A night at Rattle River shelter

[rafe]

Did a quick trek up to the north country yesterday morning. Back mid-day today. Gorgeous day of spring skiing at Sunday River yesterday. Left there bit early and headed towards Gorham. Walked a crunchy 1.7 miles up to Rattle River shelter in snowshoes and spent the night in the shelter. There was a bright moon out. In the morning I headed back down and drove home, with a grand view of the Presidentials from Rte. 115 (1st photo.) The trailhead parking lots were all accessible and most of them were populated, particularly the one on Rte. 2 with trails to Madison and Jefferson.

Snow cover up here is strictly a matter of elevation. In town most of the snow is gone, but the snow was a good 18-24" deep at the shelter, and clearly got deeper the more you climbed. I walked uphill a bit from the shelter this morning. A few times I broke through the crust with the snowshoes and I realized that with the temperature around 60 most of the day, that crust might not hold me in the afternoon. I didn't want to be postholing up and down Mt. Moriah in snowshoes.

My passion for skiing has ebbed. I could have spent today at Sunday River, Wildcat, Loon, Attitash or Canon... and I skipped them all. Sunday River closes for the season after next weekend. The 2nd photo is from slopeside at Sunday River, looking in the general direction of Grafton Notch. It was 70 degrees this afternoon back home in MA.

[Slo-go'en]

Still pleanty of snow up in the hills. I heard thier digging through 25 foot deep snow dirfts on Mt Washington to open the auto road. It will be a while yet.

[rafe]

S'G- you know the area better than me but I know that snow in the Whites on Memorial Day is routine, and that's still a month and a half away. I was looking for an opportunity to break in the new snowshoes. Plus I just had to spend a day on skis, but one was enough. Today in MA it's back to a more seasonal 48 degrees and rain. :rolleyes:

[Slo-go'en]

There is a feature on the side of King Ravine known as "The 7". Snow in the Great Gully trail and a snow field above it makes a giant "7" as seen from the valley. A slide a couple of years ago took out part of the top section of the 7, so it's not quite as prenounced as it used to be. Anyway, the 7 is the last snow to go away and can linger well into June and this will likely be one of those years.

Well, you got 11 degrees on me - only 37 with rain. Those who choose to go to Gray Knob yesterday are likely regretting that decision about now! A day like today is about the worst you can get. And it was so nice yesterday.

[HikerMom58]

Nice pics rafe, thanks for sharing with us. :)