Wyatt Hill - Webster Slide Mountain - Black Hill: 8/31/2014

Mileage: 10.25

Elevation gain: 3071'

Trails used: Wachipauka Pond Trail, Webster Slide Trail, bushwhack. Three Ponds Trail, Mount Kineo Trail, bushwhack.


I kicked around ideas for a solo hike that would net me some more miles for the Labor Day Weekend.  I finally decided on going back to an area Brian and I had visited recently (see our recent report from July 19th, 2014 http://hardcorenhhiking.blogspot.com/2014/07/at-section-hike-25c-mount-mist-mount.html.

I had decided to bypass Webster Slide Mountain as the extra 600+ feet of elevation gain would be a little too much with Moosilaukee on the horizon for our hike that day.  Along the way, I was going to bushwhack over to Wyatt Hill for some extra mileage.

Webster Slide Mountain, Wachipauka Pond and Wyatt Hill are all located in Glencliff, New Hampshire and are right off the Appalachian Trail (trails to Webster Slide and Wachipauka Pond, while Wyatt Hill is a bushwhack).

Neither Webster Slide Mountain or Wyatt Hill are on any official hiking list.

The start of the Wachipauka Pond Trail, a section of the Appalachian Trail.  I parked my car at the AT crossing right off of Route 25.

The trail was drier than it was a few months ago when Brian and I did this section of the Appalachian Trail.

I headed off trail towards Wyatt Hill at the closest point right off the Wachipauka Pond Trail, which was about a half mile to the summit.  I walked through mostly open woods right up the ridge and through several swamp area's.

This marks the summit of Wyatt Hill (elevation 1841').  No trails to here, just straight up bushwhack over both summit bumps.

Once back on the trail, I made a quick hike over to the Webster Slide Trail, Wachipauka Pond,  and Mount Mist Trail Junction and started to head up to Webster Slide Mountain.

The Webster Slide Trail is short but fairly steep.  I was "warned" that the views from this mountain were a bit poor but as I neared the ledge area, it started to rain.  I did manage to get this picture of Wachipauka Pond.

I noticed someone in a kayak fly fishing in the pond.  Not sure where they could have set in the water but they had to haul it in from somewhere.

The rain was coming down pretty good but I still decided to head over to the "real" summit of Webster Slide Mountain.

Looking over to Mount Mist from the ledges on Webster Slide Mountain.

Open woods fern whack over to the summit.  Quite a few of the fern patches were almost waist deep and with the rain coming down, made for a good soaking.

The main summit for Webster Slide Mountain (elevation 2184'). 

It was a steep, wet climb back down and I decided to take the short path down to the shore of Wachipauka Pond.  The guy in the kayak was really close by.

Nice that someone set up a camp here even though there is a no camping sign on the tree right besides where they set up.

When I returned to the Webster Slide Trail and Wachipauka Pond Trail junction, I ran into an AT thru-hiker going northbound.  She asked me where the AT was so I walked with her until Route 25, where she was going to hang out with some other thru-hikers at the local hiker hostel down the road.  Her trail name is Chicklet (or something like that) and this is her continuation hike from a year ago, when she had to stop hiking due to a family medical emergency.  She was walking for her mother who has Alzheimer's and raising money in the process (which is one of many noble money raising things to do nowadays, it seems!) and here is here fundraising page: http://act.alz.org/site/TR/?pg=team&fr_id=5860&team_id=200258.  I hope she makes it to Maine (I am sure she will) and helps people with Alzheimer's along the way.

I decided to get one more hike in for a few extra miles since the weather was better than earlier (ie no rain).  I decided to do a bushwhack to Black Hill in Grafton County, New Hampshire.  Black Hill is smack dab in the middle of the Mount Kineo and Three Ponds Trail's and is trail-less.

Black Hill is not on any current hiking list.

The Three Ponds Trail is also a snowmobile trail in winter.  It looks like there are several hiking trail relocations being made in spots.  I branched off on the Mount Kineo Trail, which I took for a bit until the point where I started the bushwhack.

I followed some orange flagging which started heading towards the summit, but most likely flagged a drainage when this area was logged (or future logging plans).

Moose area's galore on this mainly open woods hike.

The high point of Black Hill (elevation 2135').  The hike up was pretty steep in a few spots and with the humidity, it was a bit tough.

I bushwhacked down to the Three Ponds Trail and hiked out.  I didn't come across anyone else on this hike, even though the parking lot was full on the way in.

I still managed about 10 miles for this hike, even with the rain and humidity (I forgot my rain coat but luckily I had my hiking umbrella that I bought in Colorado which came in handy on the 1st hike).  I am well ahead of schedule to finish my portion of the 750 miles and with hikes like this, it won't be long.


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