Three other attempts had been made to summit this pack of peaks, finally everything came together for a blue sky, low wind, early spring, snowy visit to the Huntington Range; if you’ve ever driven west along the Kancamagus Highway (US Rt 112), then you’ve probably seen the Huntington’s - that ~500’ band of southeast-facing cliffs that appears shortly after driving over the Highways’ height-of-land; atop those cliffs, West Huntington can be found.

None of the peaks - West, Middle (South), East nor Mount (North) Huntington itself contain any trails and I’d have a hard time believing any herd paths even exist at this point, perhaps a few narrow (broken twig) corridors to follow near each summit, route-finding along these 3,700’ peaks is entirely reliant on the hiker.

Each other attempt to climb these summits was called off mostly due to weather, such as high wintery winds and heavy snow laden conifer boughs. With the recent freeze/thaw we have had in the White Mountain’s over the past week, I figured the tree tops would have shed all their powdery weight and with any luck, perhaps the snow surface would even be supportive as it had been on other recent snowshoe climbs.

As with each previous attempt I parked at the Hancock Notch Trailhead near the hair-pin curve in the Kancamagus. Hitting the trails at 7:38am, I tried to beat the mid-day heat of the sun and make good time while there was still a crust atop the multiple feet of snow which still lingered in the backcountry.

This time I only got a 0.2-mile taste of packed trail before departing eastwardly, approaching West Huntington’s western-facing shoulder. As I write this I am still in awe of how open that area of the mountain was - I was going into this bushwhack assuming from reports that I’d be in nasty, thick, scrubby spruce from start to finish - perhaps the solid snowpack helped by burying any duff and tree litter. Unlike attempting North Huntington first, this climbing was quick, efficient and entirely enjoyable by ascending West Huntington first.

*Getting steep while scending West Huntington*

Occasional boulders towered up out of the blanket of white which otherwise smoothed everything right over like a thick layer of cake fondant, these rocks were no problem to meander around and get back on course. The spruce and fir were wildly disperse on this side of the mountain, off to my right I could catch glimpses of white slides streaking the Osceola mountains as elevation was gained.

While going straight up the ridge, a southwest sub-peak is encountered first, to which I hung low on its northern side, dipping slightly into a col before making the final ascent to West. This little nub was rather steep from where I ascended, kicking snowshoe steps and hoisting myself up with each step by aid of solid tree trunks as to not slide in powder back down-slope.

Eventually the short but steep climb topped out and through a short section of scrubby conifers I entered more narrow yet open conifer growth. Nearing the high point itself, the growth becomes tight just before breaking open to a large, cleared area at the summit canister, what a relief!

Taking just long enough to gander at some previous entries and log my own climb in the register notebook, I could just about see Mount Huntington off through the nearby trees and began pushing through the thin cover in a northeasterly direction toward my next destination.

Once the forest opened back up, the descent was basically a game of glissading atop 6-12” of powder which formed mounds, these were essentially spruce traps just waiting to melt a bit so they could get back to entrapping weary bushwhackers.

Reaching the next col I could see thick evergreen boughs straight ahead, with sunrays shining on the snow toward the south I cruised past the thick cover and began ascending a very beautiful scene of blue sky contrasting with the mature balsam fir, spruce and birch; at foot level, however, were endless mounds - spruce traps, the tops of which I stepped extremely carefully onto while using any nearby sturdy trees to distribute my weight even further.

*Atop the summit ridge, ascending through open woods*

While ascending North Huntington I began noticing a theme which I had yet to encounter in the White’s - fir bands, or at least that’s the name I’ll give the phenomenon. I’d track along these bands of young evergreen growth just long enough while making good progress until I would have to simply dive into and push through the thick cover, about 15-20’ later I would find myself completely beyond the wall just to find a more mature, open forest; this cycle happened perhaps four times before reaching ~3,600’, finally I found myself in a pocket of more open forest to follow toward the summit.

What a contrasting difference from the jabbingly thick mountaintop of West Huntington; North Huntington was delightfully open with views of the upcoming 0.4-mile trek to South Huntington with the Passaconaway area just beyond. A choir of springtime birds sang while I signed into the summit register, truly one of those hard-to-leave places.

The first few southeasterly paces off Mt Huntington’s summit were rather steep; the snow was beginning to soften by 9:45am as the sun grew higher in the sky, providing some amount of traction but mostly beginning to ball up on the underside of the snowshoes. In an effort to help control my descent I kicked sideways steps into the steep hillside - unbeknownst to me at that time, I was making my return an simplified stair climb back up the steep grade.

As the initial drop mellowed out I could look all the way through mature forest, far into the distance toward the next incline of which I was heading. Back under the canopy the snow was relatively solid and fast trekking; while bushwhacking is obviously not for everyone, I was having the best experience out here in the Huntington’s, picking my way through the forest and making split-second decisions of which direction I thought would afford the least resistance through the trailless mountainside.

*Departing thick evergreen, entering open conifer forest up to summit*

One quick patch of dense, young evergreen was encountered with more pillow-topped spruce traps as well, thankfully they remained 90% frozen and allowed an unencumbered passing, only a handful of times did I begin to sink knee-deep through today’s journey.

Ascending the round knob of South Huntington was rather straightforward as both sides appeared to taper off, continuing directly up the middle of the slope I weaved my way around trees and anything standing in my path. Perhaps travel was aided by the 4-5’ snowpack but the traverse did not take more than 14-minutes to reach the summit of South Huntington; I did not expect to carry this degree of efficiency out in such a remote mountain range!

After logging my third and final ascent of the day, I could simply follow my snowshoe track back to the previous summit, taking in the glorious forest all the while. The return trek took just about the same amount of time, the snow on the southern faces began turning into slushee-material at this point in the morning heat.

Following my own tracks back along Mt Huntington’s summit ridgeline, once about halfway across I veered off toward the north/northwest, the forest was completely unlike the fir bands of the southern side of the ridge, completely open ~4” spruce trunks, quick and easy to navigate.

*Passaconaway area beyond South Huntington*

Perhaps too easy to navigate. I lost track of how far I had gone downslope and began descending the southwest slope instead of Huntington’s northern face. Once I realized my mistake I worked to get back on track but this side of the mountain was a truly brutal bushwhack - a wall of thin, spindly spruce twigs intertwined mind-numbingly dense, all I could do was get low and push through, knowing the onslaught could not last forever.

Occasionally, the wall of conifer did open up for a brief reprieve; I’d try to pick through the corridor with the least amount of mess but the thick growth was often too much to avoid. Once back on the northern slope and descending how I had intended, I found the easiest passage to be in a drainage, the most open and easy to travel feature around. I took this cut in the hillside all the way down toward an open wintery meadow (bog in warm weather?) and came right out on the Hancock Notch Trail, just west of the Cedar Brook Trail.

*Mount Kancamagus beyond South Huntington’s shoulder*

Back on packed snowshoe track for the final 1.6-mile trek, snowshoes came off for a final leg workout of trail running in mountaineering boots. Passing by familiar places, I stopped briefly to observe the backside of a ridge bump I ascended just days prior while climbing South Hitchcock nearby.

Back at the car I was left in a sort of daze recounting the previous four hours of off-trail travel. I had been slightly intimidated by this set of mountains, unsure of which approach would get me through its thick, messy forest. Completely satisfied with my route, the weather, snow conditions (which are degrading rapidly with spring approaching), my perseverance and determination, this turned out to be a truly magical forest in which to roam.

Overall stats for the day:
6.05-miles
4hr 10 minutes
2,493’ elevation gain

Mount Huntington - 3,700’
South (Middle) Huntington - 3,700’
West Huntington - 3,393’

West, North & South Huntington Mountains

North + South Doublehead Mountains

Little Wildcat Mountain