed views elsewhere. We enjoyed sunset and reminisced about our past winter trips climbing Mt. Washington via Rocky branch over Boot spur and the two occasions the weather was stable enough for us to summit. We could see the whole route laid out from our perch. The ridge from engine hill to the Boot spur was clear and the rest of the way to the summit was in and out of a dynamic mountain veil of summit generated clouds. I wanted to bushwhack strait back to camp to make more of an adventure out of it but my dear friends wanted the pleasure of a broken trail and the evening light while crossing the clear cut. Who could resist our stream bed highway? The groups common sense prevailed and we headed back to camp in winter twilight and a hazy moon lighting our way. Arrived back at camp about the same time as the previous night and enjoyed one of those perfect winter camp evenings. The temp was 16, the air was dead still( could blow condensation rings that just hung there for ever) and the camp patio was hard flat and lit with many candles placed in snow lanterns. We hung around sipping Calvados, river dancing occasionally to ward off any chills, and reminiscing about trips past and how many more we have in us. The trip out was an uneventful piece of cake on our solidified broken trail, and we were pleased that others enjoyed our efforts buy skiing our broken trail. This was a great trip for the given snow conditions because the streams were trails and elevation gains happen evenly over most of the day hikes making the trail breaking much easier. I could see how under some conditions this might not be a fun trip, but when things go right, it's a gem. Thanks to all who offered input during the planning phase of this trip, the suggestions to check out W. Baldface were spot on and we will return to this area. Buddy
