Mount Avalon, Mount Field, Mount Tom (6/29/2014)

Mt. Avalon
--3,442'--
--1.9 mi from trailhead--

Mt. Field
--4,339'--
--#23--
--1 mi from Avalon--

Mt. Tom
--4,051'--
--#39--
--1.5 mi from Field--
--3 mi to trailhead--

--7.4 mi total--

Trailhead Parking: Free

The trailhead is located at Crawford Depot/AMC Highland Center. The typical route for Field and Tom is going up Mt. Willey. We decided to just do a smaller loop.

The Avalon Trial starts off very easy. 

The river crossing right before you start gaining elevation.

After 1.4 mi you reach the intersection. From this, we continued on Avalon Trail. It was STEEP!

View from Mt. Avalon

Continuing to Mt. Field

Only view on Field. Looking at the Mt. Washington Hotel

It was SOOOOO buggy up at the top. We wanted to have lunch there but decided to eat on the go.

Off to Mt. Tom. 

The summit.

On our way back down to the car we decided to take a small detour to look at a couple cascades at the last 1.4 miles. 

Mount Hale (6/17/2014)

Mt. Hale
--4,054'--
--4.4 mi RT--
--2,290' elevation gain--

Trailhead Parking: $3

There are a couple different ways to get up and down Mt. Hale. Either go to the top and back down the same way or do it in a loop. My friends and I took the Hale Brook Trail. I don't remember how long it took but book time is 4.5 hours.

The trailhead is located 2.5 miles up Zealand Road off of Route 302.

Only view

The summit. Used to be a fire tower?

Little Haystack, Mount Lincoln, Mount Lafayette (6/3/14)

Little Haystack
--4,760'--
--3 mi one way--

Mt. Lincoln
--5,089'--
--.7 mi (from Little Haystack)--
--#7--

Mt. Lafayette
--5,260'--
--.9 mi (from Lincoln OR 3.8 mi from trail head via Old Bridle Path)--
--#6--

Trail head Parking: Free

The Last time we hiked this was in horrible wet weather. 

Last year

This year!!

Walking across the ridge, Jesse, Dave, and Carolyn.

Cannon Mountain with Lonesome Lake to the far left

Heading down from Lafayette

Greenleaf Hut

Heart shaped lake

What we wrote last year! :)

Steep part

Last year

Lapland Rosebay (Rhododendron lapponicum)

And as Always:

Welch and Dickey Mountains (5/21/2014)

Welch Mountain
--2,605'--
--1.9 from trailhead--

Dickey Mountain
--2,734'--
--.5 from Welch--

--4.4 mi Loop--
--Book time 3-4 hrs--
--Personal time 2.5 hrs--

Trailhead
Orris Road in Thornton, NH - exit 28 off of I-93
Parking: $3

Don't let the size of these mountains fool you into thinking they're easy...because they're not! I'm not in my best hiking shape yet, but this certainly kicked my butt! I was not expecting a challenging hike, but the views were worth it!

The trail was very well maintained and marked. You are in the woods until the first view point (not yet to Welch) then from there you are in and out of tree coverage, hiking, scrambling, squeezing around boulders and climbing trees to follow the trail. It was fun!

Before the first view point. The beginning of the rock slab you hike for the rest of the trail.

Follow the yellow brick road **don't lose sight of these!!!**

This kind of shows you the steepness going up Welch Mountain. At times my ankles were hurting!

You may not be able to see the red at the top of the rock, but that's a person.

On top of Dickey Mountain where I met a couple who had completed the NH48 with their dog Sparky and were doing the 52 With a View list. 

Many stone stairs on this trail. Once you enter the woods at the end of Dickey Mtn., its a nice descent, great way to finish the loop! 

You will end up at this sign. Take a LEFT. It doesn't tell you where the parking lot is, but its that way! :)

The yellow markers were very important to watch for on this hike. Since the rock slab looked the same, at times I found myself looking around and realize I was going the wrong direction. At some parts, you need to look on trees or look up (some are hard to find).