AMC Outdoors, December 2007
The snow crunches underfoot. Flakes chase other flakes in a breeze that paints your cheeks red. Frozen trees, hunched over, yield to open ledges, and a white-capped sea of mountains breaks against an empty horizon. The bright sun takes the sting out of the air as it reflects off crystalline surfaces. In the abbreviated daylight of winter, the yellow orb rides lower in the sky, rising just south of east and setting just south of west. The seven hikes that follow offer southern-exposed routes that spill out onto summits with views in nearly every direction.
Champlain Mountain
Mount Desert Island, Maine
Only 1,058 feet above sea level, Champlain Mountain’s open, granite summit is premier seating for expansive views of Frenchman Bay and Bar Harbor eastward and an undulating series of peaks westward. The sun-kissed route begins at the Bowl Trail, near Sand Beach, traipsing past the Beehive, a 520-foot promontory, up to a 9.5-acre glacial tarn. The Bear Brook Trail continues up Champlain, where hardwoods give way to wind-slapped, gnarled pitch pine forests before 360-degree views take over.
Distance: 2.1 miles one-way
Info: www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/hiking.htm; Discover Acadia National Park, 2nd edition (AMC Books)
Mount Whiteface
Wonalancet, N.H.
Mount Whiteface clips the sky at 4,020 feet; its steep, south-facing cliffs stab upward and topple into exposed ledges. One of the most challenging trails in the Whites, the Blueberry Ledge Trail snakes up the peak’s southern flank, passing through quiet woods before scuttling up frozen ridge and ice-covered rocks that require crampons. The true summit is wooded, but the south summit 0.3 miles below reveals a swath of rolling mountains that spill out into the flat, white surfaces of dozens of frozen lakes.
Distance: 3.9 miles one-way
Info: White Mountain Guide, 28th edition, Map 3: Crawford Notch-Sandwich Range (AMC Books)
Mounts Welch and Dickey
Waterville valley, N.H.
A moderate, sun-soaked route on both the ascent and descent, the Welch-Dickey Loop is a popular day hike for those new to winter trekking. Running in a counterclockwise direction, the trail ascends 2,605-foot Welch Mountain first, where flat, open ridges spy out on the Sandwich Range and the cliffs of its sister peak. Higher up, stands of rare jack pine cluster on the rocky summit before the trail dips into a notch and then emerges steeply on the summit of 2,734-foot Mount Dickey. There is never a shortage of open vistas of distant peaks on the descent.
Distance: 4.4 miles round-trip
Info: White Mountain Guide, 28th edition, Map 3: Crawford-Notch-Sandwich Range (AMC Books)
Mounts Race and Everett
Mount Washington, Mass.
In the southwestern Berkshires, the Race Brook Falls Trail intersects the AT between Mounts Race and Everett. Just over a mile south, the open-ledged, 2,365-foot Mount Race has must-see views of the Housatonic Valley and Catskills that rival lookouts on 2,602-foot Mount Everett, less than a mile north of the junction. As the AT rises steeply up Everett’s southern ridge, the sun filters through pitch pines and scrub oaks, the largest unbroken tract of old growth in the state.
Distance: 7.4 miles round-trip
Info: Mount Everett State Reservation, (413) 528-0330; Massachusetts Trail Guide, 8th edition (AMC Books)
Buck Mountain
Lake George, N.Y.
The 2,000-foot ascent of Buck Mountain from the Pilot Knob trailhead is spread evenly over 3.3 miles; there are few steep sections to distract one from stealing glimpses of the southern shore of Lake George, which is visible through the trees before reaching the summit. From the bald-rock high point, the lake’s is-lands bespeckle the smooth-ice surface of Lake George, hemmed in by the Tongue Mountain Range, Gore Mountain, and Crane Mountain. On clear days, when the sun scorches the snow, the high peaks of the Adirondacks shimmer in the far north.
Distance: 6.6 miles round-trip
Info: www.adk.org; ADK’S Guide to Adirondack Trails-Eastern Region (ADK books)
Schunnemunk Mountain
Orange County, N.Y.
The eight-mile-long ridge of Schunnemunk Mountain is the centerpiece of 2,458-acre Schunnemunk State Park and provides plenty of basking options for sun seekers as it runs north-south. The Jessup Trail, with terminuses on Taylor Road and Seven Springs Road, breaks out from deciduous hardwoods and scrub and pitch pine to traverse the often-level ridge, which surveys Harriman State Park, the Hudson Highlands, and, in the distance, the faint outlines of the Catskills and Shawangunks. All approaches to the mountain are located on private land but open to the public.
Distance: 8.6 miles one-way (full length of Jessup trail)
Info: www.friendsofpalisades.org; NY-NJ Trail Conference Map #41
The Pinnacle
Hamburg, Pa.
On clear winter days, The Pinnacle can be a mecca for light-starved souls in search of vitamin D. Jutting out on a south-facing ridge, the 1,635-foot outcropping is the highest point of land in Berks County and surveys farmland punctuated by low-lying Appalachian ridges. The AT runs through here, and hikers can pick it up at Reservoir Road to reach the warm slabs of The Pinnacle. A required stop is Pulpit Rock (1,582 feet), which overlooks Blue Rocks, a mile-long cacophony of 40,000-year-old sandstone and quartzite boulders.
Distance: 8.5 miles round-trip
Info: www.harpweb.com/thepinnacle/hamburg.html; Exploring the Appalachian Trail: Hikes in the Mid-Atlantic States (Stackpole Books)
—Compiled by Karen Finogle
Contributors: Eric Stones; Evelyn Dufur, Co-chair Mohawk Hudson Chapter; Lennie Steinmetz; Wesley Tucker, New Hampshire Chapter Excursions Committee Chair; Pete Ingraham
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