1HappyHiker
Well-known member
Date Hiked: 23-Jan-2008
Conditions: Parked at Seven Dwarfs Motel, and rather than follow the snowmobile route, took the connector through the woods that more closely follows the old route to the North Twin Trail. This connector was well broken out.
The current North Twin Trail was well broken out, as well as the bushwhack trail along the east bank of the Little River.
The FireWarden Trail (off the North Twin bushwhack), was generally NOT broken out. But, there was some faint evidence that the trail had been broken out at one time by backcountry skiers. Breaking trail wasn’t difficult since the snow wasn’t overly deep and snowshoes provided adequate flotation.
There are no significant water crossings to contend with on this trek. And, there were no blowdowns.
Special Equipment Needed: Used snowshoes all they way. But, if you really hate wearing snowshoes, you could probably get by without them, except for the FireWarden Trail.
Comments: Personally find the FireWarden route to be a more pleasurable way to do Mt. Hale in winter, rather than doing the Hale Brook Trail. Shortly after leaving Seven Dwarfs, you are in the woods and on trails the rest of the day. Whereas with the Hale Brook option, you have the long and boring Zealand Road walk.
Also, my calculations might be inaccurate, but it appears that the round-trip mileage is nearly the same for the FireWarden option and the Hale Brook option when using the winter routes. (The FireWarden option might be slightly shoter by a half-mile, or so.)
Of course there are no great views from Mt Hale itself (and even if there were, they would not have been available today!). However, some mediocre photo-ops were available along the way, and these can be found at the link below.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562240984AaQuqR
1HappyHiker
Conditions: Parked at Seven Dwarfs Motel, and rather than follow the snowmobile route, took the connector through the woods that more closely follows the old route to the North Twin Trail. This connector was well broken out.
The current North Twin Trail was well broken out, as well as the bushwhack trail along the east bank of the Little River.
The FireWarden Trail (off the North Twin bushwhack), was generally NOT broken out. But, there was some faint evidence that the trail had been broken out at one time by backcountry skiers. Breaking trail wasn’t difficult since the snow wasn’t overly deep and snowshoes provided adequate flotation.
There are no significant water crossings to contend with on this trek. And, there were no blowdowns.
Special Equipment Needed: Used snowshoes all they way. But, if you really hate wearing snowshoes, you could probably get by without them, except for the FireWarden Trail.
Comments: Personally find the FireWarden route to be a more pleasurable way to do Mt. Hale in winter, rather than doing the Hale Brook Trail. Shortly after leaving Seven Dwarfs, you are in the woods and on trails the rest of the day. Whereas with the Hale Brook option, you have the long and boring Zealand Road walk.
Also, my calculations might be inaccurate, but it appears that the round-trip mileage is nearly the same for the FireWarden option and the Hale Brook option when using the winter routes. (The FireWarden option might be slightly shoter by a half-mile, or so.)
Of course there are no great views from Mt Hale itself (and even if there were, they would not have been available today!). However, some mediocre photo-ops were available along the way, and these can be found at the link below.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562240984AaQuqR
1HappyHiker
Last edited:
