With a only a few hours to spare after some business in
North Conway, I did what I'll call a "mini-meander". The target for my meandering was some bare
rock ledges and slabs located on the lower end of the ridge that runs eastward
from Middle Moat Mountain. It appeared that
these outcroppings would be easy to reach by a short bushwhack off the Moat
Mineral Trail (MMT), and in fact they were!
It took just about an hour from the time I left the MMT trailhead to
reach ledges located about midway up the ridgeline.
All of the outcroppings had a view of some sort, and of
course some were nicer than others. There
was one particularly nice spot which provided an unobstructed sweeping vista
that encompassed the Presidential Range and the Wildcat-Carter Range. The next three snapshots were taken from that lovely
spot.
Zoomed view of Presidential Range
Zoomed view of Carter Notch
And, shown below is an un-zoomed view of the entire vista that encompasses the
Presidential Range and the Wildcat-Carter Range.
Un-zoomed vista of Presidential and Wildcat-Carter Range
From my "mini-moat" location, I could look up and
see South Moat looking down on me!
Some of the other more colorful vistas included a view of
the top of White Horse Ledge with the distinctive pointy profile of Kearsarge
North in the background.
Top of White Horse Ledge with pointy profile
of Kearsarge North in the background
And there was an obstructed eastward view toward the
Conway Lake area.
In case you might have trouble visualizing the location
of my meandering, perhaps the Google Earth image shown below might be of some
help. I visited the general area that is
circled in pink.
To sum it up, this
was a very easy bushwhack through open hardwoods. There were some steep parts, but nothing
overly steep. If more time had been
available, I truly feel it would have been relatively easy to continue on up
the ridge to join the Moat Mountain Trail.
However, since I didn't actually do it, I don't know this for a
fact. Perhaps some reader has already done
this and will post a reply. Or perhaps this
will inspire someone to give it a try before I get around to doing it!
2 comments:
Hi John,
Was that snow I saw on the peaks in the Presidential range? We've just recently (this week) had snow on the high peaks here in Utah. Is it typical to have snow on New Hampshire's mountains in October?
Nice, short, hike!
Hi Rita,
Yes, it is snow indeed on the Presidential Range! It isn’t atypical to have snow on the New Hampshire mountains in October. Many times, there is a even a dusting in September at the higher elevations. We’re hoping to have a typical snow-filled winter this year, especially since we had a “snow-drought” last year!
Thanks for taking a moment to post your comments, Rita! Very much appreciated!
John
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