Hale and Zealand Mts.

[Max]

On Saturday monring, I started out from the car at 5:40 AM, and was the first up the Zeland road in the new snow. Reaching the Hale brook trail at 7:00, I scratched a time in the snow for my friends who were doing Zealand only and would be an hour behind me at the start, and continued the trail breaking up towards Hale. I was making good progress, perhaps 1-1/2 mph pace, when suddenly I reached the infamous "Side Hill From Hell", where the slope slants drastically to the left and there is about 1/4 mile or so to traverse across it. Totally unbroken, blown over with drifts as deep as my thighs in places, and with a crust cover from some of the rain and sleet, my progress slowed down to inching across this cursed section. Smack the tip of a snowshoe down, then the other, gaining 8-10" of ground, then lifting them above the crust again to repeat, over and over. The temp is in the low 20's, I'm hiking in poly-pro tops and bottoms and a pair of shorts only, and I'm sweating bullets! Finally, I make it across this horrendous section and reach the brook crossing. Then its up through the switchbacks and the long slog to the summit that never seems to want to arrive...darn, I didn't know Hale was a 9,000 footer!

At last the summit, a brief wave at the summit cairn, and I am so exhausted I think for a moment of retracing my tracks and descending. But I hate to leave my companions with no idea of where I am, so I add a layer of clothing and start down the Lend-A-Hand trail. Surely, someone will be hiking this from the hut, I will meet them, and I will get some relief from the monotonous trail breaking. The "someone" never comes, and like the trip up, it is also untracked, and I am breaking trail through the same crust for an additional 2.7 miles down to the hut. I arrive at the Twinway at 10:35 and see from the message in the snow that I am 35 minutes behind the group. I am too shattered to go up the Twinway, so I retreat to the hut. I've brought a total change of clothing with me, anticipating a struggle up and down Hale. I quickly dress, grab a fresh bottle of water, chow down some peanut butter cookies. A fellow is going out the door, headed for Zealand. I tell him if he runs across my hiking partners to tell them I may not make it to the summit and not to wait for me. I go outside, put on my snowshoes and prepare to descend to the car. Then I think, well just give it a few minutes up the Twinway and see what happens...yes, I'll hike for 15 minutes, reassess my condition and make a decision based on that. I'm now an hour behind. Up I go, a bit easier now since they've all broken the tracks for me. I get a tune going through my head, one foot in front of the other, over and over. 45 minutes later I'm at the Zeacliff lookout. Well, I'm sure not turning back now. I plug along, rejuvenated a bit from the peanut butter cookies. I get to the ladder section of trail, I can see evidence of the previous struggles. I go up quickly without incident. I'm hoping I can catch them. I'm afraid if they appear around the corner on their way back, I won't have the desire to continue on to the summit. I push harder. Finally around the corner I spot them through the trees. Are they on their way back? No! I have caught them, 20 minutes from the summit of Zealand...woo hoo!

We reach the summit, congratulate Carole for an accomplishment that she shares with not a lot of other people...the 48 4-K's in winter is not a walk in the park, as today's trip proves! The trip back is pretty smooth now over the well tracked trail, and the addition of my hiking pals has rejuvenated me. Yeah, it was a struggle going out the road and the end of the day, reminiscent of the Wilderness trail, but we made it, and it's another one to talk about for years to come. A 21 mile day for me, and a bit over 12 hours as we reach the car at 6 PM. Oh yeah, and on the way out, we notice that as we pass Hale Brook trail at the end of the day, my tracks over Hale are still the only ones. Good luck to anyone else dealing with that side hill section!

Congratulations both to Carole and to everyone else who made it.

Max

[MtnMagic]

A winter hike so excellent and so well written . . .
that I felt like I was on it with you!
21 miles?
More like 23.4 and I'm sure it felt like a day hike to the Bonds!!
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Congrat's to Carole, you and all!