Lava Lamp
New member
Saturday was supposed to bring cooler, drier air than we'd gotten used to in the Boston area, so I made a fairly early start up 93 and got to the Crawford Depot about 8:30. I was rewarded with a lovely morning with temperatures in the mid-50's. I took the Avalon Trail, intent on enjoying all it had to offer, including a pair of waterfalls on a loop trail.
Beecher Cascade
Though I'd done some combination of the familiar Willey-Field-Tom triangle several times before, I'd only once hiked to the top of Mt. Avalon, the 3,442-foot peak that lies a little more than half way up the Avalon Trail between the trailhead and Mt. Field. My previous experience with this summit had been in winter and I was anxious to see it in mid-summer. The 100-yard scramble up the cone begins shortly after a fairly long, steep ascent, but it's worth the effort.
The Beginning of the Spur Trail to the Avalon Summit
At about 10 am I was sitting on the bald peak, looking down at the Crawford Depot and the Highland Center, northeast to the Presidentials stretching into the clouds, and south down the ribbon of 302 winding at the bottom of Crawford Notch. It was cool, windless and utterly still. I had the thought that usually catches up to me, unbidden, in most hikes, the realization that there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be. Within a driving radius of two and a half hours there were literally millions of people pursuing expensive -- and mostly disappointing -- pleasures, while for the price of half a tank of gas they could have been where I was, a place where it takes a conscious effort to avoid happy epiphanies.
The View From Avalon Along the Presidential Range
The View to the South
It's a pleasant hike the rest of the way along the Avalon Trail to Mt. Field. The summit is wooded; there's one nice outlook just to the side with a good view of the Mt. Washington Hotel.
The View of the Mt. Washington Hotel From Mt. Field
I met some people speaking French at the summit. They switched to English for my benefit and told me that two of them were celebrating their anniversary. I offered congratulations. "Which anniversary?" I asked, guessing something in the double digits. "Second," the woman told me. "That's why we're so happy!"
I hiked out to Mt. Willey and back, and when I got back to Mt. Field I ran into a group of four friendly women who were doing pretty much the same hike I was but who had come up the hard way, from the Ethan Pond Trail. We exchanged ghost stories about the Willey family.
Mt. Tom is a wooded summit. There were a lot of intense red berries at the peak. The sight that caught my attention was this patriotic collection of flora, including red berries down low and two white berries and a blue one on a stalk. Does anyone know what this is?
Patriotic Flora
All in all a lovely day in the woods. Inveterate peak bagger that I am, I sometimes have to be reminded by experiences like this that it's worth taking the odd side trail to a great view such as Avalon's.
Beecher Cascade
Though I'd done some combination of the familiar Willey-Field-Tom triangle several times before, I'd only once hiked to the top of Mt. Avalon, the 3,442-foot peak that lies a little more than half way up the Avalon Trail between the trailhead and Mt. Field. My previous experience with this summit had been in winter and I was anxious to see it in mid-summer. The 100-yard scramble up the cone begins shortly after a fairly long, steep ascent, but it's worth the effort.
The Beginning of the Spur Trail to the Avalon Summit
At about 10 am I was sitting on the bald peak, looking down at the Crawford Depot and the Highland Center, northeast to the Presidentials stretching into the clouds, and south down the ribbon of 302 winding at the bottom of Crawford Notch. It was cool, windless and utterly still. I had the thought that usually catches up to me, unbidden, in most hikes, the realization that there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be. Within a driving radius of two and a half hours there were literally millions of people pursuing expensive -- and mostly disappointing -- pleasures, while for the price of half a tank of gas they could have been where I was, a place where it takes a conscious effort to avoid happy epiphanies.
The View From Avalon Along the Presidential Range
The View to the South
It's a pleasant hike the rest of the way along the Avalon Trail to Mt. Field. The summit is wooded; there's one nice outlook just to the side with a good view of the Mt. Washington Hotel.
The View of the Mt. Washington Hotel From Mt. Field
I met some people speaking French at the summit. They switched to English for my benefit and told me that two of them were celebrating their anniversary. I offered congratulations. "Which anniversary?" I asked, guessing something in the double digits. "Second," the woman told me. "That's why we're so happy!"
I hiked out to Mt. Willey and back, and when I got back to Mt. Field I ran into a group of four friendly women who were doing pretty much the same hike I was but who had come up the hard way, from the Ethan Pond Trail. We exchanged ghost stories about the Willey family.
Mt. Tom is a wooded summit. There were a lot of intense red berries at the peak. The sight that caught my attention was this patriotic collection of flora, including red berries down low and two white berries and a blue one on a stalk. Does anyone know what this is?
Patriotic Flora
All in all a lovely day in the woods. Inveterate peak bagger that I am, I sometimes have to be reminded by experiences like this that it's worth taking the odd side trail to a great view such as Avalon's.
