A tale of two Tables. Table Mountain, Bartlett NH

I was planning my North Moat loop hike and saw Table Mountain on the map near the North Moat trail.  Great, I will knock one mountain off my Terrifying 25 list. I got to the top and realized it was the wrong mountain.  Nothing terrifying here J . I spent so much time planning my North Moat hike that I didn’t bother looking to see if I had the right Table. Note to self: Table Mountain is not Table Rock. They are hours away from each other.

Although it wasn’t the right Table, it was a lovely mountain with expansive ledge views. Previous logs list this as a difficult hike; overgrown, numerous blowdowns, etc. Apparently someone has done a lot of work on this trail since then. The Attitash Trail to the ledges is well marked, easy to follow with no blowdowns. This is a short hike, only 3.8 miles, moderately steep. I rate this hike as Easy/Moderate. 

There is a bushwhack trail to the true summit that I chose not to climb.  As you continue along the Attitash trail past the ledges there are some interesting rock wall formations.

From this point the trail narrows and darkens under deep tree cover.  It was a little too Stephen King-like for me, so I turned back to go down.

Trailhead information:  The Trailhead is located on Bear Notch Road in Bartlett, NH.  The GPS coordinates are  N 44 02.669  W 71 16.569.  It is a small raised parking lot (about 10 feet up from the road). If you are coming from 112 the parking area will be on your right.  If you come from 302, the parking area will be on the left.

Mount Mansfield, VT

Loop Hike:  Route 108, Long Trail South, Summit Ridge Trail, Toll Road, Haselton Trail   

My husband and I planned a weekend in Burlington,VT and of course I wanted to climb the highest peak while we were there.  So Saturday morning we packed our gear and headed for the mountain. My husband brought his CamelBak pack, a couple of snack bars, and not much else. I had enough in my pack to cover almost any emergency, everything from bivy sacks to firestarters. My husband shook his head.

We parked at the Smuggler's Notch Parking area and walked the half mile to the Long Trail South trailhead.  It's a beautiful trail.  The heavy rains, from the night before, left behind streams of running water on the trail. The water brought out a shimmer in the rocks. The deeply striated rock shone with gold and silver flecks with each step. I saw similar rocks on Mount Meader and I decided to find out more about them.  I found an old PDF file about the "The Geology of Mount Mansfield State Forest."  Just in case anyone else out there (besides me) is interested these rocks; they are are called, "mica-albite-quartz schitz".    http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/geo/pdfdocs/Parks/Christman_1956_MansfieldPark.pdf.

Left: Mica-Albite-Quartz schitz, Right: Mica

As my husband hiked ahead, I meandered up the trail enjoying the flowers, cool air and the deep green of the woods. Vermont is truly the Green Mountain state.  When my husband stopped ahead to wait for me, he noticed I was eating something.

  What are you eating?
  Trillium.  
  What?   
  Trillium, it tastes like arugula and spinach.  You want some? 
  Uhm, no.
  Well you should look at the plant so you can identify it without the flower.  
  Why? I only hike with you.  If I'm starving in the woods you can show it to me then.
  Haa :).

The Taft lodge was very cool.  It is such a great place for a hiker to spend the night.  I wish I had thought about staying there.

eka pada urdhva dhanurasana on the Taft Lodge bench.

The trail is steep gaining 2,793 feet of elevation in 2.3 miles, but I really enjoyed it. No annoying switchbacks, just straight up fun.  The last 2/10 of a mile involves a considerable open rock and ledge scramble.  I love scrambles and was happy to see my husband enjoyed discovering his own inner billy goat.   I don't recommend hiking down this trail when it's wet.  If you're wary of open rock scrambles, take an alternate trail up.

 The summit is absolutely beautiful with 360 degree views that reminded me of Katahdin.

360 views on the Chin.

We hiked across the ridge as the clouds swirled in around us.  My husband mentioned he didn't have a raincoat if it started to rain.  I smiled knowing that I had an emergency poncho in my pack for him if the weather turned  (1 point for me).  But the weather held out and cleared as we hiked toward the Nose.

The trail to the Nose is closed right now so we started toward the Haselton trail. When we reached the ski slope, the black flies and mosquitoes attacked ruthlessly.  I pulled out my bug net and put it on my head. My husband was swatting black flies furiously, looked over at me with my head net and frowned.  I pulled out an extra one for him (2 points for me).  I grabbed a bag of dried cranberries and walnuts. Again my husband looked at me and frowned.  I gave him 1/2.  (3 points for me).  I pulled out a granola bar, gagged, looked at the expiration date, June 2012 (1 point for my husband).  Note to self:  check expiration dates of food in pack :D.

Haselton trail is much less steep and an easier way down so I planned the perfect loop.  Since my husband only hikes with me 2 or 3 times per year, it's nice to have it go relatively smoothly :).  In the end he admitted that I packed a good backpack. (score: me 2, husband 1).

For a detailed log of trail conditions: http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/vt/viewreport.php?entryid=21558

Ski slope to Haselton Trail

Most likely green frog eggs. Notice tadpole larvae clustered at the top of the egg mass.

The Nose - trail to the summit of the Nose currently closed.

Vernal pool on Toll Road on the way to Haselton Trail

Where's the hubby? 

Where the trail becomes fun :)

Summit area of 'The Chin"

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.