Wednesday, November 11, 2009

steep drop along walden trail


steep drop walden trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.


As I traveled along the Walden Trail, I kept coming to one incredibly steep drop after another. After about an hour of travel, I convinced myself that I was, in fact, no longer on the Walden Trail; that I'd somehow missed the junction with the Wonalancet Range, and was now traveling along that.

However, I was wrong. When I finally hit the clearly marked junction to the Wonalancet Range Trail, it was about 3 pm. I must have been doing less than 1 mph on the descent from the summit!

Following the Wonalancet back down to the parking lot appeared to be tempting fate - 3.2 miles back from this junction, including a minor summit. Instead, I could continue another 0.9 miles on the Walden Trail till it hit the Old Mast Road at a 4-way junction, and follow that back another 2 miles to the parking lot. Old Mast is basically a logging road, with a light downhill grade, so it would be fairly easy to follow if it started to get dark before I got back. Pancakes being the better part of valor, I immediately switched plans accordingly.

True to its nature, Walden continued to throw some very steep droppages at me before I finally hit the junction. I admit that there was a little cursing to be heard in the wilderness, that day.

Entire Mt Passaconaway Trip Report

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