What are those Side trails off A-Z trail?

[WSC]

I recently went up the A-Z trail Between Zealand trail and Willey Range Trail, about halfway up twice along the trail I noticed Side Trails that bisected the A-Z, were grassy and appeared to be heading perpendicular from the trail. They appeared to be compacted so at one point they were or still are in use. If they stayed on that course, they would head out to ethan pond or Mt. Whitewall, and back to 302 however, I did not follow them but am curious and may go back. Any suggestions as to where they lead?
thanks
WSC

 

[dr_wu002]

They are Ski Trails. You can see them on this map. I believe that Barbarossa has hiked all over them so he'll probably chime in. If you do a search on one of his trip reports (Whitewall Mtn, maybe?) you can find some chatter about them.

-Dr. Wu

 

[bill bowden]

Trails off A-Z

I've followed them, believe they follow an old logging road and are an access for possible fire fighting. Don't believe they are quite wide enough for ski touring. Warning to would be followers, those suckers are seriously boggy with pitcher plants growing in the middle of the 'road" so try at the very driest possible time. They take you up to a fairly open area with a couple of tiny high altitude ponds with some excellent views and a really bad approach to the summit of West Field (really steep and rocky and thick)
there is also a lit of rhododendron type shrubbery that looks nice when it blooms.

 

[WSC]

Thanks for the Quick and Great information.
WSC

 

[MichaelJ]

Isn't there also a way to connect to to this road from an XC ski trail coming off the summit of Tom?

 

[DougPaul]

My 1:24K topo (NG TOPO! NE) labels one of those roads (near the summer Zealand TH) as "4wd".

Doug

 

[post'r boy]

it's true!!

Warning to would be followers, those suckers are seriously boggy with pitcher plants growing in the middle of the 'road" so try at the very driest possible time. They take you up to a fairly open area with a couple of tiny high altitude ponds with some excellent views and a really bad approach to the summit of West Field (really steep and rocky and thick)

ugh, he he he i agree with bill, thick, wet and nasty fo sho!! i took that approach. yikes!!!

 

[arghman]

there is also a lit of rhododendron type shrubbery that looks nice when it blooms.

if boggy, that would probably be rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) with sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) & bog laurel (K. polifolia) as smaller associated heath plants; the Kalmias have umbrella-shaped flowers. The brook crossings on the way to the Hancocks from the Kanc have them also.

 

[Hillwalker]

Old roads

I spent a bit time of mountain biking them some time back. Best access is just across the river from the Twin Mountain Reservoir, just below the Zealand Trail parking lots. The reservoir is signed just where the access road meets the Zealand road. There was quite a bit of good riding, and a number of snowsled bridges on the road. I suspect that part of the old roads are used in winter. I do remember crossing the A-Z trail during my exploration. I also remember numerous places where dabbing and carrying was necessary.

 

[RoySwkr]

They are old logging roads later used as snowmobile trails, foolishly given the name of Mt Tom Trail and Mt Field Trail although they don't reach those summits. They take off from the Zealand Road before the last upgrade. I have used one branch to make a loop over the Rosebrook Range and two other branches to reach the A-Z Trail and Tom. Then there was a climb of W Field and a loop by Hale and Zealand Hut. More moose than hiker tracks.

 

[Nate]

If these snowmobile trails are too wet and steep for climbing White Wall and West Field, what are the most common routes to those summits? I know Eric Savage led a group up West Field a few years ago; what course did they follow?

 

[RoySwkr]

If these snowmobile trails are too wet and steep for climbing White Wall and West Field, what are the most common routes to those summits?

I climbed Whitewall as a traverse staying just above the cliffs.

My first winter ascent of W Field was from Crawford Notch via A-Z Trail and upper part of that road, it was rough enough that we went SE to Ethan Pond Trail and out to road by Kedron Flume. Second time was from Ethan Pond, but when I got to the summit there were tracks where somebody had come from the N.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

I've been on them several times. I don't know if they would be suitable for skiing because I haven't used them in the winter. They are usually very wet and even muddy the times I have been there. I always assumed that they where logging trails but have nothing to back that up. The comments about moose evidence is very true.

That 4WD trail referenced on the maps is probably not easy to locate. I looked once (briefly) and it wasn't obvious with the short time I looked for it on the supposed intersection with the A-Z.

Keith

 

[Nate]

My first winter ascent of W Field was from Crawford Notch via A-Z Trail and upper part of that road, it was rough enough that we went SE to Ethan Pond Trail and out to road by Kedron Flume. Second time was from Ethan Pond, but when I got to the summit there were tracks where somebody had come from the N.

For West Field, is the general consensus that the best way up is from the direction of Ethan Pond? Do people ever go over from Mount Field? What are the drawbacks from heading in from that way?

 

[bill bowden]

West Field

I've done West field twice fromthe A-Z Trail. With patience and careful route finding it's not too bad once you get rhough or avoid some old clear-cut areas which have grown back into extremely thick spruce.

I can't comment on an ethan Pond route except to say it seems quite a bit longer. Over from Field seems to be a comparatively unexplored approach, largely owing to the long distance of high altitude spruce forest which must be traversed.

 

[el-bagr]

Take it from me: they are suitable for skiing!



Heading west from Crawford Notch, I prefer to take the loop by turning L off A-Z onto the first trail -- better down-run that way. You have to go all the way to Mt Tom Brook to complete the loop; it's a steep enough climb along the brook that it's work, but not steep enough to be a super-exciting downhill. Traverse S then climb gently SE to get back to the A-Z below the steep W flank of Tom-Field col... or continue along Mt Tom Brook to the Echo-Tom col, which leads to the "xc ski trail" Michael J mentions.

MJ, you haven't skied north off Tom, have you? Well done if you did -- the top of the "trail" is more of a bushwhack than anything.

 

[MichaelJ]

MJ, you haven't skied north off Tom, have you? Well done if you did -- the top of the "trail" is more of a bushwhack than anything.

I haven't. It was on my to-do list before I got hooked on alpine skiing.

 

[Eric Savage]

From the Horse's Mouth

If these snowmobile trails are too wet and steep for climbing White Wall and West Field, what are the most common routes to those summits? I know Eric Savage led a group up West Field a few years ago; what course did they follow?

We started from the A-Z trail between Zealand and the Willey Range. Specifically, we came down from the Willey Range went well past the two branches of Mt. Field Brook (and the most obvious of the "cross roads") to a point where it seems the A-Z trail is finally turning away from West Field. We then set a bearing not for the summit but for a point on the north ridge. We came back to Mt. Field Brook right where the old road crosses it so we could use the bridge instead of having to fight the nasty vegetation on both sides as well as the brook itself. Following the same bearing we found a nice moose path all the way up to the ridge. We only had to work around some blowdown on the ridge itself and then we were at the summit. The blowdown was just bad enough however to prevent us from finding the top end of the moose path for the trip down so the descent was a bit thicker down to the bridge.
The key is not to head for West Field too soon after getting off of the Willey Range (or wait until you get too close to it - originally we were going to come in from the Zealand side but a storm the night before knocked a tree down onto the Zealand Rd.). If you're patient you get into some very open woods along the A-Z trail which makes that part of the trip so much more enjoyable (as long as a tree doesn't fall on you - but I digress).

 

[SLB]

Does anyone know anything about this trail ? We hiked past Diana's Baths near Moat Mountain last week, and reached a trail junction about one mile in. This trail did not appear on our map? It looked like a new sign.

 

[Nate]

It looks like they recently renamed the Attitash Trail.