I'm going to make it a tradition that no matter what I take my birthday off and try to go hiking. On this un-promising day I postponed one hike and decided on a woods hike to Mt Hale. Clouds were a funny black on one side of the sky with a few patches of blue here and there. I drove up Zealand road off RT-302 north of Crawford Notch not knowing if I'd be walking the road or driving it. The gate was open right to Hale Brook Trailhead
I packed the raincoat but the shorts went on, it was a little muggy. No bugs though. Pretty soon a truck pulled up with a couple of seasoned hikers. I headed off ahead of them after chatting for a moment. Right off I spotted Trillium alongside the trail.
I took off rather quickly, setting a fairly good pace. This trail gives you very little warm-up before it starts to climb the first ridge. It climbed moderately after passing a wooden bridge then a log bridge. I could see Hale brook was running fuller than I'd ever seen it. It roared down the mountain through a series of narrow rock passages. I wondered what the crossings would be like.
The wet rock littered trail climbed pretty moderately, it reminded me of the Mt Tecumseh trail from Tripoli road. I soon came to the first brook crossing. The water was so loud you couldn't hear anything else. There were enough wet rocks (some submerged) to cross fairly easily....I wished I'd brought my poles but it was not wide.
Pretty soon (still climbing upwards) you hear the second crossing ahead and there it is. In summer and fall this is just an easy crossing, you can practically jump over it. Today was a "different story." I stood in the middle to take this picture.
It really wasn't too bad, not wide but the power of what should be a little brook was amazing! Beyond the trail climbed moderately steep in places past pleasant flowering trees, the usual trillium and stands of white birch. The footing above the brook was better but the rocks were still wet. I anticipated seeing some snow on the trail ahead.
This has been a wet and cold spring with snow in the Whites. I'd read reports of 2 feet still on many trails in the Whites. I figured to run into snow or ice at least.
I kept moving...stop, drink, breathe for 25 seconds and move. I wanted to spend a few minutes on top alone and knew there was at least one group below me. With Zealand road now open this would be a popular hike (even on a Tuesday!)
I saw some patches of snow in the woods and a few small icy places on the trail. "I must be over 3,500 feet by now" I thought to myself.
Skirting past a few more icy patches I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally the coniferus trees form a kind of dark tunnel near the summit
The summit is broad with a mix of rock, grass and dirt. You can see the old pilings from a forest service tower which used to be here. Nearby is where the Lend-A-Hand trail pops out from Zealand Valley near the Hut. I got to spend about 20 minutes alone, eating lunch and watching birds before others reached it. No views today of course, the summit was in clouds.
The hike down was somewhat slippery, I grabbed a stick to help with balance over the worst of it and for the crossings. It started hailing with a torrential downpour. A father and son had just passed me on the way up, no packs or coats. I worried about their safety but within a few minutes the hail and rain stopped. Nice day in the woods, 4.6 round trip.