July 4, 2007
This is it! The day I complete the 48 four thousand footers of the White Mountains. I wish Madison could be with me today, but she is still recovering from her overnight stay in the Whites. I'm planning one big loop for today. Here's the track from my Delorme GPS.
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I left the trailhead at 7:30.
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I knew I had some rough trail ahead, so I enjoyed this.
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Since my last 4000 footer was Mount Passaconaway, this must be a shortcut.
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What do you know, a bridge. These are very common on the Appalachian Trail but rare in the Whites.
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Looking out through the trees
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I entered the Sandwich Range Wilderness. I'm always hungry when I enter this wilderness area. Apparently the word 'sandwich' makes others hungry as well. It looks like a few bites have been taken out of the sign.
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Trail junction
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A look through the trees at Mount Passaconaway
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I knew the rugged terrain was coming.
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There was a nice lookout as I neared the summit. The views were great today, but it was a little too hazy for good pictures.
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Looking over to Mount Whiteface
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More rough trail
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I was real, real close to the summit when I had this view of Mount Chocorua.
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I came across this sign for a view. I guess bagging the summit can wait a little while longer.
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Although I had to take the spur trail .3 miles to the view, it was well worth it.
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There was a 180 degree view from here.
I've got to come back here on a day with blue skies. I could see Washington, the Bonds, the Osceolas, the Tripyramids, Lafayette, Lincoln, Garfield, Kearsarge North, Potash, Hedgehog, Owl's Cliff, and many, many more mountains. If you are on Passaconaway on a nice day, this spur trail is worth the effort.
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I made my way back up the spur trail, continued another minute, and found this sign.
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I followed the short path up to the summit where I took my own picture using the self-timer.
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Finishing the 48 on a wooded summit was a little anti-climatic, but I was just happy to be done. If I had to do over again, I would probably save Mount Carrigain as the last peak. You can see up to 40 of the 48 peaks from there. Anyway, I did it! It took my 2 years to bag the 48 peaks. I could have done it a lot sooner, but I've also hiked 1300 miles of the Appalachian Trail during this time.
Although I've finished the 48, I have unfinished business over on nearby Mount Whiteface. Whiteface was the only peak of the 48 that I hiked in the winter without hiking during one of the other seasons first. So although I've done the 48, my 3 season list has one uncompleted peak. Let's go bag it.
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What do you know, a smooth section of trail.
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Off to Whiteface
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This trail along the ridge has a couple of nice lookouts. Looking up to Whiteface
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Looking across an area known as 'The Bowl'
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I only saw a couple hikers today, but got to meet a trail crew. I had seen signs of recent activity on the trail: cleaned out water bars, dusty rocks (a sign of recently placed rock steps), and saw dust from the removal of blowdowns.
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"I appreciate all the work you've done," I said.
"We appreaciate you hiking," one of them said. "If you weren't out here hiking, it wouldn't make much sense for us to be out here."
Looking back to Mount Passaconaway
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I stopped on the wooded summit of Mount Whiteface. It is one of those summits that you can go up and over without even realizing it.
"You're on it," I heard someone say.
It was one of the trail workers. There was a teenage boy with him.
"This is his first 4000 footer," the trail worker said referring to the teenager.
"Congratulations," I said. I then added, "I've been on this summit before, but I just climbed Passaconaway, completing the 48."
"Congratulations," they both said.
Here's some more of the trail crew.
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One of the ladies was kind enough to take my picture.
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Next I took a slight detour to the south peak of Whiteface where I knew there was a great view.
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Hmmm? What else can I do while I'm up here? I guess now that I have the White Mountains 4000 footers done, I can work on one of my two expanded the lists. The first is the 67 four thousand footers of New England of which I still need 8 peaks. The second is the list of New England's 100 highest. At 3840', nearby East Sleeper qualifies. I've got time to bag that as well.
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It was quite evident that the trail crew hadn't been on this trail yet. There were lots of blow downs. I had to take a short spur trail off the Kate Sleeper Trail. There was a sign for East Sleeper as well as a small sign at the summit. There were no views from the top, but it was my 66th completed peak on the New England 100 highest list.
I retraced my steps back to the last trail junction and took the Downes Brook Trail.
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This trail was appropriately named. It crossed Downes Brook so many times I lost count. I got to see a trail moose on the way down. It nearly scared me to death as it ran across the brook in front of me. It happened too fast to get a picture.
I took my last break at this pool of water. I removed my boots and dunked my tired feet in the ice cold water. Within a couple minutes my feet were so cold I had to take them out. There were lots of small fish in this pool.
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After what seemed like forever, I made my way out to the highway. Unfortunately, this wasn't where I parked. It was part of the plan however. I then had about a 1 mile walk down the highway back to my car which I reached at 5:15 pm.
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