Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on December 27 via the Avalon, A-Z and Mt Tom Spur trails
As we drove up Route 93, through Franconia Notch, we were dismayed at the lack of snow found north of the Notch. Ick - it looked like March. All the grass was showing and everything was brown.
Conditions: 30 degrees F at 10:00AM
In the parking lot, we made the game-time decision to leave the snowshoes in the car. It seemed like there hadn't been any new snow since the rains came last week, and we figured the snow was fairly well-packed due to that. This assumption proved to work out OK for us.
The trail was beautiful. No rocks or problems. We reached the intersection of Avalon and A-Z in about 50 minutes, and turned onto the A-Z trail. This was not as heavily used, but still we didn't posthole as long as we stayed on the 12-inch-wide path that had been packed. FOCUS GRASSHOPPER! Do not step even two inches left or right!! If you do, you'll go in up to your knee!!
At the intersection of the A-Z trail and Mt Tom Spur trail, we stopped for a snack break. It's still unbelievable to us how warm we get when hiking uphill, and how quickly we get chilled when we stop. We packed up and headed for the summit. Just half a mile from the intersection. And it's a relatively easy half-mile.
The views were somewhat obscured due to clouds (JUST LIKE OUR LAST VISIT TO MT TOM), but we enjoyed having the summit all to ourselves. A very light snow was starting to fall. After some picture-taking, we headed back down. The hike down went faster and required significantly less huffing and puffing on Valerie's part. The snow was coming down in earnest now. LOTS of snow.
By the time we returned to the car at 2PM, it was covered in snow. The conditions for driving home were terrible, but everything sure looked a lot nicer with a fresh coat of white!