Pack Monadnock

This would be another short hike on my way through New Hampshire.  Located in Miller State Park, the summit can be reached via car or a short 1.5 mile hike.  I'm Chris Hiker for a reason.

The trail would be steep at times.  I passed a woman with a large pack who was struggling.  I would be too if I had the pack she had.  It looked to be well over 50 pounds!

I reached the summit in less than an hour.  Pack Monadnock has a fire tower.  This one also had an interpreter inside the cabin.  He gave myself and another guy the rundown on the mountains that were in view.  On a more clear day, we would be able to see Stratton.  Apparently it still has a substantial amount of snow left, though it's been closed for a while.

Grand Monadnock

Watatic and Nutting Hill

Chris Hiker on Watacic

On my way out of New Hampshire, I stopped here for a quick hike.  With only a 300 foot gain in elevation and easy access, Watacic provides a nice reward for seriously little effort.

From the parking lot on Route 119, I took the southern terminus of the Wapack Trail to the summits of Watacic and Nutting Hill. The Wapack Trail runs for over 20 miles to North Pack Monadnock in New Hampshire.  I then took a short bushwack following a rock wall to the high point of Middlesex County in Massachusetts.  Through the haze, I could make out some of the skyscrapers of Boston in the distance from the summit of Watacic.  Otherwise, the views encompassed never ending forested rolling hills.

Nice easy walk in the woods

Boston somewhere in that haze

Wapack Trail

This guy looked straight at me and started hooting at me

County High Pointing

Mt Kearsage

Another popular mountain in Southern New Hampshire, this would be a great stop on my way home.  Two things I came away with from this hike: (1) After watching trail crews, I'd like to finally volunteer to help maintain these trails; (2) Walking on some of the slides during the weekend has recaptured my desire to do some of the wild slide climbs in the Adirondacks.

Located in Miller State Park about 10 miles from exit 11 on I-89, Kearsage is very accessible.  It has two trails leading to the summit.  One that ascends the 1,000 feet over 1.1 miles and one in 1.7 miles.  The shorter trail is perfect for ascending and the longer one is great for the descent.  The ranger at the entrance agreed.

Markings of a Moose

Short but steep

I made it to the summit in about a half hour.  The views from here are some of the best of the entire trip.  It took a while for me to piece things out as I originally thought the east to be north.  Once this mistake was corrected, things made sense.

The Whites and Cardigan were in view to the north.  To the east was Ascutney in Vermont.  Grand Monadnock (hopefully a future destination) is dominant to the south.  Many ponds and lakes were scattered about down below, making the vista quite impressive.

East: Lake Sunapee and Mt Ascutney

South: Grand Monadnock

North: Bradley Lake

Mt Cardigan

Mt Cardigan is located in Southern New Hampshire.  It's one of the most popular in the area.  It has a fire tower which is closed, but it's not necessary to have commanding views of the area since the summit is bald.

Like most of this weekend, it's been chilly if not cold.  Today would be no exception.  Though the humidity started to kick in despite the pre-6am start, once on the open, windy summit, it was cold.

Newfound Lake

A short but steep hike (1.6 miles, 1,300 feet) leads to the summit.  The fire tower is one of the shortest I've seen.  Though a bit hazy, the views were quite amazing.

I met a guy at the summit who started earlier than me.  He pointed out most of the locations for me.  The Whites could be seen to the north (too hazy to see the big guys).  Mt Ascutney in Vermont could be seen to the east.  The village of Canaan where I stayed the previous night was in view.  To the south, my next destination, Mt Kearsage could be seen through the haze.

Mt Ascutney in VT

Canaan

To the north, there were quite a few windmills.  Sean told me that it's currently not being used due to permit issues.  The energy will be transported to Massachusetts.  This is a shame.  Not sure why this has to be.  On a windy day like today, a lot of homes could be powered.

The Whites and Windmills going to waste

 

Sabbaday Falls

The two upper falls

There's no wonder why this is one of New Hampshire's most frequently visited waterfalls.  An easy quarter mile walk located off the Kancamangus Highway leads to this natural beauty.

The Falls have two main drops, with a third drop at the top of about five feet.  The two main ones drop perpendicular to each other.  The bottom falls are in a gorge with walls that rise straight up making it look somewhat unnatural.  This makes it more enjoyable to look at, knowing it is nature's doing.

The emerald pool at the bottom

The lower falls

The main falls

The top waterfall

The narrow gorge

One last look

Potash

Square Ledge with Chocorua in the distance

After getting an early start to the Osceolas, I still had plenty of afternoon left.  Instead of heading to the Hancocks, I set out to Potash Mountain.  It's just over 2,500 feet with supposedly some great views.

I parked near a forest road, since the lot for Potash was completely full.  This also cut some of the mileage, though not by much.  Between yesterday and earlier today, I put some serious mileage with a considerable amount of elevation gained (30+ miles and about 8,000+ feet).  I felt all of this on the way up.  I stopped a few times to take a rest.  I kept flip-flopping with a couple young girls on the way up.

It hurt going up this

Coyote scat

Violets

More spring flowers

Near the summit, there were a couple ledges with some great views toward Square Ledge, Passaconway, and Mt Whiteface.  There would be one last steep ascent to the summit on a mini-slide.  This also provided some great views.  Once on the summit, the views opened up to the north and west.  The Hancocks and Carrigain were the most dominant.  In the distance Lafayette and Lincoln still showed some signs of snow.

Carrigain

Mt Washington

Passaconway and Mt Whiteface

On the summit I met a guy who knew quite about the Whites.  He was partially blind.  He kept quizzing me about mountaineering.  He pointed out one of my all time favorite (though tragic) mountaineering stats: 1/3rd of those who reach the summit of K2 die on the way down.  This now is at about 10%.  We had a great talk on the way down the mountain.  He happened to be 68 with two kids that I assumed to be his grandkids, but were instead his children.  Not sure if I'd be able to handle a pair of teenagers at that age, but they appeared to be great kids.

Potash to the left

The Osceolas

The Osceolas (The East and Main summits)

When approaching from the west along the Kancamagus Highway, the Osceolas are the first mountains to really catch your eye.  They are the highest and most eastern of the ridge that runs from Loon Mountain over Scar Ridge then to the Osceolas.

Originally I intended to do both the Osceolas and the Hancocks.  Early into this hike I decided against doing the 10 mile hike to the Hancocks after this 8 mile hike.  This would turn out to be a great choice, since my knees bothered me slightly on the steep ascent down the Osceolas.  As such, I would still log in 30+ miles in two days.  Not bad.

The trailhead to day was located at 2,000 feet making the vertical ascent at just over 2,000 feet.  Less than yesterday's climb, but much more consistently steeper.  The trail started out friendly enough through a mixed hardwood forest.  Multiple stream crossings made for an interesting walk.  One crossing at first appeared to require fording.  I eventually found some rocks to hop across.

Once on the Osceola Trail it got quite steep, very quickly.  East Osceola has a few slides and the trail crossed a couple of them.  Fortunately, not much ice remained and the temperature rose enough to where gloves weren't wanted.  My hands were quite useful as there were more than a few tricky scrambling sections.

After some more scrambling I reached what appeared to be the summit of East Osceola.  The wind was fierce and I put some layers on.  A view told me I had some more climbing yet to do.  I could see both the summit of East Osceola and Osceola.  A little more effort and I reached the cairns that marked the high point of East Osceola.

East Osceola

Osceola

East Osceola's summit

Now the real fun would begin.  On the way down East Osceola, there were some views to the north and towards the highway.  The hairpin turn could be made out.  I reached the col to see what looked to be a very steep and challenging climb.  No doubt, this would be some class 3 scrambling.  Before I ascended, I noticed an easier route to the right.  I chose the chimney instead.  For a split second, I got a little wigged out.  For the most part is was fairly simple as there were plenty of handholds.  It was quite fun and one of the highlights of the walk.

The chimney on Osceola

The "easier" route

From the top of the chimney

The hairpin turn on the Kancamagus Highway

The rest of the walk to Osceola was fairly straight forward.  Except for a few patches of snow and ice, I made it to the summit quite comfortably.  Despite the early start (just before 7), I was greeted on the summit by a few others.  A great morning to be out!  The summit had a beautiful panoramic of 180 degrees, mostly to the east.  This would be a great spot to have some lunch.

Snowshoe tracks

Mt Washington in between the Hancocks and Carrigain

The Tri Pyramids

The Chimney and East Osceola

Chris Hiker enjoying the views

The walked down posed some problems since it was quite steep.  This trail is quite popular and there were quite a few people coming up.  I joked to a few, "as tough as it is going up, it's worse coming down."  They didn't appreciate this.  I made it back before noon and was happy with my decision to not hammer out another ten miles.  I'll save the knees for the Escarpment Trail later this summer.