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.