Eagle Crag & Mount Meader

I headed off at 8:30 pm for the three hour drive to the Baldface parking area.   I wanted to be comfortable sleeping in my car so a grabbed the spare full-sized mattress and put it in my Sequoia.  Yes, a full sized mattress fits in my Sequoia.  I had my sleeping bag, a couple of wool yoga blankets, a pillow and a cooler of food.  Voila, a mini house on wheels.  The ERD slept in his bed in the front seat and, since the food was in an impenetrable cooler, I had no food stealing incidents in the middle of the night.  As I am typing this, the ERD is snoring loudly.  I can't believe how such a loud snore can come out of a 10 lb chihuahua.  Thank goodness he didn't snore like that during the car camp!

There’s only one problem with car-camping (besides snoring, food stealing chihuahuas), you can't check the weather forecast before you set off for a hike.   When I woke up there was a thick, gray overcast. It was damp and cold, but it wasn’t raining.  So, to cover all my bases, I set off with enough hiking gear in my pack to survive an Indian monsoon.

The Baldface Circle trail is a not a very exciting trail. It’s a monotonous meander under deep tree cover, without views – until you get to the last half mile - then it becomes exciting.  The last half mile is very steep, slippery rock face. The last quarter mile is a rock scramble.  A wet, slippery scramble, making foot and hand placement a little tricky.  The ERD darted right up and looked down at me wondering what was taking me so long.

Looking up

Looking down!

When I reached the top I was surrounded by a warm, heavy fog.  It was completely unexpected.  It was a cold, damp hike all the way up and I thought it would be colder when I cleared the trees.  Usually, when the weather is foggy I don’t stop – I keep moving so I don’t have to layer up. But the fog was like wearing a warm blanket and I sat on Eagle Crag for a while catching glimpses of white-throated sparrows darting about making their “chip-up” call.  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-throated_Sparrow/sounds.  They are beautiful birds – take time to notice them!

I continued on the Meader Ridge trail.  I expected it to have more views, but most of the two mile trek is under tree cover with occasional peak-a-boo views.  When I arrived at the Mt. Meader viewpoint, the fog had evaporated and the views emerged.  I was in no hurry so I spent a lot of time just hanging out enjoying the weather change.  The ERD seemed to be enjoying the leisurely pace.  

The ERD stole my cheese and knocked over his water cup.

I had no issue with bugs the entire hike until I got to the Meader Ridge/Mt Meader/Basin Ridge trail intersection. I stopped to feed the dog and was engulfed by black flies!  Well, not really engulfed, but there were a lot of them! There were also quite a number of yellow jackets on the top portion of the Mt. Meader trail. I had no issues with them but for people with allergies, you may want to keep a close eye out.   Apparently, mosquitoes love the Mt. Meader Trail.  There were so many mosquitoes, that even with a bug net, I abandoned my plans to take the side trail to check out Brickett Falls!

Mt. Meader Trail is less steep than I expected, not a bad way down. It's an easy road walk back to the parking area.  For more details on trail conditions during the hike: http://trailsnh.com/URL/68257 

Clintonia borealis (blue bead berry).  Interesting plant pollinated by flies.