It’s not often that I get an impromptu day off of work, so this one called for a rare weekday solo hike. A loop to grab Whiteface and Passaconaway seemed like a good choice since they are some more southern peaks. I’ve been looking at the Terrifying 25 (T25) list and starting to try to work some of those trails into my remaining 4,000 footers. This was my first intentional Terrifying 25 trail, but I’m not sure it necessarily lived up to the list’s name.

Terrifying 25 are a collection of trails that have many slides, scrambles, and boulder caves, making them more frightening than the typical trail. There are 20 required trails that are very difficult, the hardest being Huntington’s Ravine Tr up to the summit of Mt. Washington. There are 10 additional less terrifying trails of which you must do 5 of to complete the list. Blueberry Ledge is the first T25 trail that I’ve intentionally done so far, and it is on the list of 10 easier choices. The other ones that I’ve done are the Willey Range Tr and Osseo Tr, which are both on the list because of their ladders.

Yesterday started off super early with a 4:30am departure from my house in Boston. I found out that I was going to have the day off Thursday afternoon, and knowing that I wouldn’t be able to hike for a the next ten days I thought it was the perfect opportunity to squeeze in a couple more 4,000 footers. I usually stay in NH when I’m hiking, but this was a pretty last minute plan so I decided to drive up the day of.

I pulled into Ferncroft parking lot and to my surprise there was a great setup for hikers there. It’s a residential road, so it was nice to have some facilities there to make us feel welcome! This was also a little surprising because there has been so much trouble with hikers parking along the road when the lot gets full in the summer which is really frustrating for the residents. Blueberry Ledge trail started out pretty flat which was nice to warm up and stretch my legs. This was just a few days after my Presidential Traverse, so I was still feeling stiff.

The trail was beautiful with lots of giant rock slabs yielding amazing views almost the entire way up. About a mile from the summit there were a couple pretty steep scrambles that land Blueberry Ledge on the T25 list. This was my favorite part of the whole hike! They weren’t too hard to maneuver but took a little bit of planning before climbing up. You can see where there were previously iron rungs to assist in the ascent.

After the steep parts, the trail led to an open granite cliff with amazing view. When I got there I sat for a while to eat a Clif bar (appropriate) and take in the sights. At this point I had been hiking for just over two hours and I hadn’t yet seen anyone at all. It was really peaceful to have some time to myself especially on this beautiful trail.

After a nice break at the cliffs, I continued on Rollins Tr where I passed the official summit of Whiteface. Rollins Tr was really mucky and it seemed to go downhill forever. The trail was very mucky and the bugs were relentless, dive bombing me every step of the way. Rollins was probably my least favorite trail experience I’ve had so far on my quest for the 4,000 footers. I was also getting kind of bored of hiking by myself, so it just seemed to stretch on and on.

Eventually I made it to the intersection of Dicey’s Mill trail and turned left to get to the summit of Passaconaway. Thankfully there was a paper sign telling me which way to go. The trail to the summit of Passaconaway was just under a mile with a bunch of big switchbacks. It wasn’t super steep but it gained what felt like a lot of elevation after losing so much on Rollins. When I reached the summit of Passaconaway there was a small cairn in the wooded area. I found a rocky lookout just past there to sit and eat lunch instead of going down the view spur because I was feeling pretty sore.

After eating a quick lunch I made my way back down Dicey’s Mill back to the road, but let me tell you it felt a lot longer than 4.4 miles! The trail seemed to go on and on and on. It looked like perfect bear territory, so I was keeping an eye out the whole time. I was using the Gaia GPS app on my phone for the first time so I knew how far I had gone and how much trail was left. I usually zone out when I’m hiking long stretches so that it goes by more quickly. This time being able to check where I was made me discouraged every time I thought I had covered a lot of ground only to find out I didn’t go as far as I had expected. The upside is that I knew I was going the right way!

Finally I got to a bridge and realized I was really close to the road. When I popped out of the forest I ended up in a family’s backyard on a dirt path. I was a little worried I had taken a wrong turn, but the GPS showed me on the trail so I followed it. The family was in their front yard playing corn hole when I realized these were the first people I had seen all day! I said a quick hello and one of them asked if I was hiking by myself. When I said yes, he was surprised and asked how I don’t get scared with all the bears being by myself out there. I replied that I was on the look out but didn’t see any today, and being with someone else probably wouldn’t help me with a bear anyway. He laughed and offered me a drink, but I politely declined and kept going down their driveway. They were super nice about me just wandering around their property, and when I got to the gate that led to the road I noticed this sign along with one of the official trail signs off to the side.

As I walked along the road back to the parking lot I though about how many people must come through there hiking all the time and how gracious those people were to let everyone on their property. I know there have been conflicts between hikers and property owners forcing trails to be closed to the public, so it was nice to feel welcomed into their home. I finally saw some other hikers close to the parking lot, so I chatted with them while walking back to the car.

As soon as I pulled out onto the main road, giant drops of rain started splattering down on my windshield in a massive downpour. I was glad to have missed the rain while I was hiking! On my way home I stopped in Concord at my favorite Mexican place, Dos Amigos Burritos. I go there a lot on my way up and down from hiking and was glad to have a nice big burrito after the long hike.

Overall this was one of my favorite and least favorite hikes I’ve done so far. In some spots I loved it but other areas tried my patience. Blueberry Ledge is one of my favorite trails so far, but Rollins and Dicey’s Mill not so much. That being said, I’ll definitely be adding Whiteface to my list of peaks I want repeat! It was a great day off and I’m glad I got to get out there for a nice day hike before my hiking break coming up.

Mt. Whiteface (4,019 ft) and Mt. Passaconaway (4,043 ft) via Blueberry Ledge Tr, Rollins Tr, and Dicey’s Mill Tr.