Moosilauke – winter or spring?

I had already started putting away my winter gear – assuming that, it being April, my winter adventures were at an end. I should know better, because New Hampshire often plays tricks with spring. Three days ago, in the week of April Fools, New England was hit with a powerful nor’easter storm that brought us 40 hours of snowfall. Here at home the snow was wet spring snow – delivering a lot of moisture but melting so quickly that we never accumulated more than 3-6″ of depth. In the three warm days hence, much of that snow has melted, or will be gone soon.

I knew the story would be very different at altitude: in the higher peaks of the White Mountains the rain would have turned to snow sooner, stayed as snow longer, and fallen as dry, fluffy powder. With the weather clearing today, I just had to get up there, up high, to play in this new powder. I was not disappointed. Read on, and check out the gallery of this winter wonderland!

I selected the Gorge Brook Trail on Mount Moosilauke – well-known terrain for me, and a change of scene from the Glencliff Trail I climbed back in February. I parked at 7:40am and headed out along the mountain’s newest trail: Put’s Path, which runs from the winter parking area along the access road to the trailheads at Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. By 8am I was at the trailhead, next to the Baker River, and headed up the Gorge Brook Trail. I was following the tracks of three earlier bare-booting hikers, who were scuffling up the overnight snowfall (a dusting at the start, about 2-3″ near the top) that covered faint tracks of the first skiers and hikers who broke out this trail after the storm Friday.

The conditions were marvelous – many inches of fresh powder on top of a firm base left by a winter-long sequence of snow and rainstorms. (Off trail, up high, my snowshoes and I could bounce through 2+ feet of fresh powder; life is good!) The snowpack was deeper than I’ve seen in years, perhaps 3-4′ deep at “Last Water”, where the Ross McKenney memorial was completely invisible under the deep snow.

I donned snowshoes at Last Water, where I knew the trail would get steeper. I didn’t need the floatation, but did need the traction; the fresh snow in the trailbed made it feel like walking uphill through loose sand. My calves burned with the extra effort of snowshoeing, and I wondered whether those people in front of me had had the better idea – wearing microspikes for traction.

They were wrong.

I caught up to the threesome where the overnight snows and winds had drifted over the trailbed, filling the earlier trench with deep snow. As I passed them, I noted their deep postholes, and was very glad to have worn snowshoes.

I was now breaking trail – today’s first tracks – as I climbed toward the Jobildunc outlook, the Balcony, and the East Peak. I was in the clouds – zero views – but the wind was calm, the temperature mild, the trees laden with snow, and the only other tracks were those left by snowshoe hares and pine martens on their morning commute to breakfast. A beautiful morning!

As I crossed the col from East Peak to the main peak, I was struck by the fact that I could see over and beyond the trees – this path is normally a canyon of dense firs. Incredible snow depth, at least 4′ and perhaps 5-6′ [video]. As I approached treeline, the trailbed disappeared – all trace of prior hikers erased by overnight wind and snow, and the fir trees so sparse it was unclear where the trail belonged. The clouds were so dense I could not see far in front of me, but I followed my nose to the edge of treeline. There, sky and ground were both gray-white, almost indistinguishable. With a glimpse of a cairn, then another, I found my way to the summit through whiteout conditions. I stayed just long enough for a photo or two, although the temperature was warm (in the 20s) and the wind was mild (a stiff breeze, at best) [Video].

On the way down, the sun came out – of course! and I passed a dozen or more people coming up… in bare boots, in microspikes, in snowshoes, or in backcountry skis. I’m glad I was up early – first tracks, solitude on the summit, powder snow. As I descended, the warm spring sun was turning the surface snow wet and sticky. Along the access road, as it turned to mud under the spring sunshine, I realized I was back in springtime.

Be sure to check out the photo gallery!

Hike stats:
Distance: 13.4 km
Gain: 747 m
Time: 4h33m
(including 2h21m from trailhead to summit, 1h29m summit to trailhead)

It’s hard to see today’s track, what with all my earlier tracks cluttering the map. Today is teal; it starts/ends near the bottom/center of the map. It follows the purple and red tracks to the summit, and back.