A bit crisp in the morning, then the day warmed up nicely. The first mile or so on the Livermore Trail/Greeley Ponds to the Scaur Trail is a nice flat walk through hemlocks and beech. The Scaur Trail was broken in while we heard the snow guns of the Waterville Valley ski area in the distance. The trees were bare and we could see right through them. We ran into a couple of blowdowns that we had to contend with. At the junction of the Scaur Trail and the Kettles Path we saw our first of many moose tracks in the snow. 

The trail became darn steep as we approached the top of the Scaur. The view from the Scaur was pretty nice highlighted by the ski slopes of Waterville Valley. We looked at the condition of the mountain for skiing and one trail on the far right must have been closed because it looked bare and rocky. Jon opened a box of Peeps Christmas Trees to share so that we could all get a good start on a healthy New Year! 

We descended back to Livermore Road using the Kettles Path where I ran into an old friend Nat Scrimshaw, who now manages Curious George Cottage in Waterville Valley. It was too early to return home so we decided to check out Cascade Brook. 

We had to first cross Norway Rapids and it was passable, thanks to the snow bridges. The trail was not broken in so we found ourselves sinking about 6 inches in crusty snow. We then reached Cascade Path. It was very wide and used by cross-country skiiers. We used the Boulder Path to return back to Livermore Road. When we reached the 40-yard wide Mad River, we discovered that the water was too high to cross. Rocks that we could hop on were ice covered making this crossing dangerous. After bushwhacking along the Mad River for about a quarter mile, we came to the realization that we would have to cross barefoot in freezing, ice cold water! We should have called it a day after Scaur.  Oh well...

Surprisingly, when my foot touched the snow and water it was not that cold. I've put my foot in ocean water colder than this. Halfway across our feet started to feel numb and we hastened our traverse. We carefully crossed and thankfully nobody fell in. We quickly put our socks back on and our feet into our boots. They warmed up quickly. Vince was the first to be out and about so he went ahead and returned saying to us there was another river to cross! Oh my...

It turned out to be a swamp and after scouting the area, we found a beaver dam to walk across.

After a little bushwhacking we came onto a ski trail and followed it back to our cars. Markus was nowhere to be found -- he had decided to cross a bit further up and struck off on his own. A few minutes later he appeared with his boots soaking wet. Yeah, he did cross the river without his boots on...but he left his socks on.

What should have been an easy hike turned out to a set a challenges. Markus wanted an adventure -- and he got one!