November 8, 2008
Ed Hawkins was planning to hike Owl's Head this weekend. I hiked Owl's Head last November with Becca Munroe. Since I knew that she didn't need it for November either, I asked her if she wanted to team up with me for a hike involving a car spot. We spotted Becca's car at the Sabbaday Brook Trailhead and then drove back up the Kanc to the Pine Bend Brook Trail where we started our hike.
It was a rainy November day, but very warm for this time of year. Becca started in shorts and I switched to shorts about halfway up to North Tripyramid. After the Tripyramids we were planning a bushwhack to The Fool Killer, a New Hampshire 100 highest. I realized that we were also going by Scaur Peak, another New Hampshire 100 highest. I had climbed it a year and a half ago. I then realized that maybe Becca hadn't. She needed it. It was a real easy peak to grab so we took a little detour. The peak is only about three tenths of a mile from the trail, and there is herd path nearly all the way. Coordinates for the start of the herd path are N43° 58.9366' W71° 26.7762'. We looked around on the summit, but were not able to find the cannister. Becca on the summit of Scaur.
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Here's our track to the summit of Scaur
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Then we went on to North Tripyramid and Middle Tripyramid fulfilling our 'grid requirement' for the day. Now we were after today's big prize, The Fool Killer. Part of me knows better than to try to climb something called 'The Fool Killer', but we decided to go for it anyway. We headed down the Sabbaday Brook Trail passing the only other hikers we would see today. We were looking for the slide on the southwest face of the mountain. It wasn't easy to spot but we found it. We were now only 4/10s of a mile from the summit but had about 700-800 feet of elevation gain. Needless to say, it was extremely steep. The first tenth was easy, but the middle two tenths were exceptionally steep and very, very thick. We had to crawl, scratch, and claw our way through every foot. Then we broke through and the last tenth was much more open. It took us a couple minutes to locate the jar at the top where Becca took a very soggy picture of me on the 3548' summit.
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We decided to head out a different way. Based on our track down the Sabbaday Brook Trail, we were only a quarter mile or so from the trail. We headed down the mountain until we hit the trail. The coordinates where we came out were N43° 58.1982' W71° 25.8396'. If I were to do this bushwhack again, I would leave from these coordinates. It's steep but only a quarter mile or so to the summit through fairly open woods. Here's our track.
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After we left the Sandwich Range Wildernes, we had to cross Sabbaday Brook. The brook was running high. We couldn't find a route across that would keep our feet dry, but it was the end of the day and our feet were pretty well soaked anyway so we just splashed our way across. Much to our surprise, we had to cross the brook FOUR more times. The highlight of the day was when we reached the scenic Sabbaday Falls. Unfortunately, it was too dark and rainy so my pictures didn't come out. It's a very easy 3/10s of a mile from the highway and an easy walk for nearly any fitness level. If you are heading down the Kancamagus Highway and have time for a tiny hike, I highly recommend it. We got back to the trailhead, and Becca gave me a ride back to my car. Becca and I survived The Fool Killer.
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