Undeterred by the threat of rain, Bruce and I hiked the Newbury Trail up Mount Sunapee recently in the early morning gloom. There was heavy fog in the area, and we didn’t expect to see anything from the several viewpoints. That certainly proved to be the case.
The trail was quite wet from recent rain. In fact, right at the start we had to hop from rock to rock to cross a stream seen in the photo above. This is sometimes just a narrow trickle in summer.
Not long into the hike it started to rain lightly. The rain persisted for about 30 minutes. Fortunately it was a warm rain. Unfortunately it made an already flooded trail even more flooded. Plus the warmth of the day caused the inside of our rain gear to quickly become almost as wet as the outside of it. So we shed our rain gear a soon as possible. The photo on the right above was taken about 60 minutes into the hike.
This is not a particularly difficult hike – I have done it many times. But with the trail as flooded as it was in many parts, maneuvering on roots and rocks trying to keep feet dry made it a challenging hike.
We decided to skip White Ledges knowing there would be absolutely no view. Instead we hiked down to Lake solitude. When we got to the water’s edge we could barely even see there was a lake there.
The area around the eastern shore of Lake Solitude is quite beautiful with moss and rocks, and the soft light was great for photography.
Here is what Lake Solitude and White Ledges across the lake look like on a beautiful fall day.
We hydrated and had a snack, sharing with Caro.
It appeared to us that the trail was even more flooded on the way down than on the way up. And there were some streams where normally there are none.
In spite of the conditions, it was an enjoyable hike, although unusually strenuous because of the water on the trail. This was a “warm-up” hike for our planned assault on Mount Jefferson in two days.
Directions to the Trailhead: Park near the caboose in Newbury Harbor (at the Newbury B&M Railroad Museum), walk up Newbury Heights Road, and take a right on Lake View Avenue.
You can see more photos of this great trail in other conditions and seasons if you CLICK HERE.