Mt. Hale (4,054 ft) 11-6-22

Distance: 9.10 mi.
Elevation: 2,240 ft (overall) 2,581 ft (total)
Time: 1:53 (Summit) 3:28 (Hut) 4:35 (Zealand Rd) 4:53 (Total)
Trails: Hale Brook Trail, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Zealand Trail, Zealand Road

With abnormally warm November temps predicted (near 50), it was time to get out for a nice warm late fall hike. It was going to be cloudy all day, so I picked a viewless 4K so that I could make another check on the grid, but more importantly redline the Lend-A-Hand Trail. I have been wanting to do this loop for a while, so it was nice to finally get it done. This would also be my first non-winter hike of Mount Hale.

I expected the parking lot at the start of the Zealand Trail to be more full today with the warm temps and it's access to more peaks and the hut, so I started at the Hale Brook Trail and would end with the road walk. While I expect this was the better option, the small lot was already full when I got there so I had to park on the side of the road as others had already done. With this being a shorter 4K hike though, the parking lot can cycle out pretty quickly.

The trail starts off pretty easy with a gentle climb. Being late fall, there was a layer of leaves down low that went away as the hike got higher up the mountain. Terrain is pretty smooth, but there are some sections of trail that have been reworked with some newer steps added in to stop erosion. Still, nothing hard to navigate though. There is a brook crossing, but today it was running pretty low so it was very easy to just step across on the rocks.

An early easy leaf covered section of trail

Hale Brook Trail water crossing

Higher up the trail transitions from the hardwoods to the conifers. Around this time the trail also transitions to some sections of sidehill and then switchbacks. The trail surface gets more rocky here as well. Not making things too difficult, but just not as smooth or as easy on the feet. Closer to the summit, the trail becomes more straight again before it eventually emerges from the trees to the viewless summit where a fire tower once stood and there is now just an opening with a large pile of rocks in it. While quite a few cars were in the lot today, there weren't many people at the summit (or they didn't stay long). At one point I even had the summit to myself for a while before I left. The Gray Jays were active around the summit looking for free snacks today. After zooming in on my camera of a couple pictures I had taken, I noticed that one of them even had a band on its leg. This was something I have never seen on a Gray Jay before. Obviously somewhere someone is trying to learn more about them.

Sidehill section of trail

Gray Jay (with leg band) at the summit

Mt. Hale summit

Leaving the summit, I headed down the Lend-A-Hand Trail to hit some new sections of trail for me. The trail makes for an enjoyable hike through some nice woods. The trail gets a bit tight for a bit, but it made the section seem that much nicer to me. There is one small area of rock to climb down, but the terrain through here was pretty easy and enjoyable. From the guidebook, I knew there would be a side path that would lead to a small view looking out towards Carrigain Notch. There was no sign for this side path, and if you weren't looking for it it could be very easy to pass. It did lead to a small, but enjoyable view that is worth pushing through the branches to get to it.

Tight section of the Lend-A-Hand Trail

View towards Carrigain Notch

The lower half of the Lend-A-Hand Trail gets a little bit rougher in its surface. The trail passes a small swamp, goes though some wet areas, and follows near then crosses a brook. All this makes for a few more roots and rocks on the surface that slows the hike down just a bit. It still isn't hard though. Just before the junction with the Zealand Trail, there was one brook crossing that wasn't too hard with rocks to easily cross on.

Bog bridges on Lend-A-Hale Trail

I went down the Zealand Trail and made a stop at the hut. There were a few people around the hut today relaxing and enjoying the falls, but it wasn't too busy here. I took some pictures of the falls, but without much water running today it wasn't very exciting. So after a short break, I got on my way and headed on my way out. After a quick rocky and bit steep descent from the hut, the rest of the trail is mostly flat as it largely follows and old logging railroad grade. This makes for a quick hike out if you don't stop to look at much as you pass brooks, ponds, and swamps. If it was sunny out, I probably would have stopped more and taken some more pictures. Once back to the road, I did the walk back to my truck at pretty much the same time as two other groups were also doing so. As one of us said, we should have sent one person ahead and come back to give the rest of us a ride.

While the road walk at the end isn't exciting, the hike today was a good one. The weather worked well for a viewless peak and the new trail for me and side path view made for some other nice aspects. I would do this hike again at some other time probably with different weather, like on a sunny day. Next time I would probably switch it up and do it the other direction just to see which way is better.

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Mt. Hale (4,054 ft) 3-2-14

Distance: 8.20 mi.
Elevation: 2,487 ft. (overall) 2,557 ft. (total)
Time: 4:04 (Summit) 6:18 (total)
Trails: Herd Path, North Twin Trail, Fire Warden's Trail

Driving North just above Concord, it looked like the forecast for snow might be wrong since there was some blue sky above. But just before Franconia Notch it started to snow and it didn't stop for most of the day. It was just light fluffy snow coming down at a moderate pace though. By the time I started at the end of Little River Rd, temps were in the low teens and there was about an inch of fresh snow on the ground. I crossed the bridge and headed up the herd path seeing signs of only one person ahead of me. Bare booting my way up the path, this section went by quicker than I remembered from my previous time here and I was soon at the summer trail head.

The first herd path of the day

The North Twin Trail was well packed, so I still didn't need and extra traction. Like the herd path, this section of trail gently gains elevation while staying easy and mostly straight. Getting to the first river crossing, it would be easy to miss as there were no signs of anyone crossing here and the herd path at this location is very well defined. What didn't seem like far up the path, I came to the one icy spot of the day needing care to climb down without traction. Just a couple hundred feet past this, I came to the bottom end of the Fire Warden's Trail.

The small tree in the path at the base of the Fire Warden's Trail

The hillside where the Fire Warden's Trail starts

With the new snow on the ground and less traveled path than what I had been on so far, I decided now was a good time to put on the snowshoes. Microspikes probably would have been fine, but I wanted to play it safe and also use the heel lifts. The trail angles back to the left before turning right a little as it goes up the side hill. Quickly I came to a spot where the ski and snowshoe tracks separated. After assessing the area, it looked like they both joined back up to the right, so I went that way as it was shorter. The tracks did meet back up and continued up the mountain.

Slowly turning to the right through here

The trail progressively makes a few switchbacks as it works its way up. With these long straights between turns, the trail never gets steep and stays at a good grade for the entire length. The trail is also much wider than I expected it to be through here. I had heard about it being in good shape and easy to follow, but I didn't expect the open path to be so wide. Being in quite open birch glades so much probably helps keep some things from encroaching on the trail. There were only a couple leaning trees to deal with on the way up, but even those were easy to get around or duck under (if even needed).

Starting to get into the softwoods

After a few of the switchbacks, you finally start to get into the softwoods some. It starts as a mix of hard and soft woods before becoming just softwoods. Always a sign of getting higher up the mountain, there is still a little ways to go though. After the last left turn on a switchback, the trail finally starts to get a little bit tighter and you soon work into a tunnel of sorts through the spruce. This might be the steepest section, but that isn't really saying much as it really wasn't that bad. Soon the trail turned to the right a little more and the woods opened up just a bit. This is also were even more snow was sticking to the trees, making for a pleasant winter scene on this cloudy and snowy day. There is one small drop just before you gain the summit, but you lose very little elevation. Soon you pop out of the trees to the open summit area. I had seen only a couple other hikers so far today, and one of them was still at the summit. We talked about as the snow continued since there wasn't any view to be had today. Once we both cooled off some, he headed back down the trail and I got out my camera for a few photos.

An enjoyable scene to walk through shortly before the summit

No chance of a view today

Miles and the summit cairn

Soon after, I was headed back down the trail. Going this direction, I could see through the trees some near the top to what looked like could be decent views if I weren't still in the clouds. While going down the trail, I was able to spend even more time enjoying the scenery on the trails. With little to no wind, today's snow was clinging to the trees nicely. And the birch glades were just great to walk through. Even though I am not a skier, I can see why this spot is so popular for it. The hike down the mountain was enjoyable even though the snow kept coming down for most of it. About 3/4 of the way down, the snow finally started to stop and you could make out some things in the distance. Just before the end of the Fire Warden's Trail, the sun even made a brief appearance. I'm sure if it had been out more, this would have been an even nicer trail.

About as difficult as it gets... don't knock the snow down on yourself

This spot made me stop in the tracks, then back up to get a better picture of it

Inviting glades

Able to see off in the distance now... Nubble Peak

Once back down by the river, I took my snowshoes back off and headed down the trail without much for breaks. If I made good time I wouldn't be late for family supper and could even take a shower beforehand. The sun came out a few more times and the snow was done for the day, so this stretch went pretty quickly. The only problem I had was that when I got back to the car I saw my GPS had shut off and didn't save any of my track log before doing so. It's never done this before, but thanks to the miracle of the internet, I was able to get another hiker's track so I could still figure out all my hike stats (with the help of photo timestamps).

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Mt. Hale (4,054 ft) 1-15-12

Distance: 4.4 mi. (Mountain hiking) 5.5 mi. (Road hiking) 9.9 mi. (total)
Elevation: 2,266 ft.
Time: 3:53 (Mt. Hale) 6:54 (total)
Trails: Zealand Rd, Hale Brook Trail

The trail starts off, as road. I left the winter trailhead at 7:30am where it was a balmy -9 degrees. I walked the snowmobile trail to Zealand Road and then headed up that. I put on my snowshoes at the start even though I didn't really need to. But, I wanted to use my new snowshoes so this seemed like a good time to get used to them. The road was well packed out from snowshoes, skis, and a couple snowmobiles that went past the signs saying they shouldn't be on this section. The road is an easy walk and was a good way to get warmed up before the hike.

Zealand Road

When I got to the summer trail head there was a pair of women skiing that had almost caught up to me. The quote of the day came from them as they stopped at the trail head to hike as well. "Everyone is a little frosty today." I had already started icing up some from my breath hitting my jacket, and they were too. The trail was well packed out by snowshoes and was pretty easy going to start. It isn't too steep to start and gets you going up at a good pace. Through here, the women and I leap frogged each other a couple times until they finally stayed ahead of me. There are a couple small views through the leafless trees and one decent opening over an old logging cut just to the side of the trail.

Early part of Hale Brook trail

Soon you come to the crossing of Hale Brook in what is a very nice looking little spot. I imagine it is a great sight with fresh snow clinging to the trees. The trail continues up steadily from here for a while.

Hale Brook crossing

Soon I came to a nice section of trail where you go along a semi-steep sidehill along a narrow path. With the snow, there isn't much side room to step before you will slide some. This was a nice part of the trail though and fun. Shortly after this you come to a series of switchbacks that make the steep hillside a pretty easy climb. The turns were a bit steep in a couple places, but the new snowshoes worked great for traction (much better than my old non hiking snowshoes).

Sidehill

After the switchbacks, you are fully in the conifers. These were clad with snow making a few branches to duck under. But they made things much nicer to look at as well. From here it is a little further of still not overly trail to the summit opening. When I finally got to the opening I quickly went to the side that looked like it would have the least wind exposure. While there was only a slight breeze, it still felt plenty cold. According to my weather meter here, it was down to -13 degrees. There were a few more clouds than I expected today, so there wasn't really any views other than the summit and the blue sky above. The clouds seemed to be hung up in all the mountains.

Nearing the summit

Open summit

On the summit in the cold, I learned that even with my lightweight gloves I normally wear winter hiking under my snowmobiling gloves, my hands can still get cold. If I could have fit my third pair of gloves between the two, I would have. This probably wasn't helped by needing to take them off at least one hand a few times to change the batteries in the camera and gps. They were draining quick in the cold and both have small pieces to move to open the compartments. I waited around for a while hoping to get some view, but finally after almost 30 minutes, I decided it was time to get moving again and warm back up. I am glad I had extra dry upper layers that I already changed into or I would have been colder.

Back to the trail

The hike down was pretty easy and went fairly quick. I had hoped to have time to do a loop down past Zealand Falls, but decided at the summit I wouldn't have time without finishing at least part of the road by headlamp. Back down to the road, there were a few groups of skiers and hikers coming in and out.

Heading down

All things considered, it was a good hike. It wasn't quite as clear as I had hoped and it was plenty cold, but it was still a good experience. I have never hiked in these temps before and it let me see just how much harder it can be to breath when it's that cold out.

Zealand River

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE