Counterclockwise Loop – 6.5 miles; 2253 ft. elev. gain; 3 hr 20 mins moving time; 4 hr. 20 minute elapsed

Old Mast Rd -> Walden Trail -> Wonalancet Range Trail

Difficulty = 4 / Enjoyability = 9.5 (lack of view and cloudy, hazy weather)

We traded views for solitude today and a nice chill walk in the woods was just what was needed today. We saw more dogs (4) than people (3) today and there are parts of this hike that feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, thought for sure we’d run into a moose but only a few toads, three furry black and white caterpillars and a fairly aggressive chickadee. We decided to do this counterclockwise and glad we did as we felt the scrambles up Walden were steeper than the slabs of Wonalancet (although can see those would be tricky if wet). A few window views off trail and a few spur trails were very nice and gave us a few spots to remove layers and have a snack. Passed over the summit of Hibbard without knowing as it was only labeled on one of our two paper maps and not labeled on FarOut, but it doesn’t matter as summit bagging is not what it was about today anyways. Met a few folks using Walden Trail as the approach to Passaconaway which seems like a great alternative and one we may try next time we have a hankering to bag Passaconaway and Whiteface again. This loop is beautifully maintained most of the way. Some eroded sections by the minor scrambles on Walden Trail. Wonalancet Range has a few brand new sections of trail that are fantastic on the feet and provide a short relief as it helps avoid parts of an eroded boulder field. Felt like we were the first hikers to use the new section but am sure that’s not likely. Kudos to the trail maintenance crew!   Ferncroft is one of our most favorite trailheads (for views, not necessarily amenities 😉 roughly 10 cars in the lot when we arrived at 930 and the same when we returned around 130

Check out the video of our journey on YouTube!