A Trek to Two Locations in the Nash Stream State Forest

Throughout the U.S., and certainly here in New England, there is no shortage of peaks named Bald Mountain.  Within the Nash Stream State Forest near Stark, NH there is a mountain that has been bestowed with this commonly-used name.  I've visited this particular Bald Mountain on several occasions, and I've tried to make each visit a bit unique by coupling it with something that is new to me.

For this trek, the "new" component would be to include a bushwhack to a ledge located near the south spur of Long Mountain.  On prior visits to Bald Mountain, I've gazed at this very prominent ledge and wondered about it.

Shown below is a photo of the ledge as viewed from Bald Mountain. (NOTE: Clicking on any photo in this Blog will enlarge and enhance the image.)

Ledge on south spur of Long Mountain, as viewed from Bald Mountain

Getting to this ledge turned out to be a relatively straightforward one-mile bushwhack which was launched from the Bald Mountain Notch Trail at the base of Bald Mountain's north side.  The vast majority of this trek was through open woodlands.  Also, there were several attractive fern glades along the way, such as shown in the next photo.

One of many fern glades seen during bushwhack to ledge on Long Mountain

This is definitely "moose country".  Although I didn't see any actual moose, their droppings were everywhere.  Plus, I encountered several antler sheds, but none were worth hauling out of the woods as "trophy pieces" since the local rodent population had gnawed away huge chucks.  

The photo presented below shows the most intact antler that I came across.

One of several moose antlers seen during bushwhack to ledge on Long Mountain

A few paragraphs ago, I said that the majority of the bushwhack was through open woodlands.  Well, as an offset to this idyllic world, there were several hundred feet of thick conifers on the final approach to the ledge.  The conifers put up a good fight, but with some effort I was finally able to penetrate their defenses and pop out onto a small opening at the top of the ledge.  It wasn't a very comfortable spot.  It was cramped, and situated directly at the edge of the steep ledge.

Perhaps the next photo will provide some idea of my rather precarious perch.  This is a highly zoomed photo of the ledge which was taken from Bald Mountain.  The red arrow points to the approximate spot where I was precariously balanced.

Red arrow points to my precarious viewing spot on Long Mountain ledge

The next photo shows the view looking straight down from where I was "hanging out"!

Looking straight down from where I was "hanging out"!

Despite the short skirmish with the conifers, and my rather uncomfortable roost at the edge of the ledge, the views were very worthwhile.  The vista that I enjoyed is shown in the next photo.  Prominent features include a piece of Bald Mountain (immediately left of Christine Lake), Victor Head (small pointy peak to right of Christine Lake), and then South Percy and North Percy on the far right of the photo.

View from ledge on Long Mountain

Up to this point, the primary focus of this report has been the ledge on Long Mountain.  So, switching gears, here are some details about the Bald Mountain portion of the trek.

Reaching the summit of Bald Mountain can be achieved via a pure bushwhack, which I've done.  Or, the easier alternative is to do what I did on this trek, which is to follow a bootleg trail that begins at the far western end of the Bald Mountain Notch Trail (about a tenth of a mile or so from the junction with the Rowells Link Trail).

Earlier in the report, I showed a photo of the ledge on Long Mountain, as viewed from Bald Mountain.  So in fairness to Bald Mountain, shown below is a photo of it, looking down from the ledge on Long Mountain.  (In case you don't recognize Bald Mountain. it's the green mound immediately to the left of Christine Lake.)

View of Bald Mountain (far left, center), as seen from ledge on Long Mountain

The photo shown above is looking at Bald Mountain's north face.  From this viewing perspective, the mountain doesn't live up to its namesake, i.e. "Bald".  However, the name was most likely given because of the prominent bare ledges that can be seen on all the other sides of this mountain.

Once you're on top of Bald Mountain, you can easily move from one side of the mountain to the other via a short corridor that is mossy and quite attractive (see next photo).

Mossy corridor providing passage from one side of Bald Mountain to the other

The ledges on the west side of Bald Mountain provide very nice views of Victor Head, as well as South and North Percy (see next photo).

Victor Head, South Percy, North Percy, as viewed from Bald Mountain

From ledges on the south side of the mountain, there are expansive views.  One of these vistas is shown in the next photo.  Rogers Ledge and North Peak are in the foreground, and the Presidential Range is on the horizon. South Pond is at the lower left of photo.

South Pond; Rogers Ledge/North Peak; Presidential Range

Another vista that can be seen from the south side of Bald Mountain is the huge lineup of peaks in the Mahoosuc Range.  The next photo is a zoomed panorama showing just one slice of this colossal vista.

Zoomed panorama of Mahoosuc Range, as viewed from Bald Mountains south ledges

Shown below is a Google Earth image which might provide some perspective regarding the two spots that I visited.  The red arrow points to the ledge on Long Mountain.  Bald Mountain is located below and slightly to left of the ledge.

Google Earth image showing locations of the two places visited on this trek

To sum it up, visiting Bald Mountain near Stark, NH is always a pleasure, especially when there are so many opportunities to enhance the trek by visiting other nearby locations in the Nash Stream State Forest.

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ADDENDUM (added 02-Aug-2013):

Since posting this report, I've received some very interesting comments that were posted to my Facebook page.  For example, one respondent (John Higgins) stated that the ledge on Long Mountain is the result of a slide that occurred in 1974.  He indicated that he and his family often hiked to this spot up until the mid 1980s.  And he further added that "It was much easier to get there back then as the valley had been clear-cut and skidder roads went very near to the bottom of the slide!"

Also, I'm very thankful for a comment posted to my Facebook page by Kim Nilsen (founder of the Cohos Trail) who stated that the ledge actually has a name!  Apparently rock hounds sometimes venture to this spot in search of amethyst and topaz, and they refer to this location as "Diamond Ledge".

Kim's comment prompted me to do an Internet search, and was delighted when I found a reference to Diamond Ledge on page 205 of a book entitled "New Hampshire: Off the Beaten Path" (7th edition), by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers and Stillman Rogers (ISBN 978-0-7627-4054-3).

Chances are good that I'll be making a return visit to Diamond Ledge for further exploration and photos.  And hopefully, this Blog report will encourage visits to this spot by photographers more skilled than I.  It seems to me that Diamond Ledge offers the potential for some stunning images in the capable hands of a skilled professional.