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I
was looking forward to seeing the terrain below Mt Tom without snow on the
ground. As I said, the last time I was here, I had quite a hard time
finding the trail in the soft spring snow. But I figured that the trail
would be much more obvious at this time of the year.
Heading
down the A-Z Trail, I was not disappointed. There was no way of mistaking
this trail now that the treadway was visible. In fact, I could hardly see
how I could have missed it, even with the snow. The woods, which had
seemed so open at the time, were now filled with undergrowth. Of course,
without leaves and covered in snow, these small bushes would have gone
unnoticed.
After
descending into and climbing out of a steep but dry gully, we arrived at
the junction with the Avalon Trail. The A-Z Trail, which stands for
Avalon-to-Zealand, ends here, about halfway between Mt Tom and Crawford
Notch. On the way down, I saw a few purple trilliums and some more painted
trilliums.
Not
far from the bottom, the Cascade Loop diverges from the Avalon Trail and
passes by Beecher and Pearl Cascades along Crawford Brook, returning to
the main trail a short distance downhill. I decided to take this side trip
since I had never been that way before. The two waterfalls were
interesting, but not as spectacular as many others in the mountains.
Still, they're not far from Crawford Depot, and would make an easy hike
for a family with small kids.
Finally
reaching the end of the trail, we passed the Crawford Depot, now an AMC
information center, and headed back to our car which was parked next to
the Highland Center. I put Muffin in the car, then went inside to buy a souvenir
shirt. It had been a pleasant and a fairly easy hike, especially with the
addition of the new ladders on the south side of Mt Willey. |
Purple
trillium. I saw this flower on the way back down the Avalon Trail. |
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