Fewer crowds and even fewer bugs are two of the joys associated with winter hiking.
Whether on snowshoes or with tenacious traction devices underfoot, snowy wooded scenes are an invigorating part of winter. With shorter days now growing longer, the time is right for quiet treks in the forests to combat cabin fever.
In winter, tracks in the snow show you aren’t as alone as you think. Sunlight glitters along frozen tree limbs. The cold may be a slap in the face, but it’ll wake you right up.
Alhough 4,000-foot peaks are on many hiking bucket lists, simple-to-a-tad-taxing treks can result in satisfaction as well.
Ridiculously popular in summer and fall, Diana’s Baths, near the village of North Conway, N.H., is far more tranquil in winter when the series of cascades at the former sawmill site is transformed into an outdoor cathedral of assorted shaped jewels. More walk than hike in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, the easy and often well-packed 1.2-mile round-trip jaunt in the shadows of the Moat Mountains leads across a bridge to the waterfalls called “Water Fairies’ Spring” by the Abenaki tribe. Named after the Roman goddess Diana, the site features a collection of ice-choked pools and potholes, as well as a waterfall with a good 12-foot plunge.
On North Conway’s east side is the Green Hills Preserve, managed by the Nature Conservancy with its sub-2,500-foot mountains —Peaked, Middle Mountain and Black Cap. Peaked Mountain is the smallest of the lot, at 1,739 feet, but it does serve up some fine looks at the Mount Washington Valley, including its fellow Preserve peaks, Cranmore, the fire tower atop Kearsarge and, on the right day, Mount Washington. The trailhead is not far off N.H. Route 16 for the moderate 4.2-mile back and forth through the hemlock groves and mixed hardwood forest.
Mount Pemigewasset is something of an under-the-radar trek in the Franconia Notch region. The 2,557-foot peak is also called Indian Head for its striking profile.
The trail, which leaves from the north end of the Flume Visitor Center in Franconia Notch State Park, is also noted in that it goes underneath the parkway in a tunnel before ascending over bridges and along switchbacks to the summit during the 3.6-mile out-and-back journey. The ledgy summit is a fine vantage point to gaze upon a frozen landscape that includes well-known mountains like Mount Mooseilauke, the Osceolas, Loon, Flume and Liberty.
Also on the western side of the White Mountains is the 4.4-mile round-trip hike to the two Greeley ponds. Located off a trailhead on the Kancamagus Highway outside Lincoln, N.H., the pair of frozen jewels among the fir, spruce and hardwoods are found along the Greeley Ponds Trail in the Mad River Notch, a glacial spilt between the sinuous Kanc and Waterville Valley.
From the ponds, Mount Osecola’s East Peak shows off a stony face, while Mount Kancamagus has its stoic countenance. The popular trail is often well-packed. Care should be taken around the marshy areas, as weak ice could be encountered.
In Vermont, the aptly named Ice Beds Trail in the White Rocks National Recreation Area in Wallingford, is a place to chill year-round. Located in the Green Mountain National Forest, the 36,000-acre area stretches through several towns such as Weston, Wallingford and Dorset and a pair of wilderness areas. The 1.8-mile out-and-back trek features an overlook, about a quarter-mile in, of the White Rocks Overlook, and it provides a stunning vista at the sharp peak, cliffs that have been known to host peregrine falcons, the dramatic rock slide of White Rocks and glimpses out to Otter Creek Valley.
The four-plus-mile trek to and from the 2,608-foot Elmore Mountain summit and fire tower in northern Vermont yields imposing vistas. The Elmore Mountain Trail in Elmore State Park is the lowest pinnacle in the Worcester Range but offers a chance to gaze upon that range, the Northeast Kingdom and the Lamoille River Valley from its top. There’s a vantage point just below the steep push to the summit tower that includes a chimney that was part of a fire observer’s cabin that succumbed to fire, and views to 219-acre Lake Elmore and down to the town of Elmore, seeminly frozen in winter’s grasp.
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Marty Basch can be reached at marty.basch@gmail.com.