| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Bemis, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Nancy Pond Trail, herd path, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, January 6, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
2 cars in lot at 7:30 |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Easy to stay dry on the crossings before the bushwhack. No crossings on bushwhack. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Cracked plastic gas can at about 3000'. Anthony started carrying it down but got sick of it. It's on our descent track. |
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 | Comments: |
On Saturday I figured I'd take advantage of the low snow and hard ground and do a bushwhack. The Beefcake Boyz reunited, with Anthony joining me for his first White Mountain hike in almost a year. Carrie stayed home sick and I write this as I try my best to take care of her. Snowshoes stayed in the car and rock spikes went for a ride.
A fine day in the woods. Started the whack on the old firewarden's path ahead and to the right immediately after the Nancy Brook crossing. The old trail was very easy to follow. It's a little obscured at the switchback when the ridge is attained, but then again easy to follow. The "trail" was slippery with a mix of leaves and ice under a thin layer of fresh snow. A couple of spills happened on the way down, but the way up was no issue. Somewhere around 2700' the trail becomes more overgrown, but still very easy to follow.
There's a slight descent as it rounds the eastern spur. There was some deeper snow here, mixed with blowdowns that made the travel a little slower and more painstaking. It was easy to follow and flat after rounding the spur as some obstructed views started to open up. After about 1/4 mile, we got to the short scrub patch with 360 views. Beautiful views south towards Chocurua, east towards Giant Stairs and northeast to the Presidentials. There was a thin layer of clouds at this point, with the sun shining through.
From here we didn't find the trail and did some real thick bushwhacking around the northern side of the ridge, trying our best to track south where possible and stay on a good line. The trees here felt like razors and I was forced to don my shell. Eventually we rediscovered the trail, which we had no trouble following back to the view on the return.
When the trail got obscured with many giant blow downs, we tracked south and picked up a drainage for a while. It had a layer of breakable ice and running water, but only a couple of inches. When that became to obscured we tracked even more south and headed straight for the spine. This was the toughest bushwhacking of the day, with patches of deep snow and lots of blowdowns to navigate.
When we reached the spine, the trail was easy to follow northwest to the ruins of the Bemis fire tower. There was some wire before the tower, and then lots of artifacts at the site. We tracked around the site of the fire tower to the north, where there is an excellent view up Crawford Notch and Sleeper Brook ravine towards Giant Stairs. The higher peaks were in the clouds. We circled around and followed some herd path to the summit, where we found a jar wrapped in orange tape. We didn't see the canteen or the broken jar.
By this point we were both soaked from all the loose snow on the trees and the physical labor of climbing to the ridge. It felt quite cold at the summit and as soon as I took off my mitts and shell to put on some dry layers, they froze solid (I'll need a new DWR on my shell, or to buy a new one, it was soaked through). Even my feet were slightly chilly in my 400g insulated boots. It was definitely above zero F, so I attribute the chill to the wetness. After having some hot tea, I put back on my stiff and frozen clothes, not without some effort, and we started making our way back down.
We took a more direct route to the fire tower on the return, but it was thick. We followed our tracks back down all the way to where we picked up the trail, as I mentioned earlier. Following the trail back to the view was much easier. Anthony commented, "if it gets hard, you are going the wrong way". It was significantly warmer below the summit. The rest of the hike was uneventful other that a few wipe outs, which probably could have been avoided with rock spikes, but we never claimed to be smart.
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 | Name: |
The Handsome Hiker |
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 | E-Mail: |
rcorsaro@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-01-07 |
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 | Link: |
 https://strava.com/activities/10511678916/overview |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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