Mid-November Ramblings, Part I

After a spell of consistently dreary weather, I've gotten out and about for a series of shorter hikes around the Whites, several of which were trail checking for the next edition of the AMC White Mountain Guide, due out in 2027.

 

One trail I wanted to check was the southern approach to Holts Ledge, a section of the Appalachian Trail,  from Goose Pond Road.  I think this is the nicer of the two approaches to the views on Holts Ledge. Though longer, this route offers varied terrain and woods and a bonus vista.

A new National Park Service survey marker, located on the trail just before it reaches a large beaver wetland.

View across the wetland.

The last time I was here, in 2011, the crossing along the edge of the wetland was quite wet. Now there is a chain of bog bridges 0.1 mile long, making for a comfortable traverse.

Partway up the steady climb to the ridge, the trail crosses an old stone wall.

At 1.4 miles there is a short spur to a south-facing viewpoint.

The view has gotten closed in a bit, but is still nice. You can see Cardigan, Ragged, Kearsarge, Sunapee and Goose Pond.

A nice section of trail along the edge of the ridge.

 

Along the summit crest of Holts Ledge (2111 ft.).

 

Nice spruce forest up here.

Descending through hardwoods to the viewpoints north of the summit.

There are two viewpoints with wide views to the east, before the trail reaches the fenced viewpoint atop the mountain's east-facing cliffs.

Winslow Ledge is close by to the east.

My favorite vista from Holts Ledge looks NE to the massive bulk of Smarts Mountain.

Smarts was looking rather wintry.

Mount Cube off to the north.

The cliffs of Holts Ledge. Peregrine falcons nest here nearly every year, and the viewpoints closest to the cliffs are often closed during the nesting season.

Snow-caked Mount Cardigan.

The next morning I stayed close to home and explored the area south of the Flume via a snowmobile trail. My main objective was to locate and follow a spur line of the early 1900s Gordon Pond Railroad that led in to the base of Hardwood Ridge in the lower Boyce Brook drainage. The Franconia Range was looking fine from the Whale's Tale parking lot.

Mount Liberty and its Southwest Slide.

Slide-raked Mount Flume from the Flume parking lot.

The Pemigewasset River from a bridge on the snowmobile trail.

Bear track on another bridge.

Nice walking on the snowmobile trail. Along here I met a deer hunter, a 76 year old guy from northern Vermont who has hunted this area often. He saw deer sign but no deer. He was happy just to get out for a walk in the woods.

This sure looked like the railroad bed I was seeking. According to Bill Gove's Logging Railroads Along the Pemigewasset River, this spur line was used to move logs from the network of sled roads on Mount Liberty and in the Flume Brook valley to the Johnson Mill in North Lincoln.

Boyce Brook, which drains a trailless valley between Hardwood Ridge and Big Coolidge Mountain. 

The snowmobile trail passes through a clearing at the site of Camper's World, a long-abandoned campground facility that was located on the east side of Route 3.

A couple of days later I returned to the southwestern Whites for another trail check, this one on the Ore Hill Trail, starting from the north trailhead on Route 25C.

The summit area of Ore Hill (1870 ft.) is cloaked in a beautiful stand of sugar maples. This is a great area for wildflowers in early spring.

An interesting spot on this hike is a nameless beaver pond beside the trail, 1.2 miles from the trailhead - a quiet, secluded spot in the woods. Not far SE of here is the old Ore Hill Mine site, which dates back to the 1830s. It was closed years ago by the Forest Service due to acidic and hazardous metal drainage into surface water; public access to the site is forbidden. The AT used to run through the mine site but was relocated away from it in the 1980s.

Coyote tracks, I assume, and lots of them.

The trail passes through nice hardwood forest on the western spur of Sentinel Mountain.

I went as far as the Ore Hill Tentsite, near the south end of the trail. There was formerly a shelter here, but it burned in 2011 and won't be replaced.

Near the tentsite is a classic Dartmouth Outing Club privy. There was no one around - not surprisingly I saw no other hikers on this trek - but the double doors were open wide. I closed them after photos.

A touch of Latin in the forest. Castellum  is Latin for "a small fort."

You have to work for your water here. The side path is 150 yards downhill.

And the source doesn't look too inviting.

Sunset on Ore Hill.