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Hiking New Hampshire’s Appalachian Trail

by Lee Foster

If there were an award for the loveliest year-round day-hike trail in New England, I would nominate the 2.7-mile Zealand Falls walk along the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

During the fall color period in late September, this walk blazes red and gold in the leaves of maples, birches, and beeches.

In winter, the Zealand Falls walk hosts snowshoe and cross-country ski enthusiasts.

During my June outing along the trail, the hardwood forest displayed a sensuous full spectrum of greens. The limegreen new needles of the balsam fir epitomized the beauty of the region.

On the last mile of the walk, you trek on the official Appalachian Trail, the 2000-mile path running from Maine to Georgia. At the end of the walk, you visit the Zealand Falls Hut, one of the eight huts that the Appalachian Mountain Club maintains in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

The walk starts at a trailhead parking lot off Highway Route 32, east of Twin Mountain, at the end of Zealand Road.

ALONG THE TRAIL

The path is uneven and intriguing, but not as demanding as other White Mountain settings. You scramble around the granite outcroppings, cross brooks on small bridges, and sometimes savor a luxurious canopy of leaf overhead. When the path is relatively level, you follow an old railroad grade at this eastern edge of the Pemigewasset Wilderness.

On a summer walk, the forest floor is a carpet of greenery and blossom. Star flower and wood sorrel were some of the wildflowers in abundance. Among shrubs, blueberries and cranberries flourished in boggy flats.

Beaver and moose are the animals most apparent to a walker. Beaver have gradually flooded the flat spots, creating for themselves easy access to a range of trees and causing the resurgence of moisture-loving species, such as willow. Moose thrive in this environment because of the abundant browse. Trout dart about in pools as you cross the clear, shallow streams.

As the walk proceeds, the elevation rises, affording sweeping views of the forests. Originally, the trees were primarily softwoods, especially spruce, that were logged 1880-1890 in a devastating clear-cur and slash-burn strategy. By 1911 public reaction helped create the National Forest system to manage the timber and recreational resources on these public lands. The post-logged terrain has come back with diversified tree species, primarily birch, but also with much red maple.

WITH GOOD COMPANIONS

Through the Appalachian Mountain Club, which began in 1876, you can walk in the region with enthusiastic and knowledgeable locals. The Club organizes a range of weekend to week-long trips each summer.

I had a chance to walk with Dave Van Note, a director of the Club.

“Club members help maintain these trails,” he said. “We love the mountains and we want both to preserve the natural environment and help other people enjoy it. Over a half million walkers and hikers a year come in contact with our facilities.”

This walk is within a day’s drive of some 65 million Americans, so it is easy to see why the White Mountains of New Hampshire is such an important outdoor recreational resource.

I also learned from another walker in our group, Ned Therrien of the National Forest, who explained the management practices of this forest.

“We handle this National Forest in special ways,” he said. “We never clear-cut more than 40 acres and most of the logging is selective rather than clear-cut. We work closely with the Appalachian Mountain Club to preserve the scenic value. We aim to diversify the tree species, including emphasizing the red maples that travelers enjoy so much at fall color time.”

The Appalachian Mountain Club is full of people who enjoy the outdoors and bring a strong conservation-minded passion to the subject of natural resources. There wasn’t a piece of litter along the whole trail. More subtle concerns, such as the effect of acid rain on the forest, are now studied by the Club. Another project will relate hikers’ lung capacity to the level of ozone in the air, allowing researchers to check the correlation between human performance and that single environmental parameter.

AT ZEALAND HUT

Eventually, we reached the hut, a handsome wood structure built in 1931. The hut offers food, lodging, and conviviality to the itinerant multi-day walker with reservations. A day hiker is welcome to drop in and learn about the hut system for a future trip. The region’s eight huts are spaced a day’s walk apart.

The food is a gourmet effort created by spirited young people, the permanent summer employees who stay there. Each hut has its experts at bread-baking and soup-making.

Lodging is in co-ed bunk rooms, each sleeping 18 people. The hut provides the beds and the blankets. Hikers bring sheets or a sleepsack if desired.

The merit of the hut system, for the walker, is that you can enjoy the mountains for days without the need to lug food, cooking equipment, and sleeping gear, allowing you to concentrate on natural beauty rather than the more strenuous aspects of backpacking.

For environmental management, the hut serves many purposes. Human activity is concentrated in one area rather than impacting many sites in the forest. All garbage can be recycled. Even human excrement, after being composted, is helicoptered out of the mountains.

“The philosophy of the hut system is to control the human burden on this natural environment,” said Dave Van Note. “We offer a special support system for the public to enjoy the outdoors and learn more about nature.”

So thoroughly has the conservation ethic taken hold here that you can get public transportation via Concord Trailway bus from Boston’s Logan Airport to the Pinkham Notch headquarters of the Appalachian Mountain Club in the White Mountains. Then you can be shuttled around the region in the summer to hike the Zealand Falls trail and other trails nearby. Fees for food and lodging are moderate, about $50 per person per night.

In winter, some huts, including the Zealand Hut, continue to operate, but at a reduced level. For example, at Zealand you bring in your own food and cook it yourself in winter.

As a nominee for the loveliest all-year day-hike in New England, the Zealand Falls trail in New Hampshire’s White Mountains gets my vote.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: IF YOU GO

To get more information on the Zealand Falls Hut and the Appalachian Trail, contact the Appalachian Mountain Club regional office in Boston. Contact Appalachian Mountain Club, Five Joy St., Boston, MA 02108, 617/523-0636. Reservations are needed for overnight use of the huts or for day-hike shuttles in the region.

For information on the White Mountains region, a diversified area with many outdoor pleasures, contact the White Mountains Attraction Association, Box 10, North Woodstock, NH 03262, 603/745-8720.

The overall state tourism office is New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism, PO Box 1856, Concord, NH 03302, 603/271-2666, 800/FUN-IN-NH, www.visitnh.com.

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Copyright © 2012 Lee Foster, Foster Travel Publishing. All rights reserved.

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