Elevation gain: 1885 feet
Trails used: Skookumchuck Trail, bushwhack.
Highlight(s): nicely maintained trail, open woods bushwhack, register's on both summit high points.
Kris messaged me about possibly hiking either Wednesday or Thursday so after asking someone to work for me, I managed to get Wednesday off. Problem was, bad weather and lots of rain were in the forecast for today's hike. I would meet Kris at the exit 17 park n' ride in the midst of a thunderstorm and pouring rain; the day did not start off on the right foot but how would it end? Arriving at the Skookumchuck Trailhead parking area, we geared up in a steady rain and then headed up the Skookumchuck Trail.
Big Bickford Mountain and Scarface Mountain are located in Franconia, New Hampshire. The hike to reach the summit of Big Bickford Mountain was a combination of trailed hike and bushwhack; the hike from Big Bickford Mountain to Scarface Mountain and back to the car was a bushwhack. Both Big Bickford Mountain and Scarface Mountain are wooded but views can be had from the summit plateaus.
Big Bickford Mountain is on the New Hampshire Two Hundred Highest List and the New Hampshire 3K List.
Kris starting off on the Skookumchuck Trail. It was raining pretty steady at this point and quite windy as we headed up the trail.
The few water crossings we did were flowing and a good portion of the Skookumchuck Trail runs along Skookumchuck Brook.
Kris making his way up the Skookumchuck Trail and over this blowdown along the trail.
Just before the height-of-land we decided to begin the bushwhack up to the ridge that leads towards Big Bickford's summit.
Nice open woods were the norm on almost the whole hike. This is the ridge heading towards the summit of Big Bickford Mountain.
Kris scared this bull moose as it was bedded down. He ran a few feet away and while he was looking back, I snapped this quick zoomed in picture.
An interesting rock formation as we begin the climb towards the summit of Big Bickford Mountain.
Quite a bit of wet fern bushwhacking through some birch glades that were just below the summit of Big Bickford Mountain.
Nice, wide open birch glades just below the actual summit of Big Bickford Mountain.
Kris signing into the register on Big Bickford Mountain (elevation: 3261 feet).
The woods were still nice as we headed towards Scarface Mountain, which is to the northwest of Big Bickford Mountain. This is heading up to the summit of Scarface Mountain.
Kris signing into the register of Scarface Mountain (elevation: 2802 feet).
We headed off of the west from the summit of Scarface Mountain. These woods were interesting as we passed through here to reach the Skookumchuck Trail on our way back out.
We made it back to the car under clearing skies. We passed a few people out doing trail maintenance as we began the hike but they were long gone by the time we got back down.
Overall, it was about the same as when Desi and I did it a few years ago. Nice woods for about 95 percent of the hike, we saw a nice bull moose and other than starting out and heading from Big Bickford Mountain to Scarface Mountain, we were spared the full brunt of the rain that hammered the area earlier in the hike. Bonus? Another peak done for Kris.
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