danno
New member
Our original plan was a 3-day 2-night hike, including a hike to Zealand hut from Crawford Notch the first day, then to Garfield shelter on day 2, then head out to Franconia Notch over Lafayette on Day 3. We knew to begin with that the snow was heading our way, and that the weather reports were saying 12-20 inches were going to come down starting later in the day. We figured we would give it a try and see what happened.
Photos are here:
http://sopomedia.com/trips/2007/zealand_hut/index.html
Day 1 we headed up to Mount Tom from the Highland Center. The conditions were great. Troy and Pete bare booted for a while, then switched to crampons once it got steep. I was in snowshoes the whole day. The trail up Mt Tom was well trodden and hard packed. We started at 11:15am-ish and got to the summit around 1:45pm. (note, my camera didn't have the corrected day light savings time if you are looking at the image timestamps). The view was great on top. We were able to pick out Zealand Falls and the hut, as well as many peaks. It was also calm on top. We headed down, Troy and Pete switched to snowshoes, and we continued on the A-Z trail to the hut. Snow and trail conditions remained excellent. Along the way we saw many moose scratchings on trees (that I first thought were bear scratchings), what I believe was a fox track, and probably the largest swath of birch trees I've ever seen. We arrived at the hut around 5:30pm just as the sleet started coming down. We got situated in the hut, and made up the classic smoked salmon pasta dish and ate like kings. It snowed/sleeted the entire night.
Day 2, We got up, made breakfast, and headed out on the trail around 8:30a (a late start). the weather was sleeting out. We proceeded up the Twinway trail on our way to Zealand summit. The trail conditions were very difficult, with probably 8 inches of semi-wet semi-frozen snow/sleet. Each step was a heavy step, and thus it took us around 4 hours to go the 2.5 miles to the summit. After getting a bite to eat and tagging the summit, we thought about our choices of what was next and decided to head back down to the hut instead of going on to Garfield. The conditions were just to slow for us. (of course if I was a monster, I would have continued on
)
We got back to the hut, and though the caretaker said they would have room at the hut, we decided to head out and back home. I left right off the bat to go get my car, Troy and Pete stayed to help the caretaker get water from the frozen well. I boogied out as fast as I could, stopping a couple times for photos (including a classic WMNF optical illusion at the Zealand Trailhead), and got to Rt 302 at about 6:00pm (2 hours 40 minutes and 6.5 miles later). It took me 10 minutes to hitch a ride to the Highland Center (I felt quite lucky), and I was back at Zealand Road with the car at 6:46p. Troy and Pete showed up shortly after, just as the dark was settling in.
All in all it was a great trip. Our decision to end early was based partially on not having a tent with us. We all had bivy's, but it was raining/sleeting out for most of the day, and since we were heading further in to wilderness with less options of getting out, we decided not to continue. If we had been there a couple days earlier, the conditions would have been better for putting in the distance needed to get over to Garfield and Franconia Notch. As it was, we still had a great time staying at the hut off season, and it was nice to add Zealand to my list of winter peaks (I already had Mt Tom).
Photos are here:
http://sopomedia.com/trips/2007/zealand_hut/index.html
Day 1 we headed up to Mount Tom from the Highland Center. The conditions were great. Troy and Pete bare booted for a while, then switched to crampons once it got steep. I was in snowshoes the whole day. The trail up Mt Tom was well trodden and hard packed. We started at 11:15am-ish and got to the summit around 1:45pm. (note, my camera didn't have the corrected day light savings time if you are looking at the image timestamps). The view was great on top. We were able to pick out Zealand Falls and the hut, as well as many peaks. It was also calm on top. We headed down, Troy and Pete switched to snowshoes, and we continued on the A-Z trail to the hut. Snow and trail conditions remained excellent. Along the way we saw many moose scratchings on trees (that I first thought were bear scratchings), what I believe was a fox track, and probably the largest swath of birch trees I've ever seen. We arrived at the hut around 5:30pm just as the sleet started coming down. We got situated in the hut, and made up the classic smoked salmon pasta dish and ate like kings. It snowed/sleeted the entire night.
Day 2, We got up, made breakfast, and headed out on the trail around 8:30a (a late start). the weather was sleeting out. We proceeded up the Twinway trail on our way to Zealand summit. The trail conditions were very difficult, with probably 8 inches of semi-wet semi-frozen snow/sleet. Each step was a heavy step, and thus it took us around 4 hours to go the 2.5 miles to the summit. After getting a bite to eat and tagging the summit, we thought about our choices of what was next and decided to head back down to the hut instead of going on to Garfield. The conditions were just to slow for us. (of course if I was a monster, I would have continued on
) We got back to the hut, and though the caretaker said they would have room at the hut, we decided to head out and back home. I left right off the bat to go get my car, Troy and Pete stayed to help the caretaker get water from the frozen well. I boogied out as fast as I could, stopping a couple times for photos (including a classic WMNF optical illusion at the Zealand Trailhead), and got to Rt 302 at about 6:00pm (2 hours 40 minutes and 6.5 miles later). It took me 10 minutes to hitch a ride to the Highland Center (I felt quite lucky), and I was back at Zealand Road with the car at 6:46p. Troy and Pete showed up shortly after, just as the dark was settling in.
All in all it was a great trip. Our decision to end early was based partially on not having a tent with us. We all had bivy's, but it was raining/sleeting out for most of the day, and since we were heading further in to wilderness with less options of getting out, we decided not to continue. If we had been there a couple days earlier, the conditions would have been better for putting in the distance needed to get over to Garfield and Franconia Notch. As it was, we still had a great time staying at the hut off season, and it was nice to add Zealand to my list of winter peaks (I already had Mt Tom).
