Short but awesome hike with great views of Mt Monadnock and more. Highly recommend. Got out with Tom and Jon per our annual Christmas hike. Always nice leaving a trip report for someone else’s trail guide, thanks Tom. Also added a communtiy route that includes an additional 0.5 miles that loops around the mtn instead of the out-and-back. Both routes are worth the small effort for these views!
2nd trip to Wedge, this time with Sarah Hueniken! Lots of fun on multiple climbs and learning more from one of the best alpine climbers in North America. Beautiful views of Mt. Kidd especially from the climb.
First hike along the Bee Tree Hollow Trail in a while (outside of hiking to the top of Ansonia Knob). Since my original write-up, as of 2025, the eastern slopes have been logged even more which opened up views. Now you can see Mt. Tom and the Wellsboro Airport much better than before. Great views, but they won't last very long (maybe less than 10 years) before they fill-in again.
Hiked the West Rim Trail up to Barbour Rock. In late May the WRT was far muddier than we expected, despite knowing it had been raining more often than usual. The hike up to the view at Barbour Rock was straight forward and moderate at the hardest difficulty. It'd been years since I'd done this hike with my thru hike of the WRT being the last time I did this back in 2019. Jax enjoyed the trail, we enjoyed the views. We hiked back on the road to avoid the mud and followed the Barbour Rock Accessible Trail to reach the road. Fun, moderate ~5.7-mile loop hike.
My first hike to Juniper Rock proper. In the past I always skipped the sketchy downhill out to the edge of the cliffs, but it was well-worth it. From the cliff, Little Jax Rock Overlook sits across the gorge, you can see the lookout point at Colton Point State Park, and can view the cliffs of Barbour Rock as well. One solid of Pine Creek below toward the north. Chilled with Sam for quite a while and saw what appeared to be young peregrine falcon swooping through the gorge. Great day to take the afternoon off from work for. Late summer overgrowth on the trail was very high especially from the trailhead until you reach the old state forest service road gate. No snakes or anything, but we took it extra slow just in case. Last note, most times I've been out here, I've used my own offline route to reach the vista and it's spot-on. Without the offline route, it's way too easy to get lost in these woods during warm months when you can't see too far through the forest's understory. Rated this one 3-stars for the average hiker -- it's mostly bushwhacking and navigation is tough. It's a 5-star view for folks who are willing to bushwhack.
Morning hike up to the top of Ansonia Ridge where the state forest has been logging recently. Thanks to the loggers, the east side of Ansonia Knob's slopes are exposed with awesome views of Mt. Tom across the Pine Creek Valley. Views toward Wellsboro with the Wellsboro Airport in view. Also found a peak near Morris, PA called The Horn sticking out of the horizon.
2nd time visiting the world’s largest sitka spruce. Last time was about 8 years ago.. the tree is def thiccc with several c’s. Pretty sure after 8 years the tree seems bigger… lucky enough to bring my wife to it this time instead of just telling her about the experience.
Beautiful day out on the trail. This spot has become more and more popular over the years, but it's fairly quiet on weekdays. We hit up the Wiggly Bridge while we were here.
Been meaning to ice climb Haunted Mine Falls for years now. This trip was my first ice climb on Haunted Mine Falls and likely anyone's first due to its hidden knowledge before I did the original write-up and named the cascade. First up was the far ice formations with really thick blue ice. Climbed up to the sheer vertical formations where I then down climbed. Sam hit this one a bit too, getting up to just below where I climbed. Next up was the middle cascade which was formed into fun step-like ice chunks. I made it about 40-feet up this waterfall before down-climbing. Further up on the middle climb seemed a bit sketchier as the water was still flowing with several ice mushrooms sitting on a vertical pitch. Last was the main cascade to Haunted Mine Falls which sits above the big pool below. Sam hit this one first and traversed about 20 vertical feet above into the trees. I then sent it up Haunted Mine Falls all the way up to where it crosses an old logging grade before it continues up the mountain - about 60-vertical feet. Lots of fun!