12/21/14 Frye Mountain

Another gray day but a little warmer- upper 20's. Hadn't been here in awhile so we didn't know what trail conditions we would find.

The gate on the road is closed in winter and you have to walk it to the trailhead. A pretty good amount of snow.

Someone had preceded us recently so it looked like the trail might be OK. We did not plan to go to the top as the last section has spots difficult for Kelley in good weather.

A small stream near the start.

There is an alternate route that lets you avoid crossing the Bartlett stream and we took that.

It takes you to the road and a bridge across the stream

The person before us had turned around at the road and there were no more tracks. I missed the turn to return to the main trail and we walked the road to where the trail crossed it further on.

Once back on the trail there seemed to be more snow and walking was a bit slower. But the woods were beautiful with lots of snow still on the trees.

When we reached the Outlook the sun was trying to come out but didn't get very far. The views here are all you get as the summit is wooded without a view.

At this point we turned back the way we had come but were able to follow the Alternate Trail this time so we had only had a short time on the road. The section we had first missed had a lot more blow downs and work arounds so was a little more arduous for Kelley. It was a beautiful though somewhat arduous hike so we will do an easy one tomorrow. 3 hours