White Mountains 2012 - White Ledge CG and Mt. Chocorua

[disney4dan 68]

Labor Day weekend was coming up fast, and Matt and I had not hiked a mountain all summer. Despite all our camping, we had yet to put on packs and go for an overnight somewhere like we had talked about during the cold winter weather and summer was going by too quickly.

Our scout troop was planning another White Mountain trip for Labor Day weekend and we decided to go up mid-week on a Thursday to hike a fairly easy mountain and sleep overnight in one of the designated camping areas created by the National Forest Service. Most of the areas in the White Mountains are protected scenic areas, and the more open places to set up a tent are usually located near or above the treeline and those areas are protected to prevent overuse and damage to the fragile plants. Of course, many people ignore this and camp there anyway, but I want him to learn to live by the rules so we planned ahead and went during a less busy time to get a spot in the Penacook Shelter, a first come, first serve, three sided Adirondack Shelter on the east side of Mt. Chocorua. If you want to camp in the lower elevations where it is allowed, you might find some open spaces for a tent, but a lot of people use hammocks and sleep between trees because there is very little level ground without a lot of boulders or downed tree limbs.

We got up bright and early, but left a little later than planned at 7:30 for the 3 and a half hour drive to the trailhead on the Kancamangus Highway. We started the hike at the Champney Falls trailhead area at around 10:30 or 11:00 am. Sort of late for a hike, but we were not going too far and did not have to hike back down on the same day, so we were safe. Brought about 4 liters of water and several options for "one pot" meals and typical hiking rations like beef jerky, trail mix, cheddar cheese, oatmeal and hot chocolate. And, of course, my morning go-juice of finely ground Kona coffee. I also packed a Katadyn water filter because we were not able to take all the water we needed and there are some streams along this mountain.

Here is Matt at the trailhead:

Taking a break about 1.5 miles in at the Champney Falls area where we refilled our water bottles:

They have done some serious trail maintenance on the steep parts near the waterfall. Can you imagine the work that went into setting these stone steps using only local materials and hand tools on the side of a mountain? I have to give those early trail volunteers some credit!

On the trail with his overnight pack - weighing in at 15 pounds, he was doing pretty good but getting a little tired on the steep climbs:

On this trail, you are in the trees for quite a while so the shade keeps things cool. But there really aren't any good viewing points until near the top. Most of what you see during the hike is this:

Then we hit the ridge line with our first good view area at an elevation of about 3,000 feet. Maybe 3.5 miles into the hike and about 2,000 feet elevation gain over 3 hours and we needed a good break. Way off in the distance, to the north, is Mt. Washington. That is the highest peak east of the Mississippi and we will summit that some day. For now, we are in training and working on getting the basics covered, learning from our mistakes (and there were a few!). The nearby exposed rocks above Matt are part of the area known as Middle Sister Mountain; some people will stay overnight on that summit because it does not get a lot of hikers. But that is against the rules and I needed to be setting a good example so we moved on to the designated camping area that was supposed to be just a little way down the east side of this mountain on the Piper Trail. It looked so close on the map, just a short walk away. Don't worry, we'll be there in no time and it'll be great ;-)

So after our rest, we walk the short distance to the next trail that heads down the east side of the mountain. Anyone who has hiked a mountain knows the feeling of how much easier it is going downhill instead of uphill. Well, it's not as easy with weight on your back. Matt was carrying 15 pounds, and I had somewhere around 35 pounds. Not too bad, but my knees are starting to feel the abuse of 40+ years of use and my legs were letting me know that I had been drinking only water all day. And I had too much caffeine on the drive up. I knew there would be leg cramps later and it was not a good feeling. But it's just a short walk to the shelter, right?

Are we there yet? Just a little more, must be right around the corner.

Are we there yet? Has to be, heck, we've been climbing down this trail for a while now.

We came across a young couple hiking up the trail and asked them. When they were able to get some air into their tired lungs they wheezed out a reply of "Yes, there is a sign on the trail for the shelter about half a mile further down this trail" SAY WHAT?!! You got that right, another half mile (nearly one mile distance from the ridge line) and about 800 feet lower in elevation. That means one heck of a climb back up this slope in the morning.

We finally made it to the trail junction and saw the sign for the shelter. I had read other trip reports and heard that the sign is small and the trail is not very obvious, something that could easily be missed in the dark. Fortunately, it was only about 4:00pm and we still had plenty of daylight. Notice how steep and rocky the ground is in the background of the photo of the trail signs.

We finally arrived at the shelter and were happy to see that there was room. Actually, we were the only ones there! We had this view all to ourselves.

Well, the photo doesn't show the view because we were in the shadow of the mountain at this point and the scenery was still in full daylight, but you can see that Matt was chillin while supper was cooking and his cup of hot water for tea was brewing away. As tired and hungry as we were, we had finally made it and there was room for us to stay. If the place had been full, we would have had to try and find a tent site nearby and the entire area is a very steep hillside. I suggest hammocks and/or bivy sacks for busy weekends because you might not get an area for a tent.

For those who are wondering, Matt's tea is brewing on a Trangia burner with a mini Trangia wind screen/pot stand while the water for the one pot meal is heating up in an Esbit cookset that uses a Trangia burner inside a protected windscreen to efficiently use as much of the heat as possible. The Esbit cookset is bulky, but lightweight and was only about $14 at Campmor with the burner! Here is the finished meal:

That was fresh brocolli crowns boiled in the water as it heated up, along with instant mashed potatoes and some canned chicken white meat. Real simple, real healthy and tasted great! You can also see the flame from inside the windscreen of the cookset. These alcohol stoves are fantastic. Lightweight and quiet with no moving parts. Just dump in an ounce or two of alcohol (we use Valvoline gas line anti-freeze) and away it goes.

After dinner I had to go hang all the food and "smellables" from a tree to avoid bear encounters. They take this stuff seriously in the National Forest. If you don't follow this rule and have an issue with a bear, you face up to a $10,000 fine. And possibly the need for new shorts at best or maybe even medical care if the bear encounter is more than you bargained for. In our case, all we really had to deal with are what are referred to as "mini bears". Red squirrels. Cute looking, but very annoying and aggressive little beasties. They will chew right through your pack to get at something that smells like food. So I went down the trail to the north east about 200 feet to the area of the pit toilet to hang our food. That way, in the morning when nature calls, I can just grab the food and my all important Kona blend on the way back to the shelter. I told you about my 40+ year old knees, didn't I? It comes with a much older back that doesn't like sleeping on a half inch of foam padding. The faster I got some coffee in the morning, the better off we would all be!

After refilling our water bottles in stream located about 300 feet south of the shelter, we set up for the night and did some reading during the last few minutes of daylight. Yea, pretty early to go to bed, but we couldn't find the television or anything else to distract us other than the sound of the stream in the woods and the critters running around in the woods.

We got up bright and early the next morning to catch the sunrise. Probably the best feature of this camp area is that it faces east and you can watch the sun rise over Maine in the distance on a clear day and that was what we were greated with. We enjoyed a nice breakfast. I got my coffee, had a processed egg and sausage rehydrated breakfast while Matt opted for oatmeal and hot chocolate. Then it was off to refill our water bottles at the stream, pack up and start back on the trail.

The coffee at sunrise:

Matt at breakfast:

After hiking the mile or so to the ridge line, we decided not to go the extra half mile to summit Mt. Chocorua. It's a very steep summit with great views, but we were still sore from the previous day and still had 3 miles to go to get to the truck. We knew we were coming back the next weekend with the scouts and I figured I would do the summit on a day hike with them, carrying much less weight. This mountain requires a lot of water during the warm weather, so I was glad to have the backpacking filter.

We got back to the truck at around 11:00 the next day, 24 hours after we started and decided to head on over to Lincoln, NH and get pizza/subs for lunch on the ride home. When I get more time, I'll add to this report with our Labor Day trip!

[disney4dan 68]

I thought I would add in a screen capture from the website I use to track my hikes and running areas. This was the track from our return trek from the shelter to the trail head, including some of the surrounding area. Great place to spend a weekend!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Looks like it was a good time, with trips like this it would look like you 2 are getting ready for a scout trip to Philmont. My son did this trip with his troop and they loved it. They plan a trip there every couple of years.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Dan, those pics are spectacular. I love when you share your hiking and/or Scouting trips with us. The scenery is usually awesome.

What Katadyn filter do you use? What capacity does it have?

[stefa70 205]

Wow, now that's camping!! The hike looks amazing. Unfortunately, my guys would never go for something like that. Too "labor intensive" for their taste.

Matt could not be any cuter!! I bet he has to beat the little girls off with a stick!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

That is a beautiful hike. Glad you shared it with us cause there is no way I could do it!!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Very cool!!!

[disney4dan 68]

Looks like it was a good time, with trips like this it would look like you 2 are getting ready for a scout trip to Philmont. My son did this trip with his troop and they loved it. They plan a trip there every couple of years.

It was a great time, and I would love to try Philmont sometime. Our troop consists of a lot of 11 and 12 year olds right now, with probably another 4 or 5 Webelos bridging over this winter. I think in few years we might be ready. Thinking of a 10 mile or 20 mile hike next summer on an old rail grade that goes into the Pemigewasset river area to get the kids used to carrying a pack. Just not uphill yet, they are a little young for that yet.

Dan, those pics are spectacular. I love when you share your hiking and/or Scouting trips with us. The scenery is usually awesome.

What Katadyn filter do you use? What capacity does it have?

Thanks Dave! I have some more from the scout trip over Labor Day weekend, just trying to figure out what photos I can use - should probably not be posting picks of any other kids in the troop without their parents permission. But I think I can come up with some more, certainly some with Matt and I or the other adults would be OK. I really like the White Mountains and can't believe I don't get up there more often, they are only 3 or 4 hours away.

That filter is a Katadyn Hiker Microfilter that is shown on this link http://www.rei.com/product/830746/katadyn-hiker-water-filter . I really like it and it seems to flow pretty good. And, more importantly, we didn't get sick! Although I am starting to look more like a Zombie each day!

Wow, now that's camping!! The hike looks amazing. Unfortunately, my guys would never go for something like that. Too "labor intensive" for their taste.

Matt could not be any cuter!! I bet he has to beat the little girls off with a stick!

I never thought Matt would want to either, but he seems to have really gotten into scouting and hiking. Even my daughter, Rachel, likes to hike with me some days. She was not into the idea of the overnight hike just yet, and we only have one pack that will do the job in their size.

We've been trying to get Matt to cut his hair lately, and he refuses. We haven't made a big deal of it because he is doing good in school and is behaving and all that stuff. I mentioned this to the Middle School Principal one day and he started laughing, said he was noticing that the girls like to run their fingers through his hair so there is little chance of us getting it cut! I figure a good case of head lice ought to do the trick :rofl2:

That is a beautiful hike. Glad you shared it with us cause there is no way I could do it!!

More than happy to do my part with Trip Reports when I can. The odds are not good for us getting to the Fort any time soon, so I will share what I can.

Very cool!!!

Thanks Carol - I bet you and the boys had some good trips back during the scouting days as well. I am so glad I stayed involved in this instead of just dropping Matt off for the meetings like some people do. On this last trip we had 10 adults and 8 kids; I'm figuring we had some good coverage there. The "bench" was deep enough to bring in reinforcements when the adults were getting tired and the kids were still wound up.

[disney4dan 68]

The very next week our troop took off on Friday for White Ledge Campground in Albany, NH just inside the National Forest Area and located on the east side of Mt. Chocorua. The plan was to have some of the troop hike the mountain from the Carter Ledge Trail to the summit, and some of the troop would drive around to the Champney Falls trailhead again and summit from there. However, this was Labor Day Weekend, and this place can get crowded when the weather is good.

First a few photos of the White Ledge Campground. We selected this location for a few reasons; 1 - it was cheap, 2 - it was a CG that accepted reservations so we could be sure to have a site, and 3 - it was on the trailhead for the mountain.

Some of the drawbacks - no shower facilities, pit toilets only, one water spigot for the whole campground, parking spaces are very limited for more than one vehicle as you will see. Site 8 with some tents on it way in the back - not very level, but there was a stream down the hill on the left - nice feature for the kids and for the noise at night:

Sites 6 and 7 that are elevated, with one common parking spot that is also located at a trailhead for the White Ledge Trail. Great site for our group, mostly level, wide open, but we could use more parking.

As you can see, no way to get a trailer or camper onto the sites.

Here is one along the entrance road to our loop (we are right at the end of this) showing the pit toilet to the left and some sites on the right where small trailers can be set up. You would want leveling blocks.

After settling in we spoke with the host camper who came by to collect some protection money. Actually, he came by to hit us up for $5 per night extra for the extra vehichles (the cost includes one vehicle per site, even if the description says two vehicles can fit on the site). While talking to our local mafia contact (he was actually a really nice guy), we found out that all the National Forest CGs filled up fast, by noon on Friday no sites were available and he warned us to not expect any parking spaces at the Champney Falls trailhead. Based on this, we decided to have all the scouts start on the Carter Ledge Trail. Those that were not able to make the summit would work on orienteering skills near the lower part of the trail while some of us attempted the summit. Mind you, this is not a difficult mountain, but the trails are considered moderate and many of these kids have not hiked much. Matt chose to stay back and work on the orienteering while I would try to summit with the other kids.

The day started out overcast and we had quite a ways to go in the woods before getting to any ledges and scenery. After about an hour we got our first view of the summit covered in clouds:

One of the more scenic sections of trail on a ridge:

More along the trail:

And more:

Before we finally started to get near the summit of Middle Sister Mountain with spectacular views toward the north:

I had a lot more shots along the trail, but most included the scouts in it, and out of respect for their privacy I decided not to include them in a public post, but the trip was really great. Unfortunately, some of the kids ran out of water before we could summit Mt. Chocorua (another half mile away - AGAIN!), but safety was a big part of the decision to return. These trails have some very steep sections where you need hand holds to lower yourself down, so we needed to be sure they were not exhausted or dehydrated.

Here is a photo of Matt on a steep section of ledge near the lower part of the trail:

Here is a screen capture of this hike:

The following day we took the kids to try the Mountain Coaster at Cranmore:

And a swim in a very cold river

Then back for supper (Matt whistling while he works!):

And ice cream:

[Judy in Texas 150]

Oh, I'll have to point my friend Joyce to your report. She has her eye on Warren Doyle's 2015 Appalachian Trail through hike. She loves reading about other people's journeys. It's great that you are teaching the scouts the proper way to do things. She and I backpacked to Havasu falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation in northern Arizona. The scout leaders were letting the boys wash their dishes in the water source. Not good. Keep us posted on all of your hiking activities.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Very cool, Dan. And that mountain coaster looks crazy!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

You really had some great views and a nice reward to do the mountain coaster, it seems more and more ski areas are adding them.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Dan-

Thank you so much for sharing your adventures!

That shelter you and your son got to stay in looks awesome. That is a really peaceful looking place. And that is some quality father/son time!

I love all the shots of the the mountains and the trails. We sure don't have anything like that in Florida.

TCD

[fortpartyof4 108]

These photos are just breathtaking. What a fantastic experience for you and your son! I'm guessing there weren't a lot of moms along for this trip…I have 2 scouts, and have yet to go on anything primitive. If they're close enough I will visit for the day but that's it!

My older son got to attend Scout camp at Raven Knob in NC last year, and Ockanickon in PA this past summer. Since we live in FL, I am so happy he gets those opportunities to see places that are more than 200 feet above sea level and do some real hiking like I did growing up in NY state.

FP4

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

FP4, I agree, while I LOVED camping with my boys, I passed on the traveling primitive stuff too!! One or two nights in a field with a pit toilet was OK, but several days and moving your stuff each day, nope passed on all that.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

These photos are just breathtaking. What a fantastic experience for you and your son! I'm guessing there weren't a lot of moms along for this trip…I have 2 scouts, and have yet to go on anything primitive. If they're close enough I will visit for the day but that's it!

My older son got to attend Scout camp at Raven Knob in NC last year, and Ockanickon in PA this past summer. Since we live in FL, I am so happy he gets those opportunities to see places that are more than 200 feet above sea level and do some real hiking like I did growing up in NY state.

FP4

Did you say Camp Ockanickon?

No way!

I used to camp at Camp Ockanickon when I was a Boy Scout in New Joisey.

It was just across the filthy Delaware river from us.

Small world.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Beautiful pictures of the hike, adorable Matt, AND ice cream? Maybe I should have been a Boy Scout.

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

Wow....great TR!

[Southern Blessings 4]

Beautiful place, great pics!