ABOUT THE PARK AND CABINS:
White Mountain National Forest, NH - USDA Forest Service
Soar To New Hampshire's Pilot Range - Backpacker.com
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 44.502195, -71.331509
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| Even though the gates were open when I arrived at 7:15 AM, I parked in the pull out before the gates because of the conflicting signs... |
Maybe I should not have even been there that early but several pickup trucks went by and I walked past occupied buildings. I wasn't there for the fish hatchery and I was going on federal land, not state land, or so I thought. I was not going to wait in my car until 8AM or 8:30 AM or whatever, especially since I was doing a 12.5 mile hike and needed all of the daylight hours available. Nobody called me out so I kept on going. The map shows parking at the trail head which is beyond the gates. What's a few more steps?
TRAIL MAP:
White Mountains Waterproof Hiking Trail Map - Map Adventures
HIKE DISTANCE: 12.7 miles
THE HIKE:
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| Walking in beyond the gate on the paved road towards the fish hatchery. |
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| A sign at the fork, right to the Mill Brook Trail. We would be returning from the Unknown Pond Trail. |
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| This might be where the actual parking is. |
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| There is a sign over at the far side of the little pond. I zoomed in with the camera ... |
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| ... and yes, that is where we needed to be. |
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| It's a very lovely trail into the woods. |
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| The trail is not blazed but it is mostly easy to follow. Intersections are signed. |
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| Meeting up with and following along Cold Brook. |
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| The trail becomes very overgrown in spots. Brodie is in there somewhere. I came out soaking wet from dew on the leaves. |
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| The higher and steeper the trails becomes, the rockier it gets. |
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| More fall foliage here than in other places. |
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| Moose poop! It;s like gigantic deer poop. |
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| At the intersection, turning right to Roger's Ledge. |
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| The trail gets steeper here. |
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| Nearing the top. |
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| Finally, in this lovely shaded area that is apparently a huge moose hangout based on the amount of moose poop ... |
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| ... Roger's Ledge. |
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| The Presidentials in the distance. |
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| You have to return to the clearing and work your way around to the various ledges from side paths. |
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| Taking a break in the clearing. |
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| How dare I go scouting for more ledges without him? |
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| He didn't want to miss any so I went back with him. |
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| Heading back down. |
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| A rare trail blaze. I saw a few more along the way but nothing that can be relied upon. In the very overgrown areas where I could see nothing, Brodie got us through. |
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| Back at the intersection, now going straight on the Kilkenny Trail. |
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| Somebody is becoming less prissy about getting his paws wet. Feels pretty good when it's hot out. |
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| It wasn't long after this section where the trail became rocky, I stepped on a rock that happened to be very slippery (not in a wet area at all) and went down hard. |
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| I'll spare you the blood and guts. Brodie could not look either. I was amazed at how fast an egg appeared on my shin, I mean it come up the moment my shin hit rock. |
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| The cleaned up version. Always carry vet wrap and duct tape. And non-stick gauze. Don't know what I was thinking when I grabbed the regular gauze. That became a big problem when I tried to get it off later. Anyway, no bones broken, legs still work, off we go. And it really did not hurt after the initial impact. |
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| Coming up on ... |
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| ... Kilback Pond |
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| Moose tracks! I saw moose poop and moose tracks but no moose. |
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| We were taking a lot of breaks because the trail keeps going up and up and up. We were headed to Unknown Pond and I suppose the unkown part is how high up it is! |
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| More overgrowth. We never ran into another person all the way to Unknown Pond and these trails don't appear to be highly used at all. |
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| Some views the higher up we go. |
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| I was noting how it looks like they chop blow downs with an axe when Brodie sniffed ... |
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| ... and went in for the big roll. Moose scent? |
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| At long last the trail levels out. It happened to be very humid this weekend so the uphills were particularly exhausting. |
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| At the end of the Kilkenny Trail ... |
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| Beautiful Unknown Pond. This is the only place I ran into other hikers who came from other, shorter and more popular trails. |
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| We took a looooooong break here. I would have napped too had it not been for all of the hiker chatter. |
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| Continuing on Unknown Pond Trail. |
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| Along the descent, some high peaks views. |
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| Zooming in to the summit of Mount Washington, |
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| The Presidential Range |
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| The Unknown Pond Trail comes out at a parking lot. |
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| A left out of the parking lot for a 1.5 mile road walk to finish the loop. |
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| Along the way, a suicidal chipmunk. I could not believe he kept running TOWARDS Brodie. I had to back up before Brodie nabbed him and oh, did he want to. Then I had to pound my trekking poles and yell to get the chipmunk to take off into the woods. Brazen chipmunk stock they have here. |
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| Passing York Pond then it's just a little farther to the gate and where I parked. |
