Eight of the A group hikers had a great (cooler, low humidity, sunny) day for a hike up Whiteface, with six of us continuing on to bag Passaconaway also. There actually seemed to be four different hike groups, with different starting times. Deb & Andy started earliest, followed by Pat and Dick, then Hilary and Cynthia, and finally Pam and Doug. Those who have gone up Whiteface using the Blueberry Ledge Trail will remember a series of challenging rock face climbs high up on the mountain. Below is Pat part way up one of the least difficult of these. A minute later gave us one of the great views from the open ledge areas up high, with Mt Passaconaway standing prominently to the left of center.
Pam and Doug passed first the Hilary/Cindy pair and later caught up to Pat and Dick as the latter pair had finished snacking at the open ledge view area often mistaken by hikers as the top of Whiteface. This is where the Rollins Trail starts northward, passes over the wooded actual Whiteface summit 0.3 mile from that "view summit," and eventually curves eastward. From the actual Whiteface summit, Rollins finally ends about 2.5 miles later at the Dicey's Mill Trail, where Pat and Dick met up with Deb and Andy, who already had been up the 0.9 mile remainder of Dicey's Mill to the Passaconaway wooded summit (no view there). Deb and Andy continued downward, while Pat & Dick went on and up to bag Passaconaway, passing Pam and Doug again as the latter pair were on the way back down. The descent from Passaconaway to the parking area at Ferncroft is fairly easy hiking, although 4.6 miles at the end of an already long hike makes for an exhausting day on foot.
Hilary and Cindy, having planned to do just Whiteface, went back down to Ferncroft the way they had ascended.
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