Waterville Valley Hiking and Congratulations Anna

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

We went to the Waterville Valley Conference Center last Saturday evening for the New England Ski Museum’s annual meeting and dinner. Waterville Valley’s own Anna McInyre was awarded the The Spirit of Skiing Award. McIntyre has won many awards for her contributions and dedication to snowsport racing–from being the first woman ever designated Chief of Race for alpine World Cup races to being the first chairman of the USSA Snowboarding Committee.
McIntyre was inducted into the US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1998 and they noted “Anna McIntyre has been the most influential woman in the history of International snow sport racing.”
I got to know Anna when I was on the board of the Museum and I looked forward to the event.
We made plans to attend and bring along our recently retired friend, Wes. Wes loves cross-country skiing so last fall he bought a condo in Waterville Valley and he invited us to stay with him. We made plans to hike Sunday morning too. We were excited to show him some of Waterville’s hiking trails in his new backyard.
The dinner was a smashing success and it was great to see Anna honored. Afterwards it was a nice short walk to Wes’ condo.
The next morning we were all up early. Since I am the only one that drinks coffee, I made a mad dash to buy a cup, it was just a short walk to Jugtown in the Town Square. I was back just as the eggs and bagels were ready for breakfast.

Our first hike began at the Town Square and from the dam we walked up the cross-country ski trail, through a tunnel, right on a bridge over Snow’s Brook and then straight over another bridge over the Mad River. The Path is billed as an easy short hike of 1 mile (one way) but it isn’t that easy. It has a steep stone staircase and Charlie counted 52 steps. There is also a rock hop over large boulders that were placed in the West Branch of the Mad River’s streambed. The hopping between the rocks was more daunting because the water was running fast and high. The path is a pleasant walk that took us less than an hour to go out and back.

Next we piled into the car to meet Bria at the Smarts Brook Trailhead. Thanks to our texting machines, she let me know she wanted to join us when I told her that we were doing some tramping along the Smarts Brook area trails. We left her car there and Charlie drove the four of us drove back about two miles towards Waterville and we parked at the gate at the beginning of Old Waterville Road. This 2.5 mile long trail is part of the old road that ran between Campton and Waterville.
This time of year when all the leaves have fallen and left the hardwoods bare the hiking trails no longer feel like a long green tunnel. There is much more to see. I love being able to look deeper into the forest and up at the surrounding mountains through the now open treetops.
Along the Old Waterville road we admired stonewalls and a cellar hole. We found the old cemetery with gravestones from the early 1800s and read the inscriptions. People died young then.

We met some people headed to the cemetery near the intersection at the top of the Pine Flats Trail and they tried to get us to take that trail back down to the car. When we told them we were redlining the trails and had to finish the Old Waterville Road first they told us we’d better have all day. We hustled along.
When we got to the end of the trail we turned left and now headed up the Pine Flats Trail. Also known as the Wicked Awesome Smarts Brook Gorge and Cascades Trail–okay I made that up but that would be a more worthy trail name. The trail has good footing and isn’t steep too. Wes looked forward to bringing his wife and father on this nice path.
Every time we reached a connecting path I went out and back with Bria to complete the redline of the trails.
We continued to make a loop by following the Yellow Jacket and Tri-Town Trails working our way back to the Smart Brook Trail parking lot. We were happy there was as nice bridge to cross Smarts Brook at the end of the Yellow Jacket Trail. These trails are also used for cross-country skiing in the winter. We turned right and walked a short distance on the Smarts Brook Trail and then turned left on the Tri-Town Trail and climbed up a hill and then back down. Just before we got to lower end of the trail we saw a bright orange hat and underneath it was Jeremy hiking towards us.
Jeremy had just finished hiking the Osceolas and saw Bria’s car and guessed we’d be returning this way. It was a good lucky guess because now he could join us for lunch.
We picked up our car and headed back to the Town Square where we ate yummy hot sandwiches at Legends.
Have Fun.

Amy Patenaude is an avid skier/outdoor enthusiast from Henniker, N.H. Readers are welcome to send comments or suggestions to her at: amy@weirs.com.