Outdoor Diversion: One Hale of a Hike

Summit: Mount Hale (4,054')
Trail route: Zealand Road, Hale Brook Trail
Trail conditions: Zealand Road was semi-packed, Hale Brook Trail was recently broke out but had several inches of new soft unconsolidated snow for the last mile to the summit
Weather: Frigid to cold temps, sunshine
Total miles: 9.8
Total time: 5:30

I spent most of Saturday in my recliner after not feeling well this past week . Today's hike was going to be a last minute decision based on how I felt when I woke up this morning. So I got up this morning feeling well enough for a hike. I needed two more months to grid out this summit.

This morning was what I considered to be frigid as the temperature was in the subzero range. When I left the house it was -4°F and dropped a few more degrees along the way. As I arrived at the parking lot the temp was -3°F. So I started my hike on the Zealand Road in a subzero temp but it would soon start to warm up as the sun came up. Almost two years ago a group of us did this hike with a starting temperature of -24°F, by far the coldest that any of us had ever hiked in before.

There was a broken path through the snow on Zealand Road and I decided to just bare boot the 2.5 miles to the trailhead. I saw one set of recent boot prints coming out but no other prints going in. I reached the Hale Brook trailhead and saw a somewhat narrow broken path in the snow. I put on microspikes and started up the trail. After about a mile I swapped to snowshoes as the trail was becoming soft with new and unconsolidated snow.

The snowshoes were working well but as I got higher several inches of recent snow were filling the trail. I had passed one hiker and now found myself packing down the snow. It was an exhausting effort after not feeling well this past week. The amount of snow was amazing and I was glad to see the trail open up onto the summit!

Although there are no distant views from this summit the surrounding trees were heavy with snow and looked beautiful against the blue sky. I spent some time taking a few photos and a video. I noticed there were tracks coming from the Lend-A-Hand Trail and the Fire Warden's Trail. I didn't stay long and was soon on my way down.

I met four more hikers coming up as I was going down for a total of five hikers today. It was a good hike down and I was sliding in my snowshoes on some of the steeper sections. When I reached the trailhead I took off the snowshoes and went with bare boots on the 2.5 mile road walk back to the parking lot.

Although it was a cold start it warmed up nicely and it was nice to be out on the trail today. I have now hiked to this summit in eleven different months and have only the month of March to grid out Mount Hale. It was definitely winter conditions today but with rain in the forecast tomorrow I foresee a considerable change in trail conditions during this week.

Enjoy the photos and video!