Time is tight these days and a couple of weeks have already gone since this hike. It's about time I document it before I forget some of the details. Before this hike it had been a few months since hiking Owls Head and my job was mentally dragging me down into pit of depression and rage. I felt as though I needed to escape to the quietness of the deep woods and the smell of the high mountain pines. I was already planning on doing a solo hike until Kyle called letting me know that his schedule had
opened up and he too had a mountain itch.
We decided on heading the furthest north we had been for a day trip and hit up Mts. Tom, Field and Willey, all 4,000 foot mountains on the list of 48 peaks.
I left West Boylston at 4:30 and met Kyle at the Berlin park
and Ride for 5:00 under an already bright sky. We reached Lincoln and the White
Mountain Bagel Company by 7:00 and continued north through Franconia Notch
until we meandered our way to the Willey House in Crawford Notch. I say meandered because we actually missed the exit that would bring
us to Route 302 and had to backtrack a exit or two.
We reached the Crawford House parking area around 8:00 and there were few cars in the lot as well as a group of
three that were leaving for the trail head while we were getting our gear in
order. There was a low cloud cover in the notch but the forecast called for clearing and the clear skies we saw to the north on the ride up were a sign of the weather to come. At 8:20 we started on the moderate grade of the Avalon Trail. The trail was in good shape and we passed some spur trails to cascades on the left. The Avalon Trail to the A-Z trail and it wasn't long for us to reach the spur trail to Mt. Tom. I found myself treading lightly through the puddles and mud on the trail while listening to the birds and concentrating on breathing in the fresh mountain air. Just what the Doctor ordered. Around the peak of the mountain there were several scenic vistas and we spent a little time at each of them. Most of the views were looking in a southwesterly direction towards the Pemigewasset Wilderness and the mountain ranges beyond.
Soon enough we were back on the trail and headed down the spur trail and then up the Willey Range Trail towards Mt. Field, the highest of the three mountains (4,340'). There was one viewpoint on Mt. Field looking north and the red roof of the Mt. Washington Hotel popped out. We didn't stay long because the wind was whipping pretty good.
We continued towards Mt. Willey on the Willey Range Trail which provided a couple more trail side views of the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Luckily we were the first to reach Mt. Willey and get a good spot to take in the spectacular views of the Crawford Notch and Presidential Range. The higher peaks on the range were still in the clouds but blue skies prevailed everywhere else. Soon we were joined by a single hiker Kit who had recently undergone his second hip surgery and was getting back into hiking. He was a local and had good knowledge of the area and pointed out some slides on Webster Cliff. Soon a group of four hikers showed up and one of them raised my anxiety when he tried playing the name dropping game with me of people from West Boylston. The guy was nice enough, but what a buzz kill. I couldn't leave soon enough for the backtrack to Mt. Field.
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The remainder of the hike down to the junction of A-Z Trail was steep and we encountered more people on this section of the trail than we had all day. We had planned to take the spur trails to take a look at the cascades, but a group of workers were maintaining the trail as it was National Trails Day. We did manage to make it to one of the cascades where the water was so cool and refreshing.
