With a taste of the good bushwhacking life along the 3,040’ summit ridge of Whaleback Mountain’s South Peak, I was hoping just perhaps I’d get lucky enough to see the open spruce and fir band continue along the neighboring 3,294’ Big Coolidge Mountain. Despite the close proximity allowing for a big morning mash-up, what I found were polar opposite peaks.

While the South Peak may not stand out to the typical passerby to be nearly as photogenic as the taller, slide-streaked peak of Whaleback Mountain (3,586’), depending on the angle, South and Big Coolidge can both be viewed from downtown Lincoln, New Hampshire. As I drove east along NH 112 into town, the morning sky was aglow with watercolor-streaks of pinks and peach hues just behind the mass of mountains.

The condos were surprisingly empty as I took a spot next to the entrance to the old Osseo Trail to ready the gear. At 7:22am I was off on a mission, snowshoeing over choppy bare boot tracks from resident dog walkers for the first mile.

At 0.2-miles the trail swings along the right side of a massive water tank before diving back into the forest; the yellow blazes appeared to have been repainted recently and the old logging road turned trail was very easy to follow, crossing several minor streams early on.

Clear Brook is crossed for the first time upon reaching 0.4-miles, given today’s low water, the crossing was no problem. The trail gains very gradual elevation over its first mile, weaving and rolling through seemingly warm-weather wet patches. While the dogwalker tracks had long since disappeared, I now entertained myself with a set of skunk prints which descended the old path beginning further up Whaleback Mountain than I went today.

Crossing Clear Brook yet again, this was accomplished by way of snowy pillow-topped rocks and fallen log; I knew once the metal of snowshoes got wet they constantly gather and ball up snow, not a predicament I wanted to deal with this early on.

Breaking trail in ~14” of snow with a crust below was tough as the trail grew steeper but the views over my shoulder toward the Loon Mountain Ski Resort made the effort all worth it. Before long, and still ascending through a lovely, open hardwood forest, I had reached the first switchback, occasional spruce began peppering into the forest canopy.

Once the old Osseo Trail swung back toward an easterly direction it leveled off somewhat but forced an off-camber lean toward the north (upslope) to prevent an unwanted slide on the crust layer far below all the new powder from the recent storms’ powder dump. At ~2,550’ the balsam fir showed up, its long branches often laden with thick powder, ready to unload down the back of my jacket while passing.

The fresh blanket of powder dulled all sounds, occasionally the thump of thick snow build up brushing off the balsam branches somewhere in the forest nearby. Reaching ~2,800’, where the old Osseo Trail would swing yet again by tighter switchbacks toward the main summit of Whaleback Mountain, I continued straight into a lovely forest of pencil-like spruce and fir before cresting the initial ridgeline.

*Ridgetop along Whaleback Mtns South Peak*

I had plans of skirting along the southern edge of the first low dome, saving the extra, unnecessary elevation gain and loss but found the forest to be a sort of higher altitude open meadow, so lovely in fact that I couldn’t say no - the powder was too much fun to romp through.

Heading in a directly southeast bearing was no problem as I could spot locations far off through the open conifers and trek straight through, simply weaving through the rows of straight trees; occasional buried blowdown air pockets slowed the otherwise quick travel over the wind scoured snowy surface.

Spotting the canister far off in the distance brightened the spirits even further and trekked straight over to it, reading a few other sign-ins, eventually I penciled in my own ascent; the last previous entry had been nearby two months prior, January, 22nd, 2023.

*A lonely canister hanging in the distance*

Following my packed tracks on the return was quick and efficient, I had planned on veering more southerly, off the initial hump of land but found travel so quick that I did not want to lose my tracks to perhaps make 200’ a little quicker.

I basically ski/glassaded my way back down the steep switchbacks atop the thick layer of powder, trying to gain traction initially but found easier travel from just coasting and riding atop the powder. With a few sips of warm tea I gazed into the open hardwood forest and decided to press on toward my next objective: Big Coolidge.

I departed my tracks once the trail swung directly south, at the first return-trip crossing of Clear Brook; the second would come shortly after, further along the bushwhack to the north, once I found an easy spot with less consequence to make the crossing; down low the banks were too steep for my liking.

With all water crossings behind I made a bee-line, weaving through large amounts of beech in a northwesterly direction, heading straight for the summit high point.

Travel was steep but highly enjoyable in the open, I naïvely hoped for another peak of easy travel. Around ~2,000 the enjoyable conifers kicked back in but by ~2,500 the young fir and spruce had become a low, entangled network of branches in which to drop snow and slow me down; I picked and weaved through, shooting for a path of least resistance.

*Loon Mountain Ski Resort through the trees*

The going was seriously tough bushwhacking nearing the top of Big Coolidge, steep terrain which seemingly had gathered a winter-worth of extra snow on its easterly slopes, occasionally waist-deep to slowly claw uphill, digging deep under the seemingly endless new powder to gain traction.

With no indication of bare rock under all the deep snow, I found ascending the open ledges just below the summit easier to just dig deep, setting snowshoe crampon points in the crust below than trying to get around them, slowly I made my way straight upslope into the next band of evergreen.

Dotting the patches of thick growth and ledgy, steep climbing were sections of nearly-easy to travel conifers, at least climbing wasn’t slowed to a crawl entirely. Reaching a steep, ~20’ tall rocky outcropping, this time I decided to travel further north to avoid these near-vertical ledges, even with ice axe and ice tool on my back I was all about ascending an easier route at this point in my day.

Finding minimal reprieve in the dense forest, it went from tough, thick bushwhacking to locating the canister, back to descending thick bushwhacking. Once again I read some earlier posts in the summit register and logged my own climb. Unfortunately the text had faded from the outside of the PVC canister, but I’ll never forget the bushwhacking involved to stand atop this peak.

What had taken 1-hour and 33-minutes to ascend was all reversed safely in about 40-minutes, I think having all the snow already knocked from the balsam boughs made the pushing-through a bit more streamlined. Back in the open hardwood I descended beside my uphill tracks, coasting through the deep powder was tremendously more fun than landing in compact steps.

Back on the old Osseo Trail I began to realize how lucky I was to have all that deep powder, the path had accumulated several other bare boot tracks throughout the morning, making the snowshoeing just atrocious, throwing and rocking ankles with every step.

All remained quiet at the trailhead, not a soul to be found - just the way I like it, slip into the mountains to do my roaming and slip back out, unnoticed.

With a fresh set of clothes and a big bowl of fruit to rehydrate with on the drive home I made my way first back through downtown Lincoln, throwing a glance at the peeks atop which I had just stood; one easy, one tough.
The polar opposites of bushwhacking.

Overall stats for the day:
6.93-miles
5hr 15 minutes
4,610’ elevation gain

Whaleback Mountain South Peak - 3,040’
Big Coolidge Mountain - 3,294’

Whaleback South + Big Coolidge

Mt Kancamagus Ridgeline

West + Middle Osceola Mtns