Flagg, Sentinel & Bayle | 3/23/25
- Izzy Risitano
- Mar 24
- 3 min read
I watched winter disappear all at once this year. When I toured the base of Monadnock a few weeks ago, the firm and fast glides of morning dissipated to soggy cracks through the diminishing afternoon. Since then, it’s been a complete plunge to proper spring in New England, skipping the usual fool's spring.
While this quick shift was disappointing due to my lack of backcountry skiing this year, it made for a perfect first spring hike. In astonishing monorail-free conditions, Liz and I got out for 3 Ossipee 10 peaks yesterday.
We got a chilly start to the day from Camp Sentinel, where one can access Flagg and the camp’s namesake mountain. I’m not entirely clear on when the camp is open, but I know access is not always a given when campers are present.
Skirting past the basketball court and field, we dipped into the woods and briefly followed a wide woods road until making a distantly signed left towards Flagg. We followed a fairly direct ascent until the saddle with the trail-less Canaan mountain, where the path eased through politely passable boulders. The more direct part of the ascent had a rake chained up to a tree, which was telling of the water bar-free trail build.
Overall, this section was clear, well-marked, and had solid footing for no switchbacks. At the junction with the shelter, we continued left and up towards Flagg. I enjoyed this ascent, while rocky it wasn’t technical and kept things fun. This trend continued as we neared the top slabs, yielding unbelievable views. The false summit has great views across the valley to Lake Winnie and the Belknaps- namely Gunstock, whose artificial snow still lingers.
Over on the real summit, which seems like it would be wooded at first glance, the views DOUBLED to an incredible game of sightseeing. Most notably, Chocorua stuck out boldly in front of a Presidential backdrop. Surrounding, I could pick out the Whiteface ledges, then Passaconaway, and of course the deep Carrigan Notch. There were so many other landmarks that held significance for Liz and me, but they make a stronger impact when you don’t expect to see them!
Coming down from Flagg we made quick work minus an icy slab and rambled back to the uterus (see the shape of the hike) section of our hike. Crossing from one shelter to another was a breeze sans some wet leaves. I did enjoy checking out the construction of the new shelter. But other than that, the next stretch to Sentinel wasn’t anything to write home about after Flagg's grandiose views.
All in all, this was a brilliant combo. While I suppose I would’ve been satisfied with just the one hike, I wasn’t going to let Liz go home without finishing her Ossipee Ten. That said, we drove another 30 minutes through the town of Ossipee to Bayle Mountain, a highly ambiguous snowmobile trail turned slab attack to a remarkable summit.
I almost don’t need to write anything more than that. But I will anyway. There were some parking signs suggesting parking diagonally, which wasn’t an option given the snow banks. But other than that there are no trail signs until the red markers began on a very obvious trail to the left of the snowmobile path 0.6 miles in.
Up until then, the trail was a breeze. As we left the pines and entered the rock field, it was intense til the top. While the boulder climb was chill in my opinion, the wet slab was a little anxiety-inducing with all the dry leaves on and around it! Past that, it was mostly plain dry slab running. Bayle’s summit is similar to Dickey’s but with ample views of the Ossipees of course! Despite the sour impact the wet slab made on the way up, I didn’t have a bad time going down and overall really enjoyed the payoff here!
On the way back, we tacked on Abenaki Fire Tower for an almost drive up one. With a quick walk in the crocs, we managed to cross 4 objectives off 2 lists today!
Cheers to spring in central New Hampshire!
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