Ascent to Zeacliff-Zealand Falls Hut on 2011-01-28| Others in Party: | Mike Geary
Ben Kuelthau
Miles Horton
Pat Megley
Noah Wentzel
Amy Levine
Steph Durell | | Date: | Friday, January 28, 2011 | | Ascent Type: | No Summit Goal | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Carpool | | Point Reached: | Zeacliff - Zealand Falls Hut | | Location: | USA-New Hampshire | | Elevation: | 2700 ft / 822 m |
Ascent Trip ReportI woke up at 5:15 in the morning in Williamstown, dressed in my warm gear, and headed over to the equipment room to meet up with the other seven people on the trip I was taking in to Zealand Falls Hut. The eight of us loaded in to the van and headed north with Ben behind the wheel. About four hours and one stop for gas later, we reached the parking lot for the Zealand Trail. Ben turned the van right, and it almost immediately became stuck in the snow covering the lot. After revving it up in reverse failed to free the van, the rest of us bailed out, planted our feet in the snow, and started pushing as Ben put the pedal to the floor. We managed to unstick the van with help from a guy about to ski in to the hut, and then piled back into the vehicle to park .3 miles down the road at the plowed winter trails parking lot. Once there, we strapped our snowshoes to our packs, ate lunch, and headed out down the road.
The first mile and a half or so after the Zealand Trail parking lot was a recently-paved road, so we left the snowshoes on our packs and trekked along the road. After the plowed part, we hit a drift that marked the start of where we needed snowshoes, so we stopped to put them on and then started hiking in on snowshoes. The road ended about two miles later, and we embarked on the actual Zealand Trail, winding our way through trees, moving up and down hummocks and gullies. We crossed paths with the hut caretaker, Joanne, at the very start of the trail, and then she passed us about an hour later on her cross-country skis. A few minutes after that, we found her stuck in a steep-sided ditch, her skis wedged in the ground, so Amy helped pull her out. We followed Joanne to the west shore of Zealand Pond, where she tipped us off to hike straight across the frozen expanse of the pond rather than circumvent it. The hike across the pond was fun, and it gave us our first good views of Whitewall Mountain to the west and Zealand Falls hut itself to the east. The hike up from the lake to the hut was a very steep uphill, which my snowshoes slipped on several times. We topped out at the hut, took off our snowshoes, and settled in for an evening of relaxation, card games, and backgammon. Pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150401041785327.621503.900110326&l=5de03f4b20
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| Summary Total Data | | Elevation Gain: | 1194 ft / 363 m | | Elevation Loss: | 255 ft / 77 m | | Distance: | 6.9 mi / 11.1 km | | Route Conditions: | Road Hike, Maintained Trail, Open Country, Snow on Ground | | Gear Used: | Ski Poles, Snowshoes, Hut Camp | | Weather: | Snowing, Cool, Calm, Partly Cloudy
Intermittent light snow, around two to three feet on the ground. | | Ascent Statistics | | Elevation Gain: | 1194 ft / 363 m | | Distance: | 6.5 mi / 10.5 km | | Route: | Zealand Road to Zealand Trail | | Trailhead: | Winter Trails Parking Lot 1506 ft / 459 m | | Descent Statistics | | Elevation Loss: | 255 ft / 77 m | | Distance: | 0.4 mi / 0.6 km | | Route: | Appalachian Trail | | Trailhead: | Zealand Pond 2445 ft / 745 m | Ascent Part of Trip: Zealand Falls Hut Snowshoeing (3 nights total away from roads)
Complete Trip Sequence:
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