grouseking
Well-known member
This is late trip report...in fact, its not even a trip. The intention was to hike up Smarts Mtn via the Lambert Ridge trail and have a nice hike in a part of the Whites I really haven't visited (except for Holts Ledge last yr). But because I didn't have a map with me, we ended up looking at an old topo map and took the wrong way...bigtime. All I know is we went in on this thing that looked like a trail but had no blazes. It led to a large cliff where people were doing rock climbing...so I thought we were on the right track. Off we went, and the trail turned into more of a logging rd and led to a couple of open beaver ponds, where i snapped some pics. Obviously we were on the wrong path at this point, but we figured that the logging road would lead to a trail possibly down the way. So off we went, into the mosquito infested woods where the grass got longer and longer. The logging road was no fun anymore...especially considering I thought I would be hiking on the AT! It got very muddy, temps were high, bugs were out and we really had no idea where we were. Finally, my hiking partner took out his GPS. We came to a logging rd that lead uphill in the direction of the summit, so we took it for awhile.
Again, it would have been one thing if I was expecting to be roughing it off trail, so I was pretty ticked at this point that we were doing what we were doing. We were only at like 1600 ft according to the GPS, so that was also discouraging. Then we turned around because I heard thunder and there was no way I was gonna get lost in a thunderstorm. It never ended up storming when we were out, but I didn't care. I had had enough with this supposed easy hike up Smarts via the AT.
So we went back and I got all scratched up by pricker bushes and branches. It wasn't that much fun. Finally we got back to the ponds and we went up into the woods up to the top of the cliffs that overlooked the ponds. It was a pretty nice view from about 100 ft straight above the ponds.
We got out just in time as rain was at our door. Driving back we came to the Dartmouth skiway where the trail to Holts Ledge can be accessed. I looked around for the acess for Smarts Mtn but couldnt find anything. Later I read that you have to take some other road nearby to get to the Lambert Ridge trail...but thats for another day.
In the end Matt had a great time, but to be honest I was pretty ticked. But I'll get over it...and since there was thunder, I probably would have been really mad if I had almost been to the summit and a thunderstorm struck. Anyways, I'll go there a different day. I took a few pics...none of the logging trail. I guess I was too mad. Here they are.
Smarts Mtn Disaster
grouseking
Again, it would have been one thing if I was expecting to be roughing it off trail, so I was pretty ticked at this point that we were doing what we were doing. We were only at like 1600 ft according to the GPS, so that was also discouraging. Then we turned around because I heard thunder and there was no way I was gonna get lost in a thunderstorm. It never ended up storming when we were out, but I didn't care. I had had enough with this supposed easy hike up Smarts via the AT.
So we went back and I got all scratched up by pricker bushes and branches. It wasn't that much fun. Finally we got back to the ponds and we went up into the woods up to the top of the cliffs that overlooked the ponds. It was a pretty nice view from about 100 ft straight above the ponds.
We got out just in time as rain was at our door. Driving back we came to the Dartmouth skiway where the trail to Holts Ledge can be accessed. I looked around for the acess for Smarts Mtn but couldnt find anything. Later I read that you have to take some other road nearby to get to the Lambert Ridge trail...but thats for another day.
In the end Matt had a great time, but to be honest I was pretty ticked. But I'll get over it...and since there was thunder, I probably would have been really mad if I had almost been to the summit and a thunderstorm struck. Anyways, I'll go there a different day. I took a few pics...none of the logging trail. I guess I was too mad. Here they are.
Smarts Mtn Disaster
grouseking
