Eastman - South Baldface: 8/30/2014

Mileage: 9.95

Elevation gain: 3642'
Trails used: Baldface Circle Trail, Slippery Brook Trail, Eastman Trail, Baldface Knob Trail, Chandler Gorge Trail.


Desi wanted to hike Saturday or Sunday so Saturday it was, since it was supposed to be the nicer day of the two.  She tossed a few ideas back and forth; Rainbow Trail up to Carter Dome and Hight, Eastman,  and Smarts and/or Cube.  We decided on doing Eastman, since she wanted to do it for the 52WAV list, and then we could possibly do the Baldface loop. This would be mine and Brian's third time on the Slippery Brook Trail in the last year.

It was going to be a decent day weather wise with no rain forecasted and mostly sunny and breezy.  The only downer is the drive it takes to get to the trail head.

Eastman Mountain is along the southern edge of the Baldface-Royce Range in Carroll County, New Hampshire.  

South Baldface is on the New Hampshire 100 Highest List, and both South Baldface and Eastman are on the New Hampshire 200 Highest List.

Greg leaving the parking area that seems vaguely familiar...



...as does this sign at the start of the Baldface Circle Trail.

At least this time around the trails are dry (snow/ice free).  Also we dont have to worry about any forest service rescues in progress.

Reaching the first junction of the day (and there would be plenty of them!). 

The only real brook crossing is nice and easy today.

Greg and Desi at the Slippery Brook Trail junction.  This time we managed to go the correct way, unlike our mistake almost 8 months go (when we went straight and ended up climbing the ledges of South Baldface in winter).

Purple trees and grey leaves. Either we have had too much LSD or Bob Ross was getting artsy with the paints (or Greg's camera is slowly dying).

Alas, the moment we dreaded had to happen at some point. We had to go up and for about 2 miles it remained steady.

Finally we make it to the junction with the Slippery Brook, Eastman Mountain and Baldface Knob Trails and rest a second before we head over to Eastman Mountain.

You don't gain a lot of elevation on the Eastman Mountain Trail, so it is a pretty quick .8 miles to the summit of Eastman Mountain.

The woods around the junction, and along the Eastman Mountain Trail, are nice.

As we started to  approach the summit of Eastman Mountain, it gets more ledgy and rocky.

Panorama view from the summit or Eastman Mountain (elevation 2939').  

Looking over to South Baldface from the summit of Eastman Mountain.

Chandler (left) and Sable (right).

A weird summit cairn.  The Doubleheads are to the right and the Moat Mountains dead center.

Views over to West and East Royce Mountains (both summits in the clouds).

Looking over to the Speckled Mountain/Caribou region in Maine.

A zoomed in shot of South Baldface shows it to be pretty crowded at the moment.

Once back at the junction, we continued our hike over to Baldface Knob.  As you approach the bare summit views start poking out.

Looking back towards Eastman Mountain.

More granite slabs and ledges as you make your way up to Baldface Knob.

From the summit of Baldface Knob, the views prove to be even better than Eastman!  Here Eastman Mountain is on the left, South Baldface on the right, and Sable Mountain in the center. The Doubleheads are just to the left of Sable.

South Baldface from Baldface Knob.

 We push on to the junction with the Baldface Circle Trail.

Interesting rock formations along the way, along with blueberry bushes.

From the Baldface Knob/Baldface Circle Trail junction, Greg and Desi take in the views and check out the climb to come.

Another glimpse back to where we hiked over from.

A bit of a surprise was that some ripe blueberries were still to be found on the bushes.

The climb up to the summit of South Baldface requires a dip back into the sprucy shrub.

With views like this though, how could you complain?

The summit of South Balddace (as the name implies) is as bald as a baby's bottom.

Mount Washington is out in the open.

 We decided it was starting to get a tad late for our tastes to make the complete loop, so we chose to go down the infamous ledges on South Baldface instead of backtracking and going down the Slippery Brook Trail. Before moving down to the ledges it was a good opportunity to take a parting panorama.

One last look over to West and East Royce, which were finally out of the clouds.

Down we go.

Brian stopped to take a really short nap while Desi makes fun of him.

Ledges going down but these were the easier part.

 Greg and Desi start to make their way down into the steeper part of the ledges.

It was an interesting trip down the ledges for sure!  The picture here does not convey how steep and gnarly it was.

Our salvation came as the trail makes its way back into the trees and levels out.

The Baldface shelter looks a lot different now than it did several months ago!

This was taken from our January trip.

We made our way down the Baldface Circle Trail. Since neither of us had done it before, Greg and I chose to check out the Chandler Gorge Loop.

It turns out it is a neat little gorge area and almost worth a trip all of it's own!

Once back on the main trail, off we went back to the car and the end of the day.

The sounds of traffic communicated to us that our day was drawing to a close.  All told it was worth the visit on such a nice day.  Baldface Knob was a new gem, as was Chandler Gorge.  Eastman and South Baldface were also nice revisits for us, Eastman more so because the last time there we only got so-so views thanks to the weather.  The nice day and slight tinge of color change in the trees speaks of a wonderful autumn season to come, and all the fun hiking that it always brings.

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