Hiking Hibbard Mountain, Sandwich Range

This past Sunday, my friend Sue and I hiked another trail on the NH 52 With A View list. Hibbard Mountain is in the Sandwich Range. We did this as an out and back, but I realized afterward that we could/should have done it as a loop. The weather forecast for the weekend on Friday had been for sunshine and dry, so hearing the rain when I woke up was a surprise. What to do? The revised forecast was for on and off showers, with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. We decided to drive up north anyway and to evaluate the conditions when we got there.

The parking area off Ferncroft Road was about half full, in spite of the weather, as this is also the starting point for several popular hikes including 4000 footers Mount Whiteface and Mount Passaconaway. It had stopped raining, so we decided to give it a go, even though we knew that we could get caught in a shower and, any potential views might be obscured. Fortunately, the weather did cooperate.

Wonalancet Range Trail

We started on the Wonalancet Range Trail which was mostly wooded.
After one and a half miles we took the cut-off to the right to avoid, as the book described, ledges that "are slippery when wet." Just before approaching the Hibbard Mountain Summit (2940') there was a short side trail to a pleasant view toward the East. This proved to be a nice spot to have our lunch on the way back.

A little bit of sun allowed us to see some of the landscape below.

Best view of the day

After doubling back to continue on the main trail, we passed some peek-a-boo views and continued on, not realizing that we had already passed the summit. Before reaching the Walden Trail we assumed we had gone too far and doubled back to retrace our steps. On the return, we also missed the cut-off trail and ended up going over the steep ledge of Mount Wonalancet. Fortunately, the rock face was dry, but even still, I was too busy watching my footing to appreciate the scenery. It would definitely be easier to ascend this part of the trail.

I have to admit, that this was one of my least favorite hikes. It could have been the fact that I was feeling a bit under the weather, which turned out to be a very bad summer cold/flu. Both Sue and I commented that we didn't think that Hibbard Mountain should be included on the 52 With A View list. The best views were at Mount Wonalancet, and the map showed some viewpoints on the Walden Trail, which we would have seen, had we done the entire loop. Even so, there were some interesting things to observe such as these various of fungi.

 And this  Wood Frog.

 As always, it was good to be outside, enjoy the mountains and get some exercise.