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Back at the junction of the Mt Tom Spur and A-Z Trail, I debated as to whether I should turn around and go back down the way I came. I was more tired than usual at this point, at least partly from the effort of getting used to the new longer snowshoes. However, I talked myself into continuing on, at least for a little ways. Often that kind of mental strategy works well when I'm not sure whether I have the ability to make it; if I don't feel like I have to make it all the way to the summit (or to the next summit), I can continue on to some lesser goal (or amount of time). Then, when I feel that I am doing better than expected, and seeing as how I made it that far, I set my sights a little higher and then a little higher again, and soon the summit is within reach. This is a perfect example of why I often feel that climbing mountains is at least 50% a mental effort. Usually when I actually give up and turn around, there's another factor such as worsening weather, excessively deep unbroken snow, or lack of time from slow progress.
At any rate, I was soon so close to Mt Field that there was no question of my being able to make it. After a final steep pitch, I was on top. I turned around to take a picture of the route up and to admire the snowy views. The actual summit is nearly viewless, but a short hike down to an east-facing overlook gives great views of Mt Washington and the Presidentials, the Highland Center far below, and north to Mt Tom, which looks more than 300 feet lower from this vantage point.
After eating a power bar and taking a long drink to keep up my energy level, it was time to head down the Avalon Trail toward Mt Avalon and then back to Crawford Notch. The upper part of the trail was an easy descent, with numerous views and lots of red spruce with large hanging cones. In contrast, balsam fir cones grow straight up from their branches.
The views from Mt Avalon were similar to those on Mt Field, but from a slightly different perspective, as Mt Avalon is about 900 feet lower than Mt Field. From there, I was able to get a great closeup of the Highland Center, where it was easy to pick out my bright yellow Volkswagen New Beetle amid the subdued gray, blue, green, and beige tones of the rest of the cars, which largely blended in with the parking lot's colors. I also got a good view of the Webster Cliffs, where later in the year, in August, I would be standing looking back at where I was now.
Below Mt Avalon, and all the way down to the A-Z Trail junction, there were numerous steep and icy pitches where I once again had to watch my step if I didn't want to slide all the way down to Suicide Gulch. My snowshoes, while providing enough traction in most cases, just felt too long to fit into some of the nooks and crannies in the turns of the trail. My old snowshoes were better suited to small spaces, but weren't quite as good biting into an icy trail. I hope that I will get used to the new ones and find them easier to manage with practice, or it may just be that my microspikes or crampons would have been better suited to this stretch of trail on this particular day. |
Willey Range Trail. I was a little tired and debated turning around, but decided to push on anyway. |
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