Hiking in the White Mountains: Nancy Pond

Date of Hike: 4/6/14

Nancy Pond Trail: 8.75 miles (2,500 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- It has been quite awhile since I last posted a trip report. There are a couple of trips I have done but haven't gotten around to posting them. Hopefully I will have a chance to get to those, but for now I'm writing about a nice little adventure I did this past Sunday.
- I headed to Route 302 east of Crawford Notch to the Nancy Pond Trail. My goal for the day was to reach Norcross Pond and get some rarely seen views of the Bonds, Guyout, and the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
- The weather was quite warm, in the forty's with a bright sun blasting down on the mountains. The wind was whipping but for the most part I was shielded from it's furry.
- I had never been on the Nancy Pond Trail, so this was a new trail for me. It had gradual to moderate grades all the way to the base of the Nancy Cascade which was covered in snow and ice. The trail hadn't seen much foot traffic but it was easy to follow to the cascade. There is still plenty of snow in the White Mountains, three to four feet in some places. The warmer weather is making for challenging conditions as I started to post hole in spots leading up to the Cascade.
- The hike along Nancy Brook wasn't too exciting, it was pretty with the snow still suffocating the brook but in a few weeks with the melt it'll be much more interesting of a hike into the cascade.
- Once you pass the bottom of the cascade the trail ascends steeply up the left side of it. There are switchbacks to make it not so relentless but with the spring snow it made for dicey conditions. I had to use branches and tree trunks to navigate the steep slide slopes while kicking in awkward steps with my snowshoes. It was the first time I could have used my crampons, and poles would have been really handy, too. At one point I decided to turn around thinking it was a little too dicey to head up because coming down looked like it might be borderline dangerous. After about one minute, I stopped, collected myself, and decided to proceed with caution. I've dealt with the snow sheet of steepness that drops off into the oblivion on the east slope of Mount Jefferson. I could handle this, plus if I slid I'd bounce off the trees which would slow me down!
- Once reaching the top of the cascade the trail becomes relatively easy again. There were no signs of tracks anywhere but I was able to stay on the trail and with the cooler temps at around 3,000 feet made the snow stable so it was easy to walk on top without punching through. It's really beautiful through here in the snow, and very quiet.
- I got to walk over Nancy and Norcross Ponds, they are still frozen solid and made for a really unique hiking experience. At the outlet of Norcross Pond is a steep frozen brook drop off which falls deep into the Pemigewasset Wilderness. There's a definite weird feeling being up on a frozen pond looking down into the Pemi. All you see is trees, with deep snow beneath them, and not a person down there for miles.
- After snapping dozens of pics I made my way back over the two ponds. Usually on my way back to the car on hikes like these I shut my brain off and motor back to the Jeep. Today that wasn't the case. I had to navigate descending the steep awkward snow slope switch backs along Nancy Cascade. I had to use the pine branches and down-climb, in my snow shoes, not exactly the easiest thing to do. When there were no branches to help down climb safely, I punched holes into the snow and gingerly used those to support myself.
- Once I made it to the bottom of the cascade I was then greeted with monster post-holing in my snowshoes, the weather warmed up the snow over the past couple of hours that I sunk in a half to a foot and a half every step for about a half mile until the trail became more gradual.
- I tore up the snow but not the trail, I've never post-holed that bad in snowshoes before. I was happy that the final mile was much better with only a couple of spots where I sank in. The post-holing had taken a lot of energy out of me.
- Once I made it back to the car I changed into dry clothes and relaxed for a bit before heading back to RI. I decided to take Route 16 back to 95 in Southern NH. I've actually never driven home this way and after about ten minutes I realized why I never headed this way. Pretty drive, but marred by bad drivers!
- Still, it was great to get back out there solo hiking again. I'm really looking forward to the snow melting to do some crazy endurance hikes. Yesterday, I came up with one I call the 'Pemi Coaster.' It loops around owls head, does another loop via Shoal Pond and Thoreau Falls Trail, then up and over Carrigain via Desolation Trail! Can't wait!