Zealand Mountain

Date: 7/5/2020

Elevation: 4,260’

Miles: 11.6 miles

Time: 7 hours, 11 minutes

Trails: Zealand Trail to Twinway and back

After almost a year-long hiatus with an achilles tear along the way, Emma and I got back in the White Mountains together this week! Our last hike was on July 16 last year when we did the Kinsmans and swam in Lonesome Lake. It seems fitting that for our reunion we picked a hike where we could swim again at an AMC hut.

This was actually my third time going to the Zealand Falls hut. The first time was in 2009(?) with my family when we did a hut-to-hut hike from Galehead to Zealand and the second was with Hanover High’s March Intensive in 2015. Both times I remember being absolutely exhausted when I reached the hut; in 2009 because I was 11 and we had just hiked 7 miles and I was not built for that and in 2015 because we had to hike in DEEP snow with snowshoes. The access road also closes in the winter, so the 2.8 mile hike from the trailhead becomes a couple miles longer since you have to hike in. We got to the hut and I was deadddd.

Zealand Falls in 2009

Zealand for March Intensive

But on this hike with Emma, I was still feeling great when we got there! Third time’s a charm I guess. It only took us an hour to get to Zealand Falls since those first 2.8 miles are basically entirely flat and then the climbing begins right after the hut.

We took a lil break to check out the hut and the Falls before going in on our elevation gain. After a tough 1.2 mile ascent we reached Zeacliff, where we were lucky to have the views all to ourselves. Zeacliff is the only viewpoint on this hike, so we made sure to soak it in before we continued on another 1.8 miles to the cairn-in-the woods summit that is Zealand. On the way there, we passed a five-year-old who’s hiking the AT with his parents. Not bad for a kindergartener…

After the usual pb&j summit lunch we headed back the way we came for our dunk in the Falls. When we swam in Lonesome Lake we just went in in our sports bras and spandex, but this time we came prepared with bathing suits. The section of the Falls right in front of the hut is beautiful but not great for swimming, so after changing we hiked back up the trail a ways to reach a swimming hole we spotted on our hike up. It has a big waterfall and a pool below that’s deep enough to get your whole body in. If you want to that is…The water is absolutely frigid, but after Emma led the way, I followed suit.

We spent a while swimmin’ around and then split one of the hut’s amaaazing brownies and a piece of focaccia bread (also delicious). With a quick hike out, we finished around 4:30. If you’re planning this hike, you could do it in a lot less than seven hours but it’s worth it to build in the extra time to swim if you can stand the cold :)