Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Mousse on Moosilauke (and a Visit to Blue). Aug. 30, 2013

Beaver Brook Trail, Benton Trail.  7.6 miles roundtrip, 3050 feet of elevation gain.

Beaver Brook Trail has a reputation for being tough...and gorgeous.  The girls and I have been up Moosilauke many times, but always by other routes (Glencliff and Gorge Brook).  It was time to give this steep path a go.  Also, Alex is still (quite casually) pursuing the Trailwrights list, and one comes within close proximity to Mt. Blue's summit when one ascends the Moose from this direction.

Heading up...



Beaver Brook Trail is part of the Appalachian Trail.  Someone had made this flowery AT sign not far from the trailhead...



We don't lack experience and we always take special care, so we continued upward...


The trail got steep and remained steep shortly after the above sign.  The trail isn't dangerous so much as it is steep steep steep.  It's two miles straight up the mountain over stone rocks and wooden stairs (that are bolted into the rocks).


Pretty cascades...









Approaching Beaver Brook shelter...


Continuing upward...




Mt. Blue is described as a bushwhack, but right now there's a cairn marking the entrance to a well-defined herd path that will lead you right to Blue's summit.  The cairn is on Beaver Brook Trail on the west side of Blue, right where the trail turns north after having gone west for a bit.


Obvious and seemingly-maintained herd path to Blue...


Register!  We were there after five or ten minutes of walking on the herd path (I'd guess that path is two tenths of a mile long, at most).


We signed the register,...


...made our way back to Beaver Brook Trail, and continued to the intersection with Benton Trail.



From the intersection, it's 0.4 mile to Moosilauke's summit.



'Twas a wee bit cloudy up there.






'Twas also windy....the girls are bracing themselves against the stiff breeze in the photo below.


Mousse on Moosilauke!  Desserts on the 48 continues!  :)



Our stuffed animals on Moosilauke...


Taking a break from the wind...


The temperatures weren't bad once we were out of the wind (perhaps 50 degrees?), so we hung out for a while and ate lunch.  There were no views, but we had a nice time watching hikers materialize from the fog every now and then.

Eventually, we headed down.



End of hike!



Miscellaneous notes:

We gave six northbound AT thru-hikers Snickers bars.  I almost always carry candy bars this time of year whenever we're hiking something that's on the AT...I know those gals and guys need all the calories they can get.

A father-daughter duo was heading up as we were heading down.  Russ and ten-year-old Becca are two cool, hardcore hikers -- this was their first time up Moosilauke and they chose Beaver Brook...most first-timers take the much easier Gorge Brook Trail (as we did).  Kudos to them for their chutzpah!  Russ and Becca are making their way through the 48 and we hope to see them out there again soon.  It was truly a pleasure to meet them.
 
This was Alex's 5th time and Sage's 3rd time up Moosilauke.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Thanks for sharing!