Mountain Wandering: East Slide, Mt. Passaconaway: 7/7/22

A fine backcountry adventure in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, navigating a long bushwhack route to the 1938-vintage East Slide of Mt. Passaconaway, where the views are outstanding.

Into the Wilderness along the gentle Oliverian Brook Trail.

From the Passaconaway Cutoff, I began the bushwhack with a visit to a favorite beaver wetland with an imposing view of Mt. Passaconaway. A Common Yellowthroat and Swamp Sparrow were singing.

From here I could spot the top of the East Slide. It looked far away - a nearly two-mile meander through the trackless forest of the western Oliverian Brook valley. I had done this approximate route on snowshoes twice in recent winters, but had not done it in summer - a whole different experience.

Wild spruce forest surrounds the wetland.

I wandered around in this broad flat area and made my way to the site of a logging camp of the Conway Lumber Company's Swift River Railroad (1906-1916). (Note that it is illegal to remove any historic artifacts from the WMNF. They should be left in place for others to enjoy.)

Piping presumably used to supply water from a nearby stream.

Bushwhacker J.R. Stockwell recently visited this camp and he believes this was some kind of drill used by the lumbermen.

Part of a wood stove that was sticking above the snow when I first stumbled upon this site during a snowshoe wander.

This tributary of Oliverian Brook's West Branch served as the camp's water supply.

Another bushwhack, another balloon.

Something's bruin in this neighborhood.

Heading up the broad northeastern flank of Mt. Passaconaway, I went through this little rock passage.

There are some neat boulders scattered through the forest.

Deep in the hardwood forest of Passaconaway. Somewhere in here I heard barking from the slope below -- coyotes. Thankfully they were not going my way.

The slope steepened and at ~2600 ft. I reached the top of the hardwoods and burrowed into the spruces.

I knew from my winter trips that in order to access the East Slide, I first had to cross the steep, deep gully of an older slide. There are only a few spots where the precipitous banks of the gully will permit passage.

After navigating prickly spruce woods in rough terrain, I came to the track of the East Slide a bit below the open section, climbing into the sun.

I carefully climbed the gravelly lower section of the slide, soon realizing that the footing on this steep swath was unstable and a bit treacherous. (My regular camera died on a hike last week, and on this trek I brought two retired cameras, one of which had already failed, while the second - which has a burned-out, blank display screen - was exhibiting a condensation problem at this point.)

After ascending an overgrown connecting section, with some steep ledge slabs to scramble up, I emerged on the upper open section of the slide, which extends from ~3050-3200 ft. This slide is steeper than some, with an average grade of ~33 degrees, and some steeper pitches. It stripped the mountainside during the 1938 hurricane, wiping out parts of the Passaconaway Cutoff far down the valley. That trail was subsequently closed, and was not reopened until 1965. In the late 1950s, White Mountain slide researcher Edward Flaccus measured a length of 400 yards for the slide proper, and 1,190 yards including the runout into the valley.

This was my fifth visit to this slide (the first was in 1997), and the views were as commanding as ever. Mt. Paugus and Mt. Chocorua dominate to the east, with Square Ledge and the upper Oliverian Brook valley below.

Puffy clouds hover over Mt. Chocorua and the Three Sisters.

Sweeping vista across the Albany Intervale to the Moat Range on the horizon. The beaver wetland I visited earlier in the day can be seen on the left, below Big Attitash Mountain.