Whiteface & Passaconaway Backpacking Trip

 

"Nothing perhaps affects man's character more than the company he keeps."

Last minute plans came about to backpack on Whiteface and Passaconaway mid week. Daniel still needed these two peaks for his 48 finish, and I very badly needed to escape and sleep in the woods. I knew of a stealth spot just off the summit of Whiteface so the plan was to start later and head up for the night.

We both met at the trailhead by 3:15pm. We took our time and our two dogs and headed up the 3.8 mile trail to the outlook of Whiteface. We went via Blueberry ledge Trail as he had never done this hike before, I felt it would be a fun one!

We made it to the outlook at roughly 6:00pm. Unfortunately to find a very large group of campers with 3 tents all on the outlook. We continued a little bit to the stealth spot I knew of and sure enough no one was there, even though this spot is large enough for several tents.

Once camp was set up we took a walk over to the outlook to see if we could see the sun setting. Just a little to far south we could not see the sun set, but the sky did turn a beautiful cotton candy as we sat a little further down from the viewpoint. (next to someone else's tent)

I was a tad bit annoyed as there was so many people and tents all over, in the trees in random spots, clothes hanging by spruce, and the massive cookout and party they were having at the official lookout. They did not invite us over or give us space to get a good look from this viewing point which was rather unfortunate. So we just went back to camp.

We sat around a fire for a couple hours while we each made our Mountain House meals until we both crashed around 9:30pm. 

The alarms went off for 5:45am so that we could try and catch a good sunrise. Boy did we ever! Might have been one of the best ones ever for me. We skipped the outlook and went back down a tenth of a mile or so to a ledge outcrop we spotted coming up the night before. From here we watched sunrise and made coffee and hung out for a bit.

Once we finished our coffee, we headed back to camp to pack up and get ready for the long day ahead of us. We headed towards Passaconaway a little after 8:00am. Took our time getting there. Once at the junction, we dropped our heavy packs and headed up to the summit. On the way to the summit, I saw a herd path that looked as though it could lead to something. I followed it and found many more stealth sites, which I believe are new and have just been created by the Forest Service. Because along with the sites I found a sign that read "Toilet" leading to a brand new pooper!

I was rather excited to say the least. We continued onward. Making it to the summit and then to the viewpoint around the other side. Here we sat in the sun for a bit before continuing back down. Once back at the junction we ate some snacks and continued the trek back to the car. 

It was an incredible 2 days in the back-country and very relaxing to say the least.