Hello Again, Zealand Falls Hut!

We've loved hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire since we first hiked up here with our local Appalachian Mountain Club group in 2004.  In that year, we did a hut-to-hut hike in the Pemigewasett Range, starting with Greenleaf Hut below Mount Madison, and on to Galehead Hut, ending at Zealand Falls Hut before hiking out.  We were back to Zealand Falls Hut a few years later when we hiked all of the White Mountain Huts, but it has been a while.  We had only one day on this stop to do a day hike, and decided to hike up to Zealand Falls Hut, taking the Zealand Trail, following the Zealand River, which is very picturesque:

Our total mileage was about 6 miles -- 5.6 miles of trail directly from the trailhead to the hut, and another half mile of side ventures to see falls, ponds and streams along the way.

We always hope to catch the Fall color when we head south in September and October, but we never know what we will get when we make our campground reservations.  In this case, we were also limited by our desire to spend as much time in Newfoundland as we could.  As it turned out, we hit the Zealand Falls trail on what might be the prettiest day this Fall.  Over half the leaves have turned color.  Enough leaves have fallen on the trail to remind hikers that it is autumn, but not enough to obscure the trail or make it slippery.

The granite and limestone of the White Mountains, together with so many boulders rounded from glacial action and wild rivers, makes this a most scenic and memorable area for hiking:

About a mile into the trail, we came to a small cascade that gave us a preview of the pretty flatrock rivulets of Zealand Falls.  We stopped to admire it and Dave took a selfy:

This was a first:  a tree had encircled a large boulder with its roots and, eventually, toppled.  The boulder had peeked out above the roots, and when the tree fell it lifted its roots, leaving an open circle where the rock had protruded:

We crossed Zealand River perhaps eight times.  Three of them were by plain but sturdy wooden bridges.  The others were by rock hopping.  Here is one of the bridges, with Kathy perched up top:

The greatest highlight of the trail -- other than Zealand Falls at the top -- is Zealand Pond, which was so still today that it reflected everything around it. 

The bottom of Zealand Pond is a wetland that has been sculpted by beaver activity, and the trail tries to leave all of that undisturbed by crossing on a raised boardwalk:

Just across the boardwalk, Kathy spotted these orange maple leaves and declared that they were her best friends.  Kathy and the leaves embraced each other for this photo:

What a glorious Autumn landscape -- one direction --

-- and another:

We just couldn't get enough of the waters and the Fall colors.

We had started out early, and by 11:30 we reached Zealand Falls.  Here, Kathy stands below the falls themselves:

We hiked further up until we could walk out onto the smooth rock above the falls.  We were rewarded by this view to the East:

The view upstream was just as beautiful in its own way:

Zealand Falls Hut is one of our favorite huts.  We remember a family of two parents and three teenagers who we met in 2004 as they passed here on their mammoth through-hike of the Appalachian Trail.  It was pouring rain, and they hoped to shelter in the hut overnight.  Unfortunately, the hut was full and they had to tent in the rain; but it did not dampen their spirits.  We chatted with them about the adventures they had had so far on the A.T.

Today, the hut was empty, save for one Hut Croo member, who was busy cooking supper for the hikers who would arrive later in the day.  He still had, however, leftovers from breakfast and split pea soup from the prior evening's dinner, which we were able to enjoy with our sandwiches and water.  We exchanged stories with our host and Kathy purchased one of the unique AMC Hut t-shirts depicting Zealand Falls Hut.

After a short rest, we started back down the trail, but not before exploring around the hut.  We spotted the backboards used by Croo members to haul trash out and supplies back in to the hut each day.  Croo had autographed the backboards with their names, trail monickers and years.

Our hike back was uneventful -- save for the large number of hikers we met who were hiking up the trail.  We had started so early that we hardly met any other hikers on our way up to the hut.  However, by noon, many adventurers were out enjoying the spectacular Fall scenery.

One group of hikers was perhaps 25 or 30 6th grade students who were being led on an overnight hike to Zealand Falls Hut, where they would spend a -- no doubt exciting and noisy -- night camping out.  One group of kids decided to make trail art, including this maple tree constructed from -- you guessed it -- maple leaves:

We expressed our admiration for their artwork and their adventuresome spirit, then bade them good journey as we turned on down the trail.  Before too long, we were back at the trailhead, realizing sadly that our visit to the White Mountain trails was already over.  It only whetted our appetite to get back up here again soon to enjoy this very special place.

Until we see you on the trail here again, stay thirsty, my friends!