It was another perfect weather day. The sun was shining, the winds were calm, the temperature was pleasant. Years ago I had hiked Bayle Mountain, but had come in from Bayle Mountain Road. There has since been an unofficial, official trail designated, which begins at a parking area on Marble Road. A very kind landowner has granted access to hikers and it is included in the Southern NH AMC Trail Guide. Thus, I needed to go back and claim that 0.7 miles of snowmobile trail from Marble Road to complete for my redlining spreadsheet. I was joined today by Laura and Vanessa. A well needed girls day out. We found our way to Marble Road and discovered the last section of road was not plowed, but had been semi-packed by previous vehicles, so we carefully continued on until we reached the assigned parking area. This could be an issue for low clearance vehicles, I did slide a little and I have 4WD. Road conditions determined that this would be another snowshoe hike. We geared up and headed for the snowmobile trail that leads to the actual trail. With the bluebird day, it was busy on the snowmobile trail. We took care to get off the trail as much as we could as they passed us and thankfully they were all polite and slowed down. We made it to the small sign indicating the start of the trail and found an established footbed that led the way. Spikes would have done the trick, however there were definitely soft sections that snowshoes would be preferable on. I know this because a little ways up the trail as the incline steepened, I found out that my snowshoes were not the best kind for steep hiking. The cleats just weren't catching the snow and I was sliding backwards. I ended up changing into my microspikes and had an easier time with those. As we navigated the boulder section though, the snow was softer where it was in the shade and I postholed a few times up to my knees. I felt guilty as I know this is frowned upon in the hiking community, but it was my safest option at that moment. I wasn't the only one though, it appears a moose had also followed the trail for a ways, between his (or her) post holes there was a ton of poop on and alongside the trail! Once we reached the open slab section at the top, I changed back into snowshoes. The incline had eased and I just kept sinking too much in plain spikes. I was amazed at how different the summit is in Winter vs Fall when I had previously been up there. The huge open flat(ish) summit was now a much smaller peak of snow! You could have walked all over the open area, but we chose not to as we didn't know how deep or stable all that snow was and wanted no incidents or accidents! The views were incredible though. Bayle Mt is within the ring of the Ossipee Range and all those higher summits surround as well as views well north into the Whites and over to Ossipee Lake and beyond. It was perfectly crisp and clear and we just stood in awe for quite a while enjoying it all. We did start to get chilly so decided it was time to head down. I was able to snowshoe down the whole way and this time as we hit the steeps, we all butt slid down! Just a few hundred yards at a time, but it sure was a fun alternative and essential on some of those extra steep little sections! Back on the snowmobile trail, we opted to take a side path to the road and road walk back to the cars. The snowmo trail was just too busy. It was an overall amazing day.
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