The back 40

A few days ago around when we had that first snow I took a hike up to the summit via the new trail and then bushwacked down the back side. I'd been meaning to do this for some time so it was pretty exciting to finally do it.

The back side of the mountain is much steeper down to a high valley, so you don't drop down nearly as far as on the north side where the ski slope was.

Once you get away from the steep sides there is a very nice pine band with lots of level spots that would be great for camping. After that there is a tangle of old logging roads - hard to say what's being used now. These thread their way to a pond just south of the summit. Mountain pond is off to the east of this but the pond doesn't have a name on the Delorme Atlas. Russ thought it might be called Mud Pond. I recognized it from a previous hike I'd taken with Shaffer years ago from the Old Bristol Road side.

There was some sign of logging activity but the snow was fresh and there weren't any recent tracks. So I'm pretty sure there hadn't been anybody back there in a few days anyway.

It's been a bad year for snow machines - maybe this last storm today will help open some of the northern trails - I would doubt there is enough down our way yet.

I had wanted to continue on up Hershey Mountain the next one south of Burleigh - but I was running out of time so I threaded my way back basically in my own trail. I lost my trail as I was approaching the ridge and came up onto the summit from the east. From there I was able to regain the trail and make it back in time for lunch.

Deer and small rodent tracks everywhere.

I didn't take any pictures unfortunately - but it was a great hike and one I'd like to do again soon. It would be beautiful with the snow we have now.