In a morning blur I woke up thinking I had nothing to
do. It’s Thursday. I’ll take my daughter to school and crawl
back into bed. It’s raining, raining
hard. It’s cold. Then I realize it’s not just a Thursday…it’s Thursday!
I promised a ‘Happy Birthday’ hike for my friend Lisa.
I am always in for a hike but today was one of those cold,
dark, rainy days where you want to curl up in a blanket by a blazing fire. I pulled out my computer and checked the
weather for Chocorua. Mountain-forecast.com
claimed sun and clouds, no rain. I’ve
been through this before – this proclamation of good weather. I didn’t believe it. So, I checked every weather forecast I could
find online and all read, clouds and sun
with warm temperatures. I set off
with the expectation that I may be in for another Paugus. I picked up my friend (who was very excited
about her birthday hike) and off we went.
Magically the clouds pulled away as we pulled into the Piper
parking lot. The Gods are on my side
today.
I had decided on Middle Sister since that was left undone
when I hiked Chocorua with my husband in July. I had read many logs about Piper and Carter
Ledge so I chose a loop that went over the Three Sisters and captured the
trails I wanted to hike. Piper, Nickerson Ledge, Carter Ledge, Three
Sisters and down Piper to the car.
I couldn’t have chosen a better day or a better loop trail!
The trails were surprisingly dry. All my weary ambivalence evaporated as I got
above treeline on Carter Ledge. I come
alive on ledges. I love letting my inner
billy goat come out to play. Whenever I
can use my hands and feet, I know it’s going to be a great hike. The ERD loves ledges and apparently he was
letting his inner billy goat come out as well.
I had to help him up three steep ledges but other than that he leapt up
the rest. The ERD made my friend nervous as
he darted up ledges and stood at the edge of cliffs surveying his
surroundings.
It’s an amazing trail but if you are nervous hiking ledges
bring a friend who can help you get through it, or choose the less exciting,
but very pretty trail, Champney Falls instead.
We shared the summit with another couple who had hiked up
Champney Falls. We lingered hoping to
have the summit to ourselves but they stayed and we had to accept the fact we
had to share the summit.
After an hour, we continued over the ridge to the Piper
Trail. The upper sections of Piper were
a little wet but not slippery. Below
tree line there was a muddy section and some wet leaves, but they were easily
avoided; the rocks on the trail were wet but not slippery.
This 8.1 mile loop is well maintained. There are some sections with missing or faded
blazes but there are very clear trail signs (and God knows some signs are
ambiguous at best!) making it easy to follow.
I would consider this a moderate level hike with killer views.
This guy is here to greet you at the Piper Trailhead
Leccinum, (the scaber stalks)
The ERD leading the pack
Lisa on the ledges
The ERD
Still a few black trumpet mushrooms around on the turnoff to Nickerson Ledge
Middle Sister Summit
Me standing on the edge
Chocorua views from Piper Trail
A beautiful hornworm
The ERD and Lisa on Middle Sister Summit
Lisa goofing around on the summit of Middle Sister
Lisa and I on the old fire tower on Middle Sister
Lisa and the summit invaders ;) (they had it first - we were the invaders :))
After hiking Hayes and eating some dinner, the stomach pain
from my unfortunate lunch had mostly receded.
Prior to the hike, my husband removed the third row of seats out of my
car turning the back into a full size bed.
Ready for an overnight in my car, I drove to Success Pond Road with the
intention of sleeping at the Mt. Success trailhead. Just a
few miles into the drive, a large deer jumped directly in front of my car. I
thought it best to turn around and sleep at the Success Trail ATV parking
area. I drifted off to sleep to the
sound of ATV’s zooming around me and the snores of my chihuahua.
I let myself sleep until 7:00. Feeling much better, I let the ERD out and
checked out my surroundings. Lots of
bullet holes in the Success ATV sign…glad I didn’t notice that last night.
Success Pond Road was much better than I anticipated. It was a well maintained dirt road and there
were signs at the ATV parking area advertising it as through-road from Berlin
to Grafton. That being said, the turnoff
to the Mount Success Trailhead was not well maintained. Having been stuck for 5 hours with my kids a
few years back, I could feel my lungs constrict as I started down this
road. When I reached the small
‘official’ parking area, I decided to continue down the road to the big field
(the second parking area) I had read about in other blogs. This is a heart-pumping narrow road with a
large rise in the middle just aching for a chassis to get stuck on it. I drove up onto the rise tilting my sequoia a
good 30 degrees just to keep my car from getting stuck. I arrived at the field and what do I
see? A small Honda CRV from Ohio!!!
What? This little car has low
clearance and the wheels are on the same axle!
I can’t for the life of me figure out how Mr. Ohio got to the
trailhead. Apparently, if you are a
person who has a small car and daredevil
personality, I say go for it.
Before you get to the difficult section of the road :)
The trail is rated difficult/very difficult on Franklinsites
and as I hiked up I couldn’t figure out why.
I thought it was a moderate hike and it felt like a gradual ascent. On the way down however, I thought “Who the
heck climbed this mountain? It couldn’t
have been me?” It seemed like an endlessly steep descent. There were a number
of sections of slippery rock face covered with a thin layer of moss, two small
scrambles (one I had to help the ERD get up and down) near the summit. The trail was pretty eroded at 2900
feet. I recommend being careful on the
cut log pathways. They are slippery and I
did an involuntary split on one of them.
There were a few muddy sections between the log pathways, be careful not
to step in them. I tested the depth in
one section with my hiking pole and it was surprisingly 2 feet deep!
Don’t miss the Outlook path!
It is has stunning views and a nice ledge walk back to the trail. Note: As you continue hiking toward the summit, you
will come to a fork in the trail, stay right on the ‘blue blazed trail’.
The Mt. Success summit was beautiful with views all
around. I called my husband to let him
know I was still alive and he reminded me his cousin from Italy was visiting
and we are going to dinner. I completely
forgot. Ugh..
I quickly set off to look for the plane crash. I crossed the
log pathway through the field but didn’t know where to go from there. Was it off of the main path? Was it one of the small narrow, overgrown
foot paths. I had no idea. There weren’t any details in anything I
read. I chose the main path down the
mountain. Using my GPS, I got as close
as 300 feet but the main path veered away from the site. I decided to bushwhack through the
woods. It was the thickest bushwhack I
have ever done. It was so thick I thought
I may not get out alive and my bones would be discovered years later tangled up
in the tree branches. I got as close as
100 feet but couldn’t see any way of getting closer. Forty five minutes had passed, I was going to
be late for dinner. My (mostly) patient
husband (who on a daily basis wonders why I do these things) would not be
happy. So I bushwhacked back up to the
summit. I emerged covered with small
branches, pine needles and a few spiders. Disappointed, I headed back down the trail.
About 10 minutes from the parking lot I see two friends and
their pooches heading up the trail. I
tell them of my failed attempt to the crash site. ‘Oh, didn’t you know there are markers
leading you down to the crash site?”
Groan…
Well it gives me a reason to go back.
39 (52WAVs) down 13 to go.
Early morning drive on Success Pond Road to the trailhead
I hate hiking in the dark.
I don’t mind hiking at night through woods I know and enjoy spending time
seeking out owls and documenting vernal pool species. However, the thought of hiking a mountain
trail at night, in unfamiliar woods alone, gives me nightmares.
After class I drove the three hours toward Hayes. I decided on the longer, but easier to find,
Centennial Trail. Too worried about the
time to get a decent lunch, I opted for McDonalds. They did away with the grilled chicken salads
long ago, so I ordered a quarter-pounder meal.
A mistake. Twenty minutes later I had stomach pains that would kill a
mule. Ugh. They will subside before I get to the
trailhead…NOT.
I get to the trail, I’m in pain, my face is sweating and I’m
sure it’s the color of moss. Hiking will
make my stomach feel better…NOT. I take
two hiking sticks instead of my usual one-stick somehow thinking it would be better
to hike with two sticks with a stomachache.
The extra stick just annoys me so I hide it behind a fallen birch tree
and continue up slowly. I make my way up
the steep trail, in the heat, with a stomachache and a green face. The three mile ascent felt like the longest
hike in history. As I neared the first
set of ledges I met an older couple on their way down. They looked at my green face queerly. I had to explain my green face to them. They said I shouldn’t eat McDonalds ever
again.
I know the summit is not well marked so I continued on and
on past a few more less attractive ledges, through mossy paths (matching my
face) until the trail markers changed colors and continued until I dropped 300
hundred feet in elevation making sure I hit the summit.
When I hiked back to the first set of ledges there was a couple
of hikers there sitting where I wanted to have a snack, smoking
cigarettes. My first thought in my
grumpy, green-faced state was, “They’re sitting in my spot and they are smoking
cigarettes! How can hikers smoke cigarettes?!” Then I realized after a strong wave of nausea hit
me; “Who am I to judge? I ate McDonalds for lunch!” So I started up a conversation. These very nice guys were thru-hikers who
only had 300 hundred miles left of the Appalachian trail to hike. We talked a little about their adventure and
their final destination, Katahdin.
After they headed on, I started my descent back down the
trail. Surprisingly it was still light
and I was excited I was going to be back at the car before dark. Then I
realized I had to find my husband’s hiking stick I left behind a random
fallen birch log. What I realized on the
descent is every fallen birch log looks the same as the next one. After looking behind what felt like a 100
logs I realized I wasn’t going to be back before dark. In fact, night had fallen so quickly I found
myself standing in the dark. But before
the fear could creep in, something wonderful happened. Gray treefrogs started
calling from the treetops. As I listened to the treefrogs, I noticed the walking stick under a
dead oak…not a birch. Haaa :).
Back at the car, I found myself looking forward to the next day’s
hike - Mt. Success.
