forestgnome
New member
BeccaM, Rocket21, and I visited Mt. Tom and West Field Mtn. on May 21st.
Here's a view from a Bear Notch Rd. overlook in the morning...
a 2 yr. old cow along the way at Zealand...she probably has very recently been set off on her own by mama for the first time in her life after living with her for two years...fare well young lady!
accidentally brought the wrong lens on the hike, an old retired lens that was being used as an experiment, so I didn't take many pics on the hike...
here's Rocket and Becca as we hike up the A-Z Tr...there's lots of pretty hardwood forest here with tons of hobblebush that is just starting to push out those big beautiful white blossoms...nice moose habitat...
This trail became tricky around 3,000', where we experienced lots of running water in the trail and plenty of mud.
After this shot I gave up on the lens. We hiked up to Mt. Tom and had lunch with the jays. From the saddle/trail junction to the summit there is no snow. There is plenty of fresh moose sign on the summit. Then we hiked the Willey Tr. to around 4,000'. We left trail there and went toward the summit with no troubles...very pretty boreal forest and no snow on the westish-facing slope. We ran into some thick stuff and knee-deep snow near the summit of West Field, but nice going.
After the summit we had some rough going. My bad...I led us through a bit of hellish travel...deep snow and extremely thick spruce as we travelled north and west down toward the A-Z Tr. This would have been ok in winter on snowshoes or in summer, but right now it's not a good way to go. I would suggest getting off of West Feild's north-facing slope and go back to the west-facing slopes of the main ridge to get over to the A-Z Tr. Becca is a super-trooper! Her and Rocket just plowed along laughing at our misfortune during the nasty section.
Dry clothes, beer and supper at Fabian's made for an awesome finish. Thanks to Becca and Rocket for a great hike!
happy trails
Here's a view from a Bear Notch Rd. overlook in the morning...
a 2 yr. old cow along the way at Zealand...she probably has very recently been set off on her own by mama for the first time in her life after living with her for two years...fare well young lady!
accidentally brought the wrong lens on the hike, an old retired lens that was being used as an experiment, so I didn't take many pics on the hike...
here's Rocket and Becca as we hike up the A-Z Tr...there's lots of pretty hardwood forest here with tons of hobblebush that is just starting to push out those big beautiful white blossoms...nice moose habitat...
This trail became tricky around 3,000', where we experienced lots of running water in the trail and plenty of mud.
After this shot I gave up on the lens. We hiked up to Mt. Tom and had lunch with the jays. From the saddle/trail junction to the summit there is no snow. There is plenty of fresh moose sign on the summit. Then we hiked the Willey Tr. to around 4,000'. We left trail there and went toward the summit with no troubles...very pretty boreal forest and no snow on the westish-facing slope. We ran into some thick stuff and knee-deep snow near the summit of West Field, but nice going.
After the summit we had some rough going. My bad...I led us through a bit of hellish travel...deep snow and extremely thick spruce as we travelled north and west down toward the A-Z Tr. This would have been ok in winter on snowshoes or in summer, but right now it's not a good way to go. I would suggest getting off of West Feild's north-facing slope and go back to the west-facing slopes of the main ridge to get over to the A-Z Tr. Becca is a super-trooper! Her and Rocket just plowed along laughing at our misfortune during the nasty section.
Dry clothes, beer and supper at Fabian's made for an awesome finish. Thanks to Becca and Rocket for a great hike!
happy trails
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