Hale question

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B the Hiker

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Greetings all,

Am planning a backpack for eight days from now and could benefit from your expertise.

The plan is to go in from Seven Dwarfs and over Hale, then down to the Zealand Rd and in towards the hut.

a) Is the trail (Firetower?) to Hale marked somehow? Is there a landmark? Do you suspect it will be broken out?

b) How much time would you estimate it would take to get from the motel to the Zealand Rd, with a slow group?

Thanks for any help you can provide, and thank again to those who wrote me about doing Katahdin via Abol. Trip report to follow shortly. It was amazing!


Brian
 
The Firewardens trail isn't really marked. If it's broken out you still have to find the first stream crossing to catch the bottom of it. It stands a good chance of being broken out by skiers if the snow is good, except with a rain event coming who knows.
 
To Mohamed's caution I'd add that I found it harder to follow above about 3000', once you're in the evergreens and above most of the skiing activity. He's been there far more often than I have, though.

If you're going on to the hut, why go down to the road instead of just taking Lend-a-Hand?
 
Hike to Hale

What day are you planning to depart? We have a group of 5 going to Hale this Sunday 3/8 via abandoned FW trail. Some of this depends on how comfortable you are with off-trail navigating. Our packed trail will probably persist for some time given short-term forecast.
 
By all means take the FW trail up to Hale. I would go down lend-a-hand to the hut if that's where you're going. Unless, of course, you want to encounter the attack moose! The whole route happens to be skiable if you enjoy type II fun.

From 7D to the FW is a super highway trench at this time of year. It's possibly the only place in the Whites where the skiers break out the trail before the MSH-ers. (manic showshoeing hordes ;)). [For the record, I am completely dependent on and appreciate of the the MSH-ers :)]. Once on the FW you will have no problem following the trail and getting to the summit. The spruce at the summit are doing their best to blot out the views, but tippy toes on the rock pile you will get good glimpses to the east and west. Maybe only for 2 more growing seasons though.

Finding the FW entrance without snow is a rite of passage of all Little River Valley adventurers. Finding it with snow is a piece of cake. I think a lot the fun is in the thrill of the hunt so I wholeheartedly recommend using the search function here which will give you enough hints to find it and recommend not getting explicit instructions. That's cheating! ;)
 
have never hiked the firewardens trail or really made an effort to locate its start, but even blown in the other day it looked pretty clear where it took off up from the bypass route from the north twin trail. a bit of an old filled in trough was still there.
i'm sure someone here can describe exactly where it takes off. i will refrain from doing so in case i'm wrong and the trace of broken path actually was leading somewhere else.

bryan
 
I haven't been up that trail yet (soon hopefully!), but I did check it out a few months ago - the beginning (end if skiing) isn't overly obvious without tracks, but if you walk up maybe 15 vertical feet, it's very obvious.
 
Thank you all!

The plan is that after Hale we would camp out on the Zealand trail at one of the legal sites (on the right up the hill walking in) and then go up Zealand the next day, and out via Land a Hand.

I wasn't sure if we could legally stay on Lend a Hand because of its proximity to the hut. If that makes sense.

So then let me ask this of people:

Could we hike in via Firewarden's, and legally stay somewhere on Lend a Hand? If so, that makes life a lot easier!

We're not going this weekend, but the weekend after, and I would *love* GPS coordinates just in case, because it is better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks!


Brian
 
Why not scoot down LAH to the hut and ask the caretaker where the best place to setup camp is? There's 52" of snow on the ground at the snow plot near the hut this morning. Aside from staying away from streams and the immediate protection zone around the hut you can probably setup shop pretty nearby. That way you can drop in and socialize at the hut.

Could any gps coords of the FW/N. Twin Trail intersection be exchanged by pm? Just trying to preserve the wilderness a little bit. :)

p.s. if you don't want to go all the way down to the hut first the spot marked "moose yards" in this map to the west off that elbow there in the LAH has lots of flat spots to setup camp. (and lots of moose sign too).
moose-yards.jpg
 
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