Willey Range 11-7-20

Distance: 10.2 mi.
Elevation: 2,397 ft (overall) 3,958 ft (total)
Time: 1:18 (Mt. Avalon) 2:08 (Mt. Field) 2:51 (Mt. Willey) 3:50 (Mt. Field) 4:47 (Mt. Tom) 6:14 (Total)
Trails: Avalon Trail, Avalon Summit Spur, Avalon Trail, Willey Range Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, A-Z Trail, Avalon Trail

I've been wanting to do this loop for a while and have planned it out a couple of times, it's just never worked out in the end. So finally just before going back to working 6 days a week through Christmas I was able to fit it in. I've really liked the Willey Range since the first time hiking it and adding in Mt. Avalon gets me another peak plus more importantly a few new miles of redlining.

I got an early-ish start this morning and was one of only a few vehicles in the parking lot when I started off. I headed out from the Crawford Depot up the Avalon Trail planing to hit Mt. Avalon first. I wanted to hit the new peak first today plus I would rather go up the steep sections of Mt. Avalon than come down them. The first river crossing of the day is early on and was pretty easy. You could wither use a path over a downed tree or another using rocks that have been placed across the stream.

The first water crossing. A couple options here

The only other time on the Avalon Trail I was coming down it 6 years ago. I don't remember all the details of it, but I think the trail has been rerouted a bit uphill from the brook since then. It is in good shape, but has a number of routes in some places that can make it a bit trickier to walk along. There is also another smaller brook crossing, which was also very easy to cross. The trail gets steeper just before the intersection with the A-Z Trail. Just after the intersection it gets even steeper and very rocky. I knew it would be steep through here, but I didn't realize it was going to be as rocky as it was.

Steep rocky climb up the Avalon Trail

Nearing the Avalon Summit Spur the trail starts to level out some and give you a little bit of a break. It was wettet through this section than I expected it to be, but nothing that was so bad as to make much mud or cause you to need to go off trail to avoid anything. The summit spur is clearly marked and makes for a short steep climb to the top. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the summit of Mt. Avalon as I don't recall ever really looking up pictures of it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the top. It doesn't have as much of a view down through the notch as I would have expected, but I liked the feel of the small hump of exposed rock that does make up the summit.

Mt. Avalon view

Heading up the trail getting closer to the ridge it was still damp along the trail. Footing was good though even with the start of some minimal patches of ice along the way. This section of trail goes by pretty quickly and soon enough you are at the intersection with the Willey Range Trail just before the summit of Mt. Field.

Heading up the Avalon Trail to the ridge

Mt. Field view

The trail descends a bit steeply and over some rocky terrain leaving Mt. Field for Mt. Willey. But before too long it levels out much more and becomes pretty gentle and makes for some easy hiking. It was through this section that I started to see more people out for the day. It ended up being a busier day on the trail than I was expecting since we are well past peak foliage. During this stretch there also was some patches of snow today. The snow wasn't deep enough or slippery enough to even think about needing spikes. When you reach the summit of Mt. Willey there is a view point shortly after the actual high point. This view has a small opening where a few people could gather for a while. It is also one of my favorite views of Crawford Notch. It is an even more rewarding view when you come up the steep ladders from the other direction.

Snow on the way to Mt. willey

Mt. Willey view

Heading back to Mt. Field I tried to take my time a bit more and look around more than I did the other direction. Heading to Mt. Willey I got more into a mode of just moving along. This direction I wanted to look around more as the ridge can be pretty interesting. There are some intersting things to see along the trail and it's fun to see how much the forest changes and how quickly it does so as you walk through it.

Willey Range Trail

View again from Mt. Field, this time of Mt. Tom

Heading down from Mt. Field to the A-Z Trail the trail is pretty gradual and has good footing. Again today it was a bit wet with some running water in places. I had to watch my footing a bit more than normal so as to not slip on wet rocks, but I was still able to go at a good pace and make short work of this section.

Descending the Willey Range Trail to the A-Z Trail

Once you reach the A-Z Trail it is a realitively short hike to get the last summit of the day. The trail is a little over half a mile with a mostly gentle grade with a couple short rocky climbs and a set of wooden stairs mixed in. The high point of the mountain doesn't really have much for views. Their is currently a little bit of a view west from on top of a blown down tree at a small opening. As you head back down from the summit there is a heard path that heads off to the left which does lead to a slightly bigger opening with some views from on top of a stump towards the Presidential Range and down into the notch a little bit. Mt. Tom is also well known for having very friendly Gray Jays that like to beg for food.

A Gray Jay on Mt. Tom

Mt. Tom view

Mt. Tom Spur

On the way down the mountains I made sure to hit the side trail that leads over to Pearl Cascade and Beecher Cascade. I hadn't checked the spreadsheet to see if this trail counted towards redlining (it does), but I wanted to cover it to make sure. Plus I like seeing new things and I also wanted to check out the waterfalls as something to come back to with my camera and intentions to spend some time shooting here. I also thought this could be an easy hike that my wife and two young daughters mike like to do. In the end I am glad I hit the side trail as it does count for redlining and the waterfalls were pretty interesting. I look forward to coming back to them with the family and the camera and tripod.

Pearl Cascade

Beecher Cascade

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Middle Carter Mtn (4,610 ft) & South Carter Mtn (4,430 ft) 9-12-20

Distance: 11.3 mi.
Elevation: 3,221 ft (overall) 3,737 ft (total)
Time: 3:00 (Flag Location) 3:12 (Middle Carter) 4:03 (South Carter) 6:40 (Road) 6:52 (Total)
Trails: Camp Dodge Cutoff, Imp Trail, North Carter Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Route 16

This year for Flags on the 48 our group decided on Middle Carter Mtn to fly our flag from. We all met at the Great Gulf Parking lot knowing that the lot for Nineteen Mile Brook Trail would likely be overflowing by the end of the day. This required a very short road walk to the entrance to Camp Dodge (AMC requires a face covering crossing through here right now) so we could use the shortcut to the Imp Trail. From there we would head up to the ridge using the Imp Trail and the North Carter Trail.

Our group broke up into two groups for the hike up as some thought they would be a bit slower. We let them go ahead and the rest of us waited for the last of our group to show up before we headed up with the flag pole on our shoulders, taking turnes carrying it. I have come down this trail twice, but never gone up it. I remember it being rocky on the decent, but it didn't seem as bad today going up. Even when I was carrying the pole on my shoulder for a long stretch.

By the time the second half of the group got to the junction with the North Carter Trail, we had caught up to some of the first group while the rest was still working they way up the mountain. We continued up the North Carter Trail which was a bit rockier, with bigger rocks anyways. It was also a bit narrow which is what I remember too. Some brushing out along the trail could be helpful. Once up onto the ridge it is a much easier hike follwing the Carter-Moriah Trail.

Maybe a quarter mile or so from the summit our group gathered at an open spot along the trail. After a break here and some discussion, we decided to fly the flag from this location as the summit is not open and the trail isn't overly wide. It would be tight for all of us at the summit once the flag was up, and it would be hard for other hikers to get by. From our location we would have more room and the flag could more easily be seen. We got out the flag pole and set everything up here. Our setup has improved over the last few years and it is pretty easy to get the flag up once the pole is secured.

Once the flag was up we put up a couple other small memorials that had been given to us or that team members brought. And before some group members headed out over to South Carter and possibly Carter Dome one of them did a great job singing the National Anthem. Shortly before 2pm, a couple other members of our group and myself headed up and over the summit of Middle Carter and over to bag South Carter as well. The rest of the team would disassemble to flag pole and carry it down. On our way by we would grab the two small handheld flags we had someone put at the true summit of Middle Carter.

Our hike over South Carter went smoothly with a quick break there for some pictures and to ask the remainder of that summit group if they needed help taking down their setup. After that we took another break at Zeta Pass for snacks before hiking back down to the parking lot. If the rest of our group beat us down with the pole they were going to meet us at the Nineteen Mile Brook trail head to save us a road walk. Turns out we beat them by about 10 minutes and we just did the short road walk back to the cars. With how spread out everyone was with where they were staying, we decided not to do a group meal after out hike like we normally do. But even without that it was still a great day in the mountains with a great group of people for a great cause. Yet again, all 48 peaks had coverage this year. Big thanks go out to all the people that volunteer for this event.

Most of our group gathered at the trail head

View of the Presidential Range from where we flew the flag

Our group gathered back up together

Hooking the flag up

A couple of tributes at the base of the flag

The flag flying

Singing of the National Anthem

View of the flag from closer to the summit

A couple small flags at the actual summit

View from between the peaks

Group photo from someone's phone

Group photo from someone's phone

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Sandwich Dome (3,993 ft) 8-22-20

Distance: 13.2 mi.
Elevation: 2,539 ft (overall) 3,407 ft (total)
Time: 3:30 (Sandwich Dome) 7:06 (Road) 7:38 (Total)
Trails: Algonquin Trail, Black Mountain Pond Trail, Guinea Pond Trail, Sandwich Notch Road

Having finished the New England Hundred Highest last year, I have already hiked Sandwich Dome before. But today I wanted to revisit it using a different route so that I could work on some redlining and see some new trails and sights along the trails. I decided on accessing the mountain from Sandwich Notch Rd so that I could go up the Algonquin Trail and down the Black Mountain Pond Trail while being able to still walk easily back to my truck on the road. Hiking solo means I can't do a car spot with someone else very easily.

Sandwich Notch Road is narrow and a little rough in a couple spots, but a nice drive early in the morning when you don't see anyone else. The parking at the Algonquin Trail is big enough for 3-4 cars off the road at the trail sign and a few other small spots in the area next to the road so you don't block the roadway. Even though there was room in front of the sign, I picked a spot about 100 feet down the road. I don't mind the short walk and this way I would have 100 feet less to walk on the road at the end of the hike.

The Algonquin Trail starts off gradual with a smooth footbed, making for a nice walk and a good way to get warmed up for the rest of the hike. There is one brook crossing, but today it was pretty much bone dry with the drought we have been having this summer. After getting you warmed up, the trail makes a bit of a left turn and finally starts to gain elevation. Still at a good incline so as to not be too steep though. As the trail nears the turn by Black Mountain there are a couple sections where you get a break as the trail levels out for a bit.

An easy start to the day

After the trail passes by Black Mountain, there is a steep rocky scramble before you are rewarded with a couple nice views to the west from on or next to the trail. After this the trail keeps climbing and soon starts to work through some shorter trees and open sections of rock. I was a bit surprised by how much this section is similar to what you see when you near treeline on a bigger peak. This is where you will soon run into the intersection with the Black Mountain Pond Trail coming up from the right.

The first steep section of the day

Some nice views from along the trail

Looking down on Black Mountain Pond

Leaving the intersection, the trail becomes more mellow as it works up towards a subpeak of the mountain before going just to the side of it and back down some. Soon it goes back uphill gradually getting steeper as it nears the summit. You will come to a junction with the Sandwich Mountain Trail, at which you need to go to the right for a short distance before reaching the summit. The summit is a small open area with exposed rock and limited views over and through the trees. Today the lower level of the clouds were almost even with the summit, so the views were even more limited as you could only see parts of the nearby peaks through the clouds. The better views today were from the open spots along the trails.

The last climb before the summit

Views from the summit were hindered by the clouds

The small open summit

After a nice long break and some chatting with other hikers, it was time to turn around and head back down the mountain. The hike back down to the intersection with the Black Mountain Pond Trail was easy and went by quick. Once at the intersection it was time to head down a new trail and say goodbye to one of the hikers I had been playing leap frog with much of the day and had talked with quite a bit on the way back down to here.

A storm passing just south of the mountain

Shortly after starting down the Black Mountain Pond Trail it drops off steeply, steeper than I expected it to be. I guess I hadn't paid as much attention to the guide book as I thought. The trail wasn't too bad as long as you take your time and watch where you step. But if you are uncomfortable going down steep rocky trails or don't like coming up trails this steep, you might want to pick another route. The trail stays steep for quite a ways with some short breaks from it. It also goes next to some interesting and tall rock faces as well as over some very large boulders with some pretty deep drops between them. While steep, rocky, and challenging, it was also interesting and fun too.

Heading steeply down the mountain

The trail passing a cliff face

Shortly after the steep part of the trail ends, you will come to the upper portion of Black Mountain Pond. Little more than a big puddle with some swampy area around it, but it does feed down into the main pond. Just after this the trail passes part of the pond with a short path leading to the shoreline. The area around the pond has had lots of recent work done to eliminate many extra tent spots and allow revegetation to happen. Due to this, it is asked that you don't walk along the shore and try to stay on all trails around the pond. Signs clearly indicate where things are here and some rope is still in place to help keep you on trail and off sites you shouldn't be on.

Black Mountain Pond

From the pond out the trail is pretty gentle with good footing and no more steep or rocky sections. It would have been pretty smooth and fast sailing from here out, but I hadn't packed enough water and didn't bring anything I could have filtered water from the pond with. So I kept at a moderate pace as I still had a good distance to go without much to drink. Even though I didn't expect much water to be coming over it, I did make the short hike out the spur trail to Mary Cary Falls. I was redlining today anyways and didn't want to have to come back just for this section alone. The falls look like they could be quite interesting with lots of water coming over them, but today there wasn't a drop coming down and they were just a pile of rocks.

A dry Mary Cary Falls

The rest of the Black Mountain Pond Trail was a nice walk as it gently lost some elevation. It follows the brook for a while which today wasn't really flowing. It also crosses another brook just before the intersection with the Guinea Pond Trail that was flowing some. It was an easy brook to cross today with dry feet and made for a good place to splash some water on myself to help me cool down a bit. The Guinea Pond Trail was again smooth and good for fast walking. It stays mostly straight except for going around a large swamp. I does come out onto the powerlines briefly near the end before Sandwich Notch Road. Once at the end of the trail, it was a steady slog back to the truck along Sandwich Notch Road. All the while thinking about the big bottle of ice water I had waiting for me in a cooler in my truck.

The trail next to the dry brook

The last water crossing, quite easy today

Guinea Pond Trail

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug

Mt. Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower & Mt Jackson 3-7-20

Distance: 11.8 mi.
Elevation: 2,920 ft (overall) 4,911 ft (total)
Time: 1:54 (Pierce) 3:01 (Eisenhower) 4:01 (Pierce) 5:31 (Jackson) 6:37 (Road) 6:52 (Total)
Trails: Crawford Connector, Crawford Path, Eisenhower Loop, Webster Cliff Trail, Webster Jackson Trail, Route 302

With the official winter hiking season almost over, I needed to get at least a second hike in for the season. The weather was looking pretty good other than a little windy. Given the forecast, I decided it was time to get some of the southern presidentials checked off the list. These would give the chance of great views while providing shelter in the trees for most of the hike. My plan for today was Mt. Pierce, my favorite southern presidential peak, and Mt. Eisenhower. If weather, time, and energy allowed, maybe I would add on either Mt. Monroe of Mt. Jackson.

From the Mt. Clinton Rd parking lot I used the Crawford Connector to get over to the Crawford Path. This short trail was well packed from everyone else previously this winter. Once on the Crawford Path the trail was even smoother. It was like super highway and was perfect for microspikes. The hike up the trail went quicker than I thought it would as I played leapfrog with a group of other hikers. The trail has a steady incline for almost the whole length of it which made it easier to keep a nice pace that was a bit quicker than I expected. Once up to the ridge though, the trees stopped sheltering me from the wind and it was time to adjust layers and put on either some goggles or sunglasses. I started off by tagging Mt. Pierce since it is so close to the junction. It is almost my favorite of the southern peaks on the range due to its great views while still having partial tree cover which is different than all the peaks to the north.

Packed trail heading up the Crawford Path

The summit of Mt. Pierce was a good place to adjust layers, get on my goggles, and strap on my snowshoes. The Crawford Path should be decently packed, but I expected some drifting and would rather have snowshoes on for that instead of not have them on for the well packed sections. The area around the junction of the Crawford Path and Webster Cliff Trail was the first place snowshoes were useful as there wasn't one set path here and there was certainly some drifting in the snow. After this though the trail was pretty easy to follow and had only a little bit of unpacked snow on top of it most of the time.

View from Mt. Pierce

At this point the wind speeds became more evident. You start to come out of the trees more and until you are completely exposed. The wind was blowing in from the west and I was glad to have my goggles on. It was cold enough I also needed to think about having my face covered as well. I covered what I could, but too much covering and the goggles would just fog up. I was generating enough body heat that I was warm enough with some of my face exposed.

Mt. Eisenhower getting closer

As I neared the summit of Mt. Eisenhower the wind was starting to blow the snow around as well which helped make my face colder. Once up onto the summit of Eisenhower I bundled up more and made sure I was covered up well. There is no shelter other than the summit cairn and I wanted to stay and enjoy the views for a while even if it was cold and windy. After a nice break here and plenty of pictures, it was time to head out. I had decided I wasn't going to try and add Mt. Monroe to this hike because it was too much time exposed to the elements. I probably had enough gear, but better gear would have made that much distance more enjoyable. So I turned around and headed back towards Mt. Pierce.

Mt. Eisenhower summit cairn

Mt. Washington from Mt. Eisenhower

The hike back to Pierce went well with the wind still blowing and the sun still shining. I headed back up to the summit to take in the views again and because I forgot to get a picture of Miles here the first time. It was busier this time with more hikers that were coming up just to tag Mt. Pierce. I checked the time and it was still earlier than I had planned. Since I was still feeling good and had the time, I decided I would add on Mt. Jackson to today's hike. If I wasn't feeling it, I could always bail out after the hut and come back down using the Mizpah Cutoff.

Getting back towards Mt. Pierce

The hike down to the hut was good except the last tenth or two. Most of the trail was pretty well packed and there was only a few tight places due to snow laden trees. The last stretch though is a bit steeper dropping down to the hut and the track was pretty messed up here. It seems a number of hikers have hiked through here without snowshoes which made for lots of deep, messy, and irregularly space holes to avoid. It took care to stay out of them with my snowshoes and a couple of times I avoided the trail all together to stay out of them. There were some people gathered at the hut and also a pair of hikers that were setting up a tent in the opening. I was still feeling good so I decided to go all the way to Jackson from here.

Heading south after Mt. Pierce

Mizpah Hut with some snow up against the doors

The trail to Mt. Jackson was a mix of conditions. In places it was clear others had used snowshoes, in some places it looked like only people without snowshoes had been through, and in other places the trail was drifted in. There was only one place where the trail was hard to follow. In an open area there were tracks leading in two directions. I checked out both directions and picked the one that looked better. I'm not sure if I picked the right one or not, but the path eventually had to push through a small band of thicker spruce trees, so it probably wasn't actually the trail. It was a short off trail path that quickly came back onto the trail though. The rest of the hike to the summit went smoothly and even the steep last section of rock wasn't bad.

Mixed trail conditions heading over to Mt. Jackson

Getting close to Mt. Jackson

The summit of Jackson was windy so I bundled back up again before spending some time taking pictures and enjoying the last big views of the day. It felt good to look all the way back up to Mt. Eisenhower and see how far I had hiked today. After ample time enjoying the summit to myself, I decided it was time to head down off the mountains for the day. Just below the summit and back into the trees, I took off some layers and switched over to microspikes. The trail from here down was like a packed highway again and the spikes would make for a faster descent.

View from Mt. Jackson

Willey Range from Mt. Jackson

View west from Mt. Jackson

On the way down I passed a few people headed up, but traffic was pretty light being later in the day. I made good time on the way down as there aren't many steep sections through here and the conditions were so good. The only difficult part of the descent was a couple sections of ice where the lower part of the trail has some short steep and rocky sections in the warmer months. Other than that the worst part was needing to walk the side of the road back to my truck once I was down.

Packed trail coming down from Mt. Jackson

View of today's three peaks from the entrance of the Mt. Washington Hotel
From the rounded dome of Mt. Eisenhower on the left to small open summit of Jackson on the right

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go to my gallery on SmugMug