April 1, 2006 The snow has been gone here in Norway, Maine for about 3 weeks so it is time to try my first A.T. hike of the year. I bet there is still snow in the mountains so I'll try to stay as low as possible. How about a 7.5 mile stretch from Rte 302 in the White Mountains going south to the Zealand Falls Hut. This section of the A.T. is also known as the Ethan Pond Trail and the elevation never goes over 3,000 feet which is a rather low elevation for the White's. Almost as soon as I started I crossed some railroad tracks, my last sign of civilization until I reached the hut. There was not much snow at first but it became deeper and deeper as I gained 1,500 feet on my way up to Ethan Pond Shelter.
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I finally reached the sidetrail for the shelter. With the snow now being 1 to 2 feet deep. Hard to believe there is still so much snow on April 1st and probably much more at 4,000 - 6,000 ft. I guess that is why they are named the "White Mountains".
Not knowing what lie ahead I decided not to hike the extra .5 miles round trip to the shelter. Maybe on the way back. The trail leveled off which is rather surprising for the White's. The snow was firm enough to support me but every 100 feet or so, it would give out and I would sink to my knees or even waist. I would pull myself out of the snow and begin walking again. It never failed, as soon as I became confident that the snow would support me, it would give out. This went on for two miles. It was both exhausting and time consuming. It was April Fool's Day and it felt as if someone was playing a prank on me. Finally I heard the sound of a river. Great there is supposed to be a bridge here. Sure enough there was.
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For the remaining three miles after the bridge, there would be much less snow. Just before the shelter the trail became very steep but only for .2 miles. It was extremely icy here and without crampons this .2 miles was the toughest of the day. Then I came across beautiful Zealand Falls Hut.
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I met the 2 caretakers named Alex and Erica. I was their only guest so they were eager for me to spend the night but my wife was expecting me back. Alex wanted to hike up to Zealand Cliffs and back. We were going in the same directions so I asked if I could join him. We stopped briefly at Zealand Falls which is less than a minute off the trail and worth the detour. I watched Alex walk down the steep .2 miles from the hut with his crampons digging into the slippery ice. He made it look as if the ice wasn't even there. It was nice to have some company for a while but we soon reached the junction with the Zealand Cliff trail. Before we said 'Goodbye', Alex was nice enough to take my picture with Zealand Cliffs in the background.
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~ ~ Next came the part of the day I dreaded. Going back through the snow where I kept falling through on the trip up. At least I could somewhat follow my footsteps back, but I still fell through numerous times. Most of all, my feet and legs were completely soaked and it was beginning to rain. I finally made it back to the turn for the Ethan Pond Shelter. I would stop this time. The shelter proved quite a refuge. By now I was cold and wet. I know the dangers of hypothermia and had packed extra clothes. Boy, did warm dry clothes feel nice. Then it started to rain harder and then harder. Not wanting to risk hypothermia, for a brief moment I thought I would be spending the night. When I finally had the courage to step out into the rain, I realized it wasn't so bad. The tin roof of the shelter made the rain seem much, much worse than it really was. I made it safely back to the truck and my first A.T. hike of the year was complete. It sure felt good to be back out there.
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