Fall in the White Mountains, Part 4

A long overdue fourth and final part to the White Mountain fall colors trip log that I’ve been writing about. Check out parts 1, 2, and 3 if you haven’t yet.

Welch-Dickey Loop

On our final day we headed to the Welch-Dickey Loop for a day-long hike. We were immediately greeted by a sea of cars parked at least a mile out on the road leading to the parking lot! Luckily for us we were able to snatch a spot from someone leaving the lot that morning, but I heavily recommend coming as early as possible to these popular hikes (we arrived at around 9:30/10 AM ish).

After heading to the first split you’ll want to head right (i.e. do the loop in a counterclockwise fashion). The first hour or so is a trek through the woods. I had actually come through several weeks earlier after a recent rain and the variety of mushrooms present was astounding. We found a mix of poisonous species such as the American yellow fly agaric (Amanita muscaria var. guessowii) along with edible (?) species such as coral tooth fungus (Hericium coralloides) and crown coral fungus (Artomyces pyxidatus), though these classifications were made with Google Lens so I can’t be 100% sure.

The first part of the hike is rewarded with sweeping views of the Waterville Valley and is perfect for any snack or lunch break.

Perfect peak foliage!

After this section is a relatively steep >30 degree slope. Make sure to look back as the valley views continue all the way up!

I thought these bushes growing along a crack in the mountain face provided an interesting foreground.

After ascending to the top of Mt. Welch and taking in the views there, there is a small elevation dip into a pine forest before ascending Mt. Dickey. Part of the trail forces you to scramble through a crevice which is pretty neat. The last portion of the hike descends along a mountain ridge which offers one last chance for views before plunging back into forest to complete the loop.

The line between deciduous and evergreen species is made obvious in the fall.

Carter Hill Orchard

On our way back to Boston we had a craving for some apple cider donuts and fresh autumn produce so we stopped by Carter Hill Orchard. They had great prices on butternut squash and fresh apples, and their apple cider donuts were some of the better tasting ones I’ve had.

There is a neat elevated platform that you can view the neat rows of apple trees from, with the White Mountains in the distance.

That wraps it up for this travel log series. You can see a Google My Maps of the locations listed here.