LATE AFTERNOON ON BEAVER BROOK TRAIL: 4/7/15

The Beaver Brook Trail cascades have been my favored short snowshoe hike destination this season, and the snowshoeing was excellent on this late afternoon jaunt. Spring is slowly coming to the valleys, but Old Man Winter still has a strong grip on the mountains.

Several inches of new snow covered the solid snowshoe track on the trail. The new snow was wet, but not sticky, on the lower part of the trail, and changed to powdery above 2200 ft. The spring sun was pouring into the hardwood forest along the first quarter-mile of the trail.

 This spine of snow made for an interesting bridge crossing on snowshoes.

The familiar first cascade.

A little bit of open water showing higher up the brook.

Most of the brook was still solidly frozen and buried in snow.

Interesting ribs of ice on this rock.

At 0.8 mile I snowshoed out onto the brook for a view.

Bright spring skies.

Winter conditions on the trail.

I bypassed one steep spot by snowshoeing right up the brook. How often can you do that in April?

Looking like midwinter at 2850 ft.

This is the best viewpoint along the Beaver Brook Cascades.

Mount Liberty, Mount Flume and Whaleback Mountain.

Franconia Ridge behind Mount Wolf.

You notice the serious dropoff here more on the way down.

On the way down, excellent firm snow conditions in the hardwoods beckoned for some leisurely bushwhacking.

A bit of green amidst the snowy woods.

Interesting trees.

Multi-layered boulder.

The winds off Beaver Pond carved a deep well beside this large rock.

Coyote tracks?

South Kinsman beyond Beaver Pond.

View up to Beaver Brook ravine from Beaver Meadow.

Site of the early 1900s logging camp at Beaver Meadow.

The view spot on the Beaver Brook Cascades, seen from the trailhead parking lot.