Snowshoeing Zealand Road

Blog Gods please forgive me; it's been six months since my last post.  I couldn't have made this one any easier for myself, hopefully as a reintroduction to regular reports!

On Sunday we met up with Hannah, Amy, and their furkids to hike up the seasonally closed Zealand Road off of Rt 302.  Parking is about a quarter mile down the road on the opposite side of the highway at the Ammonoosuc Lower Falls Trailhead.  I'm not sure if it is marked as such but, coming from the south, there is a sign warning hiking trails are coming up.  This time of year, there's always a mix of pick up's trailering snomo's, the snow-covered vehicles of the hardy folk who camp at the hut, an us day-adventure types.

Generally speaking, hikers and skiers walk along the edge of the snomo trail to get to Zealand Road.  After the picnic area and bridge, the snomo trail veers to the left and the road goes up a hill.  About a mile up, just before the bridge that precedes the Sugarloaf Trail, the road shares paths with snowmobiles once more.


We've always done our best to stick to the side during these junctions and the snomo drivers have always kindly given us a wide berth.  Truly a mixed-usage trail success!

Of course, with the blizzard that's currently dumping snow on us, trail status is irrelevant so I share mostly to highlight the enjoyability of walking Zealand Road this time of year.  Thanks to the hut and its suitability for crosscountry skiers, we've yet to break trail on the road.  Snowshoes have always been our foot gear of choice here. 

The road is gentle and elevation gain is minimal.  For us, those qualities afforded the perfect opportunity for Ty to explore and feel accomplished while carefully building up Tango's mileage, in hopes he will want to join us for bigger adventures in the future.  I'm thrilled that these 7.5 miles passed well and he was jovial and loose the next morning!

 

Most of the road had one well-trodden route and a less packed but still broken out path running parallel.  Hiking as a group, this was a nice feature that offered us the ability to break from the usual single file formation and/or pass easily.  The road follows the river for much of the way and there are a couple of scenic breaks in the trees.  Otherwise, the surrounding woods are pretty dense.

Sleds make great tracks to follow!

Snowshoeing Zealand Road checks a lot of boxes: to gain confidence in the winter, to get outside on the days serious exertion isn't of interest, in a secluded area but you're not alone, and not too long nor too short.   This is a pretty, non-dramatic hike where it's easy to become absorbed in good conversation and the airy peacefulness of the area.

Looking for the easy way down?

Middle and North Sugarloaf for New Year's

Distance: 5.4 mi
Route: Zealand Rd - Sugarloaf Tr - Zealand Rd
Elevation gain: 1,100 ft + (gain over Zealand Rd unknown)

We've done some really fun hikes with some incredible people and one "bull" in the last few weeks but life has gotten in the way of finishing my reports.  But the new year is upon us and I'm determined to get back in the game!

This is the third or so New Year's Day in a row we've been able to celebrate with a hike.  Today, we met up with Hannah and Lilo to do the Sugarloafs off of Zealand Road.

The air temp hovered around freezing with a sometimes-bitter wind that we quickly escaped once on Zealand Road and away from the open parking lot (which, FYI is about a quarter mile down the road (south) and possibly marked for the snowmobile trail).

Zealand Road was well packed and we barebooted the mile up to the second bridge, in front of which is all the signage, and just after which is the trailhead (marked with the traditional hiker stick figure duo).  It seemed to be a fairly busy day for sledding and everyone who passed us was friendly.  It's worth noting that, just over the first bridge to the (seasonally closed) picnic area, is an outlet of the snowmobile trail.  Then, in the area of the trailhead, the road and snowmobile trail run in unison again momentarily.

The road was a good way to ease into the day, shifting packs and gauging layers.  We passed a handful of others, mostly heading back towards the highway and some on skis.  Once on the Sugarloaf/Trestle Trail, my kiddos and I only saw one other pair during our ascent of North Sugarloaf later on. Other than that, we wouldn't see another person til our return to Zealand Road.

The Sugarloaf Trail ran alongside Zealand River for two tenths of a mile before the Trestle Trail continued straight and we veered left and up to stay with Sugarloaf.  We crossed the snowmobile trail once more and entered the woods.

Is Ty airborne?!

Massholes passing on the left!

The trail started easy, with flat to gentle gains and neat sights, like massive, split boulders.

Treeing squirrels

Giant split boulder

 After the rocks, it gained moderately, but still with a flatter section before more of a "push" up to the col where one can go left for Middle and right for North.  Although I haven't done Pleasant (Shawnee Ski Area) in the winter, I think this would be a fair comparison to the ledges trail.

We headed towards Middle Sugarloaf, knowing it was purported to have the best views of the two and that we'd only be doing one.  The spur to the summit was a nice mix of quickly shifting grades and turns.

I call them Dr. Seuss trees; other call them marshmallow trees.
What do you call them?

 Just before the summit ledges, we encountered the ladder, which is a perfect angle for summer and only slightly challenging in snowshoes!

Crazy ole lady ran up and down, up and down!
Photo courtesy of Hannah B.

 *time sensitive warning, there's a very unfortunate and disgusting break with LNT midway between the ladder and the ledges to the right side of the tree in the middle of the trail.  For those with curious dogs or don't want to have human waste on their snowshoes, keep left....

The summit astounded me.  I'm calling it a wraparound summit.  The open space available to take everything in was huge.  First we turned left for the Presi's, then curved right for quite awhile, amazed.

* XL photos listed in order from left to right when emerging from the trees

The Presi's, conveniently under cloud cover, are to the left of the frame.

Ty's fumbled close to the edge; probably the biggest scare
either of us has had.  Lesson learned.

I could've stayed there all afternoon.  Even with the wind, the sheer size of the available places to explore and peaks to see was mesmerizing.  We will definitely return!!

Photo courtesy of Hannah B.

Back at the col, Ty and Tango sprang forward into the undisturbed snow on North Peak's spur.  And so, with Hannah's approval (but not Lilo's), we struck out for North Peak.  That was a very quick .3 mile of breaking trail.  It was flat at first, then down a hill (always fun, going up to go down!) before entering thicker woods and ascending to the top.  The views seem closer to the Presi's but more limited in overall scope.  A very worthwhile side trip though, and with the couple of clearings, seems a nice place for a break on a warmer day.

It always amazes me how they know the way, even in deep snow drifts
around disorienting boulders, with no tracks to follow. 

Clearing at the summit of North Sugarloaf

Under that cloud is a spectacular view of the Presi's....
The white line descending from the cloud cover is the Cog
if I'm not mistaken.

We made haste returning to the junction, at which point, Ty indicated her intention to return to Middle Sugarloaf.  When I told her to find Hannah and Lilo instead, she careened down the hill with Tango not far behind.  25" snowshoes aren't exactly conducive to graceful, efficient jogging but I did my best to keep up.  As I said in a post last year, when Tango runs, you run!

Reuniting at the snowmobile trail crossing.
Photo courtesy of Hannah B.

Back at the intersection with the snowmobile trail, we met up with Hannah and Lilo, who thankfully hadn't been waiting long.  The return was a nice, quick jaunt with Ty and Lilo running quite far ahead (for different reasons!).

Pack leaders

Mid-conversation, I was taken aback to notice a beaver
less than a leash-length away!

Once I got my wits about me, it became a training opportunity!

Photo courtesy of Hannah B.

The Sugarloaf Trail instantly jumped to the top of our list. Ty would argue the trail is too short but there are ways to extend it.  It's not a difficult hiking, being of mostly easy to moderate grades and relatively short in length. It's been awhile but I would say, for the sake of comparison, it's similar in difficulty to Welch-Dickey, if not slightly easier.  The views and trail are varied, making the time pass quickly (as does good conversation).  The summit is absolutely stellar and well worth what some might consider "too short" a hike for a drive up to the Whites.  Other than using caution and respecting the multi-use nature of certain parts of Zealand Road, there's nothing I can think of that doesn't make this a great dog hike.  The ladder isn't steep and the boards are a good size.  The ledges are at a gently sloping angle.  They do seem to drop eventually and hazardously but intrinsically cautious dogs will be okay.  Ty pushed herself a little too far, spooked us both, and was okay.  Their bouncing , happy gait alone tells me the Sugarloafs are very dog approved!  I can't wait to return on a bluebird day and see what Erick thinks!