because-its-there
New member
Date(s) Hiked: 9/18/2005
Trails(s) Hiked: Avalon Tr, A-Z TR, Mt Tom Spur, Willey Range Tr. & the Ethan Pond Trail.
Total Distance:8.6 miles
Difficulty:Moderate to Sentenuous
Conditions: Cool,Misty, Cloudy & Wet
Special Required Equipment:
Trip Report:
Hi to all.
First time reporting on a Hiking trip. I recently have acquired the Peakbagger bug while hiking this Labor day Weekend. Even though I was only hiking Mount Chocorua. I have since bagged 3 of the 4000's last weekend by hiking to Mt Tom, Mt Field & Mt Willey on Sunday with one of my co-workers Mark.
We parked at the AT & Rt302. There was a couple preparing for there hike up the Webster Cliff Trail to Mount Jackson. We were told that the woman had just had knee surgery 6 weeks earlier. They also told us they had just seen a moose beside the road a few miles back while driving in. These folks from
portsmouth were very helpful in giving us a ride up the notch the 4 miles or so to the Crawford Notch Depot. Where we were to start our hike for the day. While on the drive up the Notch we saw the moose also, it was still there scratching its face on one of the street signs. Once at the Depot we unloaded & thanked the gentleman for the ride & wished them good luck on their hike.
We Started the hike on the Avalon trail with the weather cool cloudy & damp. It was 9:13 & since we had driven about 2 hours & was needing to hitch
a ride to the trail head we were only 13 minutes late. We had figured on starting the hike around 9:00, Close enough for hiking. We headed into the
woods knowing that the first 1 3/4 miles were going to be not to bad but the last 1/4 mile was going to be very steep up to the height-of-land
between Mt Tom & Mt field. The cool weather made the hiking quite bearable. We would stop every once & a while to drink some water & let ours breathes catch up with us. We then picked up the A-Z trail about 1.5 miles from the highway. Once we reached the last 1/4 mile, it was as advertised "steep" but manageable. We just took a slower pace. Finally we reached the Mt Tom Spur & with not having seen anyone & with the weather just above poor we decide to drop our day packs & hike the 1/2 mile to Mount Tom without them. Once we reached what we thought was the top near the make shift log bench we enjoyed our first view from inside of a cloud. The first of 3 we were to enjoy this day. We still told some pictures. Then once we started back we saw the side trail which took us to the actual summit. We had now bagged our first 4000 footer of the day. This was Marks first 4000 footer in NH & my 3rd. I had hiked both Mt Washington in 1989 & Mt Cannon in 1990. Not sure if it was by change but these 2 hikes were the mountains that have food on top. After enjoying the back side of the inside of a cloud we took another picture & headed down. We reached the spot where we had left our packs & started off to Mt field.
Just down the A-Z we turned left to go the .9 miles up the Willey Ridge Trail to Mt Field. We were looking forward to reaching Mt Field because we had planned to have lunch there. The trail up to Field was different than the trail up to the HOL prior to Mt Tom more roots a little steeper on average. Even with this We were set to conquer Field. Having not seen anyone to this point it was interesting that just as we got to the intersection of Willey Range & Avalon we met I guy by himself coming up the Avalon trail. If we say our names I don't remember so I'll call him Bob. The 3 of us finished the 100 yds to the summit & all set out to have our lunches. Bob was carrying a full pack of about 40 pounds & was out for 3 days of hiking around the whites. I mentioned to him that we were hiking for the day & that we were hikers with limited experience. But the poles I was using, which I had borrowed from my uncle Bill (AT nickname - Crash) the day before had over 4000 miles on them. Bob then stated he was planning to hike the AT next year starting in March. I stated that my uncle for about the 4th time was planning on starting the AT in Feb S to N. This is what's got me hiking the 4000 footers. I'm planning to hike a week with him in the whites in early next June he figures, at which time I hope to hit as many of the 4000 footers as I can. So hiking this fall & early next spring will help me get in sharp. After feeding the Gray Jay's & finishing our lunch. Bob headed off to Mount Willey. Several other couples had showed up in the mean time 1 couple coming from Mt Willey the others came up the Avalon TR.
A little time later we were off to Mt Willey 1.4 miles away. We were about 10 minutes behind our friend Bob. This section was about the same as the hike up to Field. Without notice we walked over the top of Mt Willey our 3rd 4000 footer of the day to the lookout side trail & found Bob. We asked how long he had been there & he stated 10 minutes. We did start to see our shadows An blue skies above us & though we might get a view but it was not to be. We saw just the inside of a cloud for the third peak in a row. Bob once again left about 10 minutes before us & we never saw him again the rest of the hike down.
We had been warned about coming down this way by the gentlemen who gave us a ride & even Bob & both were correct. With everything wet the hike down Willey Range trail to Ethan Pond trail was very steep & very slow. I fell 3 times once flat & twice catching myself with my hand. Mark fell twice once falling hard. There's ladders/stairs in one section which we used like stairs going down. I figure people would use them more like ladders coming up. There is about 7 or 8 of them for about 100 step decending about 100 ft. This was the easiest part for the hike to Ethan pond trail. The hike down was a continuously downward hike & we were wishing for some up hill to just give our downward legs a break. Finally we reach Ethan pond where the trail got a lot better. I guess because we were now on the AT. The next 1/2 mile we did in about what seemed like 10 minutes. Having passed the Kedron Flume trail we started hearing sign of the highway below as well as hearing the Train going thru the notch. Before we knew it we were at the parking lot .3 miles from Rt302. We finished the hike at about 4:15. The funny thing is just as we were walking up to the car someone was crossing 302 & asked if we could give them a ride to Crawford Notch Depot. We could not turn down their request. They had hiked up from the depot to mount Jackson & down Webster Cliff trail. Sound like they has just as much fun as we did coming down. After they tried to pay Mark for giving them a ride we told them to just give the next person needing a lift a ride.
The plan now with having 5 of the 4000 footers complete will be to hike Mt Osceloa & East Osceola from the Waterville Valley side tomorrow. Looking like excellent weather is forecasted. Sunny with highs in the 60's. Much better than this high.
Trails(s) Hiked: Avalon Tr, A-Z TR, Mt Tom Spur, Willey Range Tr. & the Ethan Pond Trail.
Total Distance:8.6 miles
Difficulty:Moderate to Sentenuous
Conditions: Cool,Misty, Cloudy & Wet
Special Required Equipment:
Trip Report:
Hi to all.
First time reporting on a Hiking trip. I recently have acquired the Peakbagger bug while hiking this Labor day Weekend. Even though I was only hiking Mount Chocorua. I have since bagged 3 of the 4000's last weekend by hiking to Mt Tom, Mt Field & Mt Willey on Sunday with one of my co-workers Mark.
We parked at the AT & Rt302. There was a couple preparing for there hike up the Webster Cliff Trail to Mount Jackson. We were told that the woman had just had knee surgery 6 weeks earlier. They also told us they had just seen a moose beside the road a few miles back while driving in. These folks from
portsmouth were very helpful in giving us a ride up the notch the 4 miles or so to the Crawford Notch Depot. Where we were to start our hike for the day. While on the drive up the Notch we saw the moose also, it was still there scratching its face on one of the street signs. Once at the Depot we unloaded & thanked the gentleman for the ride & wished them good luck on their hike.
We Started the hike on the Avalon trail with the weather cool cloudy & damp. It was 9:13 & since we had driven about 2 hours & was needing to hitch
a ride to the trail head we were only 13 minutes late. We had figured on starting the hike around 9:00, Close enough for hiking. We headed into the
woods knowing that the first 1 3/4 miles were going to be not to bad but the last 1/4 mile was going to be very steep up to the height-of-land
between Mt Tom & Mt field. The cool weather made the hiking quite bearable. We would stop every once & a while to drink some water & let ours breathes catch up with us. We then picked up the A-Z trail about 1.5 miles from the highway. Once we reached the last 1/4 mile, it was as advertised "steep" but manageable. We just took a slower pace. Finally we reached the Mt Tom Spur & with not having seen anyone & with the weather just above poor we decide to drop our day packs & hike the 1/2 mile to Mount Tom without them. Once we reached what we thought was the top near the make shift log bench we enjoyed our first view from inside of a cloud. The first of 3 we were to enjoy this day. We still told some pictures. Then once we started back we saw the side trail which took us to the actual summit. We had now bagged our first 4000 footer of the day. This was Marks first 4000 footer in NH & my 3rd. I had hiked both Mt Washington in 1989 & Mt Cannon in 1990. Not sure if it was by change but these 2 hikes were the mountains that have food on top. After enjoying the back side of the inside of a cloud we took another picture & headed down. We reached the spot where we had left our packs & started off to Mt field.
Just down the A-Z we turned left to go the .9 miles up the Willey Ridge Trail to Mt Field. We were looking forward to reaching Mt Field because we had planned to have lunch there. The trail up to Field was different than the trail up to the HOL prior to Mt Tom more roots a little steeper on average. Even with this We were set to conquer Field. Having not seen anyone to this point it was interesting that just as we got to the intersection of Willey Range & Avalon we met I guy by himself coming up the Avalon trail. If we say our names I don't remember so I'll call him Bob. The 3 of us finished the 100 yds to the summit & all set out to have our lunches. Bob was carrying a full pack of about 40 pounds & was out for 3 days of hiking around the whites. I mentioned to him that we were hiking for the day & that we were hikers with limited experience. But the poles I was using, which I had borrowed from my uncle Bill (AT nickname - Crash) the day before had over 4000 miles on them. Bob then stated he was planning to hike the AT next year starting in March. I stated that my uncle for about the 4th time was planning on starting the AT in Feb S to N. This is what's got me hiking the 4000 footers. I'm planning to hike a week with him in the whites in early next June he figures, at which time I hope to hit as many of the 4000 footers as I can. So hiking this fall & early next spring will help me get in sharp. After feeding the Gray Jay's & finishing our lunch. Bob headed off to Mount Willey. Several other couples had showed up in the mean time 1 couple coming from Mt Willey the others came up the Avalon TR.
A little time later we were off to Mt Willey 1.4 miles away. We were about 10 minutes behind our friend Bob. This section was about the same as the hike up to Field. Without notice we walked over the top of Mt Willey our 3rd 4000 footer of the day to the lookout side trail & found Bob. We asked how long he had been there & he stated 10 minutes. We did start to see our shadows An blue skies above us & though we might get a view but it was not to be. We saw just the inside of a cloud for the third peak in a row. Bob once again left about 10 minutes before us & we never saw him again the rest of the hike down.
We had been warned about coming down this way by the gentlemen who gave us a ride & even Bob & both were correct. With everything wet the hike down Willey Range trail to Ethan Pond trail was very steep & very slow. I fell 3 times once flat & twice catching myself with my hand. Mark fell twice once falling hard. There's ladders/stairs in one section which we used like stairs going down. I figure people would use them more like ladders coming up. There is about 7 or 8 of them for about 100 step decending about 100 ft. This was the easiest part for the hike to Ethan pond trail. The hike down was a continuously downward hike & we were wishing for some up hill to just give our downward legs a break. Finally we reach Ethan pond where the trail got a lot better. I guess because we were now on the AT. The next 1/2 mile we did in about what seemed like 10 minutes. Having passed the Kedron Flume trail we started hearing sign of the highway below as well as hearing the Train going thru the notch. Before we knew it we were at the parking lot .3 miles from Rt302. We finished the hike at about 4:15. The funny thing is just as we were walking up to the car someone was crossing 302 & asked if we could give them a ride to Crawford Notch Depot. We could not turn down their request. They had hiked up from the depot to mount Jackson & down Webster Cliff trail. Sound like they has just as much fun as we did coming down. After they tried to pay Mark for giving them a ride we told them to just give the next person needing a lift a ride.
The plan now with having 5 of the 4000 footers complete will be to hike Mt Osceloa & East Osceola from the Waterville Valley side tomorrow. Looking like excellent weather is forecasted. Sunny with highs in the 60's. Much better than this high.
