Mount Hale has a number of good viewpoints, but unfortunately the summit isn't one of them. When I first climbed Hale in 1978, it had terrific views. Nowadays, thanks to prolific tree growth, you must bushwhack to find good views on Hale. The northwest ridge of Hale has several viewpoints, and after traversing it a couple times in winter I wanted to check it out in summer. I figured it would be a more difficult trip in summer, and in that regard I was not disappointed.
I went just a short way inn North Twin Trail before starting the whack.
Mostly open hardwoods on the lower part of this ridge.
In a bit more than an hour I was approaching the first view ledge through prickly conifers.
A fine comfortable perch...
...with an excellent view of North Twin, Peak Above the Nubble, and the wild valley between them.
Also, a view west towards Vermont.
Peak Above the Nubble (PATN).
The steep eastern slides on PATN.
North Twin and the top of its big North Slide.
A nearby ledge with a slightly different perspective.
Hobblebush and ferns behind the ledges.
Heading up the ridge through a beautiful birch and fern glade. On my last winter trip through here with deep, firm snow, these glades were open snowfields. In the summer, they are a different story, with the ferns obscuring blowdowns and rocks underfoot. Slow going.
I followed a weaving route through conifers and small cliffs to get up a "step" on the ridge.
A rather painful push through spiky conifers brought me to a fine south-facing ledge, with the west ridge of Hale rising across the valley traversed by the Firewarden's Trail.
This ledge offers a long view up the remote Little River valley to Zealand Mountain and Mount Guyot at its head.
Zoomed view of Zealand, Guyot and a prominent hump-like spur of the Twin Range.
The Twins and PATN.
Nice spot to hang out for a while.
Wide angle shot of the view.
Heading up the ridge to the next outlook.
Glade magic.
Another ledge opening a Little River vista, with South Hale now peering over on the left.
A glacial erratic up behind the ledge.
These outlooks are well-guarded.
Where the ridge levels out on a broad shoulder there are open areas of dead and dying birches.
Lots of moose poop up here.
I came across several moose beds.
Wading through ferns, sometimes chest-high.
A Purple Finch landed in a treetop and burst into song.
The Northwest Ridge Trail, maintained by Bullwinkle.
Last of the birch glades.
Into the conifers, fairly open for a while.
From here the woods got scrappier and the terrain became rougher as I made a sidehill approach to a north-facing slide on Mount Hale. To my chagrin, it also started raining, but luckily not for long. No pictures for a while as I was focused on route-finding and footing. Eventually I made my way to the base of a small wet slide above the longer one I was seeking.
I had to descend steeply to reach the top of the longer slide.
Found it! As I suspected, it consisted of wet ledge slab, unsafe to go out on. In winter I was able to snowshoe onto it. But I did get to check out the slide's view (hazy on this day) out to the distant mountains of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. This slide, and a nearby lower one are prominent in a 1939 aerial photo, suggesting that they fell during the November 1927 storm or the September 1938 hurricane.
Burke, Umpire, Bald, East Haven and East Mountains are most prominent in the view.
After another brief rain shower, I worked my way through the woods, around and down to the west edge of the slide, where I had emerged in winter.
My exit plan was to go a little way back westward across the slope, then whack south across the crest of the ridge to meet the Firewarden's Trail at one of its switchbacks. For a short distance the going was OK.
But the terrain soon got rough, as it had on my way to the slide.
Heading up to the broad crest of the ridge.
Uh-oh. This is not looking promising. Standing dead trees, blowdowns and young conifers.
A gap created by fallen trees created a view of South and North Twin.
Oh, boy.
This route looked easy on the map, but it turned out to be a poor choice!
On and on it goes.
Feeling the tender caress of cripplebrush.
I was one happy camper when I broke free into reasonable woods. It had taken 40 minutes to cover maybe a tenth of a mile.
The woods were decent the rest of the way to Firewarden's Trail.
I had thought I might head up to the summit of Hale, but after the battle with the scrub I decided to head down, as I've been to that summit 21 times over the years. Firewarden's is still a pleasant (unofficial and unmaintained) trail, but increasing usage is causing sections of it to become eroded.
Typical glade along Firewarden's Trail.
View of the Little River along North Twin Trail. Easy walking from here on out.
