Today I hiked Mt Whiteface, my 21st 4000-footer! I went up via the Blueberry Ledge Trail, and returned the same way. According to the AMC White Mountain Guide, the Ferncroft parking lot where the hike starts is at 1,140 ft above sea level. Mt Whiteface is 4,019 ft tall, so the elevation change was 2979 ft. It didn't seem so steep, though.
It's a straightforward hike, but it is misleading to start. The trail is pretty flat for about the first mile, then trends up and eventually takes you over numerous stairs constructed from stone. Just when you are wondering whether you are really in the White Mountains, because this seems far too easy, you come to a sloping ledge with a steep drop-off. After circumventing that, the trail goes up several slabs and ledges that call for some rock-climbing moves (I needed my hands to get up the trail several times). It's fun, but I wouldn't want to do it in the rain.
This is a view of one of the steeper slabs, higher up on Whiteface. If you zoom in, you'll see pairs of holes running up diagonally to the right. Perhaps there was once a wooden ladder here. I went up this area at the far left. It's a slippery slope down at the bottom; I used the dead tree stump to pull myself up.
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| steep slab on Mt Whiteface |
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