After bailing on a long bushwhack out of Lincoln Woods, where snow conditions looked potentially difficult, I headed down to the Welch-Dickey trailhead for a shorter bushwhack out to a wide band of open ledges on the western slope of Dickey Mountain.
I snowshoed a mile or so up the Dickey Notch Trail, where the snow cover was only a few inches deep, but dense enough to provide good 'shoeing on a mostly smooth surface.
The only drawback to this trail was the occasional open wet spot to be crossed.
I always enjoy the traverse past the chain of small beaver ponds on the floor of the notch, between Cone Mountain and Dickey Mountain.
An old beaver lodge rises in the middle of this pond.
Beautiful hardwood forest in the heart of the notch, north of the beaver ponds. A wonderful little backcountry nook.
I headed up a steep little drainage to start the 3/4 mile whack across the SW slopes of Dickey Mountain.
Rocky terrain.
Looking back at Cone Mountain.
A gorgeous winter day in the hardwoods.
Weaving through an old clearcut with some junky blowdown.
Once past the clearcut, it was great open hardwood snowshoeing.
The snow up here was sugary with a bit of crust on top, ranging from 6 to 12 inches deep.
Whatever left these tracks was making long bounds down the slope. Fisher?
Across this broad slope the hardwoods go on and on.
Sidehilling.
Into the conifers, approaching the first ledge.
Emerging on the first ledge, looking out to Mounts Kineo, Cushman and Moosilauke.
The Moose!
Looking back to the SW towards Stinson and Carr Mountains, from the upper end of the ledge. The MSRs had excellent grip on the crusty styrofoam snow on the ledges.
A short jaunt up through the woods led to the main band of ledges.
Starting up and across the main band of west ledges, which extends for 0.1 mile.
There are some good-sized white pines out here.
The ledges keep going.
Looking back.
A glorious day for snowshoeing across this open expanse.
The northernmost ledge opens the widest views, including a close-up look at the wild spurs of Mount Tecumseh: Fisher Mountain, Hogback Mountain, snowy West Tecumseh, pointy SW Green, and Green Mountain.
In the distance the view opens out to the Kinsmans, Cannon Balls, Cannon and Franconia Range.
Zoom on Cannon and the Franconias.
It was a sunny and nearly windless afternoon, allowing for an hour-plus sojourn at this remote perch.
Heading back down and across the ledges.
Late afternoon in the hardwoods.
In this area I came across several interesting examples of forest art.
I'm not sure what created these curious fracture lines.
It's interesting that these patterns were found on the same mountain that hosts a well-known stone circle on one of its trailside ledges.
Sun dropping behind Cone Mountain.
Fading light in the hardwoods.
I swung across to the Dickey end of the Welch-Dickey Loop for the final mile of the descent. As expected, it was choppy with thin cover in places, a stark contrast to the smooth sailing in the untrodden forest.
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