SNOWS MOUNTAIN: 1/4/11

With a forecast for light snow moving in, it seemed appropriate to climb Snows Mountain in Waterville Valley, a nice woodsy hike with a few partial vistas. By adding in a couple of other local trails on the descent, I was able to fashion an enjoyable five-mile trek.

The trail starts out with a stiff climb up an open ski slope, no longer used for skiing. The sun was still out in the morning, and from the slope there was a good view of Mt. Tecumseh, with ski area snow guns blasting.

At 0.3 mi. the trail ducks into the woods at a sign.

The Waterville area didn't get much snow from the "Blizzard of 2010," and after the New Year's thaw there was mostly bare ground in the woods. Even up on the ridge at 2700 ft. there were only patches of crunchy snow mixed in with the bare ground.

The Snows Mountain Trail meanders along the ridgecrest for a good distance. By exploring off-trail on the north side I found this peek at South Tripyramid.


The trail crosses an attractive hardwood col before the final climb to the loop junction, passing one of my favorite trees.

From the loop junction a spur path leads to the upper outlook of Snows (which is still a mile short of the true summit). There's a nice hangout ledge, but the view is limited.

Standing, you do get a good look at Jennings Peak with Noon Peak below.

I dropped down a short distance on the south loop to the more open lower outlook, which gives a nice perspective down the Mad River valley.

A zoom on Welch (L) and Dickey (R) Mountains.

I made a steep, sketchy bushwhack down to a point near the top of an open crag on the side of Snows Mountain that can be seen from down in town at Waterville Valley. The snow was moving in, fuzzing out the views, but I did get a look across the Snows Brook basin to Sandwich Dome (summit socked in), Jennings and Noon.

To the west there was a bird's eye view of the town of Waterville Valley.

I climbed back to the north loop of Snows Mountain Trail and descended that way. Towards the bottom I branched off on the Greeley Ledges Trail, which climbs to the top of the old Snows Mountain ski lift.

This short path climbs through an attractive hardwood glade, passing this interesting boulder.

Entering spruces, it brushes by this neat heavily jointed ledge.

Greeley Ledge is a fine perch, but the view is very limited; on a clear day Mt. Tecumseh can be seen over the treetops. At one time this was probably an excellent viewpoint.

From the top of the ski area I veered onto the Elephant Rock Trail, another one of the delightful short paths around Waterville.

Elephant Rock apparently was once more elephantine when a tree formed a trunk. It's still an unusual and interesting large boulder.


A half-mile descent on the Cascade Path and adjacent road completed the loop over Snows Mountain, as the snow began to fall more steadily.

RAVINE LODGE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY: 1/1/11

On the afternoon of New Year's Day Carol covered the store while friends Harry and Barb Cunningham joined me for a leisurely snowshoe trek into Dartmouth College's Ravine Lodge at the SE base of Mt. Moosilauke. We parked at the bottom of Ravine Lodge Rd., squeezing in behind several other vehicles, and strapped on our snowshoes for the pleasant 1.6-mile walk in on the unplowed road. The temperature was near 50, turning the snow that fell during the post-Christmas storm to mush and slush.


Along the way Barb spotted this digging from a Pileated Woodpecker.


About halfway up the road a sign indicates that you are entering Dartmouth land, where respectful visitors are always welcome; no camping allowed.


One quarter-mile stretch of the road was almost bare.

We followed the service road down to the lawn in front of the Ravine Lodge, with the south ridge of Moosilauke rising into a cloud.


Chokecherry Hill (2971 ft.), a southern spur of Moosilauke, could be seen to the SW.

Granite benches in front of the lodge provided fine seats for a late lunch.


Heading down from the Lodge. This magnificent log structure was built in 1937-38 from large virgin spruce cut nearby. In summer and fall it's open to the public as well as Dartmouth folks, and you can even go just for dinner (reservations required). A couple of years ago I bought Carol a unique cookbook written by the student staff of the Ravine Lodge. Good hearty fare.

We descended to the bridge over the Baker River on the Gorge Brook Trail. Neat patterns looking downstream from the bridge.

There's an interesting assortment of signs on the far side of the bridge.


One of the neat things about going into Ravine Lodge is winter is the choice of trails you can ramble around on in the Baker River valley, if so inclined. We went a short way up the Gorge Brook Trail and then across the bridge over Gorge Brook on Hurricane Trail.


Gorge Brook in its winter garb.

Then we headed about 0.2 mile north on the Ridge Trail, a gentle and pretty route alongside the Baker River.

A trailside vignette of the river.

The 8" of mashed potato snow was untracked, making for heavy going.

Deer tracks across the trail.

A nice long view of the river, earned via a 100-foot bushwhack.

Though not winter at its best, our four-mile ramble provided a pleasant and unhurried afternoon of snowshoeing.

SNOWSHOE RAMBLING IN CRAWFORD NOTCH: 12/30/10

After enjoying some snow-free walks on Cape Cod during the Christmas holiday (a moonlight meander on Coast Guard Beach, a stroll on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, and a wind-whipped loop on the Fort Hill and Red Maple Swamp Trails), Carol and I returned to the mountains, eager to break out the snowshoes and reap the bounty of the "Blizzard of 2011." For our first time on 'shoes for the season, we wanted something short and easy, and chose the Sam Willey and Saco River Trails on the floor of Crawford Notch. We knew the jackpot from the storm was across the northern tier of the mountains, and hoped that the Willey House area had been within that swath.

At the Willey House parking lot, snow cover was sparse in the open area around Willey Pond (drained in winter). But we could see a deep snowshoe track in the woods. And the snowshoeing turned out to be sweet on this bright, comfortable winter day.

At the start of the Sam Willey Trail, across the wooden bridge over the dam, we found this view of snow-caked Mt. Willard.


A neat carved sign shows the mini-trail system here.



A softly-packed track led us along the gentle Sam Willey Trail.

At 0.4 mi., the Sam Willey Trail splits into a short loop. We took the untracked right fork, enjoying our first trail-breaking of the season. In a few yards we came to the edge of a beaver swamp with a great vista north up the Notch, with Mts. Willard and Avalon framed by the steep slopes of Mts. Willey and Webster.


A closer look at Willard, with the snow-caked horn of Avalon on the L.

Farther along we had a peek up at one of the craggy gullies on Mt. Webster. Along the way we passed climbers' boot tracks leading up to both Landslide Gully and Shoestring Gully.

Carol took a turn breaking trail through the deep, glorious powder.

We continued south along the Saco River Trail; the first section led right alongside the partly-frozen river.

The trail led us on a weaving route past several interesting boulders.


About a mile from the parking area the trail dipped to the edge of a large frozen beaver swamp, with a fine view of the hulking Mt. Willey.

Looking across at the plateau south of Mt. Willey.

The view south towards the wooded backside of Frankenstein Cliff.

Farther south, the trail meandered through a sunny hardwood forest.

At the junction with Webster Cliff Trail, we found an unbroken trail heading uphill.

The original plan was to go a half-mile or so up Webster Cliff Trail to a minor southerly vista, but the heavy breaking would have taken too long for our time constraint.

It took 15 minutes to break trail just 0.15 mi. to the upper Saco River/Webster Cliff junction. In places the drifts were over two feet deep.

We turned around at the upper junction.


A snow-sculpted boulder along the Saco River Trail.

A glimpse up to crags along the Webster Cliffs.

The beautiful section alongside the Saco River.

At a suitable location along the Sam Willey Trail, Carol made a snow angel.

The aftermath of making a snow angel.

Back near the trailhead, I followed climbers' tracks up to the base of Landslide Gully. I was startled to see ski tracks in here as well. Later research revealed that backcountry ski enthusiasts make this run with some regularity.

I went about 100 yards up the low-angle, open brookbed for a view of the ice cliffs and crags high above. This slide shows up well on Google Earth.


Back at the trailhead, the Webster Cliffs were gleaming under brilliant blue skies. Too bad the New Year's thaw deep-sixed the powder conditions. At least when things freeze back up we'll have a solid base. And the powder will be back.

Happy New Year!