West Mountain Hiking Trail

July 13^th was turning out to be the busiest day of our New Hampshire explorations. We had completed our walk along the Lower Ammonoosuc Falls before 10 and had returned to the condo. But the day was still young! At the condo, I looked out the window where we had a great view of the ski area across the street and decided we should take the Gondola up to the summit, have lunch and hike the West Mountain Hiking Trail along the summit.

This seemed like a good idea, so by 11 o’clock we had purchased tickets and were on our way up the mountain. The views from the gondola were amazing. We had a nice, overall image of the Bretton Woods Hotel and the mountains behind it. For those who are in to history, the Bretton Woods hotel was one of several remaining grand hotels in New Hampshire. It also hosted the Bretton Woods Monetary and Financial Conference in 1944 which established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The trip up to the summit lasted about 15 minutes. Once we arrived, we walked around the lodge for a bit and decided to have an early lunch at the Switchback Grill. Lunch was lovely. After lunch we went to check out the West Mountain Hiking Trail.

As we approached the trailhead, I almost turned back immediately. The road near the gondola consisted of loose gravel. It got worse when we reached the trail, and I noticed that the beginning section of the path headed downhill and consisted of these loose stones and roots! I somehow made it through this obstacle and we continued our walk. We were still near the edge of the woods, so we stopped briefly to look out at the field and the mountains beyond.

There were a lot of ups and downs along the way. I had foolishly thought that a trail the crossed the summit of a mountain would go in a gentler up and down direction and was surprised by this. The forest floor was covered in pine needles and moss, but there were still roots and rocks to avoid. I guess I just wasn’t prepared for the steepness of those small elevation changes.

When we reached another spot with a tricky descent I decided to bail, not just because of my trauma issues over my declining technical abilities, but I knew I had to make the return trip through this same area. We had only gone about a third of the way in one direction. At this point, we turned around and I managed to get through some of the difficult areas by stopping and admiring the Mountain Wood Sorrel and the Bunchberries that had gone to seed.

Since we failed to complete this trail, we were back at the condo by 1:30, so I still needed to come up with a plan for the rest of the day.

Lower Ammonoosuc Falls

One of the things we were learning during our New Hampshire stay was that we needed to avoid any trails that were near any body of water during hot, weekend days. Didn’t matter if the trail was near a lake, an almost dried out river bed, waterfalls, or a puddle; if it was near water, it would be difficult to find parking. It was the reason why we ditched an afternoon hike with the rest of the family as they began their journey home, and opted for ice cream instead.

The next day was Monday, July 13^th, the last full day of our stay. We hoped that since the weekend was over, the next trail on our list near water would be less crowded. Just to be sure, we had an early breakfast before heading to the Lower Ammonoosuc Falls at 8:30.

When we arrived at the parking area, there were only 2 other cars near the trailhead, so we knew we would enjoy a peaceful walk. This trail was essentially a wide, flat road with grass and wildflowers growing on either side. Although it toned down my anxiety issues a notch, there were places that were slightly uneven from use and washouts. Still, I was able to relax a bit and enjoy the scenery.

As we strolled down the road, we would occasionally catch a glimpse of the river through the trees. There were a few places where you could get a better few of the water, but it was never a clear view. Finally, we reached a path that brought us to a granite ledge, and we had a beautiful view of the falls.

I took a few photos from my spot in the woods but could not capture the full beauty of them. It took quite a bit of coaxing from my husband to get me on to the ledge and closer to the water. He swore the views were worth it, so slowly and carefully I made my way closer to the river. He was right, and I got a very decent picture of the scene.

After cautiously making my way back to the road, we continued our walk. The vegetation on either side of the road seemed to be an attraction for Northern Pearly-eye Butterflies, so we stopped a few times to admire them. In addition to the Pearly-eye Butterflies, we also found a Yellow Slant Line moth. There were plenty of flowers to study as well. We found several Shin-leaf flowers, Meadowsweet, Yarrow, and Hawkweeds.

Our journey ended at a large parking area. We studied the large trail map nearby, showing all the trails that could be accessed from this lot before retracing our steps. It had been a much less stressful walk for me than some of the others we had done over the last few days, but then again, we weren’t done yet.

Willey Pond

On July 12^th, half of our party was returning home, but they stayed long enough for a morning hike and lunch. All the family members that were present that weekend were much more experienced hikers than me, so I thought it was sweet that they left the trail location up to me. I thought that the loop on one side of Willey Pond would be manageable, starting with the Sam Willey Trail along the Saco River.

When we arrived at our destination, our first distraction was the bridge and dam at one end of the pond. While the men studied the dam, the women took pictures of the structure. As we approached the bridge, we spotted a family of ducks resting on a log. I had seen turtles resting on logs many times, but never ducks. I didn’t know if that was unusual, so I recorded it in order to have proof when I relayed the story to others later.

Once over the bridge, we turned left on to the Sam Willey Trail. Almost immediately, we crossed a section of loose rock and gravel. The area to our left did seem to ascend pretty quickly, so perhaps the roughness of the ground was due to a washout at some point in time. After this, the path did seem to smooth out a bit.

The trail followed the Saco River, providing us with plenty of views of the water through the trees. It must have been a dry year in this location, since every glimpse we had of the river (even while driving), the water level seemed low and the rocky riverbed was exposed. Still, I had to stop occasionally and admire the water views.

There were a few rocky areas. As you can see in one of the photos it didn’t look bad at all, but still it was enough for my fears about falling to kick in. (They should never had told me that one of my restrictions was “no falling”, for now I worried constantly that if I fell, I would suffer permanent injury to my shoulder). At one point when I was maneuvering a slight descent, I told my husband that I must be getting hungry because I felt shaky. He sarcastically replied that “it couldn’t be the anxiety”! Wow! Can’t you just feel the love!

We turned around when we started to pass a boggy area and the bugs arrived for lunch. When we reached the beginning of the Sam Willey Trail, we continued on the Willey Lake Loop. The trail followed one side on the pond, then looped back into the woods. Along the way, we had great views of the mountains, and I found some Swamp Candles in bloom. It was a perfect ending to the morning.

We went back to our condo for lunch, then followed the other members of of the family back to Intervale for ice cream. This time we thought we were smart and ordered one scoop of ice cream. It was still too much! After we gorged ourselves on ice cream, half the group headed home and we found an REI to get my husband a new pair of boots.

Mount Washington Cog Railway

Since we had all finished our respective hikes or walks in the morning of July 11, the afternoon was open to different possibilities. Someone threw out the idea of taking the Cog Railway up Mount Washington. With everyone in agreement, reservations were made for the 12:30 train.

Once we picked up our tickets, we took a quick peek around the store before heading out to the platform. I walked over to a large boulder that informed me that we were standing at an elevation of 2700 feet. I realized that coming from a place where I essentially lived at sea level, all the hills in my hometown had elevations below 2000 feet. I was already standing higher than any “mountain” I had climbed at home.

The first train to come into the station was a steam engine, which was followed by 3 diesel engines. Each engine carried one passenger car. My husband had a field day, studying the trains until we were ready to board. Once we were on the train, I had fun trying to identify flowers on the way up and watching the change towards alpine flora as we went higher up the mountain.

As the train made its way up the mountain, there was a narrator who told us about the history of the cog railway. It was quite fascinating and kept our attention for the almost hour long ride to the summit. I still kept an eye on the vegetation outside my window until most of it was replace by grass and rocks. Looking at all those rocks, I was glad that I wasn’t out there trying to maneuver around all those obstacles.

We were given an hour to explore the summit before the next train would return to take us down the mountain. It was probably about 50 degrees at the summit, with 25 to 30 mph winds. The winds certainly didn’t reach the record-breaking gust of 231 mph winds in 1934. We wandered around the crowded summit and watched a long line of people trying to get their picture taken at the summit sign. I had no desire to stand in line, so I waited for a gap when one party left and the next party was not it place, before taking a photo as proof we were there.

Soon the trains returned and we made our way back down the mountain. We had a different narrator who relayed more entertaining stories about the railway workers. We returned home for a brief respite before dinner.

Upper Ammonoosuc Falls

Two other members of our family joined us during our New Hampshire trip on the evening of July 10. There were no definite or organized plans for the group, so people could do their own thing if they wished. We did hear someone leave the house around 6:30 the next morning for a more serious hike. The rest of us slept in a bit, and after breakfast decided to investigate the Upper Falls of the Ammonoosuc River.

The Upper Falls were just a few steps from a pullout up the road from where we were staying. The day before, my husband and I had made a stop at the Bretton Woods hotel in order to obtain a trail map of the grounds. We studied the map, which included the Upper Falls and decided we would start at the falls and create a loop from there.

After getting a few obligatory photos of the falls, we crossed the bridge and headed into the woods. We did have to consult the map a few times since the intersections were questionable. The trails were definitely less stressful than the Around the Lake Trail but still, I moved slowly as a precaution.

The first section was essentially a grassy lane. I stopped for a minute in order to turn around and view the mountain behind us. Shortly after this, we reached the first intersection. We took one look down the overgrown path and decided this was not the turn we were looking for. We had better luck at the next intersection.

Most of our walk was through a moss filled forest. The trails were essentially flat and covered in pine needles. Along the way, I stopped a few times to admire a mushroom, or some flower nearby. I also attempted an artistic black and white shot of some grass.

It wasn’t long before we Had completed the loop we created and were back at the falls. It had been a very pleasant morning, but now it was time to head back to our lodging for lunch.