Lucky Laura
Active member
An ominous sound at the trailhead... thought I could hear a waterfalls about a quarter mile away. Sure enough, first water crossing and no snow bridges to be found. Oh, well- my feet could handle being wet for a mere 9 miles. I put the snow shoes on to elevate the boots and they were needed anyway to avoid post holing.
Further up A to Z trail, but before the 2nd crossing, I slabbed the hill on the right side, since the "stream" jumped over onto the trail for about 25 yards. 2nd water crossing- well, the snow shoes gave me an extra inch over the steam covered rocks.
At junction, headed up Avalon Trail, which had mixed ice and snow but snow shoes handled it fine. At summit of Field, headed on to Willey. Even with snow shoes, and staying on the consolidated track, you still cannot help but post hole in places. The "monorail" is not clearly defined but it's not too bad following the solid track. Same thing with track over to Tom, which surprisingly was less traveled from Field.
Descent from Tom was no problem and first water crossing down from ridge had a snow bridge! I did not trust it so I carefully leapt from one end of it to the other. I doubt it is still in place today but that water crossing was a non issue. Next water crossing before junction was easy to cross and the remaining two I had crossed earlier, well, who cares at that point- you're nearly to the car so you might as well just cool off the feet.
Wore just zip off pants and t-shirt and still felt warm the last hour. Glad to get out of the sun and off the trail by 11. Saw no one. I originally planned to hike Passaconway, Whiteface and Tripyramids but SO GLAD I thought better of that given the conditions!
Further up A to Z trail, but before the 2nd crossing, I slabbed the hill on the right side, since the "stream" jumped over onto the trail for about 25 yards. 2nd water crossing- well, the snow shoes gave me an extra inch over the steam covered rocks.
At junction, headed up Avalon Trail, which had mixed ice and snow but snow shoes handled it fine. At summit of Field, headed on to Willey. Even with snow shoes, and staying on the consolidated track, you still cannot help but post hole in places. The "monorail" is not clearly defined but it's not too bad following the solid track. Same thing with track over to Tom, which surprisingly was less traveled from Field.
Descent from Tom was no problem and first water crossing down from ridge had a snow bridge! I did not trust it so I carefully leapt from one end of it to the other. I doubt it is still in place today but that water crossing was a non issue. Next water crossing before junction was easy to cross and the remaining two I had crossed earlier, well, who cares at that point- you're nearly to the car so you might as well just cool off the feet.
Wore just zip off pants and t-shirt and still felt warm the last hour. Glad to get out of the sun and off the trail by 11. Saw no one. I originally planned to hike Passaconway, Whiteface and Tripyramids but SO GLAD I thought better of that given the conditions!
