A hot, humid day with low water levels in Downes Brook was a good day to return to a favorite place, the open ledges on the lower part of the Downes Brook Slide, which creased the northern slope of Mount Passaconaway in the 1890s.
On the approach along Downes Brook Trail, I noted much good recent work by adopter Ken MacGray, who maintains the trail up to the Wilderness boundary. Ken had painted many new blazes, including important ones at the four brook crossing in this section.
The many drainages were freshly cleaned.
Cairns marking one of the wider crossings. Even with low water, the crossings are time-consuming and hikers must be wary of random slippery rocks.
Cleaning these long side channels is a lot of work. Thanks to Ken!
Into the Wilderness.
A long, easy-graded section after entering the Wilderness.
The lower wooded section of the slide track, where some of the ledges are very slippery.
A short bushwhack, partly along traces of
the historic, long-abandoned Downes Brook Slide Trail, brought me to
the expansive lower slabs of the vintage early 1890s slide. These are
prominent in the view of Mount Passaconaway from nearby Potash Mountain.
The ledges are slippery and dangerous when wet, which is
why the former trail that followed this route, dating back to the early 1900s, was closed by the USFS in
the late 1950s. Caution is needed to avoid stepping on wet areas of
ledge, which are slick as ice. A ledge step cascade marks the bottom of the open slabs. Not much water dropping over it this day.
These ledges are relatively low angle for a slide, mostly in the 15 to 23 degree range as measured with the level tool on my phone. They are grippy where dry, but as noted above, beware of any wet ledge. Not a good place to be during a rainfall.
There are a number of good-sized white pines thriving along the edges of the slide. This diminutive pine clings to a patch of turf on the ledges.
Shelves and steps abound on these ledges.
Looking across the valley to Potash Mountain (R) and its trailless neighbor, South Potash (L).
Zoom on a distant view to Mount Eisenhower, Mount Tremont, and the tip of Mount Washington just poking up through a col on the right.
Big dry ledges, fun to scramble up.
A golden pool at the base of another ledge step cascade, which must be bypassed.
August brings asters.
Another wide ledge slab.
At the top of this slab is the "Ring of Power," a relic of the Swift
River Railroad logging days in the early 1900s. This was likely used to
lower logs down the ledges with a cable.
A photo from the 1910s in the Appalachian Mountain Club archives shows a
team of horses and men hauling a load of logs on the ledges of the
slide, angling towards a tote road at the edge of the woods. The shapes
of the ledges in this archival photo match the ledges here; this location is just a few yards downslope from the iron ring.
The outline of the tote road is still visible in the woods.
More ledges.
I continued up to the last of the open ledges on the lower half of the slide, at 2400 ft. Above here the slide is mostly closed in by trees except for several steep slabs that are too wet to climb. The upper end of the slide is at 2800 ft.
The northern crags of Mount Passaconaway, where the spur trail off the summit leads. That spur was the uppermost section of the old trail.
A profile of Mount Hancock.
Summertime and the livin' is easy.
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