Hiking in New Hampshire and Switzerland

Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger in Sun and Clouds

2010-08-29T08:41:00.002-04:00

I spent a week (31^st July to 6^th August 2010) in Mürren, almost "across the street" from the three giants of the Bernese Alps, the Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger. I could see the Jungfrau from the bedroom window of my rented apartment:

To see the Mönch (right) and Eiger (left) I had to go out on the porch:

Later on Sunday (1^st August) I went for a hike, and got a chance to see all three together the way they are meant to be seen (from left to right the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau):

For two more photos of what I call the "big three" click here and here.

Here are individual shots of each; first the Jungfrau:

then the Mönch:

and finally the Eiger:

with its notorious North Face dark.

The chain of mountains extends SW beyond the Jungfrau, ending in the Lauterbrunnen Breithorn (there are many Breithorns in Switzerland, hence the qualifier). This photo extends from just beyond the Jungfrau to the Breithorn:

Later that afternoon clouds moved in:

a prelude to a couple days of on and off drizzle. Not enough to prevent me from hiking, but enough to abolish all views:

On the morning of the 4^th the clouds lifted a bit:

and I planned to hike to the Schilthorn with its 360° views. The Schilthorn is associated with the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" as well as with a ski race and a half marathon, both called Inferno. In fact, the half marathon was to be run on the 21^st, and I met several runners training for it.

Clouds quickly moved in, and by the time I reached the hut I was hiking in the clouds:

I had a second breakfast at the hut, continued for about another kilometer, and shortly before the final ascent decided to call it a day:

On the way down I noticed that, while there was no sign of the clouds lifting, some peaks were occasionally peaking out of the clouds. I sat down and, for about twenty minutes, took a huge number of photos. The vast majority were uninteresting and were discarded, the survivors are here, and a few of the most interesting follow.

The Jungfrau timidly peaking through the clouds

before revealing herself in all her splendor:

The Mönch trying to emerge:

and finally succeeding:

Dark clouds above the Eiger:

but it eventually also emerges:

The weather remained cloudy with frequent drizzle for the duration of my stay, but on the morning of my departure cleared spectacularly. I just got two good photos before leaving, one of the "big three":

and one of the end of the range, with the Grosshorn and Breithorn:

From Mürren I went to St-Luc for a week, with another set of mountains!

The North Face Trail, Mürren, August 2, 2010

2010-08-02T16:07:00.006-04:00

I am so glad that I brought my computer, with mobile internet card, this year! Checking the forecast as soon as I wake up is a huge improvement over going to the Tourist Office. This morning the forecast was for a dry morning, with afternoon precipitation. I was tired, so a short morning walk seemed exactly what I wanted. I decided to hike what the local tourist map calls The North Face Trail; it allegedly gives views of many of the north faces, with lots of boards describing routes and first ascents. I prefer reading that kind of stuff at home, but the hike itself seemed very attractive: a couple of hours, about 6½ kilometers and two or three hundred meters of elevation gain.

Just as I was going up the steep track from the chalet I got a good view of the Lauterbrunnen Breithorn (there are several Breithorns in Switzerland):

About a couple of hundred vertical meters above central Mürren is the Pension Restaurant Sonnenberg:

Shortly after it I left the most used trail that goes north to the Allmendhubel and instead went south, soon reaching another high level pension, the Pension Suppenalp:

Just as I was wondering how guests got there a rugged car drew up with a passenger; obviously they fetch their guests from the station in the village.

After the pension the trail went up for a short distance, then was more or less level, passing through many meadows.

The meadows where cows currently graze are surrounded by electric fences with gates, that hikers are expected to close after passing through. One gate stumpted me: after looking carefully it was clear that it was not a gate, as both sides were firmly fixed. As I was thinking of climbing over it two women, smaller than I am, came up and decided to crawl through it. I decided that crawling might be easier than climbing, one of the women was kind enough to record the crawl:

Note the hat with bandana to protect my face and neck from the sun should it have chosen to make an appearance! I will also note that I was carrying a fanny pack as well as a Goretex top for the expected rain; I had thrown them over the gate before crawling through it.

After that the trail, wide and with excellent footing, continued on the contour. I am sure that there would have been spectacular views of the southern parts of the mountain range if the weather had been better, but as it was I saw almost nothing in the distance. I was able to enjoy the alpine meadows; unfortunately my meadow photos do not seem to reflect what I see.

Just before going down I came across the last of the mountain restaurants of the trip, the Restaurant Schiltalp:

with its decoration of cow bells:

and a man playing a flute like instrument:

Just beyond the restaurant was a barn with piggies:

I do not remember seeing any on my previous trips to Switzerland.

Shortly after I reached the hamlet of Gimmel and a wide, smooth track, paved much of the way. It started raining, and I was glad to be able to make good time (going downhill until Mürren). back at the chalet in time for lunch and an afternoon/evening of sorting out photos and updating my blog!

From Evolène to Mürren, July 31, 2010

2010-08-01T07:22:00.002-04:00

"If life throws you a lemon, make lemonade."

The trip from Evolène to Mürren was not something I was looking forward to. It involved a bus ride from Evolène down to Sion in the Rhône valley, then one train to Visp (higher up in the valley), a second train to Spiez, on the other side of the mountains, a third train to Interlaken, a fourth train to Lauterbrunen and finally a fifth train to Mürren. With a heavy duffel bag, a heavy pack, a laptop computer (alas, not a netbook) and a camera it did not promise to be fun.

Add to that the fact that almost all apartment rentals are from Saturday to Saturday, and that I was not at the start of the bus line, and the trip promised to be a nightmare.

First off I decided to take the earliest bus, leaving Evolène at 6:50. That would guarantee an easy bus ride, above all space for my luggage in the bus' storage compartment. Second I decided that I would take a break, spending a couple of hours in Interlaken, leaving my luggage (minus the camera!) in a locker at the station.

I left home a few minutes before 6:30. My duffel bag has wheels, but they make a lot more noise than I cared to make at 6:30 in a Swiss village! So I pulled it when there was grass to diminish the noise, and painfully carried it the rest of the way, including the final slight, but painful, uphill.

There are rewards to waking up early on a cloudless day; you get to see the mountains waking up:

Dent Blanche:

Dents de Veisivi:

and, far off at the head of the valley, the Dent d'Hérens:

In Visp (around 8:30) I had my second breakfast at the railway café, a coffee with a croissant. I decided to have it outside, forgetting that while the insides of cafés are non-smoking, the outside areas are not. As a result I found myself sitting next to a pair of cigarette smokers. I survived, and thus fortified I managed to do the remaining train changes to Interlaken, which I reached around 10:00.

There is a myth that everything in Switzerland works all the time. The reality is a bit more realistic: most everything works most of the time. Good enough but ...

That morning many of the coin operated lockers at the Interlaken station were on strike, refusing to accept coins. After much frustration I found a locker willing to accept my money, put all my belongings except my camera in it, and went out to have a walk around Interlaken.

I do not know how many millions of photos have been taken of the Jungfrau across the meadow in Interlaken; I decided to look for less hackneyed pctures to take.

Reigning over that stretch of street is the Victoria Jungfrau Hotel, built when Britannia ruled, not only the waves, but also the Alps:

Its name in gold letters, to underscore its status:

But all is not well, it now has a somewhat less upscale neighbor:

A bit further is a shop which seems to think that time has stopped:

It was a beautiful day, and many para gliders were in the air:

Including one in the process of landing:

On the other side of the meadow, almost opposite the imperial Victoria Jungfrau, more modest accommodation was available:

Returning to the station I passed a memorial plaque to Adolf Guyer-Zeller, founder of the Jungfraubahn (Jungfrau cog railway):

Just before the station I came upon a taxi cab with multilingual signs; one more proof that Britannia no longer rules the Alps:

Back at the station I had to take the train to Lauterbrunnen. It is an interesting train, as it splits into two at Zweilütschinen, half going to Lauterbrunnen and the other half to Grindelwald. Signs on each half of the platform give the appropriate destinations. Once on board the public announcement system is similarly split, and at Zweilütschinen instructions are given to descend if you are still in the wrong half of the train.

At Lauterbrunnen I had to change to a cable car to Grütschalp where I changed to the final train to Mürren. On that final train ride I saw scores of walkers; a wide trail that parallels the railway is one of the most popular easy hikes from Mürren. I finally reached the chalet where I had rented the ground floor around 14:00.

After a quick trip to the supermarket (next day was not only a Sunday, but also August 1, the Swiss national holiday) I explored the village, finding a most unexpected, and welcome, sign (translation: Sunday 1 August open 11:00 - 16:00):

As it was still early I decided to do the walk along the railway to Grütschalp and back, a bit over a couple of hours. I had great views of the surrounding mountains, but there were enough clouds to spoil the photos; in any case I took much better pictures next day (some mountain pictures are on From Evolène to Mürren). Just outside the village I came upon an interesting fire hydrant:

A view of Wengen across the valley:

Signs pointing to an alpine cheese store:

and the store itself:

When you think of domestic animals in Switzerland you tend to think of cows, but if you have eaten their delicious charcuterie you should realize that they raise pigs:

Back "home" I had a well deserved beer, then shower, dinner and to bed.

St-Luc to Zinal, July 18, 2010

2010-07-29T08:56:00.000-04:00

This was my third trip to St-Luc, so I wanted to do a few new hikes, as well as revisit some trusty old friends.

On Sunday (18th July) we were both not in top shape after the transatlantic trip. We decided to do something known (no surprises) and settled on the spectacular high elevation hike from the top of the Tignousa finiculaire (saving us about 500 meters of elevation gain) to Zinal. This is part of the well known Sierre to Zinal marathon, run annually in early August. This is an intermediate hike: a moderate distance (about 16 kms) and minimal elevation gain (about 300 meters). The weather was excellent and the views promised to be spectacular!

After a short walk we reached the finiculaire (no discount for half fare card; 10% off for old fogies) and were whisked up 500 meters. The first three or so kilometers (until the alpage of Le Chiesso) are flat walking on a wide, smooth track. Nice views to the west, but the views to the south, with the collection of 4Ks, were yet to come. Then came the main climb, up to the Hotel Weisshorn, which was quite lively on a sunny Sunday morning:

Near the hotel we saw a couple of horses:

We also started seeing the peaks to the south:

For the next few kilometers we walked below the ridge of the Pointes de Nava that we saw from St-Luc:

As we got further south the views opened up even more:

I was most interested in the tiny bi-horned peak at the extreme left of the photo above, it is the Bishorn, seen with more zoom here:

The Bishorn had, for many years, fascinated me. I am a hiker, not a climber, but it is probably the easiest "honest" (no lifts!) alpine 4K. So easy that it is known as Le 4000 des dames (the English "Ladies' 4,000 meter peak" seems much less commonly used). That led me to hope that I might, perhaps, one day climb it. A few years ago I concluded that I would never climb it, but I still think of "what might have been".

The slopes here are steep, and there is constant danger of both rock and snow (avalanches) sliding. So we saw several forms of protection, avalanche barriers:

metal netting to hold rocks:

and walls:

Beyond that we came upon a site where a mountain stream is diverted to the Grande Dixence system, through pipes and pumping stations. The photo shows the stream flowing above the station, with almost no flow below it:

As we got nearer to Zinal encouraging signs for the runners began to appear:

and

The final descent was brutal, but we reached Zinal with over an hour to spare before our bus back to St-Luc. We sat at an outdoor café and ordered two chopes de biere; well deserved after the hike.

A good start to my summer in Switzerland!

A few more photos here .

A week in St-Luc, Switzerland

2010-07-29T04:38:00.000-04:00

This summer my plans were for a five week trip to Switzerland, spending one week each in St-Luc, Evolène, Mürren, Saas Fee and Brig. The first four are alpine villages, the last is a small town in the Rhône valley. A frequent hiking companion was going to join me for the first ten days.

By coincidence we booked the same flight from Boston to Zurich, and met at the airport for a pre-flight dinner (departure was at 9:30 PM, so we decided not to wait for dinner on the plane). The flight was uneventful (as usual I did not get any sleep at all), and we arrived in Zurich a few minutes ahead of schedule.

There is a railroad station inside the airport, and I quickly renewed my half fare card (from 2008) and booked my ticket to St-Luc (train to Visp, second train to Sierre, bus to St-Luc with change at Vissoie). We had over an hour's wait for the bus in Sierre, so we went food shopping at the station convenience store (expensive!!).

We reached St-Luc at 16:30, and went straight to the real estate office from which I had rented the apartment. Once the final paperwork was done they kindly gave us a ride to our apartment; it was a short ride but was welcome.

My two previous apartments in St-Luc (2007 and 2008) had a view across the valley to the modest ridge that separates the Val dÁnniviers from the Val d'Hérens (highest peaks just a tad over 3,000 meters):

but limited views up the valley. This year's apartment had no view across the valley (a building across the road blocked it), but had good views to the south. First, a bit east of south, there was the ridge of the Pointes de Nava (note the plural; a series of pointy peaks) and the famed Hotel Weisshorn:

Here is a zoomed view of the hotel:

Much more interesting was the view to the south, where for the first time I could see from my apartment the famous "Imperial Crown" of peaks at the end of the valley:

They were even more impressive later that evening when they turned reddish:

Here is the Matterhorn before it goes to sleep:

Early next morning:

A bit later:

The Matterhorn waking up:

And the Obergabelhorn:

Many more photos here!

The village seems to me to consist of three parts. First there is the original farming village, old buildings crowded together with narrow roads. Then there is an area of dense "chalet like" apartment buildings, were our apartment was located. Further out there are more spread out new buildings, some apartment buildings and some chalets.

On one street we saw movable wooden toadstools that could be used to block it off:

One house had a delightful black cat at the top of its chimney:

Another one had an interesting wooden carving:

Here is a closer view:

We had planned to hike Sunday and Monday, then take Tuesday off. But the weather was excellent on Tuesday, so we decided to do an "easy" hike (turned out a bit more challenging for me than planned). We definitely planned to take Wednesday off, but the combination of excellent weather and a deteriorating forecast for the rest of the week led us to hike again, four days in a row! Thursday I went down to the valley (Sierre and Sion) for some errands. On Friday we spent a delightful day at the Fondation Gianadda in Martigny, I have written a brief report on the trip, and here are the photos.

Finally on Saturday it was time to move. I took the bus, train and another bus to Evolène, while my friend took the bus to the Lac de Moiry and walked over the Col de Torrent to Evolène.

Sorebois to Zinal via Cabane du Petit Mountet, July 20, 2010

2010-07-21T18:00:00.002-04:00

After two days of hiking I should have taken a day off, but the weather was perfect and I had a companion who was clearly able to hike again. So I chose an easy hike, with most of the elevation gain done by cable car. I knew from my 2005 trip that it has wonderful views of the mountains to the south of Zinal, above all the Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn and the glaciers that cascade down from them.

The Swiss travel system is efficient: a bus to Vissoie, followed by a bus to Zinal and the cable car to Sorebois got us to the start in no time.

I will first say a few words, with a few photos, about the hike, then give what you really want, the mountain photos!

After about five minutes on a road the trail veered off. The photo below gives a feel for the whole trip: meadow and rock on our side of the valley, uninterrupted views of the mountains on the other side:

Most of the time the trail was nice and smooth crossing the alpine meadow:

but there were a few interesting rocky areas:

and, as everywhere in these mountains, areas of rockfall to cross:

There was a small snowfield above the trail, at these elevations precipitation often falls as snow in summer:

The trail was certainly not crowded on this Tuesday, but we did meet several groups. Here we pass a group having a picnic with a view:

We passed through an interesting area of shrubs; by then I was photoed out and unfortunately took no pictures. Soon we were above the hut:

Here is a closer view, note the parasols. It is an easy hour's walk from Zinal, so is a very popular destination for the less ambitious walkers vacationing there:

We were worried about catching the bus back to St-Luc, so we did not stop for a beer at the hut. From there to Zinal we took a wide track (there is a trail that we decided to bypass) and reached Zinal with an hour to spare. Ample time for a beer with a view.

And now for the mountains!! First an overview, note that my identification skills are, at best, limited! The first photo shows the western part of the Imperial Crown. The leftmost mountain, with clouds around it, is almost certainly the Weisshorn. The black mountain at the extreme right is Lo Besso, small but prominent since it is much closer than its bigger neighbors. I think that the mountain to the left of Lo Besso is the Zinalrothorn; it might be one of its immediate neighbors Way down you see the valley, with the Zinal glacier at its upper end and streams flowing down from it:

Probably the Weisshorn:

Zinalrothorn, Besso and hanging glacier:

Weisshorn to Zinalrothorn:

Another look up the valley:

You can see the whole gallery here.

Chandolin to Illhorn to St-Luc, July 19, 2010

2010-07-20T07:33:00.001-04:00

On Monday we decided to do an easy summit hike, the Illhorn, a small peak (2,716 meters, 8,900 feet) with 360° views, taking the bus from St-Luc to Chandolin. The hike was four rather easy kilometers each way, with around 800 meters of elevation gain (2½ miles and about 2,800 feet for the metrically challenged). Given that buses from Chandolin to St-Luc are infrequent we decided that we would walk back if we had a long wait, an extra 4½ kilometers. All in all a reasonable hike (a few years ago I would have called it an easy hike!).

There is not much to write about the trip. We got off the bus one stop too soon (the driver thought that your old scribe wanted to take a lift 80% of the way up) but we quickly reached the center of Chandolin where the trail starts. In about half an hour we got to the Illhorn Hut; being so close to the village it is, in fact, a café-restaurant. Too early for a snack, but we should have stopped to see if they sold any postcards that identify the numerous peaks seen from the Illhorn.

Beyond that we ascended through what in summer are pastures, in winter they metamorphose into ski runs. Lots of lifts; I do not find them offensive though I know many do. We knew that the great views awaited us on the summit, so we did not pause for photos. Ultimately we reached the Pas de l'Illhorn, a shallow pass between the summit and a poorly defined ridge. We had a good view of the nearby lake, the Illsee:

The final ascent was still rather easy, and soon we were close to the true summit. The summit is small, and we spent most of our time on a slightly lower knob, having lunch and discussing which peak was which (not too successfully). We also shot lots of pictures, but did not coordinate the shooting with the attempted identification. Worse yet, I did not record in which direction the shots were taken; in many cases it is clear from part of the context, but not in all. In other words, admire the mostly unidentified views! More pictures here.

But first a look at the Illgraben, a gigantic crater caused by the collapse of a mountain. Here is one of the very few descriptions in English that I found:

The Illgraben is a gigantic stone circus which results from the collapse of the mountain due to erosion. This massive yellow and reddisch crevasse expands every year. This trees fall down, the side walls draw apart.

A Google image search will get you lots of good photos, this is the single one I took before photographing the mountains:

Summit, with the Bernese Alps in the background:

Shots to the south are easily identified by the low black ridge, the Arête des Ombrimtses:

The one pair of peaks that I can identify with confidence is the Weisshorn/Bishorn pair left of center; the uncompressed image on my computer shows the twin horns of the Bishorn unambiguously.

The next picture is shot, with lots of zoom, to the west:

It is much less clear what we have. I suspect that the pair of pointy peaks in the foreground are the Becs de Bosson, on the wall separating the Val d'Hérens from the Val d'Anniviers. Much more in doubt is the identity of the peaks in the background. Guide books say that the Mont Blank is visible from the Illhorn, and the big white mass seemed to be the best candidate. I then assume that the three pointy peaks in the background are some of the many Dents and Aiguilles around it. Take with many grains of salt!!

The next two pictures are to the north, two peaks in the Bernese Alps:

I should be able to identify them (did so in 2008) but alas, do not know where the postcards that had them labelled are.

I am almost sure that the next one is the Bietschhorn, a peak just shy of 4,000 meters (3,934 meters). It is closer to the Valais than the Bernese Alps, as it is one of the peaks forming the south wall of the Lötschental:

While on the summit the entire area below was visible, and the trails by and large stood out. We decided not to return to Chandolin (the descent to St-Luc from Chandolin, should we not catch a bus, is uninteresting) but go directly to St-Luc. The photos below, shot much later, show the route we took.

We descended from the summit to the col, then went along (actually slightly below) the ridge until we descended to the ski lift station to the right. It shows more clearly here:

On the way down we had a good view of the avalanch barriers on te west slope of the Illhorn, above the ski area:

Once off the ridge we followed the north side of the Arête des Ombrimtses, then contoured around its western edge to approach the St-Luc ski area. There were excellent views, but by now I was pretty much "photoed out"! The final descent to the village, as often seems to be the case, was brutally steep.

Heritage Trail along Baker River in Plymouth, July 2, 2010

2010-07-04T12:21:00.005-04:00

Long ago I had heard of a segment of the NH Heritage Trail in the Plymouth area. Today I wanted to do an easy walk, so I decided to find out more about it. The all-knowing Google quickly pointed me to a page on the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce web site: Heritage Trail. Two important items from that page: It told me to start at the Senior Center, and at the end had a (small) map. It also claimed that the trail was signed: "Follow the brown Heritage Trail directional signs."

Here is the map from the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce site (the map I printed out was a bit more readable):

I parked at the Senior Center, a restored railway station

More detail, Built 1911, Restored 1993

I found this postcard, from about 1912, on Wikipedia

I walked along Green Street looking for some signs, and found none. So I entered the Senior Center and asked if anyone knew anything about the trail. Sure enough, I was given a much larger map, and some directions to get me started!

Just before Green Street joins Main Street there was this interesting historic marker

Beyond the bridge was another marker

and, just after it, the restored building

Near the Armory I saw an interesting sign that I had never noticed while driving past it

I was obviously intrigued about the ranking, Google quickly led me to the list: 100 Best Small Towns in America, and to the book: 100 Best Small Towns in America. Shortly after the armory I came on a big open space, which contained the Plymouth community gardens, "GARDENS for all of PLYMOUTH" as the sign says.

Beyond the community garden a wide trail enters the woods. According to the map the wooded area (or at least part of it) is Langdon Park, which belongs to Plymouth State University, but is obviously open to the public. The first few paragraphs of Langdon Woods: A Deeper Shade of Green at PSU are the only item I have found on the web about this park.

The trail follows the south bank of the Baker River,

at times very close to the river.

After a while the wide path skirts the edge of a large field.

After reentering the woods the trail forks; one day I may want to explore the other trails

Beyond this the trail passes through a fence and narrowed, becoming more like a hiking trail than the carriage road it had previously been. I assume that this fence marks the boundary of the park, and that the area beyond is private land.

Here is a nice view of the river and the highway on its other bank

Beyond that I came to a sign pointing left (south) to a rough trail at right angles to the river.

My map showed that this would soon lead to the high school and a major road. I decided to forgo the Heritage Trail and follow this riverside trail as far as it went. It continued along the river until a small rise showed me a familiar view; the gas station and Dunkin Donuts opposite the Hatch Plaza.

Sure enough, after a few steps the path passed through a field of ferns to reached the easternmost edge of the plaza.

I retraced my steps to return to my car after a very enjoyable walk, largely in the woods.

My recommendation would be to start this walk at the Hatch Plaza, and only continue to Rt. 3. The section from the Senior Center to the community garden is along Rt. 3, a busy highway with little to recommend it This gives about 1½ miles each way, almost entirely in the woods. Here is a picture of the start of the trail as seen from the parking lot.

Rather than map my trip as I did it I am showing my recommended hike from the Hatch Plaza to Rt. 3. This is a fully interactive Google Map. You can zoom in or out, pan, and by clicking on the parking icon you can get directions to the trailhead.

I returned on July 5 and explored some of the side trails, many of which lead to the high school. If I decided to post any photos I will make a new blog entry; right now I have just updated the map to show the additional trails.

Map

View Trail along Baker River in a larger map

Plymouth Mountain, May 15, 2010

2010-07-02T09:32:00.003-04:00

A few years ago I had attempted to hike Plymouth Mountain from the north by the Sutherland trail. I had no difficulty reaching the outlook called Pike's Peak, but found the trail hard to follow from the outlook to the summit. Time for a second attempt!

Since my May 15 hike I have returned to Plymouth Mountain several times, the pictures here are from several trips.

Map

This is a fully interactive Google Map. You can zoom in or out, pan, and by clicking on the parking icon you can get directions to the trailhead.

View Plymouth Mtn in a larger map

At the time of my first attempt (a few years ago) the trail left from a residential road with no parking, so I had parked on the main road (Texas Hill Road) and walked about 0.6 miles along the residential road and an old logging road before the trail proper started. The bottom part of the trail has now been relocated, starting from a large parking lot

with lots of signs. One is pictured below, see more on Plymouth Mtn on PicasaWeb.

The new trail segment (0.4 miles) is now called the Fauver Link Trail, after the Fauver Preserve that it crosses.

After 0.4 miles it meets the old logging road from which the trail was relocated

Here we rejoin the original trail

which enters the Plymouth Mountain Easement

For a brief description of the preservation areas on and near Plymouth Mountain see the last item on EPA Presents Environmental Merit Awards to 6 in New Hampshire.

The part of the trail below Pike's Peak is in excellent condition, much of it very smooth

with lots of blue blazes

some painted over older disks

In mid-May there were lots of Trillium, both purple

and painted

After two miles the trail reaches a side path to a rocky knob with an excellent viewing ledge, called Pike's Peak. It has potentially great views to the south, east and north, but since the mountains are far away any haze spoils the view, as it did on all my trips there. The most interesting view is to the northeast, up Waterville Valley, with Welch and Dickey and their ledges in front of Tecumseh and Osceola

After Pike's Peak the trail changes nature pretty radically as it winds over a series of rocky ledges

and

beyond the ledges the trail goes back into the woods, with a sign pointing towards the summit

which has a sign

and a benchmark

The trail is 2½ miles each way, with about 1,500 feet of elevation gain. That is very similar to the Indian Head Trail on Mount Pemigewasset, a trail I often used when I wanted a short hike. The Mount Plymouth Trail is about the same distance from my home, and has much better footing, so I now hike it more often than the Indian Head Trail.

Mount Lafayette, June 4, 2010

2010-06-06T18:47:00.003-04:00

I often do a loop over Mount Lafayette, going up to the hut by the Old Bridle Path (OBP), then to the summit by the upper part of the Greenleaf Trail, and descending by the Greenleaf Trail all the way to the road. The last 0.6 miles of the Greenleaf Trail to the Cannon Tramway lot are very unpleasant; fortunately there is a shortcut down to the Old Man Viewing lot, which also shortens the road walk between the two trailheads. Unfortunately the Old Man Viewing site has a ten minute parking limit:

so I parked at the nearby climber's lot, on the southbound side of the Parkway.

Map

This is a fully interactive Google Map. You can zoom in or out, pan, and by clicking on the parking icon you can get directions to the trailhead.

View Lafayette Loop in a larger map

The "climber's lot" actually has many users; climbers going up the Cannon Cliff, paddlers on Profile lake and fishermen. There are nice views of Eagle Cliff and Eagle Pass to the east,

and of Cannon Cliff to the west

The Bike Path leaves the southern end of the parking lot, and soon there is a choice, either continue on the wide, paved Bike Path

or take the Pemi Trail, a genuine trail that parallels the Bike Path.

Since I had a long day ahead of me I chose the marginally easier Bike Path. A short distance beyond the Pemi trail are a pair of large boulders that fell off Cannon Cliff on June 19, 1997. Beside them is a climber's use path to the cliff:

Shortly beyond is a discrete cairn marking another use path:

The rest of the walk down the Bike Path was uneventful until shortly before reaching Lafayette Campground, where an opening gave excellent views both north to Cannon Cliff (note the talus below the cliff)

and south to Little Haystack, with Shining Rock not shining much on a cloudy morning.

To my surprise the southbound parking lot was completely full on a Friday. I crossed under the Parkway to the bigger northbound lot, which was half full.

The Old Bridle path has good footing, as in most areas the rocks are used to make stone stairs and mark the edge of the trail

though there are areas of smooth soil

As soon as the trail leaves Franconia Notch State Park it enters a Forest Protection Area

which is needed to protect such a heavily used trail.

Most of the Old Bridle Path is in the trees, but a short stretch on the crest of the ridge over Walker Ravine has spectacular views. First Mount Lincoln, with its slides and ridges

Then Mount Lafayette with Walker Ravine

Then the ridge crest higher up along which the trail goes, with the steep Agony Ridge

Beyond that the trail is in the woods once again. After climbing up the steep agonies I eventually reached the Forest Protection Area sign for the hut

and soon was having a snack in the hut. After that I slowly climbed to the summit. It was windy, cold and cloudy up there, and I took no photos this time. On the way down I saw the hut getting bigger and bigger as I approached it, here is a view from above

and another from below (near Eagle lake)

I had a very late lunch at the hut, then descended by the Greenleaf Trail. The only really interesting part of that trail is around Eagle Pass. The trail goes through an area of mossy rocks and trees, hard to photograph well. I found a couple of patches of snow in holes under the rocks

and mossy rocks and tree trunks

The trail passes under a steep cliff

On the other side of the pass there is a new (fall of 2009) slide

also here from a different angle

Beyond Eagle Pass the trail goes down, with a few switchbacks, to the area of the Old Man Viewing, where I left the trail and bushwhacked through very open woods to the parking area.

View Lafayette Loop in a larger map

From there I took the Bike path back to the climber's lot, where I had a wonderful view of Eagle Cliff and Eagle Pass in the sun, which had finally come out

The trip was about 7 miles on trail, and 2 on the Bike Path, with 3,600 feet of elevation gain.

Mounts Potash and Hedgehog, May 13, 2010

2010-05-13T22:21:00.007-04:00

This was once again a Wednesday Group hike. Since most of the group are retired, and the forecast was for much better weather on Thursday, the hike was postponed to that date. Once again temperatures dipped below freezing overnight, and I left home with the legs on my convertible pants, a fleece jacket and hat.

The plan was to combine two short, but very scenic, hikes that start at the same trailhead for a full day of hiking. Since we had heard that the stream crossing on the Mount Potash Trail was difficult we opted to drive 0.6 miles to the logging road that meets the trail, avoiding the crossing.

Map

This is a fully interactive Google Map. You can zoom in or out, pan, and by clicking on the parking icon you can get directions to the trailhead.

View Mount Potash and Hedgehog Mountain in a larger map

Mount Potash

We followed the logging road for about 0.8 miles, then entered the woods. At that time the weather had warmed enough for me to take off the fleece, but I still kept the pant legs on. The hike up was mostly in the woods, with a few steep sections and long stretches of eroded trail, with roots running over bare rock. Shortly before the final summit ascent there is an open ledge with excellent views to the south, with Mount Passaconaway dominating the view, with the Downes Brook slide clearly visible.

The final ascent was over steep ledges, we were too busy trying to get up to have time for pictures! The summit has excellent views to the north and west. To the north the view is dominated by Mount Carrigain, with the Hancocks to the west and Green's Cliff to the south

To the west the Tripyramids and their neighbors, I think this photo shows West Sleeper, the Tripyramids and Scaur Peak, with the Fool Killer in the foreground

Mount Washington was visible in the distance, my photos were bad, here is one taken by another member of our group

The day had warmed up nicely, and we spent about 20 minutes on the summit, snacking, talking, enjoying the scenery and just relaxing.

Descending the steep ledge was tricky, but we all got down, and soon were on the outlook. We paused briefly there, and I finally converted my pants to shorts. It was warm enough that, with us standing still, a few black flies appeared, not really enough for bug spray. The rest of the descent was uneventful. Two members of the group were red lining, so they decided to follow the trail to the parking lot; they reported that the stream crossing was quite easy.

Hedgehog Mountain

After regrouping at the trailhead we started our second hike, on the UNH Trail on Hedgehog Mountain. As usual we did a clockwise loop. Fairly low down we saw a very interesting tree (photo by a fellow hiker):

The hike was pretty standard until we reached the east ledges, where we stopped for 40 minutes, enjoying once again the views, the company and the wonderful weather. Wide open views to the south, but different from those on the south ledge of Mount Potash as we were further east. We saw the whole range from Mount Passaconaway to Mount Chocurua and the Three Sisters, but my camera was mainly drawn to the latter. A photo of Mount Chocuua and the Three Sisters

and a close up of Mount Chocurua's rugged summit

The ledge had a wonderful stone bench which I quickly claimed

After our long and delightful stop on the ledges we resumed the hike, with some nice ledge walking, a moderate descent, and a final steep climb to the summit. We took brief stops at most of the viewpoints, but by then were pretty much photographed out. From the summit we descended straight to the parking lot, omitting a visit to Allen's Ledge.

All in all an extremely enjoyable hike on a wonderful day. We got a decent workout, 8.6 miles and 2,850 feet of elevation gain, without ever being above 2,600 feet!

Mounts Stanton and Pickering, plus four Crippies, May 5, 2010

2010-05-06T12:01:00.006-04:00

I often hike with the Wednesday Group, a group of mainly retired active hikers. For about ten months of the year we do 4,000 footers, but during the transition period between solid snow and bare trails we go into "snow avoidance mode". This leads us to explore the lower peaks, some well known (two weeks ago we did South and Middle Moat), some less so. Yesterday's hike on the Mount Stanton Trail, over Mounts Stanton and Pickering and the four Crippies, falls into the latter category.

Map

This is a fully interactive Google Map. You can zoom in or out, pan, and by clicking on the trailhead icon you can get directions to the trailhead.

View Mt Stanton Trail in a larger map

We had planned to meet at 9 AM at the trailhead, and most of the group were there, ready to hike, when I arrived a few minutes before 9. We soon received cell phone calls from two car-fulls of lost hikers, and dispatched a car to where the road to the trailhead leaves Rt 302. While waiting several hikers leaned their poles against the trail sign

After the lost hikers were rescued we started off. The trail follows the edge of a driveway for a short distance

then enters the woods. It starts off fairly gently, but then there are a couple of very steep sections, with gravelly footing that was "interesting" on the way down. We reached the first of many viewpoints, with views of Mout Kearsarge to the east and the slopes of Attitash (with a few remaining patches of snow) to the south. From the first viewpoint I took an interesting photo of our cars barely visible through the trees on the side of the road, down below

A view of Mount Kearsarge, with the tower barely visible

After a second steep pitch we reached the first summit, Mount Stanton. We stopped for a sit down snack, with an excellent view of Mount Washington, with the summit structures just visible

On group hikes I am always amused by the self assured way in which some participants mis-identify the surrounding mountains; as we were a fairly large group some remarkable identifications were suggested! We then saddled up for the continuation of our hike. Until now we had been going up; we were now about to start a series of ups and downs over Mount Pickering and the four Crippies. At the bottom of the first descent, in the col between Mounts Stanton and Pickering, there is a boundary marker, in a red cairn, marking the White Mountain National Forest boundary. Lots of red paint on trees, witness trees, and all the paraphernalia of a boundary marker; I just photographed the red cairn

We made a second, briefer, stop on Mount Pickering, the continued over the Crippies only stopping on the fourth (and final) one for lunch

The group as a whole returned the way we had come, but a few continued to do the loop over Mount Langdon, returning to a spotted car at the Mount Langdon trailhead. We were at our cars around 2:40, after a very pleasant hike. The distance was 6.8 miles with 2,450 feet of elevation gain, 1,000 of them straight up, and the rest in bits and pieces as the trail undulated over the many summits.

Exploring Mount Prospect, Holderness, NH

2010-05-04T18:02:00.003-04:00

I enjoy exploring trails that are off the beaten track, and had read a description of the trail up Mount Prospect, and downloaded a GPS track from Wikiloc. The forecast for today was for a sunny morning, with rain and maybe thunderstorms in the early afternoon. The ideal day for a short morning exploration!!

My GPSr guided me to the trailhead high up on Mount Prospect Road, where a car was parked by the roadside. There is room for perhaps three cars there. This is as good a place as any to put a map of my trip. The embedded map is a fully interactive one, you can zoom in or out, pan, and clicking on the parking icon will allow you to ask for directions to the trailhead.

View Mt Prospect in a larger map

The trail enters the woods and descends to a small stream, crosses it and then rises. The first part of the trail is nice and wide (two or three feet) with wonderful footing, I felt that it would almost be possible to hike barefoot!

After some time the trail became somewhat narrower and rougher; more trail-like:

After about 1.3 miles the trail forked, with the fork marked by a small cairn and an arrow on a tree:

The arrow points to the right fork, which goes to two viewpoints, both looking south to the Squam Range, Squam Lake and the mountains further south.

The second outlook is the destination for most hikers; beyond it the trail narrows and shows much less use. It continues to a round rock with a cairn and a survey benchmark

I though that was the summit, but a spur path did lead to a slightly higher point.

The path had forked before the viewpoints, the other branch also reached the rock with the benchmark. I returned by that branch, it had no viewpoints so was obviously much less used, but still was reasonably easy to follow.

About half way down I noticed a spur trail, which I hoped would go to a westerly viewpoint looking towards Plymouth. I followed it for some time, and it kept going on, downward. I suspect that it leads to the road, but as time was running out decided to leave its exploration for another day. While on it I saw my first Painted Trilliums of the year, including one just starting to open up

All in all a very worthwhile short hike, about 1½ miles each way with around 1,000 feet of elevation gain.