The Feathered Hat
Active member
A carless Saturday, due to my girlfriend's need to be in Hanover for the day. So, where to go? It would have to be a trip that left the house out the back door:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356093201/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
The Bridalveil Falls trailhead is about a mile south from my house on Highway 116, but Tuckerman (my dog) and I did Bridalveil a week ago. We could walk another mile down 116 to the Mt. Kinsman Trail trailhead, but we've recently hiked that route too. Besides, I don't like walking along weekend-busy 116 with a puppy, even on a leash.
Lately, Tuck and I have been exploring the new development that's across the street from us, McKenzie Woods:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356912406/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
No homes have been built yet and the road is still unpaved. (A friend in the real estate business told me some permitting issues at the Woods haven't been resolved, which is why things are stalled for the time being.) There's never any traffic, so it's a great place for dog-walking. Good views, too, like this one of Moosilauke...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356097765/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
... and this one of Kinsman Ridge...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356096519/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
If you're so inclined, you can land-shop while you dog-walk:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356132193/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
The main road in McKenzie Woods dead ends in about half a mile, where it meets the Middle Earth trail that's part of the Franconia XC Ski Association's large network of ski routes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356917528/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Tuck and I have done a bit of exploring of these XC trails, but we've kept to the McKenzie Woods area for the most part. I decided that on Saturday we'd get serious and find out where the routes took us.
But first we had to decide: which way to The Shire?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356107845/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Up the trail about a quarter mile is the first junction...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356100567/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
... where, as you can see, the Ski Association has helpfully posted a map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356102081/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
There are maps like this posted at just about every junction -- very helpful for tourists and locals alike. Tuckerman and I decided we'd take Middle Earth to Charlie's Trail to Bear Run to Old Mittersill Road to the Tuckerbrook Trail to Von Ryan's Express to Skid Row back to Middle Earth and the road back to home.
These may be XC ski trails, but we noticed that someone had recently traveled the Middle Earth route on a mountain bike:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356921206/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Cresting the low ridge that's just south of McKenzie Woods, there's a great view of Mt. Garfield...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356922476/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
and Mt. Lafayette and Franconia Ridge...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356923722/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
and Cannon Mountain, too, including the old Mittersill alpine ski trails that rocket21 seems to prefer as his own private stairways to the heaven of Cannon's summit...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356947636/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
The Middle Earth trail descends into some nice woods, crosses a brook, then, near Lovett's Inn, enters a meadow with another great view of Lafayette...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356927100/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356110163/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
In this meadow we found a sign. "No trespassing? No walking?" Hmmm...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356111397/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Well, these trails hadn't been groomed in a while. It looked like no one had even skied them for three or four days. And the snow was firm enough that I could walk in Microspikes without worry of postholing. We decided to press on -- with a low profile. We found more signs of both the private...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356932644/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
...and public kind:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356112749/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Not to mention beautiful walking trails crossed by the occasional blowdown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356935164/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
And then... a very serious sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356936398/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Really, *NO* walking? *NO*...dogs?
I had visions of a midnight knock on my door from Officer Obie. "Kid, we found a print of your Microspikes on a cross-country ski trail down at the bottom of a ravine and we just wanted to know if you had any information about it," and then he'd show us eight-by-ten color photographs with circles and arrows of the scene of the crime and then Tuck and I would find ourselves down at the courthouse sitting on the Group W bench with a bunch of mean, nasty looking people -- mother rapers... father stabbers... father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there next to Tuck and me and all we did was walk on a hard-packed, ungroomed XC ski trail three weeks before it was allowed, according to the very serious sign.
But Officer Obie never showed up. Must've been a big night for other crimes in Franconia, New Hampshire. You know how it goes sometimes.
Meanwhile, Tuck and I pressed on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356938384/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
By the time we got to the Tuckerbrook Trail we weren't far from the bottom of the old Mittersill ski area -- and here's a sign you don't see every day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356124897/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
We stopped for lunch and took a few moments to admire the extraordinary cerulean blue of Saturday's mountain sky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356940764/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
A mile later we entered another meadow with another beautiful view of Mt. Lafayette...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356944492/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
and, in the opposite direction, of Sugar Hill:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356946000/in/set-72157615245016731/
It was at about this point in the day's trek that a strong sense of sweet nostalgia overcame me. I was very lucky to grow up in a small, hilly town in northern California that had, back when its first homes were being built toward the end of the 19th century, been threaded by hidden stairways and secret paths to connect the town's winding streets. When I was in junior high school a couple friends and I spent weekends exploring these old paths, discovering little lost neighborhoods, beautiful old homes and secret old-growth redwood groves in the town we thought we already knew so well. Within a year we began exploring the mountain that backdropped our town, and a year after that, still teenagers, we were backpacking in the High Sierra on our own. These experiences changed and shaped the future course of my life. I've never lived far from mountains, nor could I. Franconia's XC ski trails thread the town's neighborhoods and hillsides and run along the bottom of the White Mountains in the same way the old paths and stairways of my boyhood town do. I remembered that wonderful feeling, which I had not felt in a long, long time, of discovering new secrets and new beauties in a place I thought I already knew well. And I wondered, too, if the same kind of feeling is made when, after 50 or so years of marriage, one's husband or wife surprises you with the perfect loving word at just the right moment.
Overall, Tuck and I walked seven miles, perhaps eight. We were back home in just over four hours, and I judged were moving along at about a two-mile-an-hour pace. There were a few minor climbs along the way, none more than 400 feet elevation gain.
Next winter, we'll try these routes again -- perhaps on XC skis.
Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
_____________________________________
Tuckerman's Report:
Good slippery snow. Lots to sniff. Found some coyote poop. Three bridges. Big Boss Man told me I missed seeing a rabbit, but I saw it, I just wasn't in the mood to chase rabbits. He also said he heard a moose crashing through the woods, but I don't believe him.
Rating: Two sniffs (out of four), plus one extra because we were outlaws.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356093201/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
The Bridalveil Falls trailhead is about a mile south from my house on Highway 116, but Tuckerman (my dog) and I did Bridalveil a week ago. We could walk another mile down 116 to the Mt. Kinsman Trail trailhead, but we've recently hiked that route too. Besides, I don't like walking along weekend-busy 116 with a puppy, even on a leash.
Lately, Tuck and I have been exploring the new development that's across the street from us, McKenzie Woods:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356912406/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
No homes have been built yet and the road is still unpaved. (A friend in the real estate business told me some permitting issues at the Woods haven't been resolved, which is why things are stalled for the time being.) There's never any traffic, so it's a great place for dog-walking. Good views, too, like this one of Moosilauke...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356097765/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
... and this one of Kinsman Ridge...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356096519/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
If you're so inclined, you can land-shop while you dog-walk:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356132193/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
The main road in McKenzie Woods dead ends in about half a mile, where it meets the Middle Earth trail that's part of the Franconia XC Ski Association's large network of ski routes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356917528/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Tuck and I have done a bit of exploring of these XC trails, but we've kept to the McKenzie Woods area for the most part. I decided that on Saturday we'd get serious and find out where the routes took us.
But first we had to decide: which way to The Shire?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356107845/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Up the trail about a quarter mile is the first junction...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356100567/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
... where, as you can see, the Ski Association has helpfully posted a map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356102081/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
There are maps like this posted at just about every junction -- very helpful for tourists and locals alike. Tuckerman and I decided we'd take Middle Earth to Charlie's Trail to Bear Run to Old Mittersill Road to the Tuckerbrook Trail to Von Ryan's Express to Skid Row back to Middle Earth and the road back to home.
These may be XC ski trails, but we noticed that someone had recently traveled the Middle Earth route on a mountain bike:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356921206/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Cresting the low ridge that's just south of McKenzie Woods, there's a great view of Mt. Garfield...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356922476/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
and Mt. Lafayette and Franconia Ridge...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356923722/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
and Cannon Mountain, too, including the old Mittersill alpine ski trails that rocket21 seems to prefer as his own private stairways to the heaven of Cannon's summit...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356947636/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
The Middle Earth trail descends into some nice woods, crosses a brook, then, near Lovett's Inn, enters a meadow with another great view of Lafayette...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356927100/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356110163/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
In this meadow we found a sign. "No trespassing? No walking?" Hmmm...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356111397/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Well, these trails hadn't been groomed in a while. It looked like no one had even skied them for three or four days. And the snow was firm enough that I could walk in Microspikes without worry of postholing. We decided to press on -- with a low profile. We found more signs of both the private...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356932644/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
...and public kind:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356112749/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Not to mention beautiful walking trails crossed by the occasional blowdown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356935164/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
And then... a very serious sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356936398/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
Really, *NO* walking? *NO*...dogs?
I had visions of a midnight knock on my door from Officer Obie. "Kid, we found a print of your Microspikes on a cross-country ski trail down at the bottom of a ravine and we just wanted to know if you had any information about it," and then he'd show us eight-by-ten color photographs with circles and arrows of the scene of the crime and then Tuck and I would find ourselves down at the courthouse sitting on the Group W bench with a bunch of mean, nasty looking people -- mother rapers... father stabbers... father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there next to Tuck and me and all we did was walk on a hard-packed, ungroomed XC ski trail three weeks before it was allowed, according to the very serious sign.
But Officer Obie never showed up. Must've been a big night for other crimes in Franconia, New Hampshire. You know how it goes sometimes.
Meanwhile, Tuck and I pressed on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356938384/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
By the time we got to the Tuckerbrook Trail we weren't far from the bottom of the old Mittersill ski area -- and here's a sign you don't see every day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356124897/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
We stopped for lunch and took a few moments to admire the extraordinary cerulean blue of Saturday's mountain sky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356940764/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
A mile later we entered another meadow with another beautiful view of Mt. Lafayette...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356944492/sizes/l/in/set-72157615245016731/
and, in the opposite direction, of Sugar Hill:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99682097@N00/3356946000/in/set-72157615245016731/
It was at about this point in the day's trek that a strong sense of sweet nostalgia overcame me. I was very lucky to grow up in a small, hilly town in northern California that had, back when its first homes were being built toward the end of the 19th century, been threaded by hidden stairways and secret paths to connect the town's winding streets. When I was in junior high school a couple friends and I spent weekends exploring these old paths, discovering little lost neighborhoods, beautiful old homes and secret old-growth redwood groves in the town we thought we already knew so well. Within a year we began exploring the mountain that backdropped our town, and a year after that, still teenagers, we were backpacking in the High Sierra on our own. These experiences changed and shaped the future course of my life. I've never lived far from mountains, nor could I. Franconia's XC ski trails thread the town's neighborhoods and hillsides and run along the bottom of the White Mountains in the same way the old paths and stairways of my boyhood town do. I remembered that wonderful feeling, which I had not felt in a long, long time, of discovering new secrets and new beauties in a place I thought I already knew well. And I wondered, too, if the same kind of feeling is made when, after 50 or so years of marriage, one's husband or wife surprises you with the perfect loving word at just the right moment.
Overall, Tuck and I walked seven miles, perhaps eight. We were back home in just over four hours, and I judged were moving along at about a two-mile-an-hour pace. There were a few minor climbs along the way, none more than 400 feet elevation gain.
Next winter, we'll try these routes again -- perhaps on XC skis.
Steve B
The Feathered Hat
[email protected]
_____________________________________
Tuckerman's Report:
Good slippery snow. Lots to sniff. Found some coyote poop. Three bridges. Big Boss Man told me I missed seeing a rabbit, but I saw it, I just wasn't in the mood to chase rabbits. He also said he heard a moose crashing through the woods, but I don't believe him.
Rating: Two sniffs (out of four), plus one extra because we were outlaws.
Last edited:
