.May 20, 2006
It's been another week since my last hike. There has now been two weeks of rain in the area. I expect the creeks, rivers, and streams to be flooded. I tried to pick a hike today that didn't have too many rivers. I started out following the yellow blazes on the Hale Brook Trail. It was a steep, nonstop climb to the top of Mount Hale. I made it to the top in an hour and ten minutes. At 4,054 feet, Mount Hale qualifies as an official 4,000 footer. This is #11 for me and the first one of the year. The summit has a small clearing, probably for the firetower that once stood there. There is a large cairn in the middle. If you climb to the top you can kind of look over the trees for a view, but as the trees grow, there is less and less of a view.
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Next I took the blue blazed Lend-a-Hand Trail. This trail along with the Hale Brook trail were very well maintained. I was surprised when I found a long section of bog bridging that was rotted. As I looked ahead I saw pink ribbon strung across the trail. I hoped it wasn't some warning that a bridge was out.
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When I first walked under it, I was very confused. As I looked again I noticed it formed an 'X'. Then I remembered the rotten bog bridging. There was just a little bit of a clearing here and I bet the pink X was a drop spot for material being helicoptered in to repair the bridging. That's my best guess anyway. I continued following the blue blazes.
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New AT milesI made my way to Twinway Trail which is the AT. It is .1 miles north to the Zealand Falls Hut. I'll hit this on the way back and headed the other way. Almost immediately, I came across the river feeding into Zealand Falls.
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There was a hiker on the other side drying off his feet and putting his socks on. This wasn't a good sign.
"You couldn't find a dry way across."
"Nope."
"How deep is it?"
"Knee deep."
I took my my socks and shoes off and waded across the ice cold water. Then I began the long steep climb up to Zeacliff. The view for Zeacliff is slightly off the trail. Everything up high was fogged in, but I could see way down below. I could actually see a section of the AT that I had hiked on April 1st when I came in from the other direction.
Shortly after rejoining the trail, I saw another sign for a scenic view. Maybe I'll hit that on the way back.
I had only one ladder to climb today.
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I went passed the turn for Zeacliff Pond, maybe I'll check it out on the way back. I made my way up to Zealand Mountain. It was .1 mile to the summit. There is absolutely no view there. The trail just dead ends. There is a small cairn marking the summit and a sign on a nearby tree.
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At 4,260 feet, Mount Zealand is an official 4,000 footer. This is #12 for me. Unless you want to bag the summit, the short side trail to this summit isn't really worth it.
I got back on the AT and continued. I began to see a few patches of snow. I met some hikers coming down from Mount Guyot. (pronounced liked the word 'guy' with an 'o' on the end)
"Is there much snow ahead?" one of them asked.
"No. Just a little."
"There is plenty where you are going."
"Really" I said.
"And ice." one of them added.
"Great" I said sarcastically.
"The snow is all on this side of Guyot. There isn't any snow on the other side."
"Thanks for the report."
They were right. There was plenty of snow. Two to three feet in places.
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Fortunately for the most part it supported me. I only sank through a couple times. As I neared the top of Mt Guyot, I entered the alpine zone. Ironically, even though this was a higher elevation, the snow completely faded out here. My guess is because it gets more exposure to the wind and sun.
Unfortunately the top of Mt Guyot was completely fogged in.
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Although the elevation at the summit is 4,580 feet, it is not an official 4,000 footer. Apparently there is a lot of controversy on this. Despite all the advantages in today's technology, it is a very close call whether there is a 200 foot drop between this mountain and one of the nearby mountains. For now it is not on the list, but it may be added later. Well, at least I have it done, just in case.
There was no marker that I saw that marked the actual summit. I headed down the other side just a little bit until I came to the junction with Bondcliff Trail.
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This is as far as I am going today. Next week I plan to come in from the other side and head south to hit West Bond, Bondcliff, and Mt Bond.
Return Trip
After making my way back through the snow, I met two hikers coming from the other way.
"There's lots of snow ahead," I warned.
"Did you post-hole?" he asked.
"Excuse me."
"Did you post-hole?
He saw the puzzled look on my face.
"Did you sink through the snow?"
"Oh. Not really. Just in a spot or two.
"Ok. Thanks."
'Post-hole' was a new hiking term for me. When I got home I looked it up. It refers to the hole left behind when your foot sinks into deep snow. I did lots of this when I hiked on April 1st. Now I know there is a word for it. As post-holing is very frustrating and time consuming, there are a lot of other words I could use for it but I'll refrain.
I went up and over Mount Zealand again. I reached the sign for Zeacliff Pond and decided to take a peak. It is unmarked but I would guess it to be about a tenth of a mile to the pond.
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When I got back to Zeacliff I took the side trail for the scenic view that I had missed earlier, just to find out that both scenic view signs go to the same place. Although overcast, the fog had lifted and I got the best view of the day. Mount Carrigain is the highest peak in the photo.
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I headed down the steep trail towards Zealand Falls Hut. I reached the river that I waded across earlier. I didn't bother taking my boots and socks of this time since they were already soaked. It seemed much colder this time. I think it was because now I knew how much snow was still in the mountains. It was just a tenth of a mile after this that I reached Zealand Falls Hut. I stopped in here on April 1st and was the only guest. Not this time. The place was crowded.
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After a 15 minute stop, I headed down. Just a few yards off the trail is Zealand Falls.
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Then it was time to get off the AT, so I took the Zealand Trail where I immediately passed Zealand Pond.
I then passed Beaver Ponds and looked back to see Zeacliff way in the back.
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I was worried that on this section of trail I would have rivers to cross. Fortunately all the big crossings were bridged.
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I passed at least 20 people that were on their way to spend the night at the hut and there were a lot of people already there. I hope they all made reservations.
I made my way back to the parking lot. It was a different parking lot than where I parked. This wasn't an accident. I wanted to come back a different route. It now meant I had an additional 1 mile walk back to the truck. It was nice to be off the trail and on a smooth dirt road, but after a 10 hour hike, this one mile seemed to drag on forever. But I made it.
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