My hike today was among the coldest I’ve done. -5˚ at the Rt. 302 parking lot and it stayed there all day. I picked Chris up shortly after 6:30 and we headed over to Twin Mountain New Hampshire. We saw a fox on the frozen Pleasant River just below the Rt. 2 bridge in West Bethel. I love to watch foxes, I’ve been lucky enough to have seen many over the years. This on was traveling, hunting for something to eat no doubt. I wish I’d been able to take a photo.
We arrived a the parking lot a few minutes after 8:00. I have never used chemical toe warmers and only once used hand warmers but today I started off with toe warmers and was glad to have them. I later got out some hand warmers and they stayed in my gloves for the rest of the day. We were on the trail by 8:20. Zealand road, the usual access to Hale brook trail, is closed in winter. This meant a 2.8 mile walk to the intended trail. Fortunately the road was plowed for logging operations, for about 1.5 miles.
The remainder is the winter trail to Zealand Hut and the North end of the Pemigewasett Wilderness and so was well packed. We bare-booted the distance in an hour and twenty minutes.
We took a short break for a snack and to put on snowshoes. The 2.2 miles to Hale summit is not long or steep by New England standards but adding 4.5 lbs of snowshoes to your feet slows you down.
We had gone about half a mile when we were overtaken by a solo hiker who Chris recognized. It was a guy who has probably climbed these mountains more times than anyone, ever. There is a new fad among Peak-baggers who are not content to merely climb all the 4000 footers or all in winter or all in one year or season. The newest affliction is called “The Grid”. It is, climbing all the 4000 footers in every month of the year. That’s right, 48 mountains times 12 months or 576 mountains. This gentleman has finished his third round of “The Grid”, an incredible achievement.
After a short chat, we continued. I said before, the additional weight of snowshoes slowed us down.
Having started the Hale Brook trail about 10:00, we were at the top a few minutes before 1:00. We met the other gentleman coming down a few minutes before we got there.
Moses the hiking dog had done well in the cold and had climbed his second winter 4000 footer. Due to the cold, we only took a few photos and then headed down to a sheltered area to have a snack.
To keep the blood flowing we headed down at a brisk pace as we were working less going downhill. Chris also resorted to hand warmers at about this time. We got back to the road portion of our return and were overtaken by a couple cross country skiing. They had a dog with them and Moses enjoyed a romp with him for a few minutes. We got back to the parking lot at 3:20 and got home around Five.
Tips and Tricks:
Hiking in cold weather poses some unique challenges. A little known phenomenon I've learned about is that when you eat something your body directs blood to your stomach to help with digestion. The result is, cold hands. This only becomes an issue for me when it is below 20 degrees or so. You have to learn your comfort zone and adjust accordingly. For me, at five below, that means eating smaller amounts more often, using chemical hand warmers and planning to stop for shorter periods (If I keep moving, uphill or down, I usually won’t get cold).
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