Mountain Wandering: Pemi Walk & Hancock North Slide: 10/11/23

On a cloudy day I went for a long walk into the Pemigewasset Wilderness, then climbed partway up the northernmost spur of Mount Hancock to an open spot on a 1930s slide, where I found a unique view of the Bonds.

October is a great time for lowland walking, as seen here on the Pemi East Side Trail at Lincoln Woods.

The ridges around the East Branch of the Pemigewasset were wreathed in fog after early morning rain showers.

Into the Wilderness.

Looking upstream from the ledges at the "Ranger's Pool."

Looking downstream at the Ranger's Pool.

Boulders and foliage at another ledgy spot along the East Branch.

Some mountain bikers apparently felt that the prominent "No Bicycles" sign at the Wilderness boundary did not apply to them.

Another gorgeous pool.

I made a short bushwhack to a favorite spot on the river that opens a view to Bondcliff and its sharp southern spur.

Looking up Cedar Brook towards Mount Hitchcock. The crossing was pretty easy this day. Note the bank erosion on the left from Tropical Storm Irene.

A typical scene along the Pemi East Side Trail as it follows the East Branch deep into the Wilderness. Far removed from its days as a truck road used for hauling logs out of the Cedar Brook valley in the 1940s.

It was a nice surprise to run into John Sobetzer at the Pemi East Side/Cedar Brook/Wilderness Trail junction. He was giving advice to a hiker who had planned to hike Owl's Head but started up the wrong side of the river. Making the best of the situation, that hiker headed for the Hancocks. John, a four-time (!) finisher of hiking all the trails in the AMC White Mountain Guide, was doing an out-and-back of the Cedar Brook Trail.

Washout on the railroad grade along the Wilderness Trail (here formerly part of Cedar Brook Trail) as it heads down towards the river.

It's been a spotty foliage season this fall, but the color was beautiful along this section of the Wilderness Trail.

An opening beside the trail provided a partial view of the 3420-ft. northern Hancock spur, upon which is the long, narrow slide I was planning to visit.

A surprise glimpse of the top of the Stinger Slide, an old slide on the north side of Northwest Hancock that was "refreshed" during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

The 1930s slide on the northern Hancock spur crossed the Wilderness Trail and continued down almost to the East Branch below. The 1946 edition of the AMC White Mountain Guide noted that the Wilderness Trail met the Thoreau Falls Trail "just after crossing a big slide." Up to around 2010 there was a small open gravel patch just above the trail that provided a bit of a view to the north, but this lower part of the slide is now completely grown in.

I headed up through the woods parallel to the narrow slide, aiming for its largest remaining open patch about 700 feet in elevation above.

No views from this part of the slide track.

A typical train of boulders known as a debris flow levee, deposited on the edge of the bank alongside the slide gully.

Farther up, a first look at Mount Bond from the narrow slide track.

The ledges were wet and slick, not suitable for climbing on this day. Back to the woods.

The next opening added Bondcliff to the view.

Closer look.

Spruce forest thriving on this steep slope.

One of a series of old logging roads that cut across the slope. These roads predated the slide. Their pattern is still visible from viewpoints to the north such as Bondcliff. They look like giant contour lines on the mountainside.