Greens Cliff

Hiked Greens Cliff on 7/29/2017 with Bill and Diane Schor and Larry Babcock. Weather was predicted to be clear with a slight chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. We were done with the hike at 1:30 so no problem with a thunderstorm. We drove to the end of Sawyer River Road off Rt 302 in Crawford Notch. We followed the logging road past Sawyer Pond trail and then past Sawyer River trail. We followed the road for about another 1/4 mile and then set off through the woods to the summit. There were many logging roads in the area and we were able to follow one that was headed in the general direction of the summit. It eventually petered out and we made our way to the summit on a pretty uneventful bushwhack. We had read that there were two summits with bottles and we were able to find both of them. One had a bracket for a canister so it may be the official summit but we signed in on both of them.

Summit #1 with a bottle

Summit #2 with a bottle and canister bracket

The four of us on summit #1

There were good views from summit #1.

Chocorua on the right side

Passaconaway in the background and Potash in the foreground

Larry admiring the view and eating

Indian Pipe on the summit

We ate our PBJs and pretty much followed the same route back to the parking lot. We took a slight detour to explore a logging road which took us back to where we had entered the woods. Only 30 peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 200 Highest list.

Interesting roots

Our track for the day

Perry Ponds Peak and Prospect Hill West

Hiked Perry Ponds Peak and Prospect Hill West on 7/14/2017 with Bill Schor. Weather was predicted to be sunny in the morning and then clouding up with a chance of showers after 2PM. The showers held off until we were in the car and heading home. We drove north from Colebrook and through Pittsburg turning left onto Day Road which becomes Perry Stream Road. It’s a bumpy dirt road that we followed for 11.9 miles to where started the bushwhack to Perry Ponds Peak. It was a unventful bushwhack through nice woods until we got to the summit. The summit was kind of flat with multiple potential high points and there was some pretty thick vegetation to crawl through. We found the canister and signed in and had a snack then pushed on to Prospect Hill West.

Perry Ponds Peak summit canister

The bushwhack over to Prospect Hill West started out pretty easy but as we started the climb up to the border swath it got steep and nasty and slowed us down to a crawl. But we persevered and made it to the border swath.

Bill coming through some of the steep stuff

The swath, Canada on the left US on the right

We followed the swath for a while and there were nice flowers and butterflies.

Hawkweed

Swallowtail butterfly on Hawkweed

We came to steep drop off where we could look ahead to the summit of Prospect Hill West. We didn’t feel like going down the steep part so we backtracked to an ATV trail we which illegally took us in to Canada and then back to the border. We saw a large bear track while we were on the ATV trail.

Looking at Prospect Hill West

Bear track

We made it to the summit and found the register and signed in and ate a late lunch of PBJs.

Bill with the canister

There was a camera mounted on a tree at the summit which we waved at, don’t know if it was a continuous shot or motion sensitive. We walked back down the swath a way to a low point and started the bushwhack back to the car.

Looking east along the swath

Lots of spruce trees

The way back to the car was pretty easy, nothing steep or thick spruce. We were on our way home by 3PM

Butterflies near where we were parked

Only 31 more peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 200 Highest list.

Track for Perry Ponds Peak and Prospect Hill West

Tumbledick Mt, Sugar Hill and Dixville Peak

Hiked Tumbledick Mt, Sugar Hill and Dixville Peak on 7/13/2017 with Bill Schor. Weather was predicted to be off and on showers with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. We had the showers but luckily no thunderstorms. We drove up in the morning so we didn’t get started until after 10 but we knew Tumbledick and Sugar Hill would be easy hikes. We were finished with the hike at 1:30 PM so we set off to find the road that went to Dixville Peak. We weren’t planning to climb it but just find the road. We found what we thought was the road but things didn’t look quite right so we kept following it to make sure and sure enough it was the correct road and it took us to a tenth of a mile from the summit. So we hiked the last .1 mile and finished the New Hampshire 100 Highest list.

For Tumbledick and Sugar Hill we parked at Coleman State Park in Stewartstown, NH and then followed the CoHos trail until we got to the location to start the bushwhack to Tumbledick. We used the Rec Hall to get our boots on as it was raining pretty hard when we got there.

Rec Hall at Coleman State Park

We started up the trail which went through campsite 11. It was a good thing nobody was using the site. The trail had been mowed so we didn’t have to go through the tall grass which was soaking wet from the rain. It helped keep us a little dry.

CoHos trail sign

Trail with mowed portion

We hiked about a mile on the trail and then took off into the woods for the 3 tenths bushwhack to the summit which was pretty easy. We ate our PBJs on the summit and then headed back to the trail to go to Sugar Hill.

Tumbledick summit canister

We got to the trail and followed it for a short distance and then branched off to a snowmobile trail that took us all the way to the summit. The summit is quite flat and there ae several points that could be the highpoint but there isn’t a canister to find. We are pretty sure we found the high point as our altimeter agreed with the map elevation. We did find a very nice moose rack near the summit.

Excellent moose rack

We returned to the car and set off to find the road to Dixville Peak. The reason there is a road to the summit is there are wind turbines on the summit that need to be maintained.

End of the road for us driving

We hiked up on the road but we had no views as were in the clouds.

Wind turbine

We returned to the car and then off to Colebrook we were planning to spend the night and hike again tomorrow. We passed the Balsams Hotel which is closed but there are plans to revitalize it and expand the ski area.

The Balsams Hotel

Only 33 peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 200 Highest list and no peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 100 Highest list.

Track for Tumbledick Mt and Sugar Hill

West Baldface and Black Mt (Jackson)

Hiked West Baldface and Black Mt in Jackson with Bill and Diane Schor and Larry Babcock on 7/7/2017. Weather forecast was for partly cloudy with a chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms, fortunately there were no showers or storms but it was extremely humid. It might as well have rained as we were soaked with sweat even though it wasn’t hot. West Baldface is just to the west of North and South Baldface and the Baldface Circle trail and Black Mountain is in Jackson north of the Black Mountain ski area on a completely separate mountain. We started the hike on the East Branch trail which is a lightly used and lightly maintained trail with quite a few mud holes to go through or around.

Old bucket on the side of the trail

We followed the trail until we came to an old logging road that showed on the map and we were hoping to be able to find it. It was overgrown but easy to follow so we followed it for about 3/4 miles before we started the bushwhack to the summit of West Baldface. We went through mostly open woods with some nice birch and fern glades.

Larry in a birch glade on West Baldface

It got a bit steep with a few cliffs near the summit but we managed to work around them and made it to the summit. We found two bottles, one very small and no cover and no register and another with a cover and the register. There was a bracket where there used to be a PVC canister but the canister was gone.

Small bottle canister with no cover

Bottle with cover, I had taken the register out to sign us in

There were nice views in all directions which we admired while we ate our PBJs.

North Baldface from West Baldface

On the summit of West Baldface

We had thought about bushwhacking in a direct line from West Baldface to Black but decided to return to the trail the same way and then follow the logging road over to the vicinity of Black. This turned out to be a good idea as following the logging road saved us a lot of time. When we got back to the trail, Diane decided to return to the car rather than continue on to Black. We followed the logging road for almost a mile over to Black before we started the bushwhack up to the summit. We encountered a few flowers in the open spots of the logging road.

Flowers growing in the open area of the road

Indian Paintbrush

Bog White Orchis

The bushwhack up to the summit of Black was fairly steep but through mostly open woods. Near the summit it flattened out a bit with lots of ferns and raspberry bushes. Unfortunately the raspberries weren’t ripe yet. There were good views from the summit although it was a bit hazy.

Larry approaching the summit

Carter Notch from Black Mt

We had a snack at the summit and then started down. Our plan was to get back to the logging road and follow that for a way and then follow an intersecting road that would take us back to near where the cars were parked. That almost worked but after crossing an old bridge near a beaver pond we couldn’t find the road so we bushwhacked back to the trail and followed that.

Beaver pond along the road

Moose leg bone hanging in a tree

We made it back to the cars before dark which is always a good thing. Only 35 peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 200 Highest list. Thanks to Larry for several of the pictures.