USFS hiker alert: Zealand road bridge work Sept. 6-Dec. 2005

[Waumbek]

USFS hiker alert: Zealand road bridge work Sept. 6-Dec. 31, 2005

This will prohibit "public vehicle" access on Forest Road 16 to Zealand Valley trailheads (Sugarloaf, Hale Brook, and Zealand Trails). The work will occur on the bridge right off 302. Here's the link.

The Sugarloaf Campgrounds close Sept. 6. Zealand Hut remains open.

 

[forestgnome]

Thanks, Waumbek. Good to know, I love Zealand in the autumn.

 

[Waumbek]

I had wondered if Zealand Falls hut would remain open on full service, which extends to Oct. 29, during the beginning of the bridge work. Apparently it will, although the route via the Zealand Trail will require fording the Ammonoosuc and a much longer hike. Zealand Road (3.5 miles + .2) plus the Zealand Trail is longer than the A-Z Trail to Z. hut, although the elevation gain is less.

From Dickerman's column today:

The bridge project, which is expected to take a minimum of four months to complete, will require hikers bound for the Zealand area to park in the winter lot 0.2 miles east of Zealand Road. Hikers will also have to ford the Ammonoosuc River at the start of their traverse of the Zealand Road.
For hikers bound for 4,054-foot Mount Hale, what would normally be a relatively easy 4.4-mile round-trip affair will suddenly become close to a 10-mile round-trip jaunt. Getting up to remote Zealand Mountain (4,260 feet) will be even a bigger challenge with the road closed. The normal 5.7-mile one-way hike will suddenly become a 9.2-mile trek (not including the walk from the end of Zealand Road to the Route 302 parking lot). This will make the hike up Zealand one of the longest to any of the 4,000-footers. [end quote]

 

[carole]

This will make the hike up Zealand one of the longest to any of the 4,000-footers. [end quote]

This is how it's done in winter. We also broke trail the whole way. No one said it has to be easy. It's still a nice hike.

 

[David Metsky]

It's still a nice hike.

And a pretty fun ski.

-dave-

 

[Waumbek]

This is how it's done in winter. We also broke trail the whole way. No one said it has to be easy. It's still a nice hike.

Actually, the prospect of going into Zealand this fall just got a whole lot more attractive to me . . . .

 

[Pemi Pete]

Some of us see this as good news! But I wonder what the AMC thinks about it. (How much business will they lose going into Zealand Hut?)

Reminds me of when the Sawyer River Road washout happened, and Carrigain became that much more sweet.

 

[Jim lombard]

Tough news for the Zealand Croo.