January 13, 2008
After church this morning, I headed over to the Whites. Madison and I left the trailhead at 1:30. Being a very late start, this was just a small hike. Here's today's track.
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After walking through White Ledge Campground (closed for camping during the winter), we reached the trailhead.
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This last week we have had several record temperatures and a lot of rain. As a result, I took my snowshoes off about 2/3rds the way up the mountain.
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Madison was having a blast and stood still just long enough for me to take her picture.
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Looking back over into Maine at Pleasant Mountain.
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I reached what I thought was the top and met two hikers who were doing the loop from the other direction.
"Is this the top?" I asked.
"We're not sure," one of the same. "Is this the highest point you've been too?"
"Yes."
"Well, it is also the highest point we've come to, so it must be the top."
I walked around and found what looked like the highest point on this small 2010' summit before continuing on my way.
There was no view from the summit, but fairly good views before and after. Here's a view of South Moat with Kearsarge North behind it and to the right.
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I guess it is time to put my snowshoes back on.
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Just before I completed the loop I came to a trail junction.
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There's another trail that leads into this loop. I decided to hike it. I went out to the highway and back. For no real reason, other than the fact that it was there and eventually I would like to hike all the trails in the Whites. This is known as red-lining which is taking a White Mountains map and highlighting all the completed trails in red. I then completed the loop and finished a few minutes before 5. The forest has lost much of it's winter magic, but tonight we are expecting a significant snowfall.
This was a nice little hike, but with no major summits or sweeping vistas, I probably won't hike it again. There are just too many other great places in the Whites.
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