BIGEarl
Well-known member
February 12, 2011: Tom, Field, and Willey
Trails: Avalon Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, Willey Range Trail
Summits: Tom, Field, and Willey
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
A couple years ago we started hiking the Willey Range by heading straight to Mount Field first, then to Mount Willey, and finally back over Mount Field and on to Mt. Tom. Over the last few days before the hike I learned a couple sections of our planned route might not be broken out so we decided to hike to Mt. Tom first and then head south for Mount Field and Mount Willey. The change in our approach would make breaking the trails, if necessary, a little more fun (Avalon, top-down, with snowshoes in deep snow is real fun).
We set off from the Highland Center with a light breeze, a temperature of approximately 5 degrees, and a probability of snow at 60%. We spent the full day on snowshoes. The trails that were tracked out were all in great shape with minimal postholing that is usually found in the trails around Crawford Notch. We were nearly past the first crossing when I realized we were on the first crossing. The bridges are solid at both crossings. We hiked at a steady pace and made it to the Avalon – A-Z trails junction.
From there we continued straight and headed for the junction with Mt. Tom Spur. After the trails junction the surface conditions changed quite a bit from a nice solid packed trail to one with a loose surface. Clearly, this route to Mt. Tom has not seen the same amount of traffic as the Avalon Trail, but it is still in very good shape. We hit the junction with the Mt. Tom Spur, made the right turn, and continued to Mt. Tom. In a short time we were standing in the vicinity of the summit cairn on Mt. Tom (we may have been on top of it – the snow is pretty deep). We got our usual summit pictures but there were no long-distance views due to the conditions. At this point we were a little ahead of plan and both feeling good.
We were soon on our way to the Willey Range Trail (WRT) and our other targets for the day. Back at the A-Z trail we met another pair of hikers headed to Mt. Tom and possibly also hiking south on WRT, but we never saw them again. Sue and I took the short walk to the WRT trail junction to find the tracked route ended there. Evidently, the people that previously hiked the A-Z trail went only to the WRT junction and u-turned back out. We were faced with 4 – 6 inches of snow on the WRT and areas of significant drifts.
Without more than a slight pause we set off headed south on WRT to Mount Field. Initially, the trail corridor was very easy to follow and the trail underneath was solid. A little over half-way to Mount Field we started to find significant drifts. In this area we lost the trail. In an attempt to follow what appeared to be an open corridor we managed to wander to the west of the actual trail route. There are some really nice spruce traps over there. At one point Sue dropped into one and all that was sticking out of the snow was her head. I started to position myself for this Kodak moment and was soon in my own spruce trap up to my shoulders. There we were, roughly fifteen feet apart and only able to see each other’s head. I recall a similar situation between Field and Willey a couple years back.
No longer worried about a picture, we both went to work getting ourselves back on top of the snow. Once out of the spruce traps we stopped to think about where we were and where we thought we wanted to be. We agreed the trail was east of our location and slowly left the spruce traps in search of the trail. After a short time we managed to find the trail corridor and were once again headed for Mount Field.
A short distance before reaching the summit of Mount Field we came to the Avalon – WRT trails junction. There had been a lot of traffic on the Avalon Trail and we were again on a solid tracked out trail. All of the rolling around in the snow working to get out of the spruce traps soaked my gloves and I decided it was time for a dry pair and some warm hands. After the change, and quick refreshment we continued to Mount Field. In a couple minutes we were standing on the summit with three others. We asked if they planned to visit to Mount Willey and their response was “probably not”. We said hi to the Gray Jays, let them know we would be back a little later with some snacks, and took off for Mount Willey.
The trail leaving Mount Field was a terrific snowshoe track. There had been a good amount of recent traffic. Soon after leaving the summit area we met a couple that had attempted to hike to Mount Willey. They never made it. The comments they made indicated the trail wasn’t broken out and the tracks we were following ended in spruce traps. From their description I believed we had made that mistake a couple years earlier. We wished each other a good hike and continued on our way.
Not long after the first couple, we met Boo and Madhatter. They also reported the track leads into an area of spruce traps. After spending time getting in and out of spruce traps and being unable to locate the trail they bailed. I was still confident in our planned approach and attempted to get them to turn around and join us without success. We said our goodbyes and continued south.
The track continued on the actual trail route. Soon, we met another pair of hikers. They looked a little beat. One said – “didn’t make it, good luck” and the other said “it’s only a hill”. Their tracks led to an area of spruce traps on the northeast side on the high spot between Field and Willey. There’s a place where it seems the trail should go left and up the slope, which is exactly what they did and found the spruce traps. In fact, the trail goes right and contours around the high spot to the west. We hiked to the end of the tracked section and then started back, looking for a blaze. At this point we knew we were not on the trail but also knew at one point we were on the trail.
Eventually, we found a faded blaze on the south side of a tree. Sue marked the location with snowshoes tracks around the base of the tree and we started searching for another blaze. Slowly we were able to locate additional blazes and then identify where the previous effort went wrong. We left the track and started breaking trail, actually back on the route of the trail. Again, we were faced with 4-6 inches of snow and significant drifts. We continued to slowly make our way along the trail route eventually getting a glimpse of our final target. We still had a good section to work our way through when the snow squall hit. Visibility dropped to ~50 – 100 feet and our tracks were quickly becoming obscured. We had to make a decision. The thought of bailing was getting me pretty grumpy but it was one option we needed to consider. It was getting late and I really didn’t want to trail-find our way back out with headlights. After a while the snowfall eased up and we decided to continue.
Finally, we were making the last couple turns on the trail approaching Mount Willey. At one point Sue pointed to where I was standing and asked “is that the ledge near the summit” and I answered yes. Thirty to forty yards later and we were standing above the summit cairn getting pictures. Usually, the hike from Field to Willey is a short one; book time for the one way trip is ~50 minutes. We lost a lot of time trail finding in this area. Our one-way time was roughly 3.5 hours.
We wasted no time to make our u-turn and start back out. My primary concern was to be back on the clearly tracked out section where we started our trail finding work before darkness. In fact, the summit of Mount Field is where we finally stopped for quick refreshment and to pull out the headlights. The hike to Crawford Notch from the summit of Mount Field would be under the lights. Once we dropped down from the ridge we were out of the wind and had a terrific after-hours ~3 mile snowshoe hike to the trailhead.
It wasn’t pretty, but we set out to visit Tom, Field, and Willey and that’s what we did. The section between Field and Willey currently has a great amount of confusion caused by tracks headed in all directions. At this point the best approach is probably to follow the blazes and not the most obvious tracks (the most obvious tracks lead to spruce traps). The blazes are in very bad shape but they will guide a hike to Mount Willey.
Thanks Sue for another interesting adventure on the Willey Range; it’s always a little different in winter.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Avalon Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, Willey Range Trail
Summits: Tom, Field, and Willey
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
A couple years ago we started hiking the Willey Range by heading straight to Mount Field first, then to Mount Willey, and finally back over Mount Field and on to Mt. Tom. Over the last few days before the hike I learned a couple sections of our planned route might not be broken out so we decided to hike to Mt. Tom first and then head south for Mount Field and Mount Willey. The change in our approach would make breaking the trails, if necessary, a little more fun (Avalon, top-down, with snowshoes in deep snow is real fun).
We set off from the Highland Center with a light breeze, a temperature of approximately 5 degrees, and a probability of snow at 60%. We spent the full day on snowshoes. The trails that were tracked out were all in great shape with minimal postholing that is usually found in the trails around Crawford Notch. We were nearly past the first crossing when I realized we were on the first crossing. The bridges are solid at both crossings. We hiked at a steady pace and made it to the Avalon – A-Z trails junction.
From there we continued straight and headed for the junction with Mt. Tom Spur. After the trails junction the surface conditions changed quite a bit from a nice solid packed trail to one with a loose surface. Clearly, this route to Mt. Tom has not seen the same amount of traffic as the Avalon Trail, but it is still in very good shape. We hit the junction with the Mt. Tom Spur, made the right turn, and continued to Mt. Tom. In a short time we were standing in the vicinity of the summit cairn on Mt. Tom (we may have been on top of it – the snow is pretty deep). We got our usual summit pictures but there were no long-distance views due to the conditions. At this point we were a little ahead of plan and both feeling good.
We were soon on our way to the Willey Range Trail (WRT) and our other targets for the day. Back at the A-Z trail we met another pair of hikers headed to Mt. Tom and possibly also hiking south on WRT, but we never saw them again. Sue and I took the short walk to the WRT trail junction to find the tracked route ended there. Evidently, the people that previously hiked the A-Z trail went only to the WRT junction and u-turned back out. We were faced with 4 – 6 inches of snow on the WRT and areas of significant drifts.
Without more than a slight pause we set off headed south on WRT to Mount Field. Initially, the trail corridor was very easy to follow and the trail underneath was solid. A little over half-way to Mount Field we started to find significant drifts. In this area we lost the trail. In an attempt to follow what appeared to be an open corridor we managed to wander to the west of the actual trail route. There are some really nice spruce traps over there. At one point Sue dropped into one and all that was sticking out of the snow was her head. I started to position myself for this Kodak moment and was soon in my own spruce trap up to my shoulders. There we were, roughly fifteen feet apart and only able to see each other’s head. I recall a similar situation between Field and Willey a couple years back.
No longer worried about a picture, we both went to work getting ourselves back on top of the snow. Once out of the spruce traps we stopped to think about where we were and where we thought we wanted to be. We agreed the trail was east of our location and slowly left the spruce traps in search of the trail. After a short time we managed to find the trail corridor and were once again headed for Mount Field.
A short distance before reaching the summit of Mount Field we came to the Avalon – WRT trails junction. There had been a lot of traffic on the Avalon Trail and we were again on a solid tracked out trail. All of the rolling around in the snow working to get out of the spruce traps soaked my gloves and I decided it was time for a dry pair and some warm hands. After the change, and quick refreshment we continued to Mount Field. In a couple minutes we were standing on the summit with three others. We asked if they planned to visit to Mount Willey and their response was “probably not”. We said hi to the Gray Jays, let them know we would be back a little later with some snacks, and took off for Mount Willey.
The trail leaving Mount Field was a terrific snowshoe track. There had been a good amount of recent traffic. Soon after leaving the summit area we met a couple that had attempted to hike to Mount Willey. They never made it. The comments they made indicated the trail wasn’t broken out and the tracks we were following ended in spruce traps. From their description I believed we had made that mistake a couple years earlier. We wished each other a good hike and continued on our way.
Not long after the first couple, we met Boo and Madhatter. They also reported the track leads into an area of spruce traps. After spending time getting in and out of spruce traps and being unable to locate the trail they bailed. I was still confident in our planned approach and attempted to get them to turn around and join us without success. We said our goodbyes and continued south.
The track continued on the actual trail route. Soon, we met another pair of hikers. They looked a little beat. One said – “didn’t make it, good luck” and the other said “it’s only a hill”. Their tracks led to an area of spruce traps on the northeast side on the high spot between Field and Willey. There’s a place where it seems the trail should go left and up the slope, which is exactly what they did and found the spruce traps. In fact, the trail goes right and contours around the high spot to the west. We hiked to the end of the tracked section and then started back, looking for a blaze. At this point we knew we were not on the trail but also knew at one point we were on the trail.
Eventually, we found a faded blaze on the south side of a tree. Sue marked the location with snowshoes tracks around the base of the tree and we started searching for another blaze. Slowly we were able to locate additional blazes and then identify where the previous effort went wrong. We left the track and started breaking trail, actually back on the route of the trail. Again, we were faced with 4-6 inches of snow and significant drifts. We continued to slowly make our way along the trail route eventually getting a glimpse of our final target. We still had a good section to work our way through when the snow squall hit. Visibility dropped to ~50 – 100 feet and our tracks were quickly becoming obscured. We had to make a decision. The thought of bailing was getting me pretty grumpy but it was one option we needed to consider. It was getting late and I really didn’t want to trail-find our way back out with headlights. After a while the snowfall eased up and we decided to continue.
Finally, we were making the last couple turns on the trail approaching Mount Willey. At one point Sue pointed to where I was standing and asked “is that the ledge near the summit” and I answered yes. Thirty to forty yards later and we were standing above the summit cairn getting pictures. Usually, the hike from Field to Willey is a short one; book time for the one way trip is ~50 minutes. We lost a lot of time trail finding in this area. Our one-way time was roughly 3.5 hours.
We wasted no time to make our u-turn and start back out. My primary concern was to be back on the clearly tracked out section where we started our trail finding work before darkness. In fact, the summit of Mount Field is where we finally stopped for quick refreshment and to pull out the headlights. The hike to Crawford Notch from the summit of Mount Field would be under the lights. Once we dropped down from the ridge we were out of the wind and had a terrific after-hours ~3 mile snowshoe hike to the trailhead.
It wasn’t pretty, but we set out to visit Tom, Field, and Willey and that’s what we did. The section between Field and Willey currently has a great amount of confusion caused by tracks headed in all directions. At this point the best approach is probably to follow the blazes and not the most obvious tracks (the most obvious tracks lead to spruce traps). The blazes are in very bad shape but they will guide a hike to Mount Willey.
Thanks Sue for another interesting adventure on the Willey Range; it’s always a little different in winter.
Pictures will follow.
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