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| Sunset on Rogers Ledge |
I have to start this post with a confession. I've gotten soft. Not weight wise, but in terms of toughness. I am not proud of this fact. Over the years I've spent hundreds of hours fishing in the rain. I've slept in uncomfortable places. And I've never let the cold bother me. I've fished until very late in the night knowing I had to work the next day.
Since I started birding, much of that has changed. Since birding is almost pointless in the rain, when it's raining I usually stay inside. I'm home at a reasonable hour so I can relax a bit before I retire to bed. Worse than that, I have only gotten one bag night this year and one last year. A "bag night" is a night sleeping in your sleeping bag/tent. However, I've done quite a few trips this year and all but my Pondicherry trip found me sleeping in motel beds. I haven't hiked once this year, and I knew I was not in hiking shape. What better way to "toughen up" than a trip to New Hampshire during peak foliage and seventy degree days?
Okay, that last sentence was made to be funny. I went to NH Wednesday night and came home Friday afternoon. The weather was amazing. I didn't see a cloud for two straight days. The daytime highs were around seventy and the morning low Friday morning (when I got out of my warm sleeping bag) was fifty degrees. I didn't even need to put on a jacket while packing my tent.
I left for New Hampshire at 8:30 Wednesday night after work. I arrived at the rest area ten miles north of Concord about 10:45. I parked as far as I could from the lights of the vending machines and went to sleep. I fell asleep about midnight and slept surprisingly well. I woke up just before 7 am. I used the bathroom and continued my journey. Yes, it felt good to sleep in my CRV instead of a motel room.
It was still a two hour ride to my trailhead. The trailhead for Rogers Ledge is at the South Pond Recreation Area. This unmarked road is off of Rt 110 in the town of Groveton. When I arrived, I packed my big backpack. I put my tent, pad, and sleeping bag inside. I carried my food in a dry bag on the outside. The only other things I brought besides Gatorade were raincoat, sweatpants, water filter, butter knife, and my book. I did pack four Gatorades and a liter of water. The liquids weighed nine pounds and I could feel it on my back. In my pockets I brought my little point and shoot camera, keys, phone, and TP. I kept my phone off most of the trip to conserve my battery power.
The trail to Rogers Ledge is to the west side of the pond. It was tough to find. Before I put my pack on, I forced myself to down a liter of water so I could carry it in my belly and not my pack. This turned out to be a good idea since I didn't need a drink for a couple of hours. Once I found the trailhead, I started with a pleasant walk along the water's edge.
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| The rocks in the Devils's Hopyard |
There is a side trail about .4 from the car that leads to a small geological area known as Devil's Hopyard. This area is a small canyon with a lot of jagged rocks to climb up and around. I took the right knowing at the end of my trip I'd be tired and sore. It is about .3 miles to the Hopyard from the main trail. Once I got close to the rocks I dropped my 40 pound pack and climbed up the canyon packless. The area was worth the side trip though not spectacular. The canyon wall was about 50 feet high. The rocks were covered with moss and very slippery. It would have been hell to try to negotiate them with my pack on. It takes about fifteen minutes to get to the end. I turned around, found my pack and made it back to the main trail.
The trail to Rogers Ledge is 4.1 miles. The elevation gain is roughly 1900 feet. As trails go, this was one of the gentlest. The grade is gradual in all but a few spots. Most of the trail is dirt with a few places where you climb rocks and roots. There are three stream crossings but I managed to keep my feet dry. The middle section is full of muck and mud. It took a lot of time rock hopping to not sink ankle deep. But all in all, the trail would be considered easy. I on the other hand, am not really in hiking shape. So you can imagine I was not in backpacking shape (hiking shape + a forty pound pack). So I took it slow and tried to pace myself.
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| Mother Nature laid out a red carpet this week |
Once at the top I was pretty tired. However, the view was awesome. The view from the top of the ledge is 180 degrees looking south. The predominant features are the Northern Presidentials, and the Carter Range. To the SW The Horn and The Bulge are close in the Kilkenny Range. As I said, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was seventy degrees, it was magnificent.
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| The colors were awesome |
My peace was destroyed about three minutes after I reached the ledge. Three hikers in their mid twenties came up the trail. They ended up being from Southie (South Boston). They may as well have been extras in Good Will Hunting. They all had the Southie accent. They found a way to work the f-word into every sentence somehow even turning it into an adverb a few times. None the less, they were good guys and we all took photos for each other. They still had a long way to go to make camp at Unknown Pond which was still a couple hours away.
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| There should be, but there isn't an apostrophe in the name Rogers Ledge |
My original plan was to go to the Rogers Ledge Campsite. That was until I found out that it was another half mile away and a 550 foot vertical drop. I didn't have it in me (or my knees) to drop five hundred feet into the valley. I especially did not want to make that climb Friday morning. So I looked for a spot near the ledge to stealth camp. I couldn't find any out of site of the trail. So I started down the trail towards the campsite
As I was working my way around the ledge a hiker making his way to the Rogers Ledge Campsite came down the trail. He was an older guy and asked me if I knew if there was water at the site. I told him I had never been there. He hadn't brought any water hoping there would be some at the campsite. He also thought my load was too big and told me he was only carrying 20 pounds. To which I thought "but yeah, only one of us is thirsty right now and not in need of a drink." I knew I had extra Gatorade, so I gave him one. This quenched his thirst and lightened my load by two pounds. He also told me that if I slept by the ledge no one was going to care.
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| Plenty of evidence of moose, but no moose were seen by this hiker |
So I headed back up the trail (I'd only gone down about fifty vertical feet) and enjoyed the view. It is technically illegal to sleep within 200 feet of a trail and within sight of one. So I waited until dark to set up my tent for the night. In the meantime two other hikers came up to the ledge from the campsite. They were going to take photos of the Milky Way. Needless to say, it didn't thrill me that they would be there until well after dark. It ended up working out in my favor. They didn't give a shit that I was going to camp by the ledge. They also were good company and it forced me to stay awake and enjoy the stars. Besides the Milky Way, Venus was so bright I thought it was a plane until I realized it wasn't moving. I also had a great look at the Great Square of Pegasus and the Summer Triangle.
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| My not so hidden tent |
I excused myself about 8:30 and they kept taking photos for another hour. I read about the adventures of Tom, Huckleberry, and Becky Thatcher before rolling over and closing my eyes. I barely heard the two guys walk by on their way back to their camp. I was tired and slept solid. I only woke up once. I did wake up right before dawn. I packed my tent and was ready to go before 7 am. I may not have been stealthy by my tent's location but by packing up, early no morning hikers ever knew I was there.
It was warm (for October) when I got up. I didn't even need to put on my jacket or sweatpants when I broke camp. A quick look at the ledge showed that fog had settled into one of the valleys below. The fog was so thick and flat it looked like a lake had formed overnight. It was beautiful.
The hike back was anticlimactic which is a good thing. I didn't fall or twist an ankle. My pack was now seven pounds lighter and I could feel the difference. When I got back to the car I got out some food for breakfast. I heated up a can of soup to go along with some cheese and crackers. I ate it at a picnic table while looking at the view of South Pond.
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| Lakes of fog covered the valleys at sunrise |
I had a long ride back to Lincoln. I stopped at a couple places to take photos of the scenery. I planned on stopping at Lincoln to go to the book store and the grocery store. From there I was going to do a short hike just because it was so nice out. When I got off the highway the traffic was backed up all the way to the ramp. So I turned back around and decided to come home. I got home thirty minutes later than I planned thanks to traffic on I-495. However, this was nothing compared to the traffic heading north. From the Mass Pike exit almost to the NH border traffic was backed up. That is a distance of forty miles. Those folks were going to be stuck in traffic for hours. Considering it was only 3 pm it was only going to get worse when the commuters got out of work.
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| South Pond |
All in all, I had a fantastic trip. Weather was great. Foliage was amazing. I slept solid at the rest area and was happy not to be on a motel bed. I slept great in my tent and got to enjoy the Milky Way before I did. I am in better shape than I thought. I expected the hike to be harder with my big pack. I'm a little sore now which is what I wanted. It was a great trip.
Things I learned- I always try to learn something each time I go to NH. I learned a lot this trip
Drinking a liter of water before the hike really helps
Remember how to use your water filter BEFORE you leave the house. I brought it with me, but didn't remember how to use it so it was dead weight
If you put a can of soup in your bag, bring a spoon. More dead weight.
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