The Hikers
New member
The decision to take Joyce's Camry, instead of my car with its worn out shocks, turned out to be the first good decision of the day as we headed for Ferncroft on 113A and some of the worst frost heaves in N.H.
We had wondered what we would find for snow conditions in the Sandwich Range. The big storm had been nothing but rain and extreme winds at our house, downing dozens of my big pines, and flooding our cellar.We could see that it had been all snow up here as we reached the trailhead. This time we had brought the MSR's , and they stayed on from the start of the hike until the end.This was the second good decision of the day.
We were in gear and hiking up the Old Mast Road by 9:00 A.M.We followed the faint tracks of cross country skis on hard packed snow which gradually deepened as we climbed up to the four-way junction at about 2400 feet.
Here we took the left on the Walden and the fun began.This is a steep climb in any conditions,gaining over 600 feet in about a quarter of a mile.But today we were breaking the trail in deep snow. It was clear that no one had gone this way since before the storm. We did a good deal of waterwheeling as we churned vainly to get traction on the steep climb. We used hands and trees and rocks and anything we could to gain the top. Just short of the 3000 foot summit of hedgehog we completely ran out of steam from the effort. It took hot chocolate, heavy breathing, and 15 to 20 minutes of rest to get going again.
At the top was a scene we hadn't expected. The snow from the storm here had arrived as a wet, heavy snow which bent the spruce down horizontal under its weight. Then, before the spruce could recover, the whole mess froze solid. Now we had a snow depth of 3- 4 feet, frequent blowdowns, and a trail which couldn't be seen in all the mess.
Joyce pushes her way through
We moved forward, but our progress was slow. We would crawl under the bent spruce, or detour around it, taking our chances with spruce traps. The trail would disappear, so we would scout, and then just bushwack until it would reappear for a short while, and then terminate once again in a tangle of cement-like snow and spruce. I knew that we couldn't go wrong by just continuing on the ridge towards wonalancet, but long stretches of bushwack, and long stretches of what must be the trail, but no blue markings, was making Joyce uneasy.
There is a good open viewpoint of Passaconaway at one point, so we took a GPS reading here to confirm our location on the map and to see that we were making progress.We took some pictures here, and then continued on. It was cold enough at these elevations so that the snow wasn't sticking under our snowshoes, as it had done down below.We continued on with what was more of a fight than a hike. Eventually we were rewarded and comforted by the sight of blue paint on a tree. Joyce showed her feelings at that moment.
As we continued on we decided we had had enough spruce fighting and bushwacking, so we took advantage of the "short-cut" which,although it does decend at an uncomfortable angle, it is NOT in spruce, and it is well marked.This was the third good decision of the day. We rested part way down ,leaning on a rock and finishing our PB&J sandwiches. We had broken trail all the way to the back side of Wonalancet through blowdowns spruce traps and cement snow blockades, but we were on our way down.
As we changed in the car we were thinking of how good a Guiness would taste, and how we would have no trouble sleeping tonight.
We had wondered what we would find for snow conditions in the Sandwich Range. The big storm had been nothing but rain and extreme winds at our house, downing dozens of my big pines, and flooding our cellar.We could see that it had been all snow up here as we reached the trailhead. This time we had brought the MSR's , and they stayed on from the start of the hike until the end.This was the second good decision of the day.
We were in gear and hiking up the Old Mast Road by 9:00 A.M.We followed the faint tracks of cross country skis on hard packed snow which gradually deepened as we climbed up to the four-way junction at about 2400 feet.
Here we took the left on the Walden and the fun began.This is a steep climb in any conditions,gaining over 600 feet in about a quarter of a mile.But today we were breaking the trail in deep snow. It was clear that no one had gone this way since before the storm. We did a good deal of waterwheeling as we churned vainly to get traction on the steep climb. We used hands and trees and rocks and anything we could to gain the top. Just short of the 3000 foot summit of hedgehog we completely ran out of steam from the effort. It took hot chocolate, heavy breathing, and 15 to 20 minutes of rest to get going again.
At the top was a scene we hadn't expected. The snow from the storm here had arrived as a wet, heavy snow which bent the spruce down horizontal under its weight. Then, before the spruce could recover, the whole mess froze solid. Now we had a snow depth of 3- 4 feet, frequent blowdowns, and a trail which couldn't be seen in all the mess.
Joyce pushes her way through
We moved forward, but our progress was slow. We would crawl under the bent spruce, or detour around it, taking our chances with spruce traps. The trail would disappear, so we would scout, and then just bushwack until it would reappear for a short while, and then terminate once again in a tangle of cement-like snow and spruce. I knew that we couldn't go wrong by just continuing on the ridge towards wonalancet, but long stretches of bushwack, and long stretches of what must be the trail, but no blue markings, was making Joyce uneasy.
There is a good open viewpoint of Passaconaway at one point, so we took a GPS reading here to confirm our location on the map and to see that we were making progress.We took some pictures here, and then continued on. It was cold enough at these elevations so that the snow wasn't sticking under our snowshoes, as it had done down below.We continued on with what was more of a fight than a hike. Eventually we were rewarded and comforted by the sight of blue paint on a tree. Joyce showed her feelings at that moment.
As we continued on we decided we had had enough spruce fighting and bushwacking, so we took advantage of the "short-cut" which,although it does decend at an uncomfortable angle, it is NOT in spruce, and it is well marked.This was the third good decision of the day. We rested part way down ,leaning on a rock and finishing our PB&J sandwiches. We had broken trail all the way to the back side of Wonalancet through blowdowns spruce traps and cement snow blockades, but we were on our way down.
As we changed in the car we were thinking of how good a Guiness would taste, and how we would have no trouble sleeping tonight.
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