BIGEarl
Well-known member
December 27, 2008: Willey Range plus Avalon
Trails: Avalon Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, Willey Range Trail, Avalon Trail
Summits: Tom, Field, Willey, and Avalon
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The last time Sue and I hiked this route was at the beginning of April. The hike was terrific right up to the point of leaving the summit of Avalon. On the climb back down to the Avalon Trail things took a turn for the worse. In a way, I wanted to even the score with the mountain.
We arrived at the turnout on Route 302 in Crawford Notch a little after 7:30am under a cloudy sky, approximately 32 degrees, and a good breeze from the northwest. The forecast was for mostly sunny conditions for the day but I was starting to have my doubts. The breeze was enough to make final preparations uncomfortable and we wasted no time to grab our gear and set off for Crawford Depot and the start of our hike. I think we both knew the sheltered trail would get us out of the wind and in a more comfortable condition.
We reached the start of the Avalon Trail and saw that it had received a good amount of traffic while the snow was still soft. There was a very nice snowshoe track established on a couple feet of snow. The surface was frozen fairly solid and we would need some added traction for our hike. We decided to immediately go with the snowshoes for the traction and to protect the trail.
As we hiked toward the Avalon & A-Z trails junction and warmed up we adjusted layers. Along the way we came across occasional postholes from bare-booters. The trail had received a significant amount of snowshoe traffic and much of the damage was taken care of before the refreeze. We reached the trails junction and noticed the Avalon Trail toward Mt. Avalon, our return route, had received lots of traffic. We continued on the A-Z Trail to the height of land and the Mt. Tom Spur. Sue was on MSR Lightning’s and I had my Atlas 1230’s. Both were adequate for the conditions but the most important benefit was traction, not flotation.
At the Mt. Tom Spur we stopped long enough for a couple pictures and set off for the summit of our first target. We were no longer sheltered by the terrain from the northwest wind and out came additional layers. Approximately half-way to the summit is a steep section that is developing an ice bulge. We were able to climb this icy section but on the return I took a bypass around a large boulder. I believe others will follow and this may become a small detour in the trail until spring.
We hit the summit and had pretty good views but the cloud cover was a little over 4000 feet. We were in the clear under the cloud layer but neighboring peaks were hidden in the clouds. A few quick pictures and we were on our way. Before leaving we made a visit to the Mt. Tom Bench. Back in April we wandered to the bench location but everything was still under a significant layer of snow. Back to the hike and our next target – Mount Field.
As we left the Mt. Tom Spur – A-Z trails junction the trail conditions were clearly much rougher. Evidently, a significant amount of prior traffic went to Mount Tom and then back out. The trail was broken out, but the overall condition was just not as good as the trails leading to the ridge. The snowshoe track was also narrow making my Atlas 1230 a tight fit. A couple hundred yards and I had adjusted my stride to the trail conditions.
We made our way to Mount Field, our second target for the hike. Along the way we hiked into trees that were covered in rime ice – nice. The postholing was more evident on this section of trail and it seemed obvious to me that some poor sole had a very unpleasant experience trying to bare boot his hike. At the upper end of the Avalon Trail we could see evidence of traffic on the trail. We continued to the summit, got a couple more pictures, and were quickly off for target #3 - Mount Willey. The persistent wind helped motivate us off the summit.
Last April we found the trail ended here and we broke through a significant amount of snow between Field and Willey. That was not the case on this hike. The trail was broken and solid. Along the way we came upon the only other hiker we met all day – Rick Demarais, a VFTT lurker from Nashua. He was headed to Mount Tom after having already completing Field and Willey. A brief chat and we were all back to our projects for the day.
The hike between Field and Willey is only 1.4 miles with ~300 feet of elevation. With the stop to visit, and another stop for a quick snack, we were on Willey in a little over an hour. A few summit pictures and we wandered down to the viewpoint for more of the rewards from Mount Willey. The spur to the viewpoint is the end of the broken trail. South of this point has no visible sign of traffic.
Soon we were heading back to Mount Field and to our exit trail. The return hike took approximately 40 minutes. We cleared the summit of Field, made it to the Willey Range – Avalon trails junction, took the turn and headed for our final target – Avalon.
Immediately after setting off on the Avalon Trail it was clear, multiple people bare-booted this trail – and they had a really tough time of it. Under the current conditions, the Avalon Trail between the Willey Range Trail and the junction with the A-Z Trail is a place to avoid. We really had our hands full trying to avoid a twisted ankle – or worse, and just stay upright on the steep sections, which is most of this trail segment. Perhaps ascending the trail is safe but I’m not sure of the best footwear – Stabilicers/MICROSpikes, or something more substantial. If the trail stays frozen hard, snowshoes really aren’t needed right now – there’s little to protect. A new posthole would be similar to a new door ding in a car that has already been totaled.
We made our way to the Mount Avalon Spur, took a couple “before” pictures and turned uphill. We were returning to the scene of the crime. In April the ascent was fine, it was our exit that disrupted the day. On this hike the ascent was a little more difficult. The trail is rough and very icy. It may have been easier with other traction but Sue did fine with the MSR’s and I’m a guy – not about to change if she didn’t. So, we stayed with the snowshoes. They worked and we reached the summit. This time we were able to enjoy the fine views available from Avalon. This was our final target for the day, and we still needed to descend the steep trail. Off we went on the icy, rough trail. Carefully, we made our way down the steep Avalon Spur Trail to the junction with Avalon Trail. That was relatively easy, okay – we didn’t break anything. A couple “after” pictures and we were off for the steep exit to the A-Z Trail junction.
The extremely rough trail continued and we worked the sides of the trail in the soft snow as much as we could. Before long we were back to the Avalon – A-Z trails junction and ready for the final walk out on some relatively nice trail. From here it is a quick 1.3 miles with a couple stream crossings. We came through with no problems and reached Crawford Depot finishing a nice round trip of the Willey Range from Crawford Notch.
If I knew then what I know now, I’d skip Avalon and only hike Tom, Field, and Willey. The Avalon Trail is bad enough to write-off until more snow arrives and hopefully a good snowshoe track is established.
Thanks Sue – we made real progress today. The current score; Mountain 1, BIGEarl 1. Best of three??
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Avalon Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, Willey Range Trail, Avalon Trail
Summits: Tom, Field, Willey, and Avalon
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The last time Sue and I hiked this route was at the beginning of April. The hike was terrific right up to the point of leaving the summit of Avalon. On the climb back down to the Avalon Trail things took a turn for the worse. In a way, I wanted to even the score with the mountain.
We arrived at the turnout on Route 302 in Crawford Notch a little after 7:30am under a cloudy sky, approximately 32 degrees, and a good breeze from the northwest. The forecast was for mostly sunny conditions for the day but I was starting to have my doubts. The breeze was enough to make final preparations uncomfortable and we wasted no time to grab our gear and set off for Crawford Depot and the start of our hike. I think we both knew the sheltered trail would get us out of the wind and in a more comfortable condition.
We reached the start of the Avalon Trail and saw that it had received a good amount of traffic while the snow was still soft. There was a very nice snowshoe track established on a couple feet of snow. The surface was frozen fairly solid and we would need some added traction for our hike. We decided to immediately go with the snowshoes for the traction and to protect the trail.
As we hiked toward the Avalon & A-Z trails junction and warmed up we adjusted layers. Along the way we came across occasional postholes from bare-booters. The trail had received a significant amount of snowshoe traffic and much of the damage was taken care of before the refreeze. We reached the trails junction and noticed the Avalon Trail toward Mt. Avalon, our return route, had received lots of traffic. We continued on the A-Z Trail to the height of land and the Mt. Tom Spur. Sue was on MSR Lightning’s and I had my Atlas 1230’s. Both were adequate for the conditions but the most important benefit was traction, not flotation.
At the Mt. Tom Spur we stopped long enough for a couple pictures and set off for the summit of our first target. We were no longer sheltered by the terrain from the northwest wind and out came additional layers. Approximately half-way to the summit is a steep section that is developing an ice bulge. We were able to climb this icy section but on the return I took a bypass around a large boulder. I believe others will follow and this may become a small detour in the trail until spring.
We hit the summit and had pretty good views but the cloud cover was a little over 4000 feet. We were in the clear under the cloud layer but neighboring peaks were hidden in the clouds. A few quick pictures and we were on our way. Before leaving we made a visit to the Mt. Tom Bench. Back in April we wandered to the bench location but everything was still under a significant layer of snow. Back to the hike and our next target – Mount Field.
As we left the Mt. Tom Spur – A-Z trails junction the trail conditions were clearly much rougher. Evidently, a significant amount of prior traffic went to Mount Tom and then back out. The trail was broken out, but the overall condition was just not as good as the trails leading to the ridge. The snowshoe track was also narrow making my Atlas 1230 a tight fit. A couple hundred yards and I had adjusted my stride to the trail conditions.
We made our way to Mount Field, our second target for the hike. Along the way we hiked into trees that were covered in rime ice – nice. The postholing was more evident on this section of trail and it seemed obvious to me that some poor sole had a very unpleasant experience trying to bare boot his hike. At the upper end of the Avalon Trail we could see evidence of traffic on the trail. We continued to the summit, got a couple more pictures, and were quickly off for target #3 - Mount Willey. The persistent wind helped motivate us off the summit.
Last April we found the trail ended here and we broke through a significant amount of snow between Field and Willey. That was not the case on this hike. The trail was broken and solid. Along the way we came upon the only other hiker we met all day – Rick Demarais, a VFTT lurker from Nashua. He was headed to Mount Tom after having already completing Field and Willey. A brief chat and we were all back to our projects for the day.
The hike between Field and Willey is only 1.4 miles with ~300 feet of elevation. With the stop to visit, and another stop for a quick snack, we were on Willey in a little over an hour. A few summit pictures and we wandered down to the viewpoint for more of the rewards from Mount Willey. The spur to the viewpoint is the end of the broken trail. South of this point has no visible sign of traffic.
Soon we were heading back to Mount Field and to our exit trail. The return hike took approximately 40 minutes. We cleared the summit of Field, made it to the Willey Range – Avalon trails junction, took the turn and headed for our final target – Avalon.
Immediately after setting off on the Avalon Trail it was clear, multiple people bare-booted this trail – and they had a really tough time of it. Under the current conditions, the Avalon Trail between the Willey Range Trail and the junction with the A-Z Trail is a place to avoid. We really had our hands full trying to avoid a twisted ankle – or worse, and just stay upright on the steep sections, which is most of this trail segment. Perhaps ascending the trail is safe but I’m not sure of the best footwear – Stabilicers/MICROSpikes, or something more substantial. If the trail stays frozen hard, snowshoes really aren’t needed right now – there’s little to protect. A new posthole would be similar to a new door ding in a car that has already been totaled.
We made our way to the Mount Avalon Spur, took a couple “before” pictures and turned uphill. We were returning to the scene of the crime. In April the ascent was fine, it was our exit that disrupted the day. On this hike the ascent was a little more difficult. The trail is rough and very icy. It may have been easier with other traction but Sue did fine with the MSR’s and I’m a guy – not about to change if she didn’t. So, we stayed with the snowshoes. They worked and we reached the summit. This time we were able to enjoy the fine views available from Avalon. This was our final target for the day, and we still needed to descend the steep trail. Off we went on the icy, rough trail. Carefully, we made our way down the steep Avalon Spur Trail to the junction with Avalon Trail. That was relatively easy, okay – we didn’t break anything. A couple “after” pictures and we were off for the steep exit to the A-Z Trail junction.
The extremely rough trail continued and we worked the sides of the trail in the soft snow as much as we could. Before long we were back to the Avalon – A-Z trails junction and ready for the final walk out on some relatively nice trail. From here it is a quick 1.3 miles with a couple stream crossings. We came through with no problems and reached Crawford Depot finishing a nice round trip of the Willey Range from Crawford Notch.
If I knew then what I know now, I’d skip Avalon and only hike Tom, Field, and Willey. The Avalon Trail is bad enough to write-off until more snow arrives and hopefully a good snowshoe track is established.
Thanks Sue – we made real progress today. The current score; Mountain 1, BIGEarl 1. Best of three??
Pictures will follow.
