White Mountain National Forest, NH - Rogers Ledge and Unknown Pond

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

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:

Walking in beyond the gate on the paved road towards the fish hatchery.

A sign at the fork, right to the Mill Brook Trail.  We would be returning from the Unknown Pond Trail.

This might be where the actual parking is.

There is a sign over at the far side of the little pond.  I zoomed in with the camera ...

... and yes, that is where we needed to be.

It's a very lovely trail into the woods.

The trail is not blazed but it is mostly easy to follow.  Intersections are signed.

Meeting up with and following along Cold Brook.

The trail becomes very overgrown in spots.  Brodie is in there somewhere.  I came out soaking wet from dew on the leaves.

The higher and steeper the trails becomes, the rockier it gets.

More fall foliage here than in other places.

Moose poop!  It;s like gigantic deer poop.

At the intersection, turning right to Roger's Ledge.

The trail gets steeper here.

Nearing the top.

Finally, in this lovely shaded area that is apparently a huge moose hangout based on the amount of moose poop ...

... Roger's Ledge.

The Presidentials in the distance.

You have to return to the clearing and work your way around to the various ledges from side paths.

Taking a break in the clearing.

How dare I go scouting for more ledges without him?

He didn't want to miss any so I went back with him.

Heading back down.

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.

Back at the intersection, now going straight on the Kilkenny Trail.

Somebody is becoming less prissy about getting his paws wet.  Feels pretty good when it's hot out.

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.

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.

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.

Coming up on ...

... Kilback Pond

Moose tracks!  I saw moose poop and moose tracks but no moose.

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!

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.

Some views the higher up we go.

I was noting how it looks like they chop blow downs with an axe when Brodie sniffed ...

... and went in for the big roll.  Moose scent?

At long last the trail levels out.  It happened to be very humid this weekend so the uphills were particularly exhausting.

At the end of the Kilkenny Trail ...

Beautiful Unknown Pond.  This is the only place I ran into other hikers who came from other, shorter and more popular trails.

We took a looooooong break here.  I would have napped too had it not been for all of the hiker chatter.

Continuing on Unknown Pond Trail.

Along the descent, some high peaks views.

Zooming in to the summit of Mount Washington,

The Presidential Range

The Unknown Pond Trail comes out at a parking lot.

A left out of the parking lot for a 1.5 mile road walk to finish the loop.

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.

Passing York Pond then it's just a little farther to the gate and where I parked.