I woke up a bit late today and was pleased to see the forecast was exactly right: mostly blue skies with warm unseasonably warm temps. I had a good breakfast of oatmeal and eggs and headed towards Crawford Notch. I was pleased to see around a dozen or so cars parked by the train station and also what appeared to be a packed down trail. I made the controversial decision to leave my snowshoes in the car and head towards the summit of Mt. Tom.
The rivers were frozen which was nice and I expected no trouble on the trail. I was only worried about my left leg and knee which are still bothering me from a slip and fall on some ice from last month. The ache is still there.
Roughly a half mile from the trail junction with Mt. Avalon, an older gentlemen came down the mountain. He was upset with himself for leaving his snowshoes in the car because his traction wasn't going to allow him to continue with the rest of the group. He looked at me like I was never going to make it to the summit of Mt. Tom. Little did he know I'm the same guy that broke out a deep trail last year on my way to one of the Wildcats without snowshoes (which, admittedly, was pretty stupid). Anyway, shortly after saying our goodbyes, I came across three lovely women, Carolyn, Mar, and Kim who were also hiking sans snowshoes. We chatted for a bit and I told them to stay to the right at the upcoming trailhead because getting up Avalon would be impossible. The four of us parted ways only to reconvene a few minutes later at that very trail junction as I finished my snack. After a few more pleasantries, I continued up the mountain optimistic that I could in fact summit the mountain. I remember this trail not getting all that much steeper than the section right before that trail junction.
I was pleasantly surprised when roughly 45 minutes later the trail started to flatten out which I immediately recognized as the approach to the next trail junction. I had slipped a few times but overall, made great time. I continued on the summit of Mt. Tom and was grateful that there was one set of snowshoe tracks already there. A few bigger snow drifts also existed but that wasn't much to overcome. I was at the summit on a blue bird type day. It was gorgeous and I was alone. The quiet was exhilarating.
I started my descent and was moving really fast. I crossed the ladies one final time and wished them luck as I was about to turn right and then left on my way to Mt. Field. The trail was just as I remembered: gentle sloping and easy to follow. It was really similar to the upper reaches of Mt. Tom with some deep snow drifts but overall, easy hiking. I got to the summit very quickly and passed just one person descending. I asked about the trek to Willey but he had no knowledge. Once on the top, I spotted a few dropped packs and contemplated what I wanted to do. I knew that I didn't want to come back for Willey on some other January day but I also knew that this was my first hike in nearly two months, my leg was aching, and I had to descend and then ascend another five hundred feet twice if I was going to get to the top of Willey. Well, I'm just stubborn enough to not turn around.
Within a few dozen yards of hiking towards Willey, I got a great view of the surrounding mountains. This is definitely one of the advantages of hiking in the winter. The snowpack is so deep that we get views that don't exist in the summer for anyone less than eleven feet tall. It reminded me of my trek up Carter Dome last March when I somehow had 360 degree views and stood there confused.
After enjoying the view for a minute or two, a dog coming from the direction of Willey approached me. The owner quickly looked at me and said, "you do you but I don't think you can safely get there without snowshoes. There's deep snowdrifts and the trail is not going to be good. Expect spruce traps". That was all I needed to turn around.
My descent was quick yet painful as my knee and leg started aching. I slid a few times on the steeper portions but that didn't faze me. All told, the hike was about 9 miles, 4 1/2 hours, and included 2500 feet of elevation gain. I've got 232 mountains hiked on my grid. Hopefully I feel well enough to check off more mountains in January.