Saturday, April 13
Summits: Willey, Tom, Field
Start/Finish: Crawford Notch TH
Miles: ~9
Elevation gain/loss: 4094′
After hiking Carrigan, I headed over to Crawford Notch, leaving from the parking lot at 2:15pm. Water levels were very high, and it was a question of how wet my feet got on each crossing rather than if I could avoid stepping in the water. The snow was soft and rotted, so I opted for snowshoes to allow me to keep moving quickly. I met one hiker on my way to Tom that wasn’t wearing traction or snowshoes and he was soaked from head to toe. I met Gandalf on the Mt Tom spur; it was nice to chat! Then it was over to Field the trail was broken and fairly firm.
Just before I made the summit of Field, it started snowing. The wind was fierce and I was happy to drop off the summit and get more protection. I tromped over to Willey, hit the summit all bundled up in my winter rain jacket, and then headed back the way I’d come. I descended towards Avalon and the posthole situation was pretty terrible; I twisted my ankles a few times in the huge holes left by past hikers. The sun set as I descended and I had to pull out my headlamp for the last few miles.
Transcending Mountains 