zealand mt route questions and hike.

i want to do zealand in a day, not sure of the route. i think they used to go out the little river north twin trail that used to start at the end of little river road(i think). they moved the trailhead to haystack road. does anyone know the route to get out there the quickest and least painless? i think i would start at end of little river road and perhaps the old trail out there. the map makes it look like you bushwhack on left side of little river, and heads toward that huge slide on the north side of zealand mountain. i am assuming you go left of the slide(good idea) and head up and try to find the twinway, then bang a right or left to the summit. It is about 14 miles total if my memory is right. id rather do it this weekend or next weekend so I don't go alone. is anyone interested, and most importantly, has anyone done this hike and know the exact route? I don't want to be route finding out there on a hike this long. I have done a ton of bushwhacking in my time, and can hike a long day, but something like this is pretty ambitious but doable.

Hi,

Are you looking for the most difficult way to get to Zealand solo in winter, or the easiest and safest? I would think that the route you describe might get you a write up in Appalachia, one way or another. Do you have a map?

The standard approach would be to ski (or walk) up the summer road to Zealand Hut, then snowshoe (or skin) the Twinway (AT) southbound from there. It's a nice dayhike that way, and you can stop and warm at the hut (and refill water) in the afternoon if you wish.

very funny! the route I am describing is the way the amc always used to go for a day trip. I can go the other way thru zealand hut, but its about 20 miles at least that way. This way is 14 miles. One time we were going to go up it, but the leader showed up late and we went up north twin instead. if we had gone to zealand we would have stayed on left side of little river, instead of following the trail where it headed right to go up north twin. Of course I have a map.

Tramper Al is correct

That is the standard route, and not a boring one either, you'll get to see the Pond under the hut, The hut, Zealand Falls, Zeacliff, and of course that most scenic of all mountains, Zealand. (Be sure to count all the peaks you see from the summit)

hikerfast said:

I can go the other way thru zealand hut, but its about 20 miles at least that way. This way is 14 miles.

Click to expand...

Right, but as an experienced bushwhacker you know it isn't always about the miles.

The Zealand route gets a good deal of traffic and most of it can be skied - so that might make it double my winter trail pace. Once you leave the North Twin Trail, your bushwhack route will be wholly unconsolidated and perhaps one half my winter trail pace. You may be organizing a large, strong group, which will factor in. You may also be lucky enough to start in at 7 Dwarfs just a few day after another group, which will help until you leave the trail.

Still, my advice about safest an easiest approach via Zealand is the same.

Good luck!

Zealand hut

I've often thought of using Zealand hut as a basecamp in winter, doing Hale on day one, Zealand day two, maybe Tom and out on day three. I'm more of a dayhiker myself rather than a winter camper and this seems make common sense especially for Zealand. Their prices have gone way up from the last time I stayed at Carter though.

yeah, im trying to avoid making it a 3 day trip by staying at zealand. I have done hale from there. It's a gorgeous area but I want to try to do it in a day. Interesting posts...it appears the standard route has changed since the amc used to do it maybe twice each winter before. Does anybody know how to get to the north twin trail from the end of little river road exactly? because that is also the way to go up north twin. I was told it was obvious, but we all know what THAT can mean. going up that trail and then following the brook up gradual terrain where I'm told its not thick at all, I figure in 2 hours I'll be at the base of zealand , and have a 1500 foot climb thru the scrub. Maybe I will go the way tramper Al suggests, I'll have to decide what I want to do.

I bushwhacked down from Zealand in October. There were places that, if not for the scrub, would have been like falling off a cliff.

If you are headed up from the North Twin trail, maybe look for a spot to gain the ridge between Hale and Zealand.

Have fun!

yes its steep if you are too far to the right near the slide. were you close to that?
I've done the bonds in winter, no way am I going to do that whole route in a day..laffs. zealand will be plenty for me.

Best bushwack route to Zealand

John H Swanson.........what say you?????

The best and fastest way to Zealand as a dayhike, IMO, is to park at the 7 draft motel (with permission) go to the end of the road cross the bridge. Follow the snomo trail to the forest service road, turn left, walk the road to the twin trailhead, walk the trail to the 3rd stream crossing (river conditions permitting the crossings). At the third crossing, don't cross, stay on the left, east side of the river. Follow the river upstream. Take the left fork at 3050ft. Continue to about 3400/3600 ft in the drainage, then turn left and climb to the col between Zealand and Guyot. It's open woods, the whole way except the last 100 ft to the trail. Then take the trail back, north, to zealand. Be careful NOT to make the turn too early and climb directly to Zealand. Done it twice and it's nice, unless your breaking in unconsolidated snow. Know your conditions. If the rivers are running open then you need to bypass the first two crossings. For me it was 4 or 4.5 hrs to the summit of Guyot..Beatiful sky and we were actually considering a spontaneous trip to the bonds!!!

JHS.

hikerfast said:

yes its steep if you are too far to the right near the slide. were you close to that?
I've done the bonds in winter, no way am I going to do that whole route in a day..laffs. zealand will be plenty for me.

Click to expand...

I think I was pretty near the slide, but I ascended over the Twins the previous day, so I didn't see the route from the bottom.

Follow John H's advice; there was very little open wood the route I took.

thanks John,
lacking an altimiter, how can you tell which fork is 3050? and is there any indication of being at 3400 to 3600? I'll be looking at a map and plotting a compass bearing. from the 3400 to 3600, do i have to take a compass bearing in a direction or does it just draw you up a slope straight? I'm usually pretty good at judging elevations based on how long I've been going and how high the trees are.

If I recall correctly, the 3050 fork (where you bear left/straight, S not W) is near the head of the relatively flat valley before you climb up the cirque-like headwall. If you reach the slides on S Twin's east cirque, you took the wrong fork at 3050. I don't remember too much of the route south of (above) that last major fork, but there's a steepish section (less than an hour) before the slope moderates up to Guyot's NE shoulder.

Oh, and if you go tomorrow, please consider breaking a nice trail for me along the E bank of the Little River ... if we don't end up east of there, I may be partway in there tomorrow midday.

Go to:

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4897237&e=298250&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
This is not a difficult route if you are an experience off trail hiker. It can be done by terrain association without an altimeter. At least I can do it that way. The 3050 fork is easy to find. You basically continue mag south avoiding the SW heading branch towards the twins as previously mentioned.

the turn at 3600 is more like a big curve. As you can see it is after the "pooltable" flat section when your looking at the hill. The bowl around you will be evident. There are no real marking indicators other than the giant 3600 you'll see on the ground there.

JHS

do you just go straight up the bowl?

sez yer URL aint valid

Are you reading my words and looking at the map??????????
If you go to topozone and enter "twin mountain NH" into the search feature, you can look at the Twin Mountain USGS topo ... it is all evident on the topo. Assuming you can read a topo map. You go to the 3600 ft in the drainage. The humor here is that the "3600" foot marking is actually shown in the drainage. The bowl is all around you. You then take a bearing to the col between Zealand and Guyot. The col is the lowest point on th ridge and this is just south of the Zealand summit. I don't have a compass here or I could give the bearing to you. This bearing would NOT be straight up from the bowl but rather a left turn. Straight up would be going south. Jeeez, do I have to climb it for you or just spoon feed you the directions? Maybe you should take the trial. For you that might be easier. Sorry for the lack of patience.

John,
Many thanks for a refreshing reply based on experience. I've been thinking of this route for a couple of years. Now I'm gonna do it.
Campsite

For a map of the old trail from Little River Road see
http://docs.unh.edu/NH/frcn29ne.jpg

I have done this three times via the hut and twice via the Guyot-Zealand col. My rule of thumb for this, Bonds, and Owls Head, etc. in winter is that for a couple of fast hikers the trail is faster, while for a group of varying speeds the bushwhack is faster because the fast people will in effect pack out a shorter trail for the slow people. Both times on the bushwhack I managed to break ice higher up the Little River without getting wet. The second time nobody had been over the Twinway lately and we had trouble finding the trail at the col.

In at least one case I know the trail was faster. Back in 1986 I was in an intense graduate program and called 2 leaders I knew about a Zealand trip on Saturday, one as bushwhack and one as backpack from the hut, and left it with both that I might show up if I could get off. I had a soft tire and on Friday evening I wore a hole in the sidewall from not filling it often enough, hence was driving on a doughnut. Saturday I got a late start and decided to overtake the hut group, and in fact reached the hut just as they were leaving. There was a broken path up Zeacliff, but later the people ahead seemed to lose the trail and head off R although it seemed obvious to us where the trail was so we stayed on it. Anyway we struggled up the steep place with the ladder and just beyond the tracks came back in again - the guy had known what was coming and bypassed it! At the summit of Zealand it was early enough that I talked the others into heading on to Guyot which was not broken out that day, and halfway to the col we met the bushwhack group coming up. I had thought I might go down with the bushwhack group but by the time we got back from the far peak of Guyot they had all headed down - nobody climbed Guyot although they were already at the col. I wasn't sure I would catch them so walked out past the hut to where my car was. And I couldn't take the whole day off from school - when I got home I read lessons while soaking in the tub. The leader spent the night at the hut and got Hale the next day for his last 4K, remember that DC?