WACHIPAUKA POND: 6/17/14

Carol and I enjoyed a leisurely hike to one of our favorite backcountry ponds on a hot, midsummer-like day. En route to the trailhead just outside Glencliff, we stopped at Breezy Point (Moosilauke Carriage Road trailhead) for some birding. Interesting birds here included Field Sparrow and Black-Billed Cuckoo.

We also made a quick stop along Rt. 118 to check out an impressive gorge/swimming hole on the Baker River.

The Wachipauka Pond Trail is a link in the Appalachian Trail. We started from the trailhead on Rt. 25.

After a half-mile warmup, the trail climbs fairly steeply for a bit, then moderately through towering hardwoods on the slope of Wyatt Hill.

It took about an hour and a half to cover the 2.5 miles on the Wachipauka Pond Trail plus the spur down to the pond. We were delighted to find that there was no one around at the wonderful shoreline clearing, which is shaded by a great white pine.

The green wall of Mount Mist rises to the south.

Carol models her Bug Baffler bug suit. Actually, the bugs were surprisingly mild here thanks to a bit of a breeze off the pond. We were able to lounge for 2 1/2 hours at this marvelous spot.

A pair of loons patrolled the pond, very occasionally issuing their haunting call. We didn't see any signs of nesting.

I bushwhacked a short way along the west shore for a view of Mount Moosilauke.

A beaver's eye view of Wachipauka Pond.

There were several clusters of ladyslippers in the woods behind the shore.

Classic summer sky - even though it was still technically spring.

Carr Mountain sprawls on the horizon.

A view along the northern finger of the pond on the old route of the A.T. This old, still well-used route is easier than the current AT, which climbs well above the pond.

On the way back, after a bit of birding along the lower Glencliff Trail, we stopped to see a local roadside attraction on Rt. 25.

He does bear a resemblance to our late and lamented Old Man. We capped off the day with humungous ice cream cones at Fat Bob's in Warren.