DICKEY MOUNTAIN BUSHWHACK: 4/2/18

A crisp spring afternoon for a bare-ground hardwood bushwhack up through the bowl between Welch and Dickey Mountains. Endless views from the summit of Dickey.

I hiked partway up the Welch side of the Welch-Dickey Loop Trail and then followed the brook that drains the bowl.

The best of spring - bare-ground hardwoods and blue sky.

Farther up the brook.

A leaning twister.

Boulders on the Dickey side of the bowl.

Open woods.

Almost like being in the Catskills.

Welch through the trees.

A small tributary slides down a ledgy swath.

"Boot Rock." I passed this on a previous probe into the bowl five years earlier.

Pileated at work.

On the headwall.

Approaching the upper limit of the hardwoods. In the spruces the terrain was gnarlier.

I worked my way carefully up and out to the edge of a big granite slab, looking SE across to Welch.

A view out towards the Campton Range.

On the west side of this swath of spruces was another huge steep slab.

I went up between the slabs for a bit, but backed off as the footing was dicey on this steep slope due to frozen, slippery turf mixed with patches of snow and ice. Didn't want to hit a dead-end and then have to descend this way.

I dropped back down and traversed across to the west, scrambling to the top of this narrow slab.

This was apparently the remnant of a track from backcountry adventurers who ski down the ledges and then descend through the woods below.

I made my way up to the Dickey side of the loop trail through easier woods.

A short distance above along the trail I came to the vast slab at 2550 ft., here looking west to Carr, Kineo, Cushman and Moosilauke.

The exhilaration of wide open spaces.

Looking north from the summit of Dickey to the wild southern ridges of Mt. Tecumseh.

Cannon and the Franconias.

Nice spread of the Sandwich Range, from Scaur Peak to Mt. Whiteface.

Tripyramids, with snow visible on both the North and South Slides.

Welch Mountain with Sandwich Notch beyond.

Sandwich Dome and Black Mountain with Acteon Ridge in front.

North view beyond Fisher, Hogback and Bald.

Evening light on Welch and Sandwich.

The mysterious stone circle on a lower Dickey ledge.

Dickey and Welch from Dickey's great south slab.

Granite texture.

There was a section of nasty ice below the south slab, but the lower mile of the trail through the hardwoods was 90% bare and dry.

Bear tree near the trail.