Sat. Apr. 3, 2020 Tom & Field from Depot

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RoySwkr

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Several inches of snow at the trailhead and lots more higher up - the top of the "Mt Field 100 yds" sign was at snow level and it wouldn't have been legible except for the tree well. I never found the viewpoint sign on Mt Field - either it has been removed or it was completely buried. No ice but continuous snow cover except for melted brooks.

Made it across first brook crossing on pipes and rotten snow, used double tree for part of second. Passed by 3 lightweight women in shorts and T-shirts with dog who made it to Tom in feet, but I put on tiny snowshoes to reduce postholing. Narrow snowshoes are recommended for the A-Z trail as there's not much of a shelf to walk on. Both side brook crossings still snow covered but who knows how long that will last.

Recent tracks all the way up Tom although not necessarily on the trail higher up. I met a group of 5 coming down the Willey Range Trail but their tracks wandered all over and seemed to stop at the false peak. Fortunately I found some ancient tracks over to the true summit as the trail was full of blowdowns and bent-over trees and would not have been easy to follow - it looked just like the rest of the woods. There were no recent tracks in any direction from Mt Field, but once again I was able to follow old tracks down to Mt Avalon where there were old tracks in the woods all over. There were recent boot tracks going down so I took off my snowshoes. The water seemed higher at the crossings but given the temperature I just splashed across.

Folks, it's still real winter up high except for the calendar (and the temperature today).
 
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