Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on March 9, 2008 - via Dicey's Mill Trail
Conditions: Got an even-later-than-usual start due to the time change, but started from Ferncroft parking lot about 9:45AM. The parking lot and the road to the trailhead were pure ice - several inches thick. We were in our Stabilicers and did fine on the walk in. After the walk up the road, we made it to the snow, and it was almost as hard as the ice had been. We didn't sink at all. Unfortunately, a solo hiker who had come before or during the rain *did* sink. There were postholes - some more than two feet deep, all the way up the trail. Still, we made good time and enjoyed the walk for the first couple miles. It was about 27 degrees at the car, and rose to about 30 at one point in the morning. We could hear the wind above us in the trees, but only felt it for a few minutes when we found ourselves at the brook crossing.
Crossing the brook at 2.3 miles was easy. Good snow bridge.
The real fun began at about 3000 feet. The forest was still deciduous, and it was glazed in ice. Lots of broken branches and also trees bent right over with the weight. But the ones that were still upright were beautiful. It was like walking through a crystal forest with continuous wind chimes (breaking/falling ice) in the background.
Soon, the deciduous gave over to evergreen. These trees were in worse shape than down below. Many of the boughs were bent right over to the trail. They weighed a TON and we had to push through them, since a step off the trail to circumvent one resulted in a thigh-deep posthole. We both ended up crawling underneath a bunch of them on hands and knees. The woods and trail were littered with broken boughs completely encased in ice. Thousands of these ice-encased boughs - some shaped like golf balls, others more "log shaped" - were in the trail. They had accumulated several inches deep in some parts. Very slippery to hike on - like big marbles. No real pictures of that, sorry. We had to keep our mind on our steps. The camera stayed put.
We were exhausted by the time we finally got to the summit. BUT, it was sunny, with some nice flurries, and no wind at the summit. We took the time to change some clothes, eat some snacks, and change over to our crampons for the trip down. Make sure that you look closely at the third picture below. You can see that the ice is not only formed as icicles, but it is also completely encasing each little branch.
The hike down was easier than expected. Gravity was working with us. The temperature had dropped a bit, and the winds picked up.
This was our longest Winter 4K yet at 9.2 miles, and our hardest so far due to the nature of the pine boughs. It was also the first Winter 4K that we'd done without seeing any other hikers. It was 5PM when we got back to the car. That's late for us, but winter must really be almost over because it was still very light (Daylight Savings helped too).We told ourselves that we would reward ourselves with a treat from the Center Sandwich General Store, but it was closed by the time we drove through. BUMMER!