Sunday October 27th: We woke up at 5:30AM and packed up our lean-to at Moose Brook State Campground. We ate a quick breakfast and made instant coffee to go and hit the road. We drove from Gorham over to the Zealand-Hale access road, lucky to find the gate still open. We knew it closed for winter, but was unsure of when that could be. We drove in to the Hale Brook Trailhead and set off of the trail at 7AM.
The trail walks up a nice ramp through deciduous forest before entering the coniferous forest and walking up a few switchbacks. It was here something was different. We saw hoar frost on the ground, and noticed that the seeps of wet areas were now frozen. Bits of styrofoam-like snow were covering the ground but not enough to make it white. We could see in the distance some peaks that looked more snow covered. We continued up the alpine scrub making sure our foot placements were on rock, not ice and quickly made it up to the summit area. A large pile of rocks creates a summit cairn here but no views from the summit proper. The summit area is large and looks like it might have been home to a fire tower back in the day. I was very excited as this was summit #100 of the 115!
We made it up in 1.5. hours and had the summit to ourselves. The temperatures today were much colder than previous days: around freezing with a windchill. We donned another layer for the descent and made our way down. We passed several parties on the descent: solo hikers, young families, an older couple. It was great to see so many people out hiking. We arrived back at the parking lot before 10AM and could then start the long 5.5 hour drive home.
Hike Stats:
Distance: 7km
Time: 2 hrs, 50 mins
Elevation: 692m or 2270ft
NE 111 (115): #100
The trail walks up a nice ramp through deciduous forest before entering the coniferous forest and walking up a few switchbacks. It was here something was different. We saw hoar frost on the ground, and noticed that the seeps of wet areas were now frozen. Bits of styrofoam-like snow were covering the ground but not enough to make it white. We could see in the distance some peaks that looked more snow covered. We continued up the alpine scrub making sure our foot placements were on rock, not ice and quickly made it up to the summit area. A large pile of rocks creates a summit cairn here but no views from the summit proper. The summit area is large and looks like it might have been home to a fire tower back in the day. I was very excited as this was summit #100 of the 115!
We made it up in 1.5. hours and had the summit to ourselves. The temperatures today were much colder than previous days: around freezing with a windchill. We donned another layer for the descent and made our way down. We passed several parties on the descent: solo hikers, young families, an older couple. It was great to see so many people out hiking. We arrived back at the parking lot before 10AM and could then start the long 5.5 hour drive home.
Hike Stats:
Distance: 7km
Time: 2 hrs, 50 mins
Elevation: 692m or 2270ft
NE 111 (115): #100
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