The Whitman Ridge Trail

There was a stunning blue sky in T15-R9 today, so after taking care of quite a few things around Camp, I decided to hike the Whitman Ridge Trail (since I'd only previously hiked part of it).

The first half of the trail is great; it first brings you to two Perch Pond overlooks, right over the cliffs on the north side of the pond.  The leaves are just starting to turn up here- there were a few trees that stood out like orange and red beacons, and the rest of the trees are turning that dull shade of green which means they're not too far behind.  The trail then takes you to one of the ridge peaks without too much fanfare.  You can certainly tell you're at the peak, but mostly because the ground all around you slopes downward.

The peak, however, is where I'm going to recommend everyone stop and turn around, at least until the crews can get back to the trail next year.  Soon after the peak, it was obvious that the crews began simply preparing for next year's work, rather than performing a thorough trail cutting.  I walked over a lot of cut branches, pushed a lot of uncut branches out of the way, and almost forged a new trail in places.  The trail is pretty long; I probably followed it for about 45 minutes total before the cutting came to an ungraceful end and the ribbons followed shortly thereafter.  I'm honestly not sure where I was at that point; I'd guess somewhere over Upper Pond.

The return trip proved to be more of an adventure than the trip there.  Some of the ribbons that were obvious from one direction were out of sight from the other, and I had to backtrack two or three times.  Sometimes I was following ribbons, but some times I had to watch for any sign that cutting had taken place.  A few well-worn animal trails fooled me for a short way.

In all, I think the trail will be a great addition to the network already in place.  For now, I'd recommend enjoying the views of Perch and Togue but turning at the top of the ridge.  Better to wait for the crews to finish linking it up with the Ridge Loop Trail, which will probably happen by the middle of next season.

Happy trails!