Copy/Repost Hike

For this trip it turned out just to be Jim and me.  Maybe this was good, maybe this was not so good, but an adventure it was and after much reflection – we both agreed we’d do it again.

The week leading up to this trip was full of fresh snowfall in the White Mountains, some areas getting as much as 24 inches of snow.  I had posted we might seek an alternative route to the hut depending on what had fallen preceding the hike.  Thursday before departure Jim alerted to me some potential avalanche warnings in the White Mountains so I sleuthed the internet and found warnings for Tuckerman’s and Huntington Ravines along the presidential range, but nothing where we were headed.  I took the extra step to contact with the AMC and confirm as well as get s on trail conditions.  AMC confirmed that the A-Z trail was a utilized winter route to Zealand Hut, no avalanche warnings, but that they’d experience recent snowfalls so the trail may not be as broken as we’d like which I had anticipated.  The most popular way to the hut was up Zealand Road to Zealand Trail and is also frequently used by cross country skiers.  We opted to carry on the original plan.  The hut had reservations for 22 guests this Friday evening so I felt comfortable we’d be in good company on the hike, fewer on the A-Z trail of course.  We reviewed the forecast (Sunny and blue skies), packed our gear, double checked the essentials, map, trail description, compass, head lamp, lunch and called it a night.

On Friday morning we rose at 5am and headed out the door by 6am to be at the trail head by 10am.  All was on schedule and according to plan except the weather was gray with snow showers and very windy.  We started the hike at about 10:15am as we had to park a bit away from the starting point.  Once we entered the tree line, the wind ceased which made for comfortable hiking.  As always, I am a bit chillier on the start of a hike and so there are not many photos on the way up, in fact, quite few.  The need to move was real and a short twenty minutes into the hike the heart, head and lungs were in full motion and Jim and I were comfortably hiking up to Mt. Tom.  With three hikers who started before us, the Avalon and A-Z trail was well packed and easy to follow.  We encountered hiker #1 as he was descending the Mt. Tom spur trail and we encountered hikers #2 and #3 at the summit – they took the photo of Jim and I.  By the time we reached the summit, the weather had cleared and the frozen landscape was just beautiful.  We didn’t linger as we had 2.7 miles along the A-Z trail to make our way to Zealand Hut.  Once back at the junction we had a quick lunch and walked the 80 yards to the other trail junction and this is where the real fun and hard work began.

The trail was unbroken but I could see from the way the snow filled in the path it had been hiked during the winter.  I knew this would be a challenge and we forged ahead.  It was 1pm and I was feeling good that we could reach our destination by sunset.  The trail was a steady and steep descent with bright yellow blazes – so bright I remarked to Jim they must have been recently done.  Once down, the trail was flat and progressed much like the trail description promised.  We hiked carefully and methodically but it wasn’t without the occasional fall into deeper snow.  I could tell from my footsteps beneath the snow that hikers previously cut this path but the opportunity to posthole, even with snow shoes, existed in some of the areas that had heavy snow.  I knew there were tricky turns on this path and I had made sure I had a copy of the trail description from the AMC guide – I referenced it frequently.  I made mental note of each geographic marker we passed, the first snowmobile trail (which was unused), the two brook crossings, and a re-crossing of the snowmobile trail (again unused).

We emerged into a small clearing and this is where we had our first challenge.  From where we exited was a brilliant yellow blaze but as to where the trail carried forward was anyone’s guess.  At first we went forward and then retraced our steps.  It was at this point we dropped our packs to save energy and skirted the tree line to notate an obvious trail or blaze, we found none.  We found a CD hanging from a tree which caught our eyes in the reflection of the sun but it led to no obvious trail head.  My initial instinct of heading straight was spot on as when I forged further in, the blazes were front and center.  But I have to say, if that is the trail, it was heavily obscured.  Back to collect the packs, we enjoyed a brief hike on well packed snow.  Shortly after that we emerged into the Birch Forest where we had our biggest challenge.  Despite the regularity of blazes and a relatively well delineated path, here, not so much.  The forest was wide open with lots of low growth seemingly popping up through the dense snow cover.  Trail blazes – very irregular, poorly maintained and in some instances, nothing larger than a half inch strip on a peeling birch tree.  Our pace slowed tremendously because we lost the path a handful of times only to retrace our steps, drop packs, scout for a blaze and re-align our traverse.  I’m pretty confident we lost the trail where it descends steeply to cross a brook.  The brook crossing was our last known blaze and all the scouting proved futile.  What I knew from the AMC guide trail description is we had to climb up and over the small ridge.  From there we should experience a steady decline towards the Zealand Trail.  I had made a note of where the sun set and carrying forward in a westerly direction should either connect us to Zealand or Ethan Pond Trail – reaching them both by a steady and moderate descent.  My gut told me we were close but daylight was going to expire.  Jim and I had sported our head lamps the last time we dropped packed so we were ready. 

At this point Jim turned around and said some hikers were coming.  We paused, allowed them to catch up and we exchanged greetings.  The three hikers, all from Connecticut, thanked us profusely for having broken the trail for them.  They started their hike the way we did, just a bit later in the morning.  The leader of their group experienced a little frustration – the same we had – cutting through the birch forest, he had noted our trail deviations in the snow and remarked on the difficulty of staying on trail.  He had chosen to follow our path confirming our steps with the infrequent blazes they saw.  He was of the same mindset I was and we all agreed to buddy up as a team, after all, five headlamps were better than two or three.  He also had a GPS – which quite frankly – had me grinning ear to ear in addition to the fact they offered to break trail the rest of the way. 

We set afoot climbing over the ridge working our way over and down.  The pace had slowed even more as it had gotten dark.  It was pretty obvious we had lost the trail but we carried forward.  The gentleman with the GPS checked it five or six times each time indicated the GPS had us on the trail though we could locate no blazes along the path we were making.  It was pretty clear we were conducting some minor bush whacking along the way.  I’d say 20 minutes into this part of the adventure we came face to face with a tree blazed in bright yellow – cheers erupted!  We carefully and methodically made our way along the path, mindful to make note of any blazes we found.  We came upon the upper part of Zealand Pond and got stopped in our tracks by dense fir trees, we were once again off trail, and we missed a turn.  Rather than bush whack to the left we retraced our steps and scoured the tree forest floor for signs of a more obvious path and sure enough, we’d missed a blaze indicating a modest turn.  Shortly thereafter the trail and trail blazes were highly distinguishable and within minutes we found ourselves at the junction of Zealand and the A-Z trail – cheers erupted – success!  We stuck together and made our way up to the hut.  Of the 22 registered guests for the evening, only 8 had arrived including us 5.  It would be us 8 and the caretakers for the evening.  I neglected to check the time but I think we arrived at the hut sometime around 6:30pm.  After lights out the five us hung back and enjoyed some bonding time.  We shared a few laughs, both happy to be at the end of this portion of the adventure.  Their plan was to hike the bonds the next morning but shifted their itinerary once the caretaker informed them none of the trails above the hut were broken.  Given our recent experience, their day was going to take on a different form.

The next morning we had breakfast, said our goodbyes, suited up and headed out.  Jim and I headed back along the A-Z trail to experience the previous days hard work in a more relaxed and peaceful hike.  You can see from the photos how challenging it was to make out the trail in the birch forest.   On the return trip it was clear where we reconnected with the trail and where we lost it both times.  On both ends there was no indication of a trail or blazes.  We had zigzagged westerly towards Zealand Pond, running near parallel to the actual trail itself.  By encountering the pond directly, it pushed us back into the direction of the trail.  Jim and searched for a good half hour at the bottom of the ridge trying to make out a trail or see a blaze but to no avail.  While we left a well carved path in the snow, and future hikers maybe grateful, it is not the actual trail.  I would venture to say there is a ½ mile of poorly blazed trail.

Along the return we met up with two sets of hikers, gingerly making their way to Zealand Hut.  One set with Snow Shoes and the other set without and they were post holing like mad and seemed unfazed by it all.  I warned them of very deep snow but they carried on.  Once Jim and I arrived at the trail junction for Mt. Field we made the decision to skip Mts. Field, Willey and Avalon – they would be there another day.  We had had a tremendous adventure, a brilliant night at the hut in good company, some good lessons learned and we were just plain tired.  What felt good in that moment was to put one foot forward knowing it landed lower than when it lifted.  We were at the cars by 3pm and back in Spencer by 6:15pm.

As I mentioned, this was quite the journey and adventure.  We both learned a lot on this trip together and we lucked out in that we could buddy up with fellow hikers where it mattered most.  It certainly was a bit of luck that one of them carried a GPS but it’s important to note, a GPS isn’t always accurate either and up to that point our instincts and homework had not failed us.  It’s an experience we won’t soon forget… but it energized us to tackle the next one – but perhaps not after recent snowfalls of 24 inches!

Cheers mates – see you on the trails!!

P.S.  NOW is the time to hike the A-Z Trail from Crawford Notch to Zealand Hut – it won’t disappoint.

Trip Photos:  Jim & Rob

Trip Report:  Rob

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