July 24, 2010
I didn't want to include a separate entry for this but prior to this hike I climbed Mount Tecumseh. I hit a couple milestones in the process. It was my 526th peak towards the Grid which leaves me with "just" 50 peaks to go. It also marked my 12th time to that peak, once for each month of the year. It is my 16th completed Grid peak. I also completed my July Grid marking my 6th completed month. Mount Tecumseh also has the distinction of being my only Grid peak to hike all 12 times solo.
So with my July Grid complete and wanting to make the best use of the long drive I have to get to Waterville Valley, I stayed in the area to do some redlining (hiking new trails).
I started on the Livermore Trail.
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Here's a nice easy start to the hike.
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I took the short .2 mile spur trail to Big Pines.
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As you would expect from the name of the trail, I found several large pine trees at the end.
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They were nothing like the trees out west, but they were a decent size.
I put my hand on one to help give it some scale.
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Here's a clip.
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I returned to the Livermore Trail and continued until I came to the Kettles Path.
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I never did see "The Kettles" and have no idea what they are.
I reached the junction with the Scaur Trail.
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This was a short steep climbed and seemed much, much longer than the flat .2 mile trail I took to Big Pines.
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Madison between a rock and a hard place.
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From The Scaur I had a nice view. I could see Middle and South Tripyramid . . .
. . . Sandwich Dome and Jennings Peak . . .
. . . and Mount Tecumseh.
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I made my way back down. I continued on the Scaur Trail as I descended some steps.
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I reached the end of the Scaur Trail
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I walked about a half mile on the Greeley Pond Trail which I had done before.
Then I reached the Timber Camp Trail.
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The Timber Camp Trail was wide and ascended gradually.
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Hmmm??? There must be a view from the top of that sand pile.
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From there I could see up to Scaur Peak and North Tripyramid.
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I continued up the trail until I came to an open area.
It was marked with this cairn so I figured this was the end.
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I had a view up to a subpeak of East Osceola
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I think that was the end of the official trail but I did find that the trail continued and even had a few blazes on some trees. Up, up I went. Then the trail which was becoming more of a well established herd path turned to the left. It levelled off and followed the contour of the mountain. I had another view of the same subpeak of East osceola.
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The herd path become less and less obvious and finally ended. I was only about a quarter of a mile from the trail that I had come up on so I bushwhacked straight down to save some time. I hit the Timber Camp Trail and took that back to the bottom. Back on the Greeley Ponds Trail, Madison and I crossed a bridge . . .
. . . before getting on Flume Trail.
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I came to a junction and headed up to The Flume.
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There wasn't much water so The Flume was not that impressive. But next to it was a huge rock face.
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The trail followed another rock face.
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I wasn't sure if that was the end of the trail so I continued on the trail which was now a herd path until it fizzled out.
I returned to the last trail junction and headed up the Old Skidder Trail which was quite steep and did not resemble a skidder trail at all.
End of the Old Skidder Trail
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The next two miles of trail I had done before.
I then took a left, went over a bridge, and continued on a dirt road.
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This brought me up to another bridge.
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There were a lot of trails in this area that were not on my map.
On the bridge, I found a helpful map of the area.
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Although I didn't have time to hike the Cascade Path today, I did check out the Cascades.
Both Madison and I went for a dip.
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I returned to the dirt road which became less of a road as it led to the Snow Mountain chairlift which I had no idea was there.
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Looking over to Mount Tecumseh
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Next I got on the Greeley Ledges Trail. I reached the end and never did see any ledges.
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I headed up the northern section for the Snow's Mountain Trail. It was rough, had lots of blowdowns, and was overgrown.
There's an old saying, "Rolling Stones gather no moss." I'd say it has been a while since these stones rolled anywhere.
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I reached the top section of the Snow's Mountain Trail.
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From there I took a short trail to a lookout. That must be the lookout ahead.
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It was a disappointment. The view was very, very limited.
I could make out the tops of Sandwich Dome and Jennings Peak
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I then headed down the southern portion of the Snow's Mountain Trail.
It was overgrown as well. Where's the trail?
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I passed another limited lookout.
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At the bottom of the trail, I found the trailhead a bit obscure and would be tough to find.
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I then walked through the neighborhood and then up the road towards the Boulder Path. At first I had trouble locating it. I found a small cemetery. There was a sign at the end and it looked like a trail. I went by a plaque . . .
. . . down a small walkway . . .
. . . by a seat . . .
. . . and had a nice view of a mountain (not sure which one)
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I realized I was one street to low and bushwhacked up to the next road where I found the trailhead for the Boulder Path.
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Given the name of the trail I figured there must be a big boulder somewhere. The next sign I saw confirmed that with an arrow pointing in the direction of "The Boulder"
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I was quickly running out of trail and thought I must have missed it. Right at the end I had to cross a stream. And there was the boulder, sitting smack dap in the middle of the stream.
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A rock path made crossing the stream easy.
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Northern terminus of the Boulder Path.
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From here, I had a short walk back down the Livermore Trail where I had started the hike.
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