From Crawford Notch to Bartlett: Two XC-Ski Adventures

After having lived in Bethlehem for nearly 10 years, I'm still amazed at how much beauty you can experience even with just a few short hours of outdoor activity.  On a recent Monday (07-January), it was gloomy and spitting snow.  However, the weather forecast said it would become sunny later in the day.  I frittered away a good part of the morning waiting for the weather to clear, and weighing my options for an outdoor adventure.

By late morning I grew weary of waiting for the weather to make up its mind, and so I made up my mind!  I strapped my snowshoes onto my pack, gathered my XC skis and poles, jumped into the car and headed in the direction of the Crawford Notch.   The sky was overcast all the way down Route 302 from my home to the top of the Notch.  But, as frequently happens, weather conditions became better at the south end of the Crawford Notch and onward toward Bartlett.

PART 1: Crawford Notch

With the clearing sky, my first stop of the day was at the parking area at the Willey House Site.  My goal was to XC-ski along the Sam Willey Trail to a viewpoint at the end of that trail, and then continue skiing southbound along the Saco River Trail.  I kept my snowshoes strapped to my pack.  I knew from previous experience that it's a good option to be able to hide your skis in the woods and change your footwear to snowshoes.  On this trek, having this option would make it easier to do some off-trail maneuvering to reach a wetlands area off the Saco River Trail. 

And so, here are a few snapshots of things that I saw on the Crawford Notch segment of my two-part journey for the day.

At the end of the Sam Willey Trail is a nice view looking northward toward the massive south-facing cliffs of Mt. Willard.  (As you'll see in the left portion of the following photo, there was still a tad of lingering mist that had yet to clear out.)

Looking northward up Crawford Notch toward massive south-facing cliffs of Mt. Willard

In the photo shown above, you can see a small portion of the two large mountains on either side of the Crawford Notch. (Mt. Willey on the left, and Mt. Webster on the right.)  The next two snapshots provide a better idea of the size of these mountains which form the two walls of the Notch.

The following snapshot of Mt. Willey was taken by doing a snowshoe bushwhack to a wetlands area located a short distance off the Saco River Trail.

Mt. Willey as viewed from wetlands area a short distance off the Saco River Trail 

The next snapshot shows a portion of Mt. Webster.  Capturing the entirety of the Mt. Webster ridgeline wasn't possible from any vantage point along my route for this particular day.

 A portion of the Mt. Webster ridgeline

The following snapshot from my Crawford Notch ramble shows a scene along the partially frozen Saco River.   If you look closely at the top center portion of the photo, you can see the remains of a bridge abutment.  As I understand it, there once was a road that crossed the Saco River at this point to provide access to campsites along the east side of the river.

Partially frozen Saco River with portion of old bridge abutment visible at top center of photo

PART 2: Stillings Road

With still a few hours remaining in the day, I decided to continue driving southward down Route 302 to Stillings Road.  This is a place in Bartlett that I had first visited in early May of 2012 when I incorporated this roadway into a loop hike involving Mt. Pickering and Mt. Stanton.  To read a report of that Springtime adventure, please click HERE.

To access Stillings Road, you make a turn off Route 302 onto Allen Road, then follow that road for about 0.3 mile until it veers sharply to the right and becomes Rocky Hollow Road.  At this sharp turn, there is usually room (off the shoulder of the road) for 1 or 2 cars to park.  Although there are no signs, Allen Road eventually morphs into Stillings Road at the point where the USFS land begins.  Both Allen Road and Stillings Road are public roads.  However, the land on either side of Allen Road is private land.  The land on either side of Stillings Road is generally public land, but there are a few private seasonal camps scattered along the roadside here and there.

The following map shows the location of Allen Road and Stillings Road. (Click to enlarge.)

Map showing location of Allen Road and Stillings Road

Stillings Road generally follows the old rail bed for the Rocky Branch Railroad (RBRR) which was used for logging operations (1908 to 1914).  The following snapshot shows a section of the corridor where the old rail bed is particularly apparent.

Portion of Stillings Road where old RBRR bed is particularly apparent

This public roadway is ideal for XC skiing.  Being mostly an old railroad bed, it is predominately flat.  And although snowmobiles occasionally travel along this corridor, it is not a snowmobile route.  Also, the woods on either side of the corridor are fairly open which makes for some great off-trail gliding to investigate the shoreline of the Rocky Branch River, or whatever might strike your fancy.

I'm uncertain about the exact mileage, but at about 1.5+ miles up Stillings Road is the abandoned Stillings Farmhouse.  I'm attempting to get more information about this structure.  Any additional information that is obtained will be included as an addendum to this report.  For now, suffice it to say that Stillings Road was named after the Stillings family who once lived along this road.

Shown below is a snapshot of the abandoned Stillings homestead (see ADDENDUM at bottom of this report).  Back in the day, the family must have had a magnificent view of Iron Mountain while sitting on their front porch.  Iron Mountain can be seen through the trees being illuminated by the late afternoon sun.

Abandoned Stillings homestead with Iron Mtn being illuminated by late afternoon sun

Part 3: My trip back home

Okay, I said at the beginning of this report that my adventure for this day consisted of only two parts.  Well, there was a third unanticipated part that happened on my way home when I experienced two occurrences of alpenglow! For anyone who is unfamiliar with the term "alpenglow" it's a phenomenon which can occur when the sun is just below the horizon and a reddish glow is cast upon the opposite horizon.  Alpenglow is easiest to observe when mountains are illuminated, but can also be observed when the sky is illuminated through what is known as backscattering.

While travelling northbound on Route 302, I noticed a glow in the sky as I approached the Scenic View pull-off near the trailhead for Arethusa Falls.  I steered my vehicle into this area and did my best to photographically capture the view.  Although the "in-person" experience was better than what is shown below, perhaps this zoomed photo will provide an idea of the alpenglow being cast upon the Presidential Range.

Alpenglow on Presidential Range

Then, a few minutes later, as I approached the same Willey House Site area where I had parked earlier in the day, I experienced a second alpenglow event!  The very top of Mt. Webster's ridgeline appeared to be ablaze!  The lower portion of the mountain was "shielded" from the alpenglow by the sheer bulk of Mt. Willey just across the Notch to the west of Mt. Webster.  The next photo will perhaps provide some idea of what I saw.  As with the earlier experience, the alpenglow was more dramatic when viewed in-person.

 Alpenglow atop ridgeline of Mt. Webster

 

To sum it up,  my XC-ski adventures are just a few examples of the beauty one can experience  in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, even with just a few short hours of outdoor activity.

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ADDENDUM (Added 13-Jan-2013):

 

A debt of gratitude is owed to Mike Dickerman (author and White Mountain historian) who provided me with the following information relative to the old Stillings Farm.

 

"In the book, The Latchstring Was Always Out: A History of Lodging Hospitality and Tourism in Bartlett New Hampshire by Alieen M. Carroll, there are a couple of pages of text regarding the Stillings family and their farm.  Peter Stillings, who came to town in 1796, was the original owner of the farm.  At some point he sold off half the land to his son, Peter, who apparently ran a farm and small inn.  He, in turn, sold his land to his son, Nicholas, who would build the Upper Bartlett House on the same property.  Incidentally, Peter Stillings was also among the "rescue" party that headed to Crawfiord Notch in August 1826 to determine the fate of the Willey family. That's just a brief history of the Stillings clan. If you want more info, I'd try and get a hold of the aforementioned book."