Mt. Hale (4054)
Trail: Hale Brook Trail
Date: May 15’Th 1999
Attending: Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine
Miles: 4.4Miles Round trip Time: 2.5hrs up, 5hrs. Total
AMC huts, / shelters / camping site:
Weather: Sunny, mid 50’s at base, 40’ish on summit no wind, hot sun,
“Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” Henry David Thoreau
What can I say, just another one of the 4K’s. Hale is a good bail out mountain to keep in your back pocket when something blows a big hike, like unexpected foul weather or something. The day we hiked, the air was comfortable but the afternoon sun heated up the damp trail and made it like a steam bath. Lots of little things kept going wrong with this hike, we forgot our poles; I ended up with only Gabe’s hiking socks. Thank God this was a little one. The trail itself is OK, but nothing to write home about. This would be a good “Non-Peak-Bagger” family type of hike. The Summit of Hale is a large rock and moss covered dome surrounded with trees just tall enough to block about 70% of the views. Nobody seemed to be in any rush on the summit, it felt more like a small town common on a sunny Sunday afternoon with people waiting about for the town band to show up and play. We did enjoy a nice 1/2hr. nap in the springtime sun on the thick mossy patches that are reclaiming the summit. Quite a bit really, more than enough to provide a good spot in the sun to start working on the tan.
If it wasn’t so far down Zealand road (closed in the winter) I’d say that this would be quite a nice winter 4K. None the less, I think I’ll have to stop being such a snob and give this mountain the respect it deserves and visit the summit a few times. Maybe I can switch between Osceola and Hale for bringing new-bies up into the Whites. I almost hate to say this here, but this summit would be a fantastic place to set up a tent and spend a nice starlit night.