To get there, first get to Conway NH, and then take route 113 north, which crosses the border into Maine (Fryeburg) for a while. The trailhead is about two miles past where 113 crosses back into NH, at the AMC Cold River campground. Note that there's also a US Dept of Forestry campground, also called Cold River, a mile or so after that.
David Anderson, a good friend of mine from Senior House days,
came along with me for this hike.
Dave and I drove up the night before (takes about 3.5 hours from
Boston) and camped in my van overnight. We ended up at the DoF
campground, though, and had to backtrack in the morning! I recommend
scrambled eggs with a little cheese, first thing on a hiking morning.
Here we are on the trail.
The Baldface Circle Trail forms a big loop, including North and South
Baldface summits, enclosing the majestic basin between them. We
followed the loop clockwise, putting the sun behind us most of the
time, but it could also be done counterclockwise. These pictures show
the view from North Baldface, looking down into the basin.
On the ascent we took a side trail to Chandler Gorge, which is a
pretty little chasm with a waterfall and pool. There are lots of red
trillium (which are a deep maroon flower with three pointed petals)
and white trillium (same flower with white petals, beautifully veined
in red). There are quite a few pink ladyslippers around (the only
orchid native to New England), and I even saw a white ladyslipper,
which I'd never seen before!
From here we ascend a ridge, at a fairly steady grade, until we find
the South Baldface shelter, an open Adirondack style.
Just past the shelter, the trail goes right up a steep slab, almost a
cliff! This requires both hands and a fair amount of strength, almost
technical enough for ropes. It's great fun to climb up, but I think
it would be unpleasant to descend. Here are lots of the white
four-petaled flower that I think is fourfoil, and the higher areas are
loaded with a purple flower like heather. Fat bumblebees buzz and
clamber over the flowers.
At the top of the slab, suddenly we were on the ridge, an Alpine
moonscape that reminds me of hiking in Scotland. Although the air was
not very cold (low 70s or so), we had a steady wind from the east,
30-40 mph, that chilled us fast. The ascent from this knob to the
summit of South Baldface was easier. From the summit, we can see the
panoramic view of the White Mountains, which is really stunning.
These pictures are at the South Baldface summit, where the wind was
quite strong, maybe 50 mph. You can see my shirt flapping in the
wind, and my hat is tied on with a bandanna, giving that charming
Pioneer bonnet effect. Mount Washington is in the background (with
Tuckerman Ravine still full of snow!).
Once we made the ridge, it became an easy walk to North Baldface, with
more great views. The first picture is looking south, back the way we
came, and you can see the trail we just took, leading along the ridge.
The biggest problem was that, as the wind died down, out came the black flies! In the first picture, you can see a blue bandanna in my hand. I was using this to flap and brush away the flies, and I stopped just long enough for the camera timer to take the picture.
Dave seemed to deal with them without too much trouble.
I resorted to DEET (which I don't like to use) and a mosquito net for
my head, which is better because you don't inhale the little buggers.
They were so thick and vigorous that I could actually hear them
hitting the net.
From here we could have proceeded to Eagle Crag and continued on the
Circle trail, but we were starting to get a bit tired and sore. So we
took the Bicknell Ridge trail down, which cuts a little distance off
the trip, and also allowed us to take a link to the Eagle Cascade, a
steep section of mountainside with a vigorous stream splashing and
roaring down the rocks. The descent is fairly moderate in grade,
without the severe slabs and cliffs of South Baldface, and there are
great views much of the way.
At the Circle Junction (the loop closure), there's a side trail to
Emerald Pool. This turned out to be a real treat! It's a waterfall
with a wide pool below it, very deep and very green. So I took my
clothes off and got in the water. Yeep! This water is really fresh
snowmelt, and you can see that I don't look very relaxed! It was too
cold to enjoy swimming (although the pool is plenty deep enough), but
I did manage to wash off the sweat. And yes, I kept my hat on, because
the black flies were still pretty thick.
Here's David pretending to be a water nymph at Emerald Pool. The
first picture was taken from the pool, looking up at the waterfall.
The second picture was taken from above the waterfall, looking down
the flume to the pool.
This page maintained by Wil Howitt