The White Mountains- Snow's Mountain and The Scaur

The vista from Snows Mountain

This fall our trip to the White Mountains started off with some extreme mileage, a twelve mile hike (which is at least extreme to our kids), followed by two 4,000 footers. Some times it is easy for me to get wrapped up in the "big" things like: how long is the hike, is it a famous/popular hike, is it a 4,000 footer, etc.? But I've found that the problem with that sort of focus is that you can potentially exhaust yourself physically and mentally (and your children!), and you tend to overlook some pretty amazing sights. For instance, the day we drove to New Hampshire we arrived at about 4 p.m. That is not enough time to do anything "substantial" but we walked from our house down to the river and followed the Mad River Trail for about a mile or 2. It was gorgeous and the boys absolutely loved being along the water, the crossings, and all the rocks. We probably would have never considered the hike otherwise. Another such hike, the one we chose to do the day after the 12 miler, was the East Pond Loop . It is slightly less that 5 miles, there is no grand sweeping vista. It turns out that the Little East Pond is pretty, and the East Pond absolutely takes your breath away. That's another one that we could have easily missed.

The last two hikes of our trip were equally low key. The first one, Snow's Mountain, I actually did alone. It is 3 miles and in the valley where we were staying. It is described as deceptively strenuous given its short length. That sounded good to me I thought I'd check it out. I walked to the trailhead from our house which added about 2 miles easy walking to the hike so that I'd have about a 5 mile total walk which is our sweet spot. I took the hike clockwise which meant the beginning of the hike was climbing the mountain underneath a chairlift which is an interesting, although somewhat non-conventional way to start a hike (at least to this Virginian). After climbing about a 3rd of the way up the mountain you head into the woods for a bit of an up and down ride with some pretty steep albeit short sections. For the most part, the trail was well marked. But hiking in the autumn with the fallen leaves can sometimes make for a "fun" time finding the trail, and if the paint has faded from the trees a bit, then you can have an especially "good time". I may or may not have wandered around in the same spot for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how to make the loop (as opposed to just turning around for an out and back). I was never lost, I was always on the trail (which after reading heartbreaking stories such as this (please read it as a cautionary tail)), I NEVER let out of my sight. I just couldn't figure out where it continued on. I had taken photos on my phone of the local hiking map along with the description of the hike and was eventually able to figure out where to go. It turns out the first overlook that I arrived to was off of an extension of the trail, not on the loop itself. So, I did have to retrace my steps a bit before I got back to the loop. I'm glad I sorted it out because the second view was wonderful. All in all, it was a fun little hike, and I actually really enjoyed doing it alone. I wouldn't want to hike alone all the time, or even often, but it was very refreshing to go at my own pace, stop when I wanted to stop, snack when I wanted, linger at the vista, and head back all when I wanted to. An extra bonus: I saw zero humans. Now, that is rare!

The trail begins walking up a ski lift area.

Hidden trail, hidden blazes on trees.

Where do I go?

There's the view. It was worth taking the time to find the d@&% trail.

View from Snow's Mountain down into Waterville Valley.

Well, this hike both begins and ends in an unconventional way.

Ski lift to begin and walking out of the woods

and pretty much onto someone's driveway to end!

Our very last hike this trip was a fitting send off. It was a bright colorful, cool fall day, and the trail was on the gentler side with steady, rolling incline. We saw two people and a dog the entire time. When we arrived at the first viewpoint, The Scaur, there was no one there. We sat, ate snacks, and luxuriated in the view. The second lookout was about a mile further along and was in the opposite direction of the valley. It wasn't a summit or even a rocky ledge. It was simply through a break in the trees and let me tell you, the view did not disappoint. So, go for those lesser travelled roads occasionally 😉

It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that since returning home, I'm already plotting our return to New Hampshire next year. I will sign off here, leaving you with the views 💚🌄🍁🍂