Mileage: 5.55 miles
Elevation gain: 2135 feet
Trails used: Wentworth Trail, bushwhack.
Highlight(s): views from ledges below the summit area of Mount Israel, views from the summit area of Mount Israel, register on the summit of Dinsmore Mountain.
Brian and I wanted to take it easy this week and do something with views that wouldn't be that difficult to do. Maybe something we have done before but in a different season so we decided on Mount Israel. I suggested adding a short bushwhack over to Dinsmore Mountain into the mix and a plan was hatched. As usual, bringing the plan to fruition would be a fun thing to attempt. While snow conditions still remained low, the hot then cold weather pattern had the snow in a mixture of hard packed snow and knee deep snow (on the bushwhack). It was going to be a cold, breezy winter day and cloudy but we would make the most of the day.
Mount Israel and Dinsmore Mountain are located in Sandwich, New Hampshire. There are views from the ledges below the summit of Mount Israel as well as views from the actual summit. There are no trails that go to the wooded,view-less summit of Dinsmore Mountain so it requires a bushwhack to reach its high point.
Mount Israel is on the New Hampshire 52 With A View (52WAV).
We took the Wentworth Trail, which was hard-packed snow. The Wentworth Trail starts to the left of the Mead Base Camp parking area.
The Wentworth Trail is pretty straight forward and easy to follow. We used Microspikes all day for this round trip hike.
The views from ledges below the western summit of Mount Israel looking towards Red Hill, with the Belknap Range behind it.
The views from ledges below the western summit of Mount Israel looking towards Mount Kearsarge, Ragged Mountain, Mount Sunapee (in the distance), and the nearby Rattlesnake Mountains (in the Squam Lakes area).
The views from the summit of Mount Israel looking towards the lower summit of Mount Israel with Tenney Mountain and Mount Cardigan behind it.
The views from the summit of Mount Israel looking towards Killington Peak and Pico Peak in Vermont. Dinsmore Mountain is nearby and our next objective.
The views from the summit of Mount Israel looking towards Mount Chocorua, Mount Paugus, Mount Passaconaway peeking over Mount Whiteface, East Sleeper, West Sleeper and the Tripyramids, with Flat Mountain and Young Mountain nearby.
The views from the summit of Mount Israel looking towards the Trpyramids, Sandwich Mountain and Black Mountain.
The views from the summit of Mount Israel looking towards Black Mountain, Mount Moosilauke, Cone Mountain, Mount Cushman and Mount Kineo.
The views looking towards Mount Paugus, Mount Paugus-South Peak and Mount Chocorua from the summit of Mount Israel.
Brian and I on the summit of Mount Israel (elevation: 2620 feet).
We branched off of the Wentworth Trail and started the bushwhack through open woods towards Dinsmore Mountain. In some spots, the snow was almost knee deep.
The jar register on the high point of Dinsmore Mountain (elevation: 2303 feet). The southern bump is the higher of the two summit bumps.
We bushwhacked down a drainage and made a beeline for the Wentworth Trail, through more open woods.
The bushwhack back to the car was a mixed bag of knee deep snow but going down is a lot easier than it is hiking up. We were both content with this hike so we didn't bother doing another hike and called it early, which is rare for us sometimes but with it being winter, it's better to be safe than sorry. It was a nice winter day to revisit Mount Israel considering conditions could have been worse.
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