Snowy Mt. Major Hike
| Date: | 2-1-2025 |
| Location: | Alton, NH |
| Distance: | 5.29 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 1264′ |
| Total Time: | 4 hr 7 min |
| Parking: | 20+ cars |
It had been a while since I’ve hiked Mt. Major in Alton Bay, NH. Especially in winter. The weather has been cold and the Ice Runway in Alton Bay had been open the past few days. I was hoping that it would be again today.
We got snow last night and it was still lightly snowing when I left the house. On the drive up the snow was really coming down. The roads were pretty slippery. The weather said it would be clear and sunny in the am but clearly, they were wrong.
When I got to the trail head the snow had started to lighten up. The parking lot only had a few cars in it. There was about 3-5 inches of fresh snow, so I decided not to bring my snowshoes and just bring my microspikes. I started the trail bear booted.
The first section of this trail was redone a short time ago. The trail weaves through a series of boulders and has several stairs for the first half mile or so. The trail only had a few footprints on it. I thout it would be a little more packed down. I started to question my decision to leave my snowshoes in the car.
I continued up toward the trail junction of the Mt. Major trail. I chatted with a couple of hikers at the same junction. As I started up the trail got a little steeper so I decided I would put my microspikes on. When I tried to do so, the microspike snapped.
The hikers I had just saw were coming up and I told them my dilemma. They offered some help but after several attempts I realized these could not be fixed. Since this trail has some slabby sections near the top I decided I would not continue up. So I made my way back down and started up the longer but less steep, Brook Trail.
At this point there is only two other footprints on the ground and the snow is a good 5-6 inches deep. Along the way there were some cool snow formations. Especially on the streams and water crossings.
Shortly after the trail starts to climb a bit more. I was careful with my footing since I was bear booting this hike now. I also saw many hikers on the trail and all were very friendly. I ended up chatting with some of them along the way.
I arrived at the next trail junction and continued to climb. My boots were doing ok without traction so far. When I reached the Belknap Trail, I met another hiker and chatted a bit. From here I new the summit was only about 20 min a way.
On the last section before the summit, I met up with the two hikers that helped me with my microspikes. They confirmed that I had made the right decision by not continuing up. They said they had some difficulty on the steep slabby section near the top.
I moved on to the summit. The sky’s were now blue and the wind was howling. Temps were well below zero with the wind, so I didn’t stay there to long. Just long enough to take a few pictures before heading back down.
On the way down the trail was starting to get packed down and I moved a little quicker than the way up. Traction was still fine and the walk back to the car was peaceful.
I really enjoyed the new section of the trail near the bottom. I’m looking forward to visiting when everything is not covered with snow.
