Margie and Kate Excellent Bushwhacking Extravaganza
Mount Moosilauke: Kate #15 & Margie #1
I dragged Margie into the car at 5:30 am to get a 7:30 am start to avoid the bugs, heat and crowds. This was Margies first 4000 footer and with the weather report I was hoping for some amazing views on Moosilauke. I had chosen the West Loop which definitely covered significantly more miles but promised a more gradual descent on the Benton Trail. Benton was a more gradual descent and clearly someone had fastidiously cleared the Trail of winter storm blowdowns. Apparently the Moose like this trail as well as there were many piles of scat. It was at the end of Benton that the fun began. First we came out of the woods to meet up with Tunnel Brook Road...there was a road which had been recently built up by an excavator. After walking about a mile up on this road we discovered this in fact was not Tunnel Brook Road but instead a road which ran parallel about .25 mile east of Tunnel Brook Road. We made the decision to bushwhack to the "lightly travelled gravel road" described in the guide, which we did successfully. We continued on with our route seeing many signs of Moose - tracks and scat but no moose.
As we hiked along Tunnel Brook Trail about a mile in the blow downs started...and continued on for 1-2 miles often obliterating the trail completely. I have to say the subscription to Gaia GPS app was well worth it on this trip as we often just had not choice but to bushwhack in the general direction of the route. This photo shows some of the devastation. We would rate this is mild compared to some of what we climbed through....
So almost 14 miles from our start we walked through the Glencliff Home for the Elderly campus and returned to our car. It certainly was an adventure...nothing like making Margie's first 4000 footer challenging...I hope she will hike with me again 
