The Path Less Taken

This was another hike from a few weeks ago that I'm again just coming around to writing. I had been interested in the abandoned Downes Brook Slide Trail, particularly the slide portion of the trail, so we decided to check it out one weekend.  Beaver Pond near the Downes Brook Trailhead. We arrived at the Downes Brook Trailhead early, and were soon on our way up the Downes Brook Trail to begin the day. While not the most exciting trail, it was a fairly quiet and easy walk alongside the brook. We reached the base of the slide at a little more than two miles into the hike.  It was easy to pick up on because the debris from the slide crosses the trail, along with a small tributary running over slabs that looked like some pictures I had seen from other blogs. There were no immediately obvious signs of a trail so we followed the slabs uphill and away from Downes Brook. We soon passed a sign declaring maintenance of the trail illegal and I figured we were off on the right foot. The s...

A few weekends ago, I embarked on a long loop in the Sandwich Range Wilderness around and eventually over Sandwich Dome. Parking at the Bennett Street Trailhead at the end of Bennett Street in Sandwich, my hiking partner Nick and I set off down the Flat Mountain Pond trail along the side of Pond Brook. This section of trail made for relatively easy walking and we were soon at the Guinea Pond Trail heading towards Sandwich Notch Road. This flat trail mostly follows an old railroad grade through the wilderness, except for a couple deviations, and is very easy. The trail is completely flooded by beavers in one section and this must be bushwhacked around (we went to the left of the pond), but even this diversion isn't terribly difficult. This pond does offer some interesting views up to both Black and Sandwich Mountains. We soon reached the intersection with the Black Mountain Pond trail, which was a nice area along the upper stretches of the Beebe River. Not long after this, we enc...