Spring Conditions on a Hike to Mount Moriah

It's that time of year when the hiking gets interesting. There's the usual wet, muddy, soft snow trail conditions. A check of the weekend weather forecast had Saturday looking like the better day for hiking with temps in the 60's, slightly cooler at the summit. I would be joining Jill and Larry for a hike up Mount Moriah (4,049'). There were no trail reports for the Stony Brook approach so we would be going up the Carter-Moriah Trail for a nine mile up and back hike.

Hiking the Willey Range on a Spectacular Day

A final check of the weather forecast early this morning promised a spectacular day of sunshine and warmer temps. I would be joining Jill, Amy, Jim and Robin for a hike of the Willey Range. This hike would include the following 4,000 foot summits - Field, Willey and Tom with one non-4,000 footer, Mount Avalon. Our route would start at Crawford Depot and take us up the Avalon Trail to Mount Avalon continuing up to Mount Field on the Willey Range Trail over to Mount Willey then back to Mount Field and over to Mount Tom back down the A-Z Trail to the Avalon Trail completing a loop and back down to Crawford Depot.

A Well Timed Hike to Waumbek

The weekend weather was looking rather grim and gloomy. The forecast was calling for occasional showers today with snow this afternoon and evening continuing into Sunday. I decided to hike Mount Waumbek (4,006'). This is my "go-to" summit during inclement weather and I also needed it for April. With warm temps and rain the past two days I wasn't sure what the trail conditions would be.

Tough Climb Up Flume Slide

After several inches of new snow yesterday it looked like it would be another day of hiking in fresh loose snow. The plan for today was a hike up the very steep Flume Slide Trail to Franconia Ridge Trail then up to Mount Flume (4,328') over to Mount Liberty (4,459') and down Liberty Spring Trail. I would be joining hiking friends Jill, Mark, Guy, Jim, Amy and Robin for this challenging hike. The forecast called for clear skies and cold temps. I was hoping it would be cold enough to keep the snow from balling up on our traction.

Spring Snow on Wildcat A

One year ago on April 2, 2017 I hiked to Wildcat D the day after a snowstorm brought 18" to the high summits. It was an easy hike up the groomed ski trails. Arriving at the summit I found the Wildcat Ridge Trail to be unbroken so I would not be going any further. After not hiking this past weekend I decided to hike up to Wildcat A (4,422') to complete the Wildcats for April.