Welch-Dickey Loop - In The Winds on Friday, Feb. 7

[ImYourHuckleberry]

I hiked the Welch-Dickey Loop on Friday, Feb 7 - and that little loop sure packs a punch. (I've hiked it dozens of times as I used to use it for training, but never in winter.) Despite the lot not being plowed and no other cars in the lot, there was at least one person out ahead of me. However, I'm not sure if they went past the outlook about halfway up Welch or turned around because the wind blown snow obliterated everything. Despite the trail being packed out as recently as the previous Sunday, based on a New England Trail Conditions entry, it was a real challenge to follow. Particularly, the last .25 mile to the summit of Welch was a real butt kicker, as I found it impossible to stay on the packed trail and kept stepping off into 2'-3' deep drifts. I think it would have taken forever to follow the trail had I not been on it so many times previously. A women caught me at the first viewpoint when I was screwing around trying to get my robotic gimbal to work, but she turned around there and went back down. I didn't see anybody else all day. A fine day, but kind of sad getting torched by a 4.5 mile hike.