52 With A View (3) PLUS a Terrifying 25

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020 - So far I have done 7 of the "52 With A View" (zoomed-in on the unhiked mountains):
Today I'm going to tackle South Baldface, North Baldface, and Eagle Crag
(zoomed-in on the Evans Notch/Meader Ridge area).

I will be doing the "Baldface Circle Trail", going clockwise:
This is from a wonderful "White Mountains Trail Map":

It is a 3-hour drive up to Baldface Trailhead, so I'm hoping to leave the house at 6 AM:
Um, make that 6:45 AM

The moon and Mars were out when I took out the trash this morning:

Of course it is a beautiful fall day driving through New England:

Right before my trailhead parking, there is a lovely field with a view of where I am going:

Got to parking, and started hiking at 10:16 AM
The parking is on the east side of 113, and the trail is just a little ways north, on the other side of the road.

WELL, ISN'T THIS A NICE TRAIL:

After a mile, you get to "Trail Intersections" - the trail to South Baldface goes off to the left, while my next stop - Emerald Pool - goes off to the right:

Charles Brook is just a few steps through the woods, and is running strong after yesterday's rains: and I understand Emerald Pool is quite popular during the summer:

Back at the Intersection, and heading up to South Baldface:

Funny thing about me and trails - once in a while I am going up the trail:
and then SUDDENLY I'M NOT!!!

I was going uphill, following a kind-of trail through the woods, but there were no yellow blazes, so I knew I was "off-trail". I figure I was in this yellow box:
I was south of the trail. So I headed northwest, along the ridge-line, crossed a nice brook, up an embankment, along the ridge-line a bit more, and broke out onto the trail at 11:26

With the nice yellow blazes:

Right before noon I reached Baldface Shelter:
and the trail up to the LEDGES goes right behind it, to the left.

WAIT - WHAT LEDGES??

Well, here is where we get to the "Terrifying 25" part of the trip. The 1st entry on their list is:

BALDFACE CIRCLE TRAIL (southern section)
"several class II moves are required on the ledges of South Baldface; fantastic views are obtained on the ledges and also at the summit of South Baldface; I recommend that you continue on and make a 10-mile loop over both Baldface summits (the summit of North Baldface is one of the best summits in New England); don't miss swimming in cold but beautiful Emerald Pool on the way down; overnight accomodation available at the Baldface Shelter (below South Baldface)"

So these are some of the Ledges:
DO NOT CROSS WHEN WET!!!!

I don't have any "in your face" photos of ledges - they just don't lend themselves to up-close photos - but a view using Google Earth is pretty good:

This is a nice panorama from my (sheltered-from-the-wind) lunch spot:

After the LEDGES, you go up very nicely to the eastern knob (a sub-peak) of South Baldface:

On top of the knob
the "Baldface Knob Trail" comes in from the south (looking south toward Eastman Mtn:

The view looking back east from this trail-intersection:
and then 10 minutes later, looking back down at that trail-intersection (in the yellow circle):

You then go into some woods for a little bit (gets me out of the west wind), and I reached the summit at 1:13 PM, just about 3 hours after starting:

And this is why South Baldface is one of "52 With A View" - looking south:
looking southwest:
looking west:
looking north:
and finally, looking east across the Cold River Valley:
Thank You GOD for THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY!

I then hiked north on the "Baldface Circle Trail"
reaching North Baldface at 1:48 PM:

Looking northeast:
and a nice panorama from the northeast, to the Cold River Valley, to South Baldface in the southeast:

On Top Of The World, on my way over to Eagle Crag:

Eagle Crag at 2:36 PM:

I backtracked a little to the trail-intersection, to go down, and got a nice picture of a couple (for perspective):

The trail goes almost-straight-down for a while, then angle-down for a while, then levels out:
I was MAKING GREAT TIME on the way back down!

After yesterday's rain, the trail was pretty wet, but the streams/brooks were really flowing:

After the turnoff for Emerald Pool, the trail jags over to the right, but I kept going straight on the old logging road. I knew I was heading east, and that "the trail" was just somewhere close on my right:
kind-of-wierd - The last mile back down was not that jagged, and the original mile up was not that straight.

It was a LOVELY hike through the woods:
I did 10.04 miles in 5 hours 38 minutes:

Easy 3-hour drive home for dinner - 328 miles today. Thank you God for this Great "52 With A View"/"Terrifying 25" Day!

For my listening pleasure today: Neal Stephenson (a sci-fi author I really like) wrote his opus Cryptonomicon in 1999, and I'm doing cds 12, 13, 14 and 15 today:
and in-between the 2 pairs:

The Beatles - Beatles for Sale, 1964

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about visiting Art Museums and National Parks (and hiking in the Rockies)
hyperlink: dixonheadingwest
http://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/