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August 8, 2017. Hiking Day Eight (PART ONE) -- Baldface Lean-To to Dixville Notch

I have to split this day into two parts because Sage has the photos for the second half, and she won't be home for another 48 hours.  I meant to get those photos before she left, but I didn't...oops.  I will post the second half of this hiking day late Sunday evening.

In the meantime....here is the first half of our Hiking Day #8 -- the entire day consisted of hiking from Baldface Lean-To to Coleman State Park, but this post will have only the first half...Baldface Lean-To to Dixville Notch.

16.7 miles with around 3000 feet of elevation gain (the entire day -- not just this first half)

We woke at dawn, gathered our things, and swept out the shelter.


It had rained a ton the previous evening, so everything outside the shelter was wet -- wet and soggy ground, wet and dripping trees, wet food bag, etc.  We and our belongings (besides our Ursack food bag) were nice and dry though.  Our dry shoes lasted about 30 seconds as soon as we began hiking, of course -- the ground resembled more of a mud bog than an actual trail for most of our day because of the ferocity of the recent rain storm.

The sign for Kelsey Notch Trail is right above the lean-to...


Off we went...



Down to Kelsey Notch Road...



 ...to the service road up Dixville Peak.





There are some fun signs along the way...here's one of them...


Up up up, but never steeply...


We made the left turn onto Dixville Bypass Trail...





...and then walked the Dixville Peak service lane.  This ATV corridor was a muddy, slippery extravaganza after the night's rain...we had to slow our pace considerably because it was like walking on a sinking ice rink.


We reached the Wilderness Link...



...and continued upward (never steeply).


Here's a sample of the wetter parts of the trail, of which there were many on this day...


We reached the top of the ski area and it wasn't immediately clear which way we should go.  We kept going straight until Alex spotted a yellow blaze on a tree, hidden behind tall vegetation by a building to our left.



The blaze is in that clump of trees to the left, which is hiding a building and a yellow blaze.


Now you can see both the blaze and the building...


We walked past the blaze and swung left, taking the "Easiest Way Down."  This ski path is blazed as you descend, but the blazes are not close together and vegetation sometimes gets in the way.  Keep your eyes pealed.  Just when you think you've gone the wrong way somehow, there will be a blaze.






 Eventually, we turned right onto the XC ski trail, and then kept straight onto the Table Rock Trail, to Table Rock in Dixville Notch.




Views from the start of Table Rock.



Table Rock juts out and becomes a narrow ledge with cliff drop-offs on both sides.  This is part of our Terrifying 25 list, and all three of us needed this for our own completion of our own list.  However, the rocks were wet and slick with all the rain and, as you can see in the photo below, there is a slant to the beginning of this gangplank.  We therefore opted to return on a dry day to do the terrifying walk out to the end.


View from the base of the narrow ledge, looking east...


From here, it's a descent down to Route 26 on an extremely well-maintained trail.


There's a nice view of Table Rock before you lose too much elevation...


There is a lovely cascade (Huntington) before you reach the road.  Here's a terrible picture of it -- it is a million times more beautiful than my photo would have you believe.


We reached the parking area...


...passed an information sign about Early Settlers on our left and a small graveyard on our right...



...continued to the road...


...crossed the street and walked up it just a bit...



and entered the parking lot for Dixville Flume, where the trail continues.


It was around noon and we were about halfway done with our day, so we stopped for a half hour or so and ate a hearty lunch of mostly sesame seeds (we had a ton and needed to get rid of them!).

I will write Part Two of this day late Sunday evening, after I get the photos of this day from Sage (my phone was almost out of power at this point so Sage allowed me to use hers to take photos from here to Coleman State Park).

Comments

  1. That "nice view of Table Rock before you lose too much elevation" is where I took a very long break, partly because it was the first good cell reception in days and I could update my journal. At that point it had been over two days since I'd seen another human being.

    I agree that Huntington Cascades are very beautiful. None of my pictures really captured it either.

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