Moosilauke's Slide Ravine

A bushwhack trek into the ravine of Slide Brook, on the SW side of Mount Moosilauke, has become a nearly annual event for me in recent years. For my ninth visit to the ravine, I targeted a small slide patch that may have been a "tributary" of the massive open slide on the SE wall, or it may have been a separate,  parallel smaller slide. In this Google Earth image it is seen down to the lower right adjacent to the big slide.

The best access for approaching Slide Ravine is the mellow Tunnel Brook Trail from its southern trailhead on Long Pond Road.

There's a palpable sense of remoteness when you reach the broad height-of-land between Mount Moosilauke and Mount Clough.

 

 

Mud Pond is the southernmost and largest of a long chain of beaver ponds in Tunnel Brook Notch. Its shore offers a fine view of Slide Ravine, though in morning light the slides do not show up well.

 

Looking north up Tunnel Brook Notch from the meadow at the south end of Mud Pond.

 

Bed for a small moose?

 

 

Nice hardwood forest in the lower part of the ravine, though the hobblebush is thick in places.

 

Open mixed woods. The whacking is not always this peachy.

 

 

Slide Brook provides plenty of entertainment along the way. This is my favorite of several cascades in the ravine.

Another nice one.

 

Heading up alongside the track that comes down from the target slide.

 

Steep climb through the woods. Luckily this slope is not too rough with rocks and holes.

Pushing through dense growth up the slide track.

 

 

 

Into the open, 400 ft. in elevation above the brook.

A pair of bushy white pines.

 

The classic Slide Ravine view towards Mount Clough and out to distant peaks in Vermont.

 

 

 

Slides #2 and #3 of the nine slide tracks (counted south to north) on the steep east face of Mount Clough.

 

#4 is the tallest and steepest of the Clough slides, which are mostly ledgy as opposed to the generally rubbly slides in Slide Ravine.

 

 

Bird's eye view of Mud Pond.

 

Continuing along the upper strip of this slide patch.

 

 

 

A short lateral bushwhack brought me out onto the big slide. It's a monster.

Looking across to the upper part of a sizeable slide on the north wall of the ravine.

 

 

Zoomed. I re-visited that one two years ago.

 

Looking up. Due to an evening time constraint, I was unable to climb any higher on this visit.

Side view.

 

Distant view. It was hazy, but the Green Mountains were faintly visible on the horizon.

 

A long, steep descent through the prickly woods.

 

A triple cascade on Slide Brook  just above the base of the track from the big slide.

 

 

 

Beautiful Slide Brook.

 

 Gorgeous late day light on Slide Ravine at Mud Pond.

 

 

 

Zoom on the big slide and the little tributary patch. From the shore of Mud Pond they look high and far away.  

 

 

 

 

 

Gorge Brook Slides

A trip up the slides in Gorge Brook Ravine was the first of a trifecta of ravine wanderings on Mount Moosilauke during the past week.

 

My favorite part of Gorge Brook Trail is the 2012 relocation above the Snapper Trail junction - easy grades and beautiful open woods. 

 

"Last Sure Water" is where I leave the trail to bushwhack to the Gorge Brook slides.

 

Open woods on the floor of the valley.

Did some steep sidehilling to get across to the base of Slide #5 (out of six distinct slide tracks on the west side of the ravine, numbered south to north; several of these are mostly revegetated).

 

 

This steep stony swath forms part of the base of Slide #5.

 

 

Looking down.

 

 

I made a sketchy exit from the top of this swath, where there was a view across to an even steeper ledgy part of the lower slide.

Heading up and across through steep, prickly woods to access Slide #4, the best known and most open slide of the sextet, which served as the route for the old DOC Gorge Brook Slide Trail.

 

Out onto Slide #4, with wide views across the valley to Moosilauke's Blue Ridge.

 

 

Scrambling up to the most open part of the slide. 

This section is very steep, with a slope of 38 degrees.

One of several white pines on the slide.

 

 

Down-look. This slide was part of the DOC Gorge Brook Slide Trail from 1966 to 1980. During its existence it was the steepest trail on the mountain, providing a direct route between the Gorge Brook Trail and the Carriage Road. According to a DOC guidebook, it was “intended to be used in only one direction – uphill.” The trail was noted for its steep scrambling over ledges and loose rocks. The AMC White Mountain Guide reported that it afforded "more of a challenge than most trails in the area, because of its steep and rocky terrain." The DOC’s A Trail Guide To Mount Moosilauke (1978) noted, “It is a very quick way to climb the mountain (some scrambling is necessary) and offers awesome views, especially in the fall, when the hardwoods below are ablaze.” Due to its steepness and consequent difficulty in maintenance, it was abandoned around 1980. Experienced bushwhackers still occasionally make use of the old slide route, where several DOC blazes remain on the ledges. Parts of the slide have become partly to mostly revegetated. The old trail is quite difficult to follow in places - it must be considered a bushwhack - and the footing is slippery on many of the ledges. Suitable only for hikers experienced in steep terrain and off-trail travel. I tread as lightly as possible here.

 

 

Wide views.

Looking up at Moosilauke's East Peak.

 

 

 

There are a few good ledge scrambles.

 

Sheep Laurel in bloom.

 

 

Expanded views near the top of the slide, which extends up to ~3900 ft.

Hancocks, Huntington, Scar Ridge, Osceola, Tripyramids and Tecumseh.

The old trail peters out in the woods above the slide, time to bushwhack.

Some nice boreal forest.

Heading down the rocky Carriage Road.

The footing on the Carriage Road improves below the Snapper Trail junction, where it gets much less use.

The Hurricane Trail provides pleasant walking between the Carriage Road and Gorge Brook Trail.

The exciting two-log bridge high above Gorge Brook, with a newly repaired railing.