Elevation: 2,086 ft (overall) 3,137 ft (total)
Time: 2:39 (Summit) 4:28 (Parking) 5:24 (Total)
Trails: Flat Mountain Pond Trail
Good weather, Columbus Day weekend, and beautiful foliage meant that lots of hikers would be out on all of the popular trails and peaks that provide good views. Wanting to avoid crowds, but still get out for a nice hike with some foliage and other sights along the trail, I picked something a litte bit off the beaten path that would get me some more redlining miles. I had thought about doing this loop of the Flat Mountain Pond Trail for a while, so I grabbed my hiking gear and put my bike in the back of my truck. Before starting the hike, I stashed my bike in the woods at the western end of my hike at the trail head on Bennett St. I then drove to the other end of the loop and parked at the trail head on Whiteface Intervale Rd.
Going in this direction, the trail starts off very easy by following a gated woods road that is nice and flat while following along next to the Whiteface River. Part way up the trail is a swamp on the left that provides a nice view of both Flat Mountain and Sandwhich Dome behind it. A little further up the road, the trail turns off to the right at a signed intersection. Here the trail becomes closer to the width of an ATV as it goes into the thicker trees. Another turn in the trail comes up soon where another sign indicates the right turn onto a path that is now the width of a traditional hiking trail.
Early section of trail
View from the swamp
After this junction, the trail starts to gain some elevation, but stays pretty gentle and easy to hike. Eventually the trail starts to follow along the wide of a drop off to the right which leads down to the ravine that the Whiteface River runs through. After a while of this, the trail starts to work down the hillside towards a crossing of the river. This sidehill section gradually goes downhill before a switchback near the bottom. At this switchback, the path appears to go straight, but that path slowly goes away without any real end. I pulled a downed piece of a tree up to block this off to make the right hand turn back for the switchback more noticeable. I missed it initially, but it was more obvious on the way back to the trail after this path ended. Hopefully by putting this section of tree across the path, other hikers will not make the same mistake I did. After this switchback, the trail goes down to the flat next to the river, before coming to a crossing where there once was a bridge, but now only the abutments remain.
Following along the edge of the drop to the river
River crossing where the bridge no longer remains
After crossing the river, the trail mostly follows the east bank using an old logging road. At one point of this section after entering the wilderness area, the trail was partially blocked by debris (branches and brush), making it seem like you were intended to go around it. I didn't see a defined path, and being a wilderness area, there was no sign to say if this was the case. I decided to just walk around it and continue on, where I found a section that was washed out, but still able to be used with care. Above this, there was what looked like a defined path heading off to the side of the trail coming downhill from the other direction. So perhaps, there is a new path leading around this washout, it just isn't well enough defined yet.
Continuing up the trail further, there are a couple sections which are getting close to the river that could get washed out in the future. There are also a couple small streams that enter into the river from your right that you will need to cross. On the day I was hiking, they were not an issue and the trail was pretty straight forward to follow across them and once on the other side. After a few of these small tributaries, the trail crosses back over the Whiteface River, back to the western side of it. Being higher up, the water was lower and the river was narrower, so it was pretty easy to cross. Right after crossing, the trail turns to the right and continues upstream some more. After a little while, the trail seems to follow a small brook bed that was dry while I hiked it, but there was a turn off from that to the right that I must of missed initially. The brook bed was starting to not look correct and the foot path was less defined. I looked around a bit before turning back, and luckily, I had only missed the turn by a short distance and I was soon back on trail.
Walking through the trees with leaves changing colors
Crossing back over the Whiteface River
As the trail gets closer to the pond, the grade levels out some, which makes for easier hiking. Once the trail does reach the pond, you are presented with a nice view across the upper half of the pond. The trail starting around the pond is smooth and easy, but as it works its way around, it does get harder. There isn't much flat area next to the water, so it follows along more of the sidehill with a narrower path that occasionally has to go over or around larger rocks. As it reaches the western side, the trail gets a little further from the water, and becomes more like a normal white mountains hiking trail, before working back towards the shore where the shelter is a short path away from the main trail.
Flat Mountain Pond from the northeastern end
Flat Mountain Pond Shelter
Right near the shelter is this open section of shoreline
I thought the shelter at the pond was nice and located in a good spot mostly out of the wind, but near the shore. There are also a couple tent spots near it as well, which was nice. The first person I saw of the day was here at the shelter, and it was a worker from the forest service just checking in on things and making sure all was in order. She was very nice to talk to, and we discussed a lot of hiking related things while we watched the higher than normal winds blow the surface of the pond around, and even at times lift some of the water off of the surface and blow it through the air.
Descending south from the pond and shelter, the trail follows an old logging railroad bed, so it is nice and wide and a very gentle grade going downhill. With the trail like this, it is easy to keep a faster pace while hiking down. It does however make for a longer route as a train wouldn't have been able to go steeply downhill/uphill. This does mean there is one longer gradual switchback/loop out to the right coming down. The few brook crossings that there were through here were also very easy to get across.
The trail shortly after leaving the shelter and pond
A small stream crossing on the descent
On the lower half of the trail leading this direction, there were a couple spots where the old railroad tracks would have crossed small stream/ravines on a trestle which are no longer there. Because of this, there are a couple dips in the trail with a climb back out of the lower spots you will have to deal with, but overall, the trail stays easy and gentle. This loop today could have been shortened a little bit by taking the Bennett Street Trail down instead of staying on the Flat Mountain Pond Trail over to the Guinea Pond Trail junction, but I wanted to stay on just this trail so I could check off the entire trail for my redlining. I will need to come back anyways to grab the other sections, so I will do the Bennett Street Trail then.
After passing the junction with the Guinea Pond Trail, the Flat Mountain Pond Trail does drop steeper than it has been for the previous sections, but it doesn't get very difficult through here. Eventually it flattens back out again as well, and becomes an easy walk again. After joining back up with the bottom of the Bennett Street Trail, the trail follows and old road which is very wide and easy to walk as you are once again following along a river. Once I got to the trail head at the bottom, I went and grabbed my bike from where I stashed it in the woods, and road the relatively flat roads back to my truck. While this was an easy ride back that went quickly, it did remind me of how differently the two exercises use your legs muscles.
Mostly flat trail further down the mountain
Nearing the end of the hike on another old road
Google Earth representation of the hike. Blue is hiking, orange is biking
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment