NH Zealand to the Cohos Trail

The last of the Appalachian Trail

It was still raining when I woke up in the tent, and I worried that it would rain all day. I had no access to a weather report. But it soon miraculously stopped and I was able to get up and cook some breakfast, excited to finally link up with the Cohos Trail and get picked up by my husband.

Zealand Trail! Zealand Pond, looking back towards Mt. Zealand

After some brief backtracking on the Applachian Trail, I said goodbye to the white blazes and turned north onto Zealand Trail.  I've been following white blazes since the Connecticut-Massachusetts border except for a short stretch of the SRK Greenway.

Beaver Pond along Zealand Trail

What an incredibly beautiful trail, and a super pleasant stroll. Especially after the frantic hike the day before along the ridge and then down the steep mountain in the rain.

It's all beautiful.

The trail started out along a series of beaver ponds and one postcard view after another. No other hikers for the first half. So peaceful.

Zealand Trail was mostly very easy

Zealand Trail is about 2.5 miles long and mostly level. Much of it (but not all) is almost like a sidewalk. The trail provides access to the Appalachian Trail and Zealand Hut, well as some other trails, and the AMC shuttle makes stops at the trailhead. So it gets busy, but it wasn't busy when I was on it.

Zealand Trail boardwalk

I very much enjoyed being able to relax and soak in the scenery. I had to eleven miles to cover by 3:00 pm, but it was mostly easy road walking, so there was plenty of time. And it wasn't raining!

Zealand granite, nice and gritty

I took a picture of the worn, crumbly granite that was typical of the rock there and which had provided such great footing in the rain the previous day, even on the steepest rock scrambles. I dubbed it "Zealand Granite." The white feldspar was crumbling away with the scouring of hiker boots and extreme weather, creating a coarse sand nearby, and a rock surface that was perpetually freshly broken instead of mossy and slick, the way rock is along lesser-used trails.

Blue blazes

There was a funny moment when I noted a blue blaze and out of habit suddenly thought I'd made a wrong turn because the blaze wasn't white. It took a moment to register that I wasn't on the A.T. any longer and the blazes weren't supposed to be white. Der. Interesting tidbit: In the White Mountains, the Appalachian Trail is blazed white. Each side trail off of the A.T. is blazed dark blue. Each trail that connects with a blue trail (but not the A.T.) is blazed yellow.

Zealand Road, crossing Hoxie Brook I think

After passing through the bustling parking lot at the trailhead and using the plush restroom, I headed north on Zealand Road, which is really just a gravel park road. I did pass the entrance to a cross-country ski trail which runs roughly parallel with the road and is an alternative to the road walk, but I wasn't sure if it was groomed for hiking and at this point I was in the mood for a nice road walk anyway.

Zealand River

Scenic Zealand River runs along the east side of the road, and much of the road walk was to the sound of the roaring water. The sky was getting a bit foreboding and dramatic. One minute it looked like rain and the next it was sunny and bright again.

Zealand River and Zealand Road

The road passed a number of parking areas and pull-offs, mostly empty on a Wednesday. Towards the end, it became paved and passed Sugarloaf Campgrounds parts 1 and 2.

Passing the campgrounds. 

A quick bridge-walk over the Ammonoosuc River, and then there was Zealand Picnic Area and Zealand Campground on either side of the road next to Rt 302. That was fast.

Ammonoosuc River

A history plaque described how the village of Zealand served the logging industry in the late 1800s until all the trees were cut. Then some fires destroyed the valley and the village. So there you go. How times have changed.

Drastic history

Farewell, Zealand. On to new lands. I turned east on Rt 302 and started walking down the highway, but soon realized there was some kind of track down below the road along the river and followed that. Turned out to be a snowmobile trail. It was nice.

Snowmobile trail along Rt 302 and the river

Before long, the snowmobile trail rose up to the highway and I could see the vast empty parking lot for the Lower Ammonoosuc Falls trail on the other side of the highway. The sky was getting weird. Clouds moving fast.

Dramatic sky looking back towards Zealand

Crossing the highway, I remembered that there might be a cell phone signal here according to the Verizon coverage map. So I gave it a shot and had 4G. Great! I sent off a text to my husband, the first since the top of South Twin Mountain. Checking the Verizon coverage maps before these hikes has been very helpful. You might not get a signal where they say you will, but if they show no signal then you definitely won't. So I let my husband know when I'm heading into an area with no signal and not to worry that he isn't hearing from me.

The falls trail followed an old railroad and was super easy and completely deserted.

Lower Ammonoosic Falls Trail

The falls came up quickly and were spectacular. A man and his boys were fishing in the big pool at the base, but there was no one else there. After awhile they left and I had the falls all to myself.

Lower Ammonoosic Falls

What a great place for a break. I did some math and allowed myself two hours to walk up Cherry Mountain Road to the pick-up point, meaning I would wait at the falls until 1:00 pm, about an hour or so.

White Admiral Butterfly

For me this marked the transition to the remote Cohos Trail, since the Cohos guidebook lists the spur trail to the falls. The Appalachian Trail was done. Zealand was done. From here to Canada I'd be following the Cohos. A butterfly landed on my foot and lingered, reminding me of the dramatic beetle that had hung out on on my boot at the top of Mt. Lafayette, the high point of the New England route.

Rain cave, just in case

It was a glorious stop, my feet in the falls, my back on the cool granite, and my face in the warm sun, watching the clouds speed by and the trees sway in the wind, and listening to the roar of the falls. Sigh.

Aster, probably New England Aster

The clock came around to 1:00 pm and it was time to head to the rendezvous point at the top of Cherry Hill Road.

Ammonoosic Falls access road looking towards the Presidential Range

I continued east on the trail for Lower Ammonoosic Falls, which quickly turned into a paved access road heading towards Cherry Mountain Road. There was so much plant life in this open area. Lots of berries and flowers.

Chokecherry at the junction with Cherry Mtn Road

Cherry Mountain Road. Yay! I was officially on the Cohos Trail. I first learned about this trail the previous year while hiking the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, and had been pining for it ever since. The Cohos is a little-known backpacking route between the White Mountains and the Canadian border, 165 miles long. I going to miss the part that went over the White Mountains, but since I'd just come over the Franconia and Twin Ranges, I mentally just made the substitution as roughly equivalent. The major difference would be that the Cohos Trail is meant to follow the quieter trails and I had just followed the busiest trail. I figured it would give me a nice contrast.

The Cohos Trail follows Cherry Mtn Road for about 3.5 miles

The road climbs gradually up the base of Cherry Mountain for about 3.5 miles, gaining about 800 feet if I recall. It had gotten hot and humid and the guidebook was wrong about tree cover: I was walking in the sun. No sooner had I run out of water than I heard a little brook off to the side and was able to get a refill.

Fabyan Guard Station

A log cabin called the Fabyan Guard Station was a welcome surprise. The cabin was built in 1923 by White Mountain National Forest rangers.

I was pretty hot, so when it started raining I didn't care overly much. It felt good. Maybe the moose would come out. It looked like it was going to rain for a long time, maybe all day, but after maybe half an hour it was all over and the sun was back out.

Coming up to a campsite

It was on Cherry Mountain Road that my plantar fasciitis finally acted up, and I limped slowly up the hill. It's always the easy parts that do it.

There are nine well-spaced campsites along this road, each numbered sequentially as you head up the road. Most of the sites were occupied, but a few were empty. I needed to get to campsite number nine. The Cherry Mountain Trailhead would be just after that.

Mt. Deception and a pond favored by moose

The road was pretty quiet, with only a few cars passing by. I was at the trailhead parking area (room for several cars) before 3:00 pm and my husband pulled in within ten or fifteen minutes after his golf game. How's that for timing?

Cherry Mountain Trailhead

He had secured us a room at the Four Season's motel in Twin Mountain. Hot shower!! And there was a great view out the window of the Twin Range nearby and the Franconia Range off in the distance. Perfect!

View of Twin and Franconia Ranges from our room