November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Yes, I'm hiking on Thanksgiving. I'm definitely a hopeless case, but I plan to get home in time to be with family. Madison and I left the Ferncroft parking lot at 7:35. One hour and forty-five minutes later we were on the south peak of Whiteface. It's late November and we still have no snow in the mountains.
Madison on the south peak of Whiteface
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There was a beautiful undercast.
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Looking over to Passaconaway
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We headed up and over the viewless summit of Whiteface and over to Passaconaway.
The skies had clouded in, but I still had a partial view just past the summit.
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Now that I had my two 4000 footers out of the way, it was time for some red-lining. There are lots of trails to the east of these peaks. Each time I hike them, I take a route back that it is a little further east. I hiked down to the trail for Square Ledge.
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I began to hike up. Then just like that the trail turned and started back down the mountain. This didn't sound right to me so I checked the map. Sure enough, from this point, I would be hiking down to Square Ledge. Along the way, Madison jumped up on a rock and posed for me.
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Square Ledge is on the list of mountains for New Hampshire's 52-with-a-view although it is clearly not a peak. But it was a nice spot. Here's the view.
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I continued to drop down the mountain. This last mile of trail was quite tough. It was overgrown, hard to follow at times, had lots of twists and turns, and was quite steep in places.
Looking back up through the trees at Square Ledge.
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I passed the junction for Square Ledge Branch Trail and continued until I reached the junction for the Lawrence Trail.
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I was only on this for .3 miles as I headed up to Paugus Pass. I then got on the Kelley Trail.
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I took this back to the Ferncroft parking lot, but just before I got there, I went over Smalley Bridge.
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Madison and I got back to my truck at 2:00 p.m. Today's peaks brought my November Grid count up to 47. Just one to go. I should be able to hike Moriah this weekend and finished my first month for the Grid.
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