On a 40ish day I repeated a favorite April bushwhack (for the third time in three years) over several bumps on the north ridge of Mt. Weetamoo in the Campton Range, starting from Sandwich Notch Road. There were many interesting sights along the way. This trip has become a rite of spring.
The approach was via the Chickenboro logging road and an unofficial mountain bike trail.
An attractive drainage leads up towards the ridge.
Jumble o' rocks.
Boulder-strewn.
Looking down the drainage, a typical April scene.
A double-trunked white ash.
Steep approach to a col. Bushwhacking puts you more in touch with the terrain.
Lingering icicles.
I made my way to a view ledge I discovered a couple of years ago, looking across the Chickenboro Brook basin to Mt. Weetamoo.
Out the valley towards Stinson Mtn. and Carr Mtn.
Lounging in the sun for a while.
Bear and turkey, side-by-side.
Hiker, bear and turkey.
Coyote trail.
Coyote tracks.
An early spider.
Heading south along the ridge, the spring snow was perfect for bushwhacking, even sans snowshoes. An inch or two of wet surface snow atop a solid base.
A fine hardwood ridge.
Bear tree.
Bear "nest" for feeding on beech nuts.
A wandering turkey.
Ridgetop erratic.
A nice hardwood col.
Black cherry bark. This is one of the few places in the Whites I've seen this tree.
Last spring I found this view of Sachem Peak and Jennings Peak.
Sandwich Dome behind the two Black Mountains.
Hiker tracks - presumably from avid peakbaggers Brian and Mary Bond, who whacked East Weetamoo and Mt. Weetamoo on 4/7.
View east through Sandwich Notch from a small ledge.
Mt. Israel and Dinsmore Mtn. above part of Upper Hall Pond.
Catskill-like glade and ledge-meadow.
Looking up the ledge-meadow.
Great spring whacking descending off the ridge.
Beautiful hardwood slope.
More bear tracks.
Spring beauty abounds: a streamlet flows beneath a mossy ledge.
