Headed down to the Glencliff area for one of my favorite pond and peak combinations. I hadn't been up Webster Slide Mountain in a few years and wanted to check on the trail and the views.
Climbing up onto Wyatt Hill.
Partway along the climb I bushwhacked down to a shoulder for an unusual view of Mt. Moosilauke.
Closer look.
A great angle on Slide Ravine.
Beautiful hardwoods up on Wyatt Hill.
First view of Wachipauka Pond where the old AT runs along the northern finger.
Colors popping on the flank of Mt. Mist.
A peaceful spot on a point overlooked by a big white pine. Took a long lunch break here.
The pine.
Climbed up the 0.2 mile pond spur to the start of Webster Slide Trail.
A very old Dartmouth Outing Club blaze.
The middle section of this trail is quite steep and at this bend is very badly eroded with tricky footing.
The trail runs across the broad summit of the mountain (2174 ft.) and descends slightly to a clearing where a DOC shelter once stood.
From the clearing side paths diverge to the left and right. The one to the left reaches a secure spot with a standing view in 30 yards. The path to the right angles across a steep semi-open slope and is a bit sketchy. From both locations there are striking views down to Wachipauka Pond, with Carr Mountain on the horizon.
Flat-topped Mt. Mist is close by to the south.
With some careful bushwhacking I was able to get down to a spot with a full view of the pond.
And also an opening with a view of Moosilauke and its long south ridge, including South Peak, Hurricane Mountain, Chokecherry Hill and Bald Hill.
Another path, obscure in places, leaves the trail just before the clearing and descends 0.1 mile to a point above the mountain's south ledges. The descent down to the open view is sketchy (steeper than it looks in the photo), and the DOC "Southwest View" sign that was here is now gone, so it appears that this is no longer an "official" side path.
In addition to a view of Mt. Mist this spot looks out towards Smarts Mountain, Mt. Cube and Lake Armington.
On the way home I drove up Breezy Point Rd. and walked up the badly damaged upper part of the road to the fields of Breezy Point. This is one of the most scenic trailheads in the Whites.
South Peak of Moosilauke seen across the fields.
Cool sign.
Mount Kineo.
Mount Kineo, Whitcher Hill and Carr Mountain. Just north of here was in inn known as Merrill's Mountain Home, which operated from the 1860s to 1910. The fields were the location of the Breezy Point House, later called the Moosilauke Inn, open from 1877 to 1953. It featured a nine-hole golf course. For a few years after that there was a motel complex here, open into the 1980s. In 1995 the Breezy Point area was added to the White Mountain National Forest, with assistance from the Trust for Public Land.
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