no trespassing with bear dogs

no trespassing with bear dogs
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I left the parking lot at 9 am. The AMC White Mountain Guide says that reaching the summit is expected to take 3 h 45 min (p 407). At worst, I expected the round trip to take 7 hours or so, which would mean little time for dawdling or getting lost if I wanted to make it out of the woods before sunset.

The Guide is actually pretty clear about how Dicey's Mill starts - you have to go through some private property first. Still, it's kind of weird to hike straight on past signs that say "No Trespassing", even if they are qualified with the words "With Bear Dogs" as these signs were. I'm guessing a bear dog is a dog that is trained to hunt bears in some way... presumably the signs are not referencing amphicyonids, but you never know.

In any case, I trooped on through, past the signs, past the house where some guys were working on the roof (oops, guess I did meet some people while hiking!), and off into the Sandwich Range Wilderness.

Entire Mt Passaconaway Trip Report