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Mount Whiteface & East Sleeper day hike |
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This day hike started at the parking area in Ferncroft next to the cemetary there. From there we hiked along the road and crossed the bridge over the Wonalancet River to the start of the Blueberry Ledge Trail. We followed that trail all the way to the top of Mount Whiteface where we picked up the Rollins Trail briefly and then the Kate Sleeper Trail to East Sleeper.
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This starting point for this hike was the parking area in Ferncroft next to the cemetary there. From there we hiked along the road and crossed the bridge over the Wonalancet River to the start of the Blueberry Ledge Trail.
This would be my first time hiking since returning from the Grand Canyon backpacking trip in early May. I was looking forward to it because East Sleeper would be my second peak beyond the 48 New Hampshire 4000-footers on the New England Hundred Highest list. My first NEHH peak was East Cannonball and was part of the Cannon Mountain, North & South Kinsman day hike that I did in mid-February.
I did this hike the Pam, who was also part of the Grand Canyon backpacking trip, and her friend Ryan.
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We had a beautiful late spring day for this hike. It was already warm when we arrived at the parking lot in Ferncroft and I decided to zip off the bottom portions of my hiking pants and start the hike in shorts. We applied some bug repellent at the start as Pam and Ryan had been hiking the week prior and had problems with the biting bugs.
The bottom portion of the hike along the Blueberry Ledge Trail was easy and it took about an hour to reach the lower ledges. Sadly it was still too early in the season for any blueberries.
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After a few low ledges that were not very steep the trail becomes a lot steeper as we got into the upper ledges. Some of these actually required the use of hands to get up them. I actually found the trail a lot more difficult this time than the last time I had done it as a winter hike back in early February.
We stopped briefly at the big, scary cliff on the edge of the trail for some photos.
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The big cliffs and the climbing continued pretty much all the way to the top of Mount Whiteface and I actually found myself wondering how I did some of these climbs when they were covered with snow in February.
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The views from the upper cliffs just got better and better the higher up we climbed. We had a fantastic view of Mount Passaconaway to the east and the ridge leading over to it. We also had pretty good views of Mount Chocorua beyond Passaconaway and Mount Washington to the north.
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We had our lunch on top of Mount Whiteface and took some more photos before continuing onto East Sleeper via the Kate Sleeper Trail.
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It only took a few minutes to get to the Kate Sleeper Trail from the top of Mount Whiteface and about an hour later we were at the spur trail to the top of East Sleeper. East Sleeper really is a bust as a peak. There are no views and it doesn't feel like a peak in the least. It's just a little bump in the middle of a dense forest.
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We took a side trip to a really beautiful stream and meadow on the way back towards Mount Whiteface. We saw lots of moose droppings along the Kate Sleeper Trail and this meadow seemed like a pretty good place to actually see moose at the right time of day.
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We stopped briefly on top of Mount Whiteface again on the way back for some more photos.
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We finished the hike a little before 4pm and we stopped at the Common Man Restuarant in Ashland on the way home for some beer and food.
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