Waterville Area Wanderings

WELCH MOUNTAIN LEDGES

 

A late afternoon visit to the first few open ledges on Welch Mountain. 

 

Trail and stream. 

Important message.

Education is key.

 

 

String fencing delineates the trail in this fragile area.

 

 

An island of vegetation.

 

Tripyramids and Sleepers in the distance, up the Mad River valley.

Zoom on Tripyramid.

 

 

Welch summit to the north. 

 

 

The Welch ledges host one of the few colonies of Jack Pine in the White Mountains.

 

Sandwich Dome.

 

 

One of many steep ledges on the south ridge of Welch.

 

 

Campton Range to the south.

Late afternoon view to the SW.

 SMARTS BROOK 

A mellow three-mile loop on Smarts Brook Trail and TriTown Trail. 

 

 

 

Nice walking on Tri-Town Trail.

 

 Carol checking info on one of the six geocaches she has placed along Tri-Town. We were monitoring the condition of these and replaced a couple of wet logs.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Boardwalk built by volunteer mountain bike trail maintainers.

 

 

The lower of the two Black Mountains on the SW side of Sandwich Dome peers over at a beaver meadow along Smarts Brook Trail  I replaced a missing geocache here.

 

The lovely and popular cascade on Smarts Brook.

LOWER NORTH SLIDE/AVALANCHE RAVINE

 

A repeat of one of my favorite walks in the Whites - out Livermore Trail and into the lower part of Avalanche Ravine on the NW side of North Tripyramid. 

 

Livermore Trail is wonderfully desolate and quiet in November. 

 

 

Made a short side trip to visit Norway Rapids on Slide Brook.

 

White Cascade, a half-mile farther upstream.

 

A water pipe near the junction with the south end of Mount Tripyramid Trail.

 

Barrel rings at or near the site of the first of two Avalanche Camps established along Avalanche Brook (early 1900s). These are historic artifacts and it is illegal to remove them.

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A bucket peeking out from the leaf litter.

 

The clearing of the second Avalanche Camp (1930s/1940s), a half-mile farther up the trail.

A container of some sort.

Bed frames that were dumped over the bank when the camp was closed.

 

Inviting corridor of Livermore Trail.

 

 

Had a nice chat with Bruce Gokey, who had driven up to upper Livermore Trail (with Forest Service permission, of course) with his sons for maintenance work on this, their adopted trail.

 

 

Nice new sign at the north end of Mount Tripyramid Trail.

Avalanche Brook at the trail crossing.

 

 

 

Into the Wilderness.

 

 

I consider these old gnarled yellow birches the guardians of Avalanche Ravine.

A favorite stretch of trail.

Heading up the lower part of the North Slide.

 

 

The ledges were damp and slippery this day. A hiker I had chatted with down at the junction had decided not to climb Tripyramid via the North Slide, a good choice in these conditions.

 

The trail bypasses to the left of this part of the slide track.

Careful foot placement needed going up and especially down this ledgy swath.

 

 

I went up to the first view along the trail, at ~3,000 ft., looking at Mt. Osceola and a socked-in Mount Moosilauke. 

 

Closer look. This was my turn-around point as the ledges get steeper and trickier not far above this point.

The pitch is around 30 degrees here but ramps up to 34 degrees higher up.

Heading back down.

 

 

On the floor of Avalanche Ravine.

 

A peek at the upper North Slide.

 

The picturesque East Fork of the North Slide.

 

 

A dry section of Avalanche Brook.

A rare faded old blaze.

 

 

Kind of a spooky vibe.

Berry-full bruin calling card. 

 

 

Along Livermore Trail.

 

 

Tripyramid through the trees.