You Are Here: Avalon, Field, Willey & Tom

After over 12 months of hiking consistently again for the first time in over 5 years, I felt ready for a big challenge. I haven't done a 4K since my return to hiking, but I felt my fitness was at a point where I could take on that challenge. Laura and I headed up bright and early for Crawford Station to find the parking area already full and cars lining the street. The Whites certainly are a popular destination, but we had expected that. We headed onto the Avalon Trail and found the trail to be wet, but not too soggy yet. The 2 major water crossings before the intersection were passable by rock hopping. The climb is relatively easy at first, but then gradually gets steeper and steeper. There are a lot of rocks and roots and the trail did get wetter and wetter. The forest is so lush and green right now from all the rain we have had this month, it's quite magical. We had read that going up the Avalon Trail after the intersection with A-Z Trail is a better option, particularly if wet as this section is particularly steep and rocky. That was definitely true, though we did see lots of people coming back down as well. The last final push on the summit spur is a rock scramble, but not overly difficult. The actual summit is rather small, but of course the views are large. Mt Avalon is on the 52 With a View list after all. It was a little hazy, but still beautiful. We had it to ourselves for a few moments before a couple other parties joined us and we moved on. We had a full day ahead of us yet. We continued on Avalon Trail towards Mt Field. There were several bog bridges along this section and a good thing as the trail was getting very muddy at this point. It is 1 mile from the bottom of the Avalon summit spur to Mt Field. After the bog bridges, the climb becomes moderate and continues all the way to the Willey Range Trail and then to the Mt Field summit. The actual summit has a decent flat area so a few people can fit in and sit for a snack (like we did), a large cairn and that's about it. It's wooded. If you turn around just before the summit there is a spectacular view over to Mt Tom and beyond. Off the summit is a short herd path to another spectacular view overlooking the Mt Washington Hotel and the Presidential Range. We opted to continue onto Mt Willey, having heard that the trail between Field and Willey was a "walk in the park". I'm not sure which park "they" were referring to.. I guess in the grand scheme of 4Ks it wasn't so bad, but it was definitely more than a "walk in the park". Coming off Field there is a steep rock scramble and then it was just mud and rocks and rolling ups and downs the entire way. The summit of Mt Willey, much like Mt Field, is wooded, but smaller, so less people can fit up there at one time. Just beyond the summit, the trail drops down and there is a herd path to one of the best views of the day. This area was also crowded, but one thing we found throughout our entire day.. and we saw a lot of people, everyone was super friendly and chatty. This helped our tired spirits as the hours wore on! We stopped for another brief snack. The flies were bad on the Willey summit and huge so we didn't linger too long. Back to Field and by now we were really feeling it. The mud just sucked the life out of us. We aren't one to just trample through it, so every step was thought out to minimize our feet getting wet or our shoes stuck in the mud. We decided on this stretch to forego Mt Tom and just head back to the car after the Field summit. I was admittedly glad, but also not looking forward to that steep, steep descent on the Avalon Trail. Back at Field, we stopped for our final snack break and ended up meeting a really nice gentlemen named Christopher, a retired Coast Guardsman from Memphis. Fueled with whoopie pies and an immediate sugar rush, we decided to join Christopher and head to Mt Tom. Laura and Christopher went on ahead as they had more life in their legs and I initially planned to meet them at the bottom of the Mt Tom Spur Trail. I ended up not coming in too far behind them, so decided to head up to Mt Tom myself. Again they went ahead and I had planned on going as far as I could until they came back down. I have made terms with myself that I'm probably never going to get all 48 4K, so if I miss one here and there it's OK. Another rock scramble climb and more mud, I ended up just below the summit when I met up with Laura and Christopher.. so while they went down, I pushed on. I was that close, I may as well get it. Another underwhelming summit with large cairn and wooded views. Supposedly there is a herd path with some restricted views, but I couldn't really find it and was too tired to look hard. I had the summit and that was enough. By now I was done, but still had 2.3 miles from the bottom of the Mt Tom Spur to the car. There were endless steps, endless mud, a small water crossing that you had to step in at least an inch of water to cross and I ended up running out of water with just over a mile to go. Almost 12 hours later, I emerged at the train station and as is usually the case with hiking after feeling like I was going to die.. took off my pack and wondered where the next adventure would take us!

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