Jay and I decided to go back and visit some friends at Magic Mountain in Vermont. Temps were in the 20’s and 30’s when we arrived.
View of Stratton Mountain
We had pretty good parking in the upper lot. The mountain did not seem to be too busy which was great.
View of Bromley Mountain
We spent the day skiing around many of the blue and black trails that were open.
Green Ice flows as well
Since it was right before St. Patty’s day there was a leprechaun running around and painting shamrocks under the lifts and painting some of the ice flows green. It was fun to find all these mischievous markings.
Looking down the Magician Trail. No joke
It was a great day and there was very little ice on the open trails. I was looking over at the closed Magian trail and Vermont’s double diamonds are no joke! This thing looked steep and had giant bounders in the middle of the trail.
Good vibes with friends.
Once the lifts closed we hung out with some friends in the retail shop before packing it up and heading home. I really like Magic Mountain and can’t wait to visit again next season.
My buddy Pauly and I met up at Cannon Mountain. We did not realize that our Indy Pass was blacked out this day but it was a NH Resident discount day so we had to pay but not full price.
Hanging out at Cannon
There was also an inversion happening. That means that it is warmer at the top of the mountain than the bottom. I decided that I didn’t want to wear my full winter coat and opted for my winter shell.
Cloudy summit on Cannon
The conditions were ok. We were a little disappointed at the amount of snow that melted with the warm weather, rain and fog from a few days ago.
Mountain Views of Mount Lafayette
Days before the whole mountain was bright white. Now there were many bare spots all around and even the trails had some large muddy sections that needed to be skied around.
Top of Cannon.heading down toward Mittersill
What was left of snow was ok and it seemed to get better as the day went on. Lots of skiable areas. In some areas it was a little mash potato snow and was hard to turn.
Beer
We took a hike up to the summit of Cannon Mountain and went up the tower. After that we had lunch and a beer from the highest taps in the North East.
Highest Taps in the North East
A few more runs after lunch and we called it a day. Even though it was not the conditions we were hoping for, it was much better than the icy slopes Cannon is famous for.
Views over CannonFranconia Ridge across the NotchLooking down at Echo LakePauly’s FollySummit Selfie
Seems everywhere I’ve skied this year, conditions have been great. Killington was no exception.
Screenshot
I arrived early on a Wednesday, so I had good parking at Sky Ship gondola.
I met my buddy Pauly at the mountain. It was cold. Temps in the 20 with a light breeze but perfect for skiing.
One fun thing about parking at Sky Ship is you can usually do one long run from top to bottom at the end of the day.
Fireplace at the K1 Lodge
At one point though we were getting ready to board the Sky Ship gondola and it broke down. We waited about 10 minutes before going inside. After a short break the gondola was till not running. So we grabbed our skis and since I was parked there, got in the car and wen’t to Bear Mountain.
Limited Views
We skied around the rest of the day over by Rams Head. Lunch at the K1 Lodge. Few more runs and then back over to Bear Mountain.
Weather and time worked out for one more hike with Jack Straw from Wichita before he moves to Florida.
It was chilly at the start of the hike
We decided Mt. Willard would be a good choice for the hike. It was somewhat short and offers the best views for the least amount of energy.
Centennial Pool covered in snow
When we got there many of the lots were full or not plowed. The new snow limited parking but we were able to find a spot on the street near the Depot.
Cool Marshmallow formations on the trees
We knew the trail would be packed but after last week we decided to wear our snowshoes on the hike just in case. The temps were in the twenty’s, but it was supposed to get up to the 40’s later in the day.
Selfie at the summit
The trail up was a well packed monorail with some high trenches along the side. It was well traveled and snowshoes were not necessary, but we kept them on and contused to waddle up the hill.
View of Chocorua in the distance
As on most hikes we laughed a lot and told stories. The few water crossings at the bottom were frozen solid and easy to cross. When we made it up to Centennial Pool it was frozen and covered with snow.
Jack checking out some views
On the way up there were lots of cool snow formations. The mountain landscape was beautiful with all the marshmallow covered trees.
The notch
When we reached the top, the clouds had lifted and we were greeted to a beautiful view of the Crawford Notch.
Trail along the cliffs at the summit.
There were a few people up there already, but it was not too crowed… yet. We took some pics but did not go down to the snow-covered rocks that others did. Looked a little too sketchy to me.
Someo f the ledges on Mt. Webster
We walked up the trail along the cliff over to view the Willard Brook trestle. Then we followed an old snow track to the high point of Mt. Willard. I had never been there and thought there would be a logbook of some sort. But there was nothing.
Snowshoeing through the trenches
When we got back to the cliffs, there was noticeably more people there. So we just kept continuing down the trail.
The Depot
On the way down there were lots of people going up. We kept saying that we timed this right.
Beautiful view of the Mt. Washington Hotel
It wasn’t long after that we were close the bottom and could hear the cars driving through the notch.
Last stop. Reklis Brewing
To finish out the day, we drove over to Rek•lis Brewery in Bethlehem, NH. Neither of us had ever been there before, and it was great. Good food, good beer and good all-around atmosphere. This must be really cool in the summer evenings with all the outsides lit up.
The trail sign. We hiked up the Big Rock Cave Trail.
Date:
2-15-2025
Location:
Albany, NH
Distance:
2.98 mi
Elevation Gain:
902′
Total Time:
2 hr 38 min
Parking:
3+ cars
The original plan was to hike out to the caves behind Mount Mexico. Parking for this trail head is a pull-off on the road and there is only room for a few cars. Fortunately, Jack was able to get a spot. It was chilly, temps were in the single digits when we started out.
Chilly start to the hike.
Trail starts across the street from parking and is basically a road walk for a little ways up. We had snowshoes with us just in case. When we got to the end of the road we needed to put the snowshoes on.
Jack leading the way through the fresh snow
From this point on the path was a bit of a monorail. There was a fresh 3-4 inches on the ground.
Photo of me in the snow.
The trail was moderate but with the few extra inches of snow it was kind of slow going.
Snow was deeper on the way to the high point of Mt. Mexico.
As we got closer to the summit the snow got a little deeper. When we got to the toward the highpoint there was a significant amount of new snow and the back side of the trail down to the caves was deep.
Taking a break at the summit
The decision was made that we would just go to the highpoint of Mount Mexico. So that is what we did.
Jack playing in the snow
When we were bushwacking toward the summit the snow was waist deep. It was slow moving.
Jack took a fall in the snowshoes
We Finaly made it to the high point and took a break. We had a snack and a drink and discussed the many reasons we did not go all the way to the cave.
Woodpecker holes in the tree
From here we started to make our way back down. As we made our way to the trail Jack took a little stumble in the snow. The trip down was much quicker going back down and time seemed to fly by.
Before we knew it we were back to the short road walk and took our snowshoes off. We were both glad to get back to the car.
Shadows on the trail near the bottom
On the way out we drove over to Ferncroft to the Whiteface-Passaconway trail head. There were a lot of cross-country skiers and a good network of trails. I’ll have to make a mental note of this trail network.
View of Mt. Whiteface Ferncroft, NH
We took a few pics and then headed out to the Common Man in Ashland, NH for lunch. All in all a good day and I’ll come back another time to visit the caves again.
This has been a great year for xc skiing in Bear Brook State Park. I met up with my buddy Jay to take the xc skies for a few hours. It was cold and the snow was nice and squeaky and still fluffy enough to glide nicely without it being too fast.
Getting ready at the parking lot
We started from the ski parking lot and made out way up Podunk Road. About halfway up we jumped on the moose trail. This trail winds in and out while we climbed up.
Skiing in the trenches
Toward the end of the trail, I took a good wipe out. Landed on my back hard with my water bottle in my pack. It hurt a little the next day. But I was fine to keep going.
artifacts in the trees
At the end of Moose, we hopped on to the Bobcat Trail. We rode this a while. Jay broke off and did the Leavitt Trail that ran parallel to Bobcat. We ended up meeting at the same point on Broken Boulder Trail.
Coming around the corner
From there we continued to Smyth Shelter. We hung out there for a bit and had some food. Then after a few photos we got the skies back on and headed back to the trail.
Approaching the shelter
I was getting a bit tired so we split up again. Jay went down the hemlock trail. I took the Camp Trail back down to the Archery Pond and waited for him.
Smyth Shelter
After a little waiting, I did not see him and thought he may have followed a trail that did not go to where I was, so I kept skiing down to the Car.
Jay and I at the shelter
On the last section to the parking lot there was a steep part, as I was going down a little fast then I wanted to and saw a log on the trail under snow, I panicked and I wiped out.
The archery trailhead.
At this point I was pretty much in the lot. So I took my skis off and walked over to the car. I waited for Jay who was only about 10 minutes behind.
