It had been a couple years since I had hiked in the White Mountains, so yesterday we headed to Evans Notch in the White Mountain National Forest to hike West Royce Mountain. Although I've been up East Royce multiple times, I had never been up the taller West Royce. Even though our hike started and ended in Maine, the summit and much of the ascent were in New Hampshire.
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| Start of the Highwater Trail |
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| Crossing the Wild River at the start of the trail |
After leaving a car at the Laughing Lion Trailhead for our descent, we parked at the Highwater Trailhead, near the Wild River. Our hike started on the Highwater Trail along the north bank of the river. This trail was unexpectedly enjoyable, with impressively large white pines along the trail for quite a way. We following the trail until reaching the site of the former Forest Road 52 bridge at 3.2 miles. Here, we forded the river to the south bank.
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| An old mile marker along the Highwater Trail |
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| Fording the Wild River |
We then followed the Wild River Road (closed to vehicles since 2023) a short distance to the Burnt Mill Brook Trail. This minimally used trail provided a pleasant ascent up to the col between East and West Royce. It followed a beautiful brook for most of the way with lots of cascades. And, even though it got rather steep near the end, the footbed was generally soft with minimal erosion.
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| Start of the Burnt Mill Brook Trail |
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| One of the cascades on Burnt Mill Brook |
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| Burnt Mill Brook & Royce Trail junction |
After reaching the Royce Trail, we climbed the steep switchbacks to the summit ridge of West Royce. This rather rugged summit ridge had beautiful spruce-fir forest and good views from multiple viewpoints. After checking out the fire tower footings and eating lunch in the shade (It was a hot day!), we spent a little time at the best viewpoint, enjoying the views to the south and east.
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| Signage near the summit |
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| Fire tower footings at the summit |
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| View east |
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| View south |
We descended the Royce Trail to the Laughing Lion Trail, which is both a very enjoyable trail and an interestingly named one. Somewhere in the last couple miles of our hike, we realized that the other set of car keys had been left in the car at the Highwater Trailhead! This unexpectedly added a 5 mile road walk back to the trailhead we had started at, but at least it was all downhill!
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| Royce & Laughing Lion Trail junction |
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| Viewpoint on the Laughing Lion Trail |
It was good to be back in the Whites, and we were surprised to only see two other groups of people on such a beautiful day!
