Have been wanting to climb Moosilauke since I moved to New Hampshire and, with the approaching winter weather, thought this might be a good weekend to try it. The weather today was expected to be pretty nice (50s and sunny) so I left Hanover with faith that the 30s and foggy would improve. Crossed the Connecticut, drove north on I-91 until Bradford (VT) and then crossed the River again at Haverhill (NH). As I reached the top of the westernmost crest of the Whites on NH-116, I was treated to clear skies and long visibility - I thought “awesome!” and started looking forward to a great hike. But a few minutes later I started to see what initially looked like heavy frost... Soon, it was clear that the area had gotten some real snow during the previous 48 hours. Wasn’t too worried (I’ve hiked the AT in snow before) until I got to the intersection of NH-112. From there, I could see that Kinsman and Moosilauke were both topped with visible whitecaps. This made me doubt the wisdom of a day on the AT and I almost gave up. Since I was there, though, I explored some trailheads I’d ultimately need to use. The road at Reel Brook (with a connector trail for Kinsman) was impassable due to the snow, so I drove to the AT Lot at Kinsman Notch (near Beaver Pond and Lost River Gorge). It was already full - almost every car was from Massachusetts or New York... The snowplow hadn’t actually opened all the spots so I had a choice: leave or see if Nessie’s AWD could make one. I tried the latter and then considered my options. Other hikers were leaving the lot (all headed south for Moosilauke) so I supposed it must be possible to climb. But I wasn’t thrilled about an ascent of over 3000 feet in the ice - I hadn’t brought spikes or my snowshoes. If I went the north, I knew I’d be “marooning” an AT section. I was carrying my brand new Hike Safe Card - perhaps that’s a double edged sword (less liability vs. green light for risk)... In the end, I decided the weather was too nice to just leave without trying something. So I left my car at 0945 (AT SOBO) with a plan to get as many miles as I could on Moosilauke. The temps were still in the 30s so I had two layers (with a third in reserve). The ground was frozen and water from the Beaver Brook(s) was adding more ice. I walked about one tenth of a mile before I came to a place where the AT Guide said there should be a footbridge - but it was completely gone. I looked for a way across and couldn’t find one - now it looked like my only choice (if I kept going) was to wade through 8-12 inches of water. That wasn’t appealing at the beginning of my day so I decided to turn around and cross the road, trying my luck with AT NOBO. That turned out to be a better route - from NH-112, the rocky Kinsman Ridge Trail climbed dramatically. I took my time and used my trekking poles to ensure that I had at least three good balance points. I reached the top of the 800 foot climb pretty easily but most of the trail was filled with melting runoff. Every once and a while, a conifer branch above me shed all its snow - brrrrr! On the ridge, I had to wade through deeper drifts and one really boggy area with several inches of water in places. I was feeling pretty good by the one mile mark and thought I might be able to reach the Gordon Pond Trail junction. But then I came around a corner to find a dad and his two sons trying to decide what to do. They told me they’d encountered an impassable area a few hundred yards to the north end had decided to go back to the road. I continued and started looking for the spot they referenced - it was a steep cliff drop off that would have been difficult even without ice and snow. If I hadn’t needed to do a backtrack, I believe I would have tried my luck - I was close to the Dilly Cliff Trail (never saw the trail junction but I’d read that the sign had been removed) and wanted a landmark to remember. Ultimately, though, I really didn’t have good options. Since I knew my descent on the backtrack would be tough anyway, I cut my losses and walked back towards the car. It took just as much (if not more) concentration to make it safely down (I fell once). Passed the dad and sons on the way - they were the only hikers I saw on the section. I made it to the trailhead by about 1100 (after just over 2.5 snowy miles) but decided to look around the area near the pond and maybe find a way across the creek that had no bridge (I was unsuccessful). About 30 minutes later, with new visitors glaring at me for my valuable parking spot, I departed for home. I used almost the same route to reach Hanover but I stayed on the east side of the Connecticut (NH-10). By the time I passed through the Dartmouth campus, I was seeing young people out for exercise with shorts and tee shirts - the temps in the Valley had reached the mid 50s. Looks like it will be an interesting next few weeks - with weather seeking nice in the low elevations and snow on the AT. Cross your fingers for me that my hiking isn’t done in 2020! AT Today = 1.2 miles / Grand Total AT = 1718.8 miles
