The Mighty Zealand River

I went hiking this weekend with my cousins, who had come up for Memorial Day weekend. The original plan was to hike in to Zealand Hut and spend the night. We woke up Saturday morning, packed up, and headed out. It was raining a bit when we got to the trailhead, but we set off with our rain gear on. All was well until we reached what is usually a small brook. Today, however, it was a torrent, overflowing its banks and flooding the trail.

                                             Usually those rocks are above the water!
I was able to get across, but it was not easy. We spent some time trying to find a good way for everyone to get across. There were some railroad ties near the crossing. These were big pieces of wood, probably 6x6 lumber. We tried putting one of these across some rocks, but the river swept it away like a small twig. It was pointed out that the river was running fast enough that one could play Poohsticks with the ties. After seeing this it was decided it was unsafe to continue and that we should return to the cars and try again another time.

Today we drove over and hiked North Pack Monadnock since we couldn't get to Zealand. This is at the north end of the Wapack Trail, one of the oldest interstate hiking trails in the country. It was a pleasant hike up, and there were even some views on the summit. The cousins were looking forward to having ramen noodles at the top, so we took out the JetBoil and cooked some for them. After sitting at the summit for a while, we started to get cold, so we headed back down.

                                             Yellow triangle blaze of the Wapack Trail.