STARK FALLS BROOK EXPLORATION: 1/21/14

On a very cold but relatively windless day I strapped on the snowshoes for a meandering bushwhack exploration centered on the valley of Stark Falls Brook, on the flank of Mt. Blue to the north of the Beaver Brook Trail and Beaver Pond in Kinsman Notch.

The Beaver Brook trailhead was the best place to park, so I set off from there late morning with the car thermometer reading -1 F. I went up the Beaver Brook Trail past the first crossing of Beaver Brook, then headed into the woods. I snowshoed through this nice hardwood glade behind the SW corner of Beaver Pond.

I continued through the conifer woods behind the west shore of the pond, where the cover was much thinner than in the hardwoods - a trend that would continue through the day. I scooted out to the big ledge along the west shore for a look at the pond, Mt. Waternomee and Mt. Jim.

I continued north past the pond, coming out on a logging road at the base of an old clearcut, with a good view of snow-caked South Kinsman, and the Beech Hill ridge in the foreground.

South Kinsman.

I dropped down to Stark Falls Brook and continued down to the base of  frozen Stark Falls.

A side view.

A closer look at part of the falls.

Stark Falls Brook above the falls.

As I was bushwhacking up the slope on the north side of the brook, I stumbled upon what is apparently a climber's path heading up the valley.

I continued up the slope to a plateau north of the brook valley, passing several bear trees.

This is an old, well-used bear tree.

The plateau is a lovely, secluded area.

I had a peek at the precipitous slope rising on the west side of the plateau, one of the steepest areas in Kinsman Notch.

A closer look at the crags above.

    
I pushed my way through some fairly dense conifers, where a dusting of snow barely covered the ground, seeking a possible clifftop viewpoint facing east and NE. I spotted a little shelf down below. 

From here there was a view of the southern Kinsman Ridge, Mt. Wolf and South Kinsman trailing away to the NE. 

South Kinsman and its SE spur peak.

A good dropoff below.

Rt. 112 and the southern end of Kinsman Ridge.

I worked around to a lower spot for a look across the cliff face towards Kinsman Notch.

I retraced my tracks southward across the plateau and then swung west to head up the north side of the Stark Falls Brook valley through hardwood forest. I soon passed this enormous old yellow birch stub.

Good whacking.

Looking up to the steep northern wall of the valley.

Great snowshoeing in here - 6" of powder atop a firm crusty base.

More bear trees.

Looking across the valley to a high knob on the south side. Perhaps that is where the remains of an old donkey steam engine lie rusting in the forest. As described in the publication Forest History of Mount Moosilauke, by J. Willcox Brown, when lumberman G.L. Johnson was stripping the timber from the slopes of Kinsman Notch in the early 1900s, there was a patch of old-growth spruce that seemed well-nigh inaccessible up behind this steep-sided spur. But woods boss James "Jakey" McGraw was able to cut a road up into the valley and devise an ingenious scheme for sliding the logs via cable down to the floor of the notch. For more on this, see this article by Dave Anderson, Education Director for the Society for the Protection of NH Forests.

I snowshoed up through the hardwoods to about 2450 ft., then I found the climber's path again and followed it up to this ice cliff on the north wall of the valley at 2650 ft. A neat spot, though it seems like a pretty short climb for a mile-long approach with a 1000-ft. ascent from the road.

I passed this glacial erratic on the way back down.

Another look at Stark Falls, in fading daylight. I finished my day's wanderings with a crossing of Beaver Pond at dusk, returning to my car at a balmy temperature of 1 above. We're deep into winter this week, for sure.

WACHIPAUKA POND & MOUNT MIST CLIFFS: 1/15/14

Looking for a lower elevation hike with no ice and maybe even some snowshoe-able cover, I drove down to Glencliff to try a new approach to an old favorite, Wachipauaka Pond. Instead of following the Wachipauka Pond Trail/Appalachian Trail over Wyatt Hill, I decided to try a shorter route bushwhacking up from Rt. 25 to the trail in the broad saddle between Wyatt Hill and Webster Slide Mountain.

On the drive down, I paused briefly to look at the Redstone Rocket (a ballistic missile from the 1960s) standing on the village green in Warren. This notable landmark was moved here in 1971 and placed in honor of Senator Norris Cotton, a Warren native.

A fresh dusting of snow had coated the South Peak of Mt. Moosilauke, as seen here from Rt. 25.

This section of Rt. 25 has an appropriate designation.

I parked in a large pulloff near Oliverian Pond and made a long angling bushwhack SE towards the old route of the Appalachian Trail, then swung southward up to the saddle. The woods were open hardwoods the whole way, and after an initial partly bare area there was a crunchy snow cover of 2 to 4 inches. I quickly found that snowshoeing through this was much easier than barebooting. I saw several old corridors that might have been the old AT, but nothing definitive.

I reached the current Wachipauka Pond Trail/AT up in the saddle, followed it a ways under the steep face of Webster Slide Mountain, then dropped down and took an old path alongside the northern finger of Wachipauka Pond to the fine open spot under a tall old white pine, on a point where the finger joins the main body of the pond. After a string of warm days with some rain mixed in, the ice on the pond was looking rather "thaw-ish."

It was a beautiful sunny, warm, spring-like day. A melted bank, cushioned with pine needles, was beckoning.

I settled in for a pond-side snooze - in January!?

Deer prints were the only tracks I saw on the trails today. No evidence of recent hiker visitation.

An inlet stream tumbling down to the pond.

I skirted a little way along the west shore for a fine view of Mt. Moosilauke.

The cliffs of Webster Slide Mountain loom high above the pond.

A beaver lodge stacked up along the shore.

An encouraging message for AT northbounders on this sign for the Webster Slide Trail.

I decided to head south up the AT towards Mt. Mist and bushwhack to its eastern cliffs for some views. It was beautiful in the hardwoods -- unbroken crusty snow on the trail and a wonderful stillness in the forest.

I passed by this unusual tree on the bushwhack to the cliffs.

The first spot I came to atop the mostly wooded cliffs opened a fine view of the long south ridge of Moosilauke, including Hurricane Mountain, Chokecherry Hill, and Bald Hill.

The best view is from a small ledge in a steep spruce-clad area, looking over Wachipauka Pond to the Benton Range, Mt. Clough and Mt Moosilauke.

A closer look at the Moose.

Webster Slide Mountain rising close by to the north. While down at the junction of the AT and the Webster Slide Trail, I had heard and partly seen an icefall from the slabs seen on the L side of this photo.

The great cliff of Owl's Head, with Blueberry and Jeffers Mountains behind.

I whacked a little farther to the south, looking for additional viewpoints.

No more fully open spots, but found some interesting perspectives, such as this view of Mt. Kineo.

A down-look from the top of a cliff.

Slide Ravine on Moosilauke.

Heading back down the AT, late afternoon light on Webster Slide.

 Back at Wachipauka Pond, now in the shadow of the mountains.

The sprawling ridge of Carr Mountain.

A quick look at the rugged face of Mt. Mist, then time to head for the highway.