1HappyHiker
Well-known member
Growing a bit weary of the damp and dreary weather in the Franconia Notch, Crawford Notch, and Carter Notch, Zman and I thought . . . hey . . . why not try Evans Notch!
On our travel over to Evans Notch from Bethlehem, we were greeted along the way with everything from partly cloudy to totally cloudy skies. And unfortunately, the closer we got to Evans Notch, it became even more overcast and misty. Oh well! We thought we might as well stick with our original game plan since there was no guarantee that conditions would be better elsewhere. Plus, being cockeyed optimists, we felt there was always a chance that conditions might improve as the day progressed. Ehhh! WRONG!
We wanted to have our car waiting for us at the trailhead at the end of the day and so we parked at the Baldface Circle trailhead and then did the short road walk up the start of the Mt. Meader Trail. Our loosely constructed game-plan was to go to Mt. Meader, then traverse the Meader Ridge, and then perhaps do the Baldfaces and come down the south branch of the Baldface Circle Trail. We agreed that the full plan would be implemented only if conditions were conducive to do so. Well, conditions were not conducive to play out this particular game plan.
After traversing the Meader Ridge, we opted to bail out at our first opportunity and head down the north branch of the Baldface Circle Trail. We were constantly in the fog and were getting no views, other than endless shades of gray. Plus, the trails were wet, slippery and chocked full of mini-ponds at nearly every dip in the treadway!
And, rather than taking photos of sweeping vistas, we were reduced to taking photos of spider webs, trail signs, and of each other as we trekked through the mist!
Coming down the north branch of the Baldface Circle Trail was an experience! The upper mile and half (or so) is in desperate need of brushing. Hopefully, no one on this Forum will be offended by me saying that the upper segment is so grown-in that it has become little more than a herd path. However, the lower segment of the trail is pretty much OK.
As we passed the Bicknell Ridge Trail junction, we high-fived each other for our brilliant decision not to come down this trail. We could see that crossing the Charles Brook would have been problematic (see photo below).
However, it wasn’t too long after that when we could plainly see that our celebration was a bit premature. We were faced with an equally difficult crossing of the Charles Brook at Circle Junction.
After searching up and down stream for a better crossing, we ungraciously waded across the brook. Eh! So what! Considering the damp and soggy day we had already experienced up to that point, it was probably a most fitting end to the hike.
After fording the stream, we were at the trailhead within 20 minutes. There we met several hikers from Canada and we joined an impromptu tailgate party. I suppose it was sort of a combined international celebration of Canada Day and Independence Day. The impromptu festivity was fun, and actually the whole hike was fun, but in a different sort of way than we had envisioned at the outset of the day. I guess the day could be summed up by the expression that goes something like this: “Anyone who says sunshine is what brings happiness has never danced in the rain”.
1Happy Hiker
On our travel over to Evans Notch from Bethlehem, we were greeted along the way with everything from partly cloudy to totally cloudy skies. And unfortunately, the closer we got to Evans Notch, it became even more overcast and misty. Oh well! We thought we might as well stick with our original game plan since there was no guarantee that conditions would be better elsewhere. Plus, being cockeyed optimists, we felt there was always a chance that conditions might improve as the day progressed. Ehhh! WRONG!
We wanted to have our car waiting for us at the trailhead at the end of the day and so we parked at the Baldface Circle trailhead and then did the short road walk up the start of the Mt. Meader Trail. Our loosely constructed game-plan was to go to Mt. Meader, then traverse the Meader Ridge, and then perhaps do the Baldfaces and come down the south branch of the Baldface Circle Trail. We agreed that the full plan would be implemented only if conditions were conducive to do so. Well, conditions were not conducive to play out this particular game plan.
After traversing the Meader Ridge, we opted to bail out at our first opportunity and head down the north branch of the Baldface Circle Trail. We were constantly in the fog and were getting no views, other than endless shades of gray. Plus, the trails were wet, slippery and chocked full of mini-ponds at nearly every dip in the treadway!
And, rather than taking photos of sweeping vistas, we were reduced to taking photos of spider webs, trail signs, and of each other as we trekked through the mist!
As we passed the Bicknell Ridge Trail junction, we high-fived each other for our brilliant decision not to come down this trail. We could see that crossing the Charles Brook would have been problematic (see photo below).
However, it wasn’t too long after that when we could plainly see that our celebration was a bit premature. We were faced with an equally difficult crossing of the Charles Brook at Circle Junction.
After searching up and down stream for a better crossing, we ungraciously waded across the brook. Eh! So what! Considering the damp and soggy day we had already experienced up to that point, it was probably a most fitting end to the hike.After fording the stream, we were at the trailhead within 20 minutes. There we met several hikers from Canada and we joined an impromptu tailgate party. I suppose it was sort of a combined international celebration of Canada Day and Independence Day. The impromptu festivity was fun, and actually the whole hike was fun, but in a different sort of way than we had envisioned at the outset of the day. I guess the day could be summed up by the expression that goes something like this: “Anyone who says sunshine is what brings happiness has never danced in the rain”.
1Happy Hiker
