Most every winter in recent years I've made a snowshoe excursion out to the ledges of the old (late 1800s) Downes Brook Slide on the north side of Mt. Passaconaway. It's one of my favorite places to snowshoe. This trip is only feasible if there are snow bridges over the four crossings of Downes Brook on the Downes Brook Trail. A cold January set up some excellent snow bridges on the streams, but a forecast of warmth and heavy rain the next day prompted me to get out there while the getting was good. After the rain, the snow bridges would likely be history.
I started the trek at 1:00 pm, which would give me time only to visit the broad, open slabs on the lower part of the slide. Snow conditions were a little tough today, starting with a half-mile of frozen postholes beyond the junction of the well-packed Mt. Potash Trail. This brought me to the first crossing, which was well-bridged, as were the other three crossings.
From here on I was following a narrow track laid down perhaps the previous weekend by a couple of backcountry skiers bound for the slide. The track was not very firm, so I was essentially breaking a wider track through 6-8" of dense, mealy snow atop what was likely an old snowshoe track beneath. Frequent snowshoe lurching and twisting made for tedious going.
Looking back at my tracks.
Into the Wilderness.
Following the ski tracks up the buried side brook to the slide, through a corridor of slender yellow birches.
Emerging onto the open slabs, with the craggy northern spur of Mt. Passaconaway looming above.
A wide open, low-angle snowfield, a fun place to snowshoe or ski.
A good twenty inches of snow on the slabs.
Looking back at Potash Mountain, with Mts. Pierce and Eisenhower hazily visible in the distance. Nice spot to hang out for a while before heading home.
Following my tracks back down the brookbed. I had this whole big valley to myself on this midwinter day.
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