1HappyHiker
Well-known member
There are no hiking trails that lead to Shell Cascade. And, from a very cursory search of a few editions of the White Mountain Guides (WMG) from the early 1900s, it appears that maybe there wasn't a trail even in that early timeframe. I did find a brief description of a path leading to Shell Cascade in the 1892 book by A.L. Goodrich entitled "The Waterville Valley, a History, Description, and Guide".
My trek was launched from FR 116 in Waterville Valley and this corridor was followed to a point near Shell Cascade. Eventually, I left this corridor to do a short bushwhack to reach the cascade. The entire trek of about 4 miles (round-trip) was done on public land.
The parking area at the FR 116 gate was plowed. The treadway consisted of an underlayment of ice with several inches of crusty snow on top. Microspikes were worn for most of the trek, but switched to snowshoes for the bushwhack portion.
My BLOG has a few snapshots.
My trek was launched from FR 116 in Waterville Valley and this corridor was followed to a point near Shell Cascade. Eventually, I left this corridor to do a short bushwhack to reach the cascade. The entire trek of about 4 miles (round-trip) was done on public land.
The parking area at the FR 116 gate was plowed. The treadway consisted of an underlayment of ice with several inches of crusty snow on top. Microspikes were worn for most of the trek, but switched to snowshoes for the bushwhack portion.
My BLOG has a few snapshots.
