Hike Report – Zealand Falls Hut – October 10
It was a frosty 32° under sunny skies as five of us left the church for the long drive to the Zealand Falls trailhead on the north side of Crawford Notch. After picking up Robin at the Visitor’s Center in Fryeburg, we arrived at the trailhead around 10:00 am where we met four other hikers.
Hiking today were Jeff Sturgis, Greg Moulton, Tom Dugas, Tina Estes, Jacob Schor, Dale Nelson, Sandy Bell, Robin Marciello, David Atchason, Barbara Dunham and Jane Gibbons.
The temperature had moderated slightly, but most of us started out with our jackets on when we left the trailhead at 10:25 am. However, we shed those jackets at our 15 minute stop after we had warmed up due to our exertions on the trail. The trail alternates between boney and rooty sections followed by relatively smooth sections with some short rocky sections near a few stream crossings.
The approximately 600’ elevation gain is fairly gradual over the 2.8 mile trail until the last .2 of a mile directly below the hut. Then it rises very steeply to the hut with many rocky steps set into the trail.
At about the 2 mile mark we crossed a boardwalk/bridge over the marshy area that marks the transition from Zealand Pond to the Zealand River. There the trail goes along the banks of the marsh and pond.
Visible were many small animal trails that crossed our trail and went down to the water. We also passed near a beaver dam and spotted other suspected dams and beaver lodges in the distance over the bog. Especially around the pond, the trees had shed most of their leaves enhancing our views of the surrounding mountains.
Most of us reached the hut around 12:15 pm with the noon sun warming us up considerably.
There we were met by Kathy Huchthausen who had, unknown to us, started her hike about an hour before ours. The hut sits next to the Zealand falls on the side of the hill with many steps for us to sit on. The hut closes down it’s food serving service on October 18, so we were still able to purchase some leftover goodies from breakfast and the previous night’s desserts.
We spent a very pleasant 45 minutes eating our lunches, exploring the nearby falls, enjoying the views and chatting with other hikers. After having our group picture taken by a helpful hiker, we hit the trail back to the parking lot at 12:50 pm.
The hike back was fairly uneventful. We passed many hikers who were on their way to the hut, as there were 36 who had reservations for the night. We also passed a few other day hikers and some who were going farther on the various trails that emanate from the vicinity of the hut. We spread out on the trail as some of us were a little fatigued by the nearly 6 mile round trip. However, we all gathered at the kiosk at the base of the trail by 2:55 pm, the culmination of a very nice fall hike under ideal conditions.
Robin had brought along a bag of novel cookies she had baked called Almond Joy Cookies as they were a sweet gooey combination of coconut and chocolate. The recipe is posted here. She shared her cache of cookies up at the hut to everyone’s considerable Joy. [We finished the last of them on the drive back to Denmark.]
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