Adventures on Mt. Avalon in Crawford Notch

I have now hiked up to Mt. Avalon twice. Once in early spring with snow still three feet high and now in early summer. Both have been enjoyable, though this time I didn't have to worry so much about ice in the steep parts. The trail to hike in the Avalon Trail and it trails up 1.3 miles before turning left another .5 miles to Mt. Avalon.
 The view is amazing! You can see Mt. Washington in the distance and on the other side the valley of Crawford Notch. I was very happy it was a sunny day and could see all over. There are boulders to sit and eat lunch as you glance around. Hiking was a round trip of about five hours with time to eat lunch and take pictures. If you haven't hiked Mt. Avalon, I would say put it on your To-do list for hikes in the White Mountains. Park below near the Crawford Depot.

Here are a few pictures of the adventure:

Mt. Washington in the distance

Crawford Notch Valley

Climbing up the boulders we ate on at the top

A small acquaintance we hiked into a long the path

Happy Hiking and enjoy the views this summer!!!

Visited Arethusa Falls and the Willey House over the weekend

Hiked up to Arethusa Falls this weekend. It was beautiful as always. Its an easy hike. The road if off route 302 for parking. The trail is 1.5 miles to the falls. There is a side trail if you want to see Fawn Pool, Bemis Falls and Colliseum Falls. The side trail is called Bemis Brook Trail, it hooks back on to the main trail to see Arethusa Falls. Arethusa Falls is the tallest in NH, 176ft. This time of year there are many visitors.The Falls was crowded. It only takes about 45 mins to an hour to reach the top. The trail is well taken care of. If you want more of an adventure, after the Falls you could always hike over to Frankenstein Cliffs, which is another 1.5 miles away. There you can see a view of the Mountains. Here are a few pictures below.

If you look closely on the Xlarge picture of the Falls, you will notice a person on top. He hiked around the Falls and went on top. Not the safest thing to do but if you are daring and have no fear of heights, then you ca take a chance, I prefer to enjoy the Falls from below!

Then I went and had ice cream at the Willey House which is also located in Crawford Notch, up the road from the Falls. There is a pond on the other side of the road which has trails to follow and a pond. Here are a few pictures. After a great day hiking, a stop for ice cream is always a great idea!

The pond

The house with ice cream and gift shop

The baby fox that lives near by. He didn't mind his picture being taken.

Happy Hiking and enjoy some yummy ice cream when you can!!! :)

A hike to Ethan's Pond in Crawford Notch...almost

Headed up to Ethan's Pond last weekend. Was excited to see the campsite, the pond and the view of the mountains around the area. I never got there...the hike was going to be 2.6 miles up and then back the same way on Ethan's Pond Trail. The hike started on route 302, the parking is .3 up the road. You can also see Ripley Falls on a side trail which is .5 miles off the main trail. As you head up 1.3 miles you can go off the  trail .3 miles to see Kedron Flume which has a beautiful view through the trees. I stayed on the trail until I was almost .2 miles from the site. The trails was mostly a small river with snow patches. Couldn't hike through the water so turned around. I plan on trying this trail again in the summer. Because of the snow I hiked for five hours...I recommend waiting until summer to hike this trail unless you love tough obstacle courses.

This is where I was defended and turned back. I went through the snow and into the water.

After 1.6 miles it was mostly snow, but your feet would sink due to the sun melting it under your feet!

View at Kedron Flume

Ripley Falls

Until next time...Happy Hiking!

Trail Report: Mt. Willey 4285' and the nine ladders!

Since I was young, I have heard stories of the Willey family and the landslide that had killed all nine of them. I have stopped at the Willey House historic Site, hiked the trails around the pond, but never hiked the Willey Mountain. Guess I was afraid of what I might find. I have been told that there was a den up on the mountain that people believed was the devil's den. The den was found by Mr. Crawford back in the day, with bones of which he believed to be of humans. Hearing all these stories have keep me from hiking, but not this year! This year I decided to hike up and O, what I hike it turned out to be!

Parked in the lower parking lot on route 302, walked up the small road to the trail. The trail we hiked was Ethan Pond Trail, which we followed for 1.6 miles to a section where we connected to Willey Range Trail. This trail had some surprises! A small section  of the trail was washed away, stairs were after, followed by NINE ladders! The ladders were fine going up, but I was nervous when coming back down them. This trail was was 1.1 miles to the top of Mt. Willey! Here are a few pics of what you will find as you head up to a beautiful view!

The sign near the tracks when you start the trail Ethan Pond

The stairs after a mini wash away trail

The ladders and there were nine!

This is when you are on top of the ladders looking down!

The view when you reach the top ladder!

The ladders are safe, but if you afraid  of heights, this could be a tough climb for you. Going down is tricky, the ladders are side by side, so you have to reach over to get to the next ladder. When you are on top, looking down, it's steep! Made me nervous since I was hiking with a 12 year old, who thought he was part ninja and part Batman. I had to keep on reminding him of safety as we stepped down the ladders.

The view from the top at a Look Out point

Webster Cliffs and beyond! Would see more but clouds were low that day.

Me and my wonderful hiking buddy!

Over all the hike was 6 miles (when you park at the end of route 302) and took us about 6 hours.
Great views! Beautiful Day!

One Last Pic...

If you go to the back side of Mt. Willey, there is another view of Ethan Pond! It was just as gorgeous!

 

Happy Hiking EVERYONE!

BTW, never found any Den, though it still could be up there someplace! Be careful!

Arethusa Falls Crawford Notch, White Mountains

A Half Frozen Arethusa Falls

 Arethusa Falls, 1.5 miles up the trail off of Route 302. Great place for a starter hike to kick off my hiking season. The fall was beautiful peaking through the snow.

A Close Up to the Falls, the water was hitting me as I snapped the picture.

 Loved how close up I was able to get with the snow still packed on the ground and the thick ice underneath. Probably won't be like that much longer with the nice weather coming up.

 This picture is of my friend close to the falls. She went to get a picture of water rushing down under the snow, in the small open section. You can see her in the distance. It was awesome on how close one could get to the fall this time of year. In the summer, I can only get to the log that is going across at the bottom of the picture.

MT. WASHINGTON with snow on a bright sunny spring day!

Mt. Washington And Hotel

Closer picture of Mt. Washington

The Mt. Washington Hotel is getting a face lift right now. They have been working on the outside of the hotel and heard also fixing some of the inside as well.

Happy Hiking!

Pictures from our hike up Mt. Willard

Mt. Willard is located in Crawford Notch. The trail starts at the Crawford Depot near Saco Lake. There you can park but there is a sign that asks for you to be out by dark, No over night parking. Its a great trail to do during the short winter days. The trail is 1.6 miles long and has some great view points when you reach the top. The snow was only a dusting, more ice than snow on the trail. Here are a few of my pictures from our hike.

Stitch on the trail

This is me in the distance, my husband took the picture. I look like an alien or something!

This is me at the end of the trail near the lookout

Webster Cliffs

Crawford Notch valley

Some more great pictures from the view on Mt. Willard. The hike was around 2 1/2 hours, round-trip. Great for a winter hike during the day. Wonderful views. Also great for a beginner hike. The mountain is 2865'. Happy Hiking:)

On my way to Hike in Crawford Notch, I took this beautiful pic of Mt. Washington!

This picture was taken on Monday after we hiked in Crawford Notch. The sky was cloudy most of the morning but as we left that afternoon, the sun came out. I loved how the clouds formed over Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range. With the Hotel light up by the sun as well, it made for a beautiful picture.  Happy Hiking!

Calenders of the White Mountains designed and taken by Ariel Snow

I love hiking! I love the mountains! I love going on an adventure through the White Mountains. As I hike, I enjoy taking pictures at every great spot, view, and lookout in the mountains. In the past few weeks I have worked on a calender for my house and at the same time wanted to make it public for others to put up in their homes to enjoy. My first degree was graphic design and I enjoy taking breathtaking pictures. In this Calender you will see beautiful photos of Mt. Washington, Lonesome Lake, Franconia Notch, Crawford Notch, The Lakes of the Clouds and many more.

Come and check out this stunning calender and get one for your home to enjoy! 

Premium Calender $28.95

Standard Calender $17.95

These Calenders came be found on my Author's Spotlight called Adventure Shop:

 Click HERE

HAPPY HIKING! :)

Trip Report: Hiking up to Mt. Pierce and Mizpah Spring Hut

Mt. Pierce is located in the Presidential Range but you can hike it by parking near AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch. There is parking across the street which will cost $3.00 per day. It's a moderate hike. Took us about five hours to hike the loop which was around 6.2 miles. It was a wonderful day hike.

Crawford Path is the oldest continuously used hiking trail in America

Gibbs Falls

We started on the Connection trail which is .5 miles over to the Crawford Path. We hiked up to Gibbs Falls which was beautiful. Great place to take a small break. Then after we continued up (1.7 miles) to the junction to Mizpah Cut-off. We wanted to see the Mizpah Spring Hut first so we hiked over which was .7 miles. When we got to the hut it was getting foggy. We could tell that rain was about to fall so we went into for a lunch break. Great hut, very clean and well thought out. I loved sitting by the windows while relaxing with a sandwich.

Mizpah Spring Hut

...entering Alpine Zone when approaching Mt. Pierce

 It was getting a little windy but didn't rain. They have a place where you can check for weather and it read 40% chance so we decided to hike up to Mt. Pierce. We started on the Webster Cliff Trail .9 miles up to the mountain. As soon as we were about .5 miles up it started to rain. The rain didn't last and we continued up until we reached Mt. Pierce. I am sure the view would have been amazing if it was a clear day, but it was very foggy when we reached the top. We did get to see a view mountains through the think clouds that rolled by.

View from top of Mt. Pierce on a cloudy day

View of the valley below where you can see Mt. Washington Hotel through the fog

 After we hiked down Crawford Notch path 3.1 miles back to the connection trail. Even though we didn't get much of a view, it was a great hike and I hope to hike it again next year.
Also Mt.Pierce is a 4000 footer, 4312' 

Trail Report: Avalon Tr, A-Z Tr, Mt. Tom, Crawford Notch

The starting point of the first trail is at the Crawford Deport in Crawford Notch. When we arrived at the parking it was full. During this time of year, this is a very popular place to hike so parking is limited. You can park on the edge of the road which we did. The great park though of coming later is the train that arrives at the station from North Conway bringing visitors.

I was on the trail side when taking this picture of the train when it stopped at the station. We headed up the trail which is called Avalon Trail. My stepson and I had hiked this trail to Mt. Avalon in the early spring. Great views from Avalon. As you travel up the path you will come across a sign that says Beecher and Pearl Cascades. You can take that trail around and it will lead you back to the main trail. There you will see two cascades.

After hiking up Avalon trial for 1.3 miles, we connected onto A-Z trail which brought us up to Mt. Tom Spur Trail. We had traveled 1.0 up on A-Z trail before connecting onto Mt. Tom Spur. At that point my stepson wanted a break, so we had a snack. That spot was a great resting stop, had a few logs to sit on and it was shady. Then we hiked up Mt. Tom Spur to see the view. There are two places to view the mountains around. Here are a few pictures I took:

There were some short trees to have to take pictures over, but I stood on the highest point. I have to say that it wasn't the best views but I still got some nice pictures. The hike all together was 5.6 miles. We hiked for about five hours, stopping a few times. Mt. Tom is 4051 feet, making it a 4000 footer!
Happy Hiking!

Trail Report: Mt. Webster / Mt. Jackson

I had headed over to Crawford Notch and hiked Mt. Webster and Mt. Jackson. We parked near the Gateway of the North and headed up the trail Webester-Jackson Trail. It was not that muddy at all and an enjoyable hike. We also had great weather. We stopped at Bugle Cliff to take a few pictures and then headed up the trail to the intersection where we then continued on Webester Branch. It took 1.4 miles to get to the Branch. After it was another 1.0 mile over to Mt. Webster.
Here are a few pictures we took along the way:

View from Bugle Cliff

Signs at the intersection between Mts.

Waterfall above Silver Cascades

Mt. Webster had some beautiful views. We stayed for awhile to eat our lunch and take pictures. Mt. Webster is 3910 ft high. I loved the view of Mt. Washington! Here are a few pictures of the views:

The first view we came upon when coming to the top of Mt. Webster

The view of Mt. Washington over the trees! What a beautiful clear day!

 After this we headed up to Mt. Jackson which was up the Webster Cliff Trail, another 1.3 miles. The trail was rocky in some parts but not bad to hike up. You are in the open a lot so you will be hot and the sun will be beating on you! We had lots of water and tried to find shade at times to stop and break. Mt. Jackson is 4052 ft and had some more lovely views! I had hiked it back in 2005 so I was excited to be back on top looking around again.
Here are a few pictures:

You can see Mt. Washington Hotel and Valley

The views were so beautiful and I could have stayed up there forever!

After enjoying the views and taking pictures we headed down the Jackson Branch (1.2 miles) which will connect back to the Webster-Jackson Trail. It was great for you get to hike two mountains and connect back to the same trail for you make a triangle. The hike all toegther is about 5.5 hours and 6.3miles! Great day hike! HAPPY HIKING!