After finishing hike #1 up to Mount Waumbek in early afternoon, I still had some 'up' left in me, so I decided to get another hike in. This will be my first time hiking in Randolph Community Forest which is wedged inbetween two sections of the White Mountains National Forest. There are many routes to the top of Mount Randolph. Seeing it was late in the day, I chose the shortest route. I started out on Sargent Path at 2:30.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
|
I'll be breaking trail myself this time. I shouldn't have invited a couple of the hikers from my earlier hike along to help out.
|
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
|
The trail became too steep and rocky which forced me to take my snowshoes off for a couple tenths of a mile.
|
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Through the woods
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After a very steep climb, I reached Lookout Ledge
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If it wasn't so cloudy, this would have been a great view. Here's a picture of Mounts Madison and Adams with their summits in the clouds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The valley below was pretty, even on a cloudy day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There were fresh footprints. Someone had come to Lookout Ledge by another trail. Unfortunately they didn't continue on to Mount Randolph, so I had more trail to break. I put my snowshoes back on and headed off on Crescent Ridge Trail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The trail leveled off for a while. There were a couple of trail intersections in this stretch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The trail steepened again. Just before the summit of Randolph there was another partial view of Madison and Adams, but the view from Lookout Ledge was better. I reached the 3081' summit of Mount Randolph a few minutes after 4:00.
I played with my new GPS on the way up. It was 1.7 miles which matched what my map stated. The elevation was slightly off, so I recalibrated it. I also knew my starting elevation for a change which was about 1300'. After this morning's hike up Waumbek and this hike up Randolph, I am all out of 'up'. I returned over the same route making my way down the mountain in just under an hour.
