Sunday, November 5
Start/Finish: Hale Brook TH
Miles: 13.59
Elevation gain/loss: 4318′
After Cabot, I got in the car and drove over to the Hale Brook TH. When planning for my Nov grid, I was delighted to realize that most seasonal roads don’t close until mid/late November so I had fewer miles to cover than winter season requires. It was a joy to park at the trailhead rather than walking 3 miles on snowmobile tracks to get there.
The parking lot was almost full, and I got an early riser’s spot right by the start of the trail. I was at the summit of Hale in less than an hour, and headed down Lend-A-Hand to link up with the AT. The climb up Twinway to Zealand took as long as I remember (that section on the ridge always drags for me). It didn’t help that both Lend-A-Hand and Twinway were very muddy with puddles of standing water with ice mixed in.
I finally hit the summit and then headed back to the hut, even taking the tiny viewpoint loop for the first time ever; the descent didn’t take quite as long as the way up and I was glad to get to the hut. I used their privy, ate a snack (Fillo’s walking tamales – highly recommend!), and considered refilling my water but their potable water pitcher was brown and looked like it tasted bad so I skipped. I only had flats and descent to get back to my car and I had 0.5L left anyway. I jogged and power hiked the last ~4 miles back to my car, enjoying the dry smooth trail and the views of WTF over the pond. I felt strong, even after such a full weekend!
