My third in a series of bushwhacks in the trailless area north of Rattlesnake Mountain in Rumney was a 1.6 mile traverse of the main ridge from Rattlesnake to the ledges just south of the summit of Upper Rattlesnake Mountain. I had traversed this section as part of a six-mile bushwhack from Rattlesnake to Carr Mountain in 2005 with master bushwhacker JR Stockwell. On that trip one of the more difficult stretches was a tangled knob just north of Rattlesnake that had been burned by an arsonist's fire in 1992. In recent years that part of the ridge has been made accessible via a rugged, unofficial mountain bike trail that extends north for 0.4 mile from the loop junction of Rattlesnake Mountain Trail.
After chatting with a couple of friends at the trailhead, I set off late morning on the short but steep climb up Rattlesnake Mountain Trail to the loop junction.
Higher up, the trail eased off in sunny hardwoods, and I soon reached the loop junction.
From there, I headed north on the rocky mountain bike trail.
The unofficial trail runs over some neat ledges.
This ledge ramp is steep!
The burnt knob is ledgy with scrubby hardwoods growing around the fringes. An interesting spot.
A framed view of Smarts Mountain from the west side.
The trail continues over more ledges.
It ends atop another rocky knob, with a screened view north to Upper Rattlesnake Mountain on the left and the true Willoughby Mountain on the right, with the dark crest of Carr Mountain peering over in the distance.
North of that knob I moved easily through a beautiful open spruce forest.
Beyond that was the only area with significant snow that I encountered along this part of the ridge, and it didn't last long.
The moose like this ridge, too.
I soon came up to a beautiful open ledge-meadow.
Upper end of the meadow.
Looking back to the south.
Bypassing a thick-looking swampy area.
My favorite part of the traverse was an extensive open hardwood forest along a broad part of the ridgecrest.
My kind of whacking.
A wonderful area.
Top of a knob shown on the topo map. It's fun to related the terrain you're passing through to how it looks on the map.
Climbing towards a higher knob through rugged terrain.
Getting steeper.
Scrambling up to a ledge I spotted on Google Earth.
From the top, a unique framed view of Stinson Mountain.
Wild spruce woods on the next part of the ridge.
Nice variety on this traverse.
Final approach to the ledges of Upper Rattlesnake.
The ledges!
View to the south, with part of the ridge I traversed in the foreground.
Summit of Rattlesnake, highly zoomed.
The Belknap Range in the distance.
Mount Kearsarge, way out there.
Upper part of the ledges.
A favorite spot.
Looking south.
A ready-made backrest.
Time to chill in the sun.
After an hour's break I made my way back down the ledges and dropped carefully off their steep lower end.
I swung around to the west for a half-mile traversing descent through hardwoods, visiting this random ledge-meadow along the way.
A vast area of hardwoods.
I thought I might continue all the way across to Bald Ledge, but it was getting late, so when I reached the drainage of the main brook in this valley, I started heading down.
I remembered from previous trips that this brook valley was a lovely route for descent, and I was not disappointed.
It reminds me of streams in the Catskills.
Peaceful easy feeling.
Into the hemlocks.
Waterslide.
Twin cascade.
From above.
My favorite cascade on the brook.
Evening sun on the "Dump Run" mountain bike trail.
