Tom, Field, & Avalon 2/24/2008

This is it, my first winter hike of 4000'ers. I left the house at 4:45am and arrived in Crawford Notch at about 7:30. I had never been to this area before and it's winter so parking was a little difficult. I parked over at the base of the Mt. Clinton Road after speaking with a nice gentleman at the AMC's Highland Center. Parking here adds about .6 miles to today's hike. On the way in, I took a picture of the first peak of the day, Mount Tom. It's amazing how blue the sky is in these photos.

I started my hike at about 7:45 and found the trails well broken out. I passed the Willard Trail in just a few minutes and already was breaking a sweat. It's a nice day and no chance of really cold temperatures so I didn't worry about the sweating. I just slowed down a bit and tried to keep a good pace. I was the first on the mountain, but Soon found there were some Winter Campers just past the junction with the A-Z Trail. I headed towards Mt. Tom first and followed the A-Z Trail all the way to the Tom Spur.

The Tom Spur wasn't much of a problem and I soon found myself upon the views of the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Besides the Gray Jay's I was all alone at my 7th 4000' summit. This is also winter 4000' #1 for me. The views were great and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Mt. Washington is easy to see as it is only about 9 or 10 miles away.

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I then got back on the trail after a brief snack in the trees. It was a little windy on the west side of the Mountain. I didn't take the time to layer up as I figured that keeping myself moving would keep me warm. I soon found that the wind was just as strong on the Willey Range Trail which caused the trail to be windblown for about half the trek over to Mt. Field. Breaking trail wasn't too bad as I only had to do it off and on for half a mile or so.

I reached the top of Mt. Field (4000' #8 Winter #2) and looked at more of the spectacular views of the Pemi.

I told my wife I would turn around by noon, and I reached Field at 11:45 so instead of heading over to Willey, I headed down the Avalon Trail to Avalon Mtn. I got a later start then I was banking on this morning. I didn't realize the drive up would take so long. So far though, the drive was well worth it. I had a beautiful day out in nature with the views of the whites. Not much can make a day like this better.

I followed the Avalon trail to the Avalon Spur path. The trip down was tough on my knees and honestly I could have barebooted it, but I didn't want to chance postholing the trail for everone else who would be following me today.

I got on the Avalon spur path which is by far the steepest part of the day. I almost put on my heel raisers on my snowshoes but I decided against it. I have never actually used the Heel Raisers anywhere, and this would have been the perfect place to test them out. Next time I get the opportunity I will give them a shot just to see how well they work.

Once on top of Avalon you could see the Crawford Notch. Considering this whole hike is so close to the notch, this is the first view of the day of the Notch itself.

I can then look to the right and see Mt. Willey and wonder what the view would be like there. I'll definitely be doing Willey soon. There is so much history in this area that it is hard to not think about it all, but I decided to keep going down. There is a lot of good butt-sliding on the way down, but I decided to stay on my feet for the most part. The trail was well traveled and was just icy enough to rip my pants.

Once down I hiked the .3 miles back to the car and headed home. This was a great hike and for my first winter peaks, I could not have picked a better day. The temperature was 41 as I drove through North Conway and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I will definitely be back to visit.

Bauneg Beg 2/11/2008

Today I'm doing a quick hike up Bauneg Beg Mountain with Van from work and his wife Darcy. They are both excellent hikers. Darcy hiked the AT a few years ago and she tends to hike faster than everyone just to keep warm. Todays hike is not very far. If I had to guess it's only a mile or so out and back. Next time I'll take my GPS and take a better reading. It was a very cold day and my first time on snowshoes. The trip up was quick. Only one steep section, but it was gone in less than a minute and we were at the top. On clear days you can see Mt. Washington and the Atlantic Ocean. Today we could see what looked to be Chocoroua in the distance, but it may have been something else. I didn't take any pictures as I forgot my camera but next time you'll see all you need to see as I'll make sure to take plenty.

Agamenticus, Second Hill 2/9/08

I haven't been hiking at all in about 6 months. After a pretty good summer last year I decided snowshoeing was next. I bought some MSR Denali Evo Ascent Snowshoes and today I'm going to see how my investment is going to pay off

I arrived at the Ring Trail trailhead on Mtn Rd. in York and quickly noticed that the trail was well broken out and snowshoes were not needed. I guess I'll have to test my investment another day. I started on the trail and in no time, I took the Rocky Road Trail to Porcupine Trail to Second Hill. On the bottom of Second Hill, there was all kinds of animal sign, mostly deer and you could tell they were pawing for food.

Second Hill is 548' tall and is part of the three peaks that make up the Mt. Agamenticus recreation area. The trail to second hill was not broken out and this would have been a good opportunity to try the snowshoes if I had brought them. There isn't much of a view from the top of Second Hill, but I can see Mt. Agamenticus from here. This is my next destination.

I started down the trail I just came from and soon hit the Chestnut Oak trail. This trail is windy and the terrain is beautiful. I then hit the Ring Trail Again and found the Sweet Fern Trail a hundred feet or so later. At the base of Sweet fern are the ruins of an old ski tow system. There are so many ski areas that have shut down since they were first built. I can't imagine going skiing on little ski areas like this for a few cents a day. I think Sugarloaf is $50 a ticket now. There is still a little place in South Berwick called Powderhouse Hill. I think it's like $5 a day and they aren't always open, but it's a nice little ski run and a good place for kids with a sledding area next to the slope.

I hiked up the Sweet Fern trail to the Summit of Mount Agamenticus. At 692' this is not a high summit, but you can see the ocean and the towns of York and Ogunquit, and on a clear day you can see Mt. Washington.

On the top of Mt. A, there are all kinds of buildings and towers. I am not sure if they are all in use or not. There used to be an army Signal Station here years ago, and I am sure some of the Towers are left over from that. There is a building for someone who watches over the mountain to live. There is also a lookout tower which shows you the views to the north and northeast.

It was time to head down. I took the Blueberry Bluff trail down but soon lost the trail. The terrain here is fairly wide open so I "Bushwacked" through the open space down to the ring tral and on the road back home I was. This is my second time up this mountain. I came here a few years back with the family and did some geocaching. There are two geocache's here if I remember right and we found them both.

This is a great little mountain for families and such and on a clear day the views are great. On days where I want to hike but don't feel like driving far, this is the place to go.