From Foliage to Frosty . . . Mount Waumbek

Date of Hike: 10/17/15

Starr King Trail: 7.1 miles (2,700 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- A cold weather front crept into the northeast over the weekend and temperatures bottomed out into the twenties.  My original plan was to get up early hike Mount Waumbek then get back to NoCo just as Whitney was getting up.  However, I decided to sleep in and grab breakfast with Whitney at the Sunrise Shack before heading up to Jefferson.
- On the drive up it started raining in Pinkham Notch and through Gorham, but luckily it stopped about five miles from the trailhead and looked like the steady rain completely missed the mountain.
- I started my hike just before noon and made my way up the leaf filled trail which was a foliage carpet for the first mile.  It started to lightly snow about a half mile in and the flurries followed me on and off over Starr King and over to Waumbek.
- The trail was covered with about a half inch of snow above 3,000 feet and the woods looked pretty in spots and gloomy in others.  The snow that was sprinkled on the colorful leaves at the lower elevations made for a really cool hike back out as transition / shoulder season is upon the Whites

Driving up the rutted dirt road to the trailhead.  The leaves filled the road hiding the holes, good place to have a high clearance vehicle!

 Starr King Trailhead

The "What's that boy??  Timmy's fell into the well and is in trouble!!"

Hiking up the foliage carpet

It looks so pretty and so gloomy all at once

Transitioning from bare ground to a dusting of snow

Frosty up top along the ridge!

The colorful leaves sprinkled with some snow!
  
 It was cold out and the ground was slippery but definitely worth it

Snow dusted trees with a bare ground trail snaking in between

Back below the snow line along the lower section back to the trailhead

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