Day 313 - October 11th, Tom Field Willey 12 13 14

The day after Cannon I hiked three more mountains.  They are in the Crawford Notch range and I had never heard of them until I saw them on the map.  I was looking for a hike that would knock off a few peaks in a short amount of time and also remembered my brother, Wit, telling me about Willey and what a nice hike it was.  Well, here is my story:

The trailhead begins in Crawford Notch at the Crawford Hostel Parking lot just behind the depot.  The Avalon Trail begins here and connects to the A-Z trail.  There are only a few steep sections along the beginning of this route, but it was easy going for the most part.  The A-Z trail connects to the Mt. Tom Spur trail, a sharp right.  The summit of Mt. Tom is the end of this trail and you have to descend back to the A-Z trail.  The summit does not offer a great view because you are not above tree line, but there is a view.

View from the Mt. Tom Summit

I encountered a woman hiking alone coming down from Mt. Tom on my way up.  She was using those walking poles.  I wonder about those.  I wonder if they would help me to fall less or make me fall more...but I digress.

The next peak took me onto the Willey Range Trail to Mt. Field.  It was the easiest climb of the three peaks. 

View from the Mt. Field summit.

The descent from Field was very steep, which was very frustrating because I knew I would have to climb back up to get back home.  You see, this hike is not a loop.  I like loops.  Every time the trail dipped down again I would curse under my breath.  I met the walking pole lady coming down from the last peak, Mt. Willey, and she remarked that the summit was "anticlimactic".  Awesome.  Well, she was right, even though it turned out she never actually reached the summit.  I met her again on my way down and she was going back up.  She spoke to another hiker who made her realize she hadn't actually reached the top.  She said she would be kicking herself because it was her last of the 48.  Bummer. 

She was correct, though.  There was no real view to speak of.  Bummer that she had to hike it again and bummer that her last of the 48 had such a terrible view.

I did make friends with this bird, though.  This is taken with my 50mm lens.  She was close enough for me to touch her.  She kept coming back and getting closer.  It was a little spooky.  I was afraid she was going to start pecking me in the eyeballs!

Three more peaks bagged!  Woo hoo!