July 11, 2011
July 11, 2011
By Marty Basch
I'm not a golfer, but there have been a couple of times while hiking in the White Mountains I've thought it was time to hang up the boots and laces to pursue the good walk spoiled.
I call those fleeting thoughts of delusion my mulligan moments.
I remember having one last August while ascending the unrelentingly wet and abrupt Flume Slide Trail up the 4328-foot Mount Flume, vowing to never do anything that steep and difficult again.
That worked until the first of day summer while descending the notorious Willey Range Trail ladders on the precarious south side of 4285-foot Mount Willey in Crawford Notch.
Call them ladders, steps or stairs, regardless, they're steep.
And welcome.
High Steppin’
The collection of about a dozen (I lost count while envisioning myself walking the Old Course at St. Andrews) ladders are part of one mean mile with sharp rock and loose stone underfoot found after ascending the peak with a near-summit ledge containing outstanding vantage points over to the Presidentials and down into the slide scarred notch.
The brawny Willey is part of the wooded-topped peaks of the Willey Range forming the western wall of the notch and containing the main mountains of Mounts Tom, Field and Willey. All above 4,000 feet in elevation, it's possible to traverse the trio by spotting two vehicles for an 8.5-mile day-long hike using the Avalon, A-Z, Mount Tom Spur, Willey Range and Ethan Pond (Appalachian Trail) Trails. Of course, the hike can be done the other way.
Though the summits are topped with trees, there are scenic ledges, large summit cairns, a delicious fern-filled col between Tom and Field, and perhaps a handful of photo savvy plump jays waiting on Willey.
Tommy Boy
Mount Tom, at 4,051 feet, is the smallest and most southern of the three. However, it is the most benign with a pleasing patch of low-lying summit firs regenerating from a blowdown a few years ago. Having hiked Tom in the fall of 2007, the growth is now noticeable, but there are still views to Mount Field, Zealand the Pemi. Tom has small logs for sitting at the clearing, and another by the large summit cairn and views better suited for taller hikers on tip-toes.
Once up on the ridge, the hike becomes a bit of a romp for the nearly mile swell to Mount Field at 4340 feet. A bit of a jumble of rock announces the summit is near. A ledge on the east side near the top affords a look down and across to Twin Mountain and down to the notch with its red-roofed grand hotel and the Appalachian Mountain Club Highland Center. A look left shows Mount Tom while out on the horizon stood the peaks of the Pliny Range.
The first bites of the journey came as my partner Jan Duprey and I continued for another 1.4 miles along the increasingly steep descent along the saddle that also offered some nice muted views over to the wild Pemi.
Hey, This was Your Idea
The joys discovered at the Mount Willey summit were short-lived as the trail became downright cruel. There were plenty of roots and trees to grab and hold, but the trail is just plain steep, making for slow-going, rump-sliding and dreams of a frosty cold one at the nineteenth hole.
The ladders, we descended on them as such save for the last one, are a fine example of backcountry engineering and are a true aid in navigating a precarious slope. Built in 2004 according to the etching in the wood, they help travel over some 100 feet or so of elevation.
They're steep.
Jan tackled the ladders cautiously.
Mulligan Please
Let's just say what happens on the trail, stays on the trail, but she was very patient listening to my rambling, disjointed mulligan moment about a good hike spoiled that lasted for a majority of the pitch.
Actually, the mulligan moment continued well beyond the ladder, and I think Jan was happy that I zipped it when we approached a group of backpackers bound for the Ethan Pond shelter on the AT.
From that point, the trail eased and so did my jawing. Sinister trail dragons were soon gone, and the path became softer underfoot. Soon enough, we reached the train tracks that go through the notch, and one of the two vehicles where the beguiling Jan always has a cooler with soothing wet hand towels in plastic, cool beverages and a change of clothing.
It didn't take long before we relished hiking three peaks over nearly 9 miles with those 10 or 11 ladders.
That evening, she was already into the maps for the next hike.
Me too.
Golf can wait.
Marty Basch photo