The day started with the sun breaking through the chilly air. It was clear though, which was a good sign considering we had had a snowy weekend prior. But a fresh blanket of snow is always nice to have. It covers up all the sand and salt that turns everything brown and gross by the end of winter.
As per my usual, I like to start my hikes in CHSP on the north side at Youngtown Rd. trailhead. It gives a nice easy warm up along the multi-use trail, as well as giving the option to check out Bald Rock Mountain right off the bat. I brought snowshoes with me, not know what the conditions were going to be. I wore them for a few hundred yards and decided nope, not worth wearing them. The trail was packed from the snowmobile traffic and only had the last night's few inches of powder on top.
Along the trail to Bald Rock Mtn., the morning sun was just perfect, glinting between the trees.
After a quick 2 miles, I came to the top of Bald Rock. Nothing like seeing the world right in front of you from a spectacular vantage point. I've seen a sunrise from this peak, overcast afternoons, warm summer days, stormy clouds in winter. Today was unique. High clouds were creeping in, evidence of the snow that's coming tomorrow.
Everything was laced with think ice here. Every time the wind blew, the branches clinked as they hit each other and the ice just barely snaps.
When I first embarked, I was the second person out after the snow, according to footprints. Here, along the multi-use trail past the junction for Bald Rock, I was the first person out here. When you don't have to do any major trail-breaking, being first is quite an enjoyable experience. (I might even go as far as to say that it's enjoyable when you're breaking though a few feet of snow too. It's just more tiring.)
My plan was to go see Ocean Lookout, on the southeast flank of Mt. Megunticook. That and Bald Rock are my two favorite places in the park, so once I came to the Ski Lodge along the multi-use trail, I turned right to ascend Slope Trail. No traffic on this trail for awhile, though some wind-swept footprints helped me stay on the trail, since many of the blazes are covered in snow on the side of the trees this time of year. I had forgotten the extent of the slope on this trail, but in the midst of huffing and puffing, one can always look back and see Bald Rock Mtn. rising behind you as you gain elevation.
There was one patch along Slope Trail that had been severely drifted in, enough so that I wasn't sure it was the trail. I went from sinking in an inch or two to waist-deep snow. This was the only point where I wished I had had my snowshoes with me. But I pushed through it (probably looking very silly as I took high steps to move forward), and things became easygoing again.
The anti-climactic summit of Mt. Megunticook! I admit the snowpack made the view a bit better, since it's a wooded summit. The sign was at my feet instead of 4 or 5 feet off the ground like in summer. Something about this always amuses me on all my winter hikes. I love seeing signs get buried.
Here is Ocean Lookout. With all the trees covered in a layer of ice, the deciduous trees in the tableland are easily distinguishable from the snowy rocks on the lookout, and the conifers of Mount Battie in the background.
As I was sitting down to have lunch, a cool guy popped up from one of the other trails up to the lookout. I ended up talking with him for a good half an hour, and learned that he has done many many miles of hiking in his day. The New Hampshire 100 Highest, trail work in the Whites and the Adirondacks, and plenty in Maine as well. We talked about Baxter since I worked there last fall. He told me about an amazing hike he did up there, hiking OJI, Coe, the Brothers, Fort Mtn, and then a several mile bushwhack though the Klondike (Katahdin's alpine swamp) and up to Baxter Peak, where he encountered rain and lightning. He headed over to Hamlin Peak and then descended along the Northwest Basin Trail to Davis Pond, and back to Nesowadnehunk.
I can't imagine doing all of that in one day, and that's coming from someone who hiked the first half of all that (came out to 16 miles) and felt exhausted afterward. I suppose this goes to say that if you do enough of this stuff, you can really push your limits beyond what you think is possible.
He departed and said he was headed down Slope Trail and out to Bald Rock and maybe Cameron Mtn. Looks like we almost put in the same hike but backwards. I descended from Ocean Lookout along Megunticook Trail, which drains down into the Mt. Battie Parking area along Rt. 1. Then for the new trails I hadn't hiked before: I took the remainder of the multi-use trail back to the Youngtown trailhead. Prior to this hike, I had only done the multi-use trail to the Ski Lodge, and no further south.
The oak trees along the multi-use trail are large and towering, andI had to look up a few times just to stare at them in awe. I took the above photo, since vertical perspective photos are pretty cool. Luckily the sun stayed out the whole day, though as you can see, it did get a bit more cloudy.
Assuming my math is correct, this trip came out to 12.1 miles. Not too bad considering a lot of this was along the nicely groomed multi-use trail. Hopefully I'll be getting out to do some more hiking soon, so expect more pictures!
