Square Ledge: 12/17/25

On a warm day when the snow turned a bit wet by afternoon, I enjoyed a snowshoe trek out to Square Ledge, a remote spur in the Sandwich Range Wilderness that was formerly on the New Hampshire "52 With a View" list. In addition to visiting one of my favorite places in the Sandwich Range, I wanted to do a recon on the Passaconaway Cutoff, which I work on as an adopter through the AMC Four Thousand Footer Committee. I did not get out there for a fall maintenance trip due to the government shutdown followed by early snow. I wanted to at least see if there were any major blowdown issues on the trail. Thanks go to Beth Zimmer's group of five, who had broken out a beautiful snowshoe track to Square Ledge over the weekend, via the Oliverian Brook Trail, Passaconaway Cutoff and Square Ledge Trail.

The first 0.7 mile of Oliverian Brook Trail was groomed by snowmobile, which I don't recall seeing here in the past.

I believe the grooming was incidental to a mission to remove the boards from a small bridge next to a beaver pond that was dismantled in the fall. It did seem like that bridge was getting a little spongy.

Cruising along the half-mile section that follows the bed of the early 1900s Swift River Railroad.

A peek at Oliverian Brook.

Into the Wilderness.

The crossing of this side-sloping tributary was pretty well frozen.

Onto the Cutoff.

This hemlock glade I call the "cathedral forest."

The crossing of the West Branch of Oliverian Brook was not frozen, but was easy enough using small rocks.

My favorite section of Passaconaway Cutoff is this open hardwood stroll.

This was the only new blowdown of significance that I encountered. But I had inadvertently left my saw in the car in my rush to get on the trail. At least it's only a minor hindrance.

A view up the West Branch from a spot near where the trail turns left and begins to climb rather steeply.

A steady climb through spruces.

This large spruce blowdown was present on my spring trip. Not one I want to tackle solo, it will take some teamwork in the spring. For now it is easy to either duck under or scoot around on the right.

One of several interesting boulders along the trail.

A bear had recently come onto the trail.

The bear's tracks coming up the slope to the trail.

A long steady climb up the western flank of Square Ledge. The NW winds from two days earlier had drifted some snow in here.

 

Mount Passaconaway is a huge looming presence along this climb, though its summit was engulfed in cloud.

 

In winter Passaconaway's East Slide is prominent. It fell during the September 1938 hurricane and obliterated part of the Passaconaway Cutoff. As a result the trail was closed and was not reopened until 1965.

This slide offers some good views. A fairly long bushwhack is required to reach it.

A nice snow ramp for surmounting this ledge.

Junction with the Square Ledge Trail. Right leads towards Mount Passaconaway, left heads to Square Ledge.

From the Passaconaway side came a single set of snowshoe tracks, laid down by Carl Gifford on a Sandwich Range traverse the day before.

The well-broken snowshoe track continued towards Square Ledge, though some sections had filled in with wind-drifted snow.

 

A peek ahead at Square Ledge before s steep 150-ft. drop to a col.

 

Tip-toeing down the steep pitch, trying not to slide.

 

The short, steep climb to the summit of Square Ledge runs alongside two neat rock walls. This is the first wall.

And the second.

The wooded summit crest of Square Ledge. There are slightly higher points (2620 ft.) on either side of the trail. I didn't have time to break trail another quarter-mile down to the edge of the great east-facing cliff for which the peak is named.

I did take the time to break out a short spur path to a favorite Square Ledge viewpoint. This obscure path follows a narrow ramp and then switches back around a steep ledge before running out to the view ledge.

 

Just before the view ledge is this prospect over the remote Paugus Pass area and Mount Paugus.

 

A closer look at Paugus and the spur in front known as "The Overhang."

Zoom on a cliff and small slide on the western slope of The Overhang.

 

The brushy top of that cliff offers a nifty view of Square Ledge and Mount Passaconaway.

Accessing the view ledge requires caution, as the passage is narrow and there is a steep dropoff on the left. Plus, the SW wind was roaring up here. Nanamocomuck Peak is seen close by to the SW. To my mind the Square Ledge area is one of the wildest places in the Sandwich Range.

The ledge offers an intimate view of Passaconaway.

A profile of the East Slide.

 

Descending the steep pitch off Square Ledge.

Hedgehog Mountain seen through the trees while coming down Passaconaway Cutoff. The round trip to Square Ledge via this route is 8 miles with 1700 ft. of elevation gain.

 

Pre-Winter Snowshoe Rambles

This early/mid December pre-winter season has been more like January  with prolonged cold temperatures and generous snowfall. Snowshoe season has been in full swing already.

 

OSSEO TRAIL 

 

An afternoon jaunt at Lincoln Woods brought me partway up the Osseo Trail. Seen from the suspension bridge, the East Branch was on its way to freezing over. 

Looking downstream to Scar Ridge from a banktop viewpoint.

 

When I saw that the Osseo Trail had a softly packed snowshoe track, I decided to head up that way as far as time permitted.

A powdery snowshoe track is a thing of beauty.

Love the first section that meanders alongside Osseo Brook.

The track was well set on the steep sidehill section along the initial section of the climb.

The rest of the lower two-mile stretch of Osseo follows an old logging road at easy/moderate grades deep into the Osseo Brook valley. Lots of nice hardwood out here.

Snow getting deeper.

I made it a mile and a half up Osseo Trail, to a point where I had this through-the-trees view of a wild spur of Whaleback Mountain across the valley. Nice backcountry feel out here.

Homeward bound.

 

BEAVER BROOK TRAIL 

The next day I headed up to Kinsman Notch for a short, steep climb up the lower section of Beaver Brook Trail. There was just one car in the parking lot on a Saturday. I followed a single snowshoer's tracks up the trail. Good deep snow cover up here.

 

 

Careful snowshoe placement needed for two bridged brook crossings. Between the bridges I met the descending snowshoer, who had broken trail up to the Beaver Brook Shelter. Impressive work!

Crossing this bridge over a deep washout was definitely sketchy.

Deer tracks descending a steep slope.

The first cascade was mostly buried, as were those above.

Steep climbing with some backsliding in the slippery powder.

Looking down the brook above the first cascade.

A snow-smothered cascade farther up the trail.

 

Looking down. When fully locked in with ice and snow, these cascades are sometimes skied.

 

I turned around at the cascade where the trail makes its trickiest scramble.

Heading back down.

For the lower half of the descent, I bushwhacked down through 14" of heavy powder, thus avoiding a few steep rocky pitches and that narrow washout bridge. The woods through here are pretty much wide open.

Making fresh tracks.

Before heading home, I paid a brief visit to the open wetland at the south end of Beaver Pond, a wild and desolate place in winter.

 

GOODRICH ROCK

On a bitterly cold and windy day I went down to Waterville Valley with the idea of heading up Greeley Ponds Trail to whatever destination along that route presented itself. Mount Osceola and East Peak were looking wintry from the Valley floor.
 

There were both ski and snowshoe/boot tracks on the wide Greeley Ponds Trail.

The Mad River was in the process of freezing over.

The snowshoe track headed up the Goodrich Rock Trail. Beyond, there were only ski tracks. I did not want to trash those tracks, or break trail for a mile and a half to the viewpoint on Timber Camp Trail, or for two-plus miles to Lower Greeley Pond. Goodrich Rock it would be. It's one of a number of interesting trails maintained by the Waterville Valley Athletic & Improvement Association (WVAIA).

Starting out with a good snowshoe track on this entertaining trail.

 

The trail is spiced up with a few short, steep pitches.

 

 

The first of many cool boulders along this route.

This split rock is called the "Corridor Boulder." 

 

The trail weaves right through it, though on this trip I followed the snowshoe track around it.

 

Looking in from the other end.

 

Bouldering enthusiasts call this overhanging giant the "House Boulder." Collectively this assemblage of glacial erratics on the flank of East Osceola s known as the Davis Boulders. They were discovered by Waterville cottage owner J.W. Davis in the 1890s, at which time he laid out the original trail.

The trail passes between two more boulders.

The marked route passes through this cave-like slot. Not gonna happen with snowshoes and a big winter pack.

The titan of the group is known as the "Old, Old Wooden Ship."

A spruce-lined quarter mile of trail leads up to Goodrich Rock, one of the largest glacial erratics in New Hampshire.

A short steep and rough climb offers a bit of a challenge on snowshoes.

 

A tight squeeze.

Goodrich Rock, discovered by Watervilleans Arthur and Charles Goodrich around 1900. They estimated its size as 60 X 50 X 50 feet,

The trail passes along the base of this towering boulder, then wraps around and up to its back side.

A spicy 20-foot ladder, built by volunteers of the WVAIA, provides access up the back side of Goodrich Rock. From the top there's a view across the valley to Sandwich Dome. Several times in winter I've climbed to the top of the ladder, but have always chickened out when it comes to making the step onto (and then back off) the sloping top of the rock. Today I didn't bother to climb the ladder, getting up here on a cold pre-winter day was good enough.