A Three-fer - Tom, Field, Willey - 1-29-12

I decided that night that instead of the Hancocks (unsure about the water crossings after all the melting and rain, plus not really wanting to do that steep climb the day after a steep climb), I'd go for Field and Willey, and then if time/energy/weather permitted, Tom. I was staying at the Highland Center like the weekend before, so these were right there. They were also probably pretty well broken out since a lot of guests at the center frequent these trails.

Sunday saw me wake up to a not-sore-anymore hip (yeay!) but a very sore achillies tendon...what the heck! I was able to stretch it out reasonably and decided to give my plan for the day a go. I could always just call it off if need be, and drive back home without anything, the mountains weren't going anywhere.

I actually started out decently. I stopped at Avalon on the way up and took in the limited views briefly (in and out of the clouds all day, and pretty breezy) and snaked. I then slowly chugged up to Field and actually reached the summit 2.5 hours from leaving the Depot, a lot better than I expected! I trudged over to Willey, where I finally had a snack again (boy did I need it too! I should have had something at Field but wanted to get out of the wind).

Mount Tom waiting for me

Carrigain Notch from between Field and Willey

Gray Jay visiting on Mount Willey

View down through Crawford Notch from Mount Willey

Ate at the overlook just below the summit with 5 other people and 2 very friendly gray jays that were literally eating out of the palm of your hand (even when not invited!). Up to this point I'd been in microspikes all day, and really they were perfect except for the section between Field and Willey where there was more drifting and someone the day before had punched a TON of holes in the track. I didn't add any holes on the way to Willey, but put the snowshoes on for the trip back to Field to smooth things out some. There were people behind us using shoes the whole way (some barebooters/spikers too though) so the trail should be better packed now.

I had decided at the start of the day that with a 3-hour drive home, I'd have to be back to Field by 1 in order to do Tom as well. It was 1:05 when I got back, and I was feeling OK so I went for it. I cruised over to the A-Z trail, up Tom (where I passed a couple guys and an Airedale I'd seen earlier on between Willey and Field), took some pictures on the windy cloudy summit, and hopped back down to the A-Z Trail. I had left Field a mere 55 minutes ago! I don't usually move that fast in summer!

This way to #3 for the day

Look back to Field from near Tom's summit

Carrigain Notch

Uneventful trip down to the depot, back at my car at 3, so a shade under 7 hours ET. Not bad considering I still don't have the endurance I used to, and the day before was a tough hike. Microspikes were fine all day, though as mentioned snowshoes were better in between Field and Willey. Everything else was packed down solid, and most of it really could be barebooted. Some icy spots on Avalon and A-Z trails though, making spikes helpful.

Route taken - South leg first

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114607190336092730169/January292012FieldWilleyTom?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLLU9LPFmOfrAw&feat=directlink

A Trek over 10 Kitties - Wildcats A-E - 1-28-12

Alright, so only 2 count as 4K's, and a ton of PUDs...

The Presidentials from the Lost Pond Trailhead

The route

This was the Wildcats. Joined up with Sue and Earl from VFTT (do they really need an intro here?) for this one. The plan was to hike a traverse from Pinkham to 19-Mile Brook. In total there were 6 of us on this day, and a fast trip was NOT in the cards.

After the snow/rain/sleet from Thursday/Friday (the tail end of which I drove up through Friday night...), there was a "lovely" crust on top of crappy snow. Snowshoes went on almost immediately after leaving the road on Lost Pond Trail, and they stayed on until the lot at 19 Mile Brook. I had never been on this section of the Wildcat Ridge Trail, and let me say that it lives up to it's billing as one of the steepest trails in the Whites. It is rated at 1.9 miles and 2150ft, but what that doesn't tell you is that there is a fairly moderate section in between 2 VERY steep sections.

We bushwhacked around the first ledge, as it was narrow, had a nasty sheer drop-off next to it, snow drifted over it at a 50-60 degree angle, and likely an inch of ice under. Also nothing to hold onto. The bushwhack was a unanimous decision and took us 20 yards to the right of it up and around. No problems aside from being steep. The remaining ledges were okay, but took a lot of work.

The climb was SLOW. The trail was not broken out at all, and was pretty crumbly so even with good kick steps, you tended to slide backwards a lot. There were some very nice views from the ledges going up, however, and we took our time to get safely up to E peak. We were at the chairlift between E and D at 12:20, roughly 4 hours after leaving the Pinkham Visitor Center. 

South from one of the ledges

Mount Washington

The traverse along the ridge went better as there was some broken out sections, but snowshoes were still very much needed. Some barebooters were punching a LOT of holes along the trail... We eventually reached A peak, took some pictures and looked into the notch, then cruised down to the 19 Mile Brook Trail. Sue set an aggressive pace out (especially after the trip we'd had so far...) and we reached the cars right around 5PM. 

View nearly straight down 1000 feet to Carter Notch Hut from the summit overlook at Wildcat A

Carter Dome across Carter Notch from Wildcat A

This was the first real test of my Lightning Ascent snowshoes, and boy were they terrific. Their grip is just amazing! In fact, 3 of the 6 in our group had LA shoes, and 2 of the remaining 3 had MSR's as well. I got to learn kick-stepping...very helpful getting up those snow-covered steep sections!

Note the pitches in the first 2 miles...

Thanks to Sue and Earl for letting me come along, and to Mike, Fitz, and Dave (I think I got those names right) too. It was a fun day, but not one I'm looking to repeat immediately It was a good challenge though, and while I'm glad it is over, I'm glad I did it! I was battling a sore right hip most of the day, not sure what that was about...

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114607190336092730169/January282012Wildcats?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKOD5OOGoJLlqQE&feat=directlink

A Second Winter Hike - Jackson and Webster - 1-22-12

Trailhead

View of Mount Tom from the trailhead

Second winter hike ever for me...as I was staying at the Highland Center, Webster-Jackson was near the top of my list, and with clear weather expected all day, and high-teens summit temps, this was a go. The winds which were supposed to be in the 30mph range never materialized again, not that I'm complaining! Maybe on Washington they were blowing, but not on the clear summits to the South! (And I was later told they weren't blowing much higher up either).

Nothing unusual here, I did the Webster-Jackson Trail, doing Jackson first, then along the Webster Cliff Trail to Webster, and down the Webster fork. Microspikes were perfect for this. There were numerous icy ledges along the Webster-Jackson Trail, especially the portion below the fork and the Jackson Branch. Bare boots would have been fine between the summits, but I left the spikes on.

Not too many people seen today either, I might have gotten out before the crowds. Saw 2 people as I returned from the cliff overlook 0.6 miles from the road, they were heading to Washington for the day...that's a decent walk! Ran into 2 guys coming down about 3/4 mile from the Jackson summit (kpmmbm and CrazyBob from Views From the Top).

Almost to the summit of Jackson!

I was climbing at a better overall rate today, and actually summited right around book time (2.5 hrs) One couple caught up to me shortly after this and we leap-frogged to the summit. They headed right down after taking a few pictures (football game?) So I had the summit MOSTLY to myself for 45 minutes while I hung out by the summit carin and snacked. 3 gray jays were all over me during this looking for handouts...one was even taking food from my hand as I went to eat it!

Gray Jay looking for handouts

FANTASTIC views today! The only other time I was on Jackson it was overcast and cloudy, and so visibility wasn't great. Today was a perfect day, 120 mile visibility no problem. Temps were around 15-20F on the summit (at 11AM) and as I mentioned, just a very light intermittent breeze, and abundant sunshine. A true Presi day as the term goes. I took a ton of pictures, identifying what I could off-hand in Carrigain/Vose Spur, Field/Tom/Willey, all the Southern Presidentials, Isolation, Wildcats and even some Carters, Chocoura, Franconia Ridge peeking out behind the Willey range, and I think I even saw the Bonds. Very nice.

Mount Washington and the Southern Presidentials

Mount Washington

Mount Carrigain

Summit carin on Jackson

Mount Washington and it's South-Eastern Leg

Washington and the Southern Presidentials

After a while I started packing up to go, and 2 other couples summited right then. I left the gray jays to beg from them and headed to Webster. From here on I saw no one until the road.

The trail between Webster and Jackson I have never been on, but it was pretty steep in a number of spots, and butt-sliding was very helpful on a lot of ledges. The trail was well-broken and easy enough to follow, though the trail was overgrown in a number of spots. Heavy brushing will be needed come spring, though some of it will ease once the snow melts off the limbs that were only in the trail because of snow. Hit the trail junction just below Webster, popped up to the summit for a little to take some pictures into Crawford Notch. Headed down at 12:40, and was back at the car right at 2PM (left the car at 8:20).

Mount Willey from Webster

Mounts Field and Tom from Mount Webster

I was a shade over 5.5 hours for the whole loop with a long stop on Jackson, not too bad.

A great hike, thanks a ton to those that suggested it!

Winter 4K #2....

Pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/114607190336092730169/albums/5700614054802906321?authkey=CPDDmOu6qPmGbQ

My First Winter Hike - Mount Hale 1-21-12

And it was essentially solo. Saw the first people of the day about 2 minutes down from the summit, then a group on the Zealand Road heading to the hut. Otherwise, just me, the lightly falling snow, and the woodpeckers (a bunch of them!)...

A quiet parking lot in the falling snow

Overall a great first hike. I was a bit worried about the -30 or lower wind chills predicted for the summits. Ended up with hardly any wind all day, even on the summit it was calm.

Parked at the winter Zealand Road parking on Rt. 302, walked up the road to Hale Brook, summited, and retraced steps. The road was well-packed with a spider-web of fresh and not-so-fresh ski tracks, and filled in footprints (about 1" fell overnight). I was obviously the first one up this way on this day, aside from maybe a skiier or two. Bare-booted up to Hale Brook, no problem.

At the start of (closed) Zealand Road

Gated entrance to Zealand Road

Trailhead Kiosk for Hale Brook Trail

I microspiked up Hale Brook. A fairly-well packed trail, with the same ~1" of powder on top, and I probably could have bare-booted the whole thing without trouble honestly. Summitted eventually (I was slow, about 30 minutes over book time from car to summit) I am rather not in shape...climbing was slow, perhaps I need to learn to slow my pace instead of the spurt-stop-spurt-stop deal that I did...this was also my first solo hike ever.

I hung around at the completely untouched summit for 30-45 minutes. Lend-a-Hand was not cleared out since Thursday night's snow it appeared, although it might have only been the 2" that had fallen since Friday night, I didn't go far enough to look. Not knowing exactly where the Fire Warden's Trail (which is officially closed, but a very popular approach, especially in winter) comes in (I didn't feel like pulling my map out...), I couldn't check that, but there was no obvious path so I'd say it too hadn't been touched in a day or so. No views thanks to the clouds, a brief glimpse of either Zealand or the Twins (too quick to orient myself) was it. Not that Hale has much of a view anyway without standing on the carin with arms stretched high with a camera... There were several inches of fresh powder on the summit, looked to be a solid 6" plus, so I put my snowshoes on and tramped around a little to get used to them. Switched back to microspikes after a little bit.

Summit carin atop Mount Hale

The summit area of Mount Hale - you can just see the old foundation spikes poking through the snow.

Taken while standing on the carin with arm stretched up overhead - you can see some stuff on a better day, but it isn't much!

This way to Zealand Hut

Ate some food, headed down. Still in microspikes, but shortly after passing the previously mentioned couple, I put the snowshoes on. I was post-holing slightly with the harder landings from descending. No problems shoeing down, and since the couple was shoeing up, there should be a nice track again now. Descent was pretty solid, right around 1 hour. Put the snowshoes back on the pack at the trailhead, barebooted out. Drove back to Highland Center where I was staying in the bunkhouse and had a nice view of the Southern Presidential along Rt. 302 as the clouds had cleared...figures!

Totals: ~9.8 miles round-trip (figure ~0.2 roadwalk to get to Zealand Road from the parking lot, 2.5 miles up the road, and 2.2 up Hale Brook, then turn around and do the reverse), 7.5 hours taken total.

Side Note: Oddly, while the AMC book and the sign at the Zealand road end of Hale Brook all say 2.2 miles from trailhead to summit, the sign at the summit of Hale says 2.3 miles back to Zealand Road...

I enjoyed the hike overall, although the 2.5 mile road-walk at the end wasn't all that great...having the trails to myself with the light snow all day was actually very nice. Plenty warm enough, most of my layers stayed in the pack (except at the summit) despite the single-digit-F temps. Time for more winter hiking!

At the Hale Brook Trailhead on Zealand Road...

At the summit of Hale...

All Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114607190336092730169/January212012MountHale?authkey=Gv1sRgCIPNsND6jKCLggE

A Flags on the 48 Trek - September 11, 2011

My friend and I were up in the Whites for the weekend. It was my first time hiking since my dad and I did Carrigain for number 48 in 2007, and my friend's first real hikes.

We felt fine in the morning after doing Moosilaukee yesterday, a good sign since we had a long hike and a long drive home ahead of us (mine wasn't too bad at 2.5 hours, but my friend had 5+ hours ahead of him). We did Franconia Ridge on this day, going up Falling Waters and down the Bridle Path. We parked at Lafayette Place, not wanting to go to the U-turn on 93 (and then having to U-turn again later to go South), and were there shortly after 8 as the Kinsman and maybe Cannon teams were about to head off. We headed over to the Old Bridle Path trailhead and started up Falling Waters at 8:15.

I was hoping to be at Lincoln around noon, but Falling Waters's second half kicked our butts a bit. I had done this trail before in light rain with 8-9 other people before, but didn't remember it being this steep, especially the upper part. We made good time to Cloudland Falls, but were stopping quite a lot once we passed them (and I mean a LOT - most of it was me stopping too...). We finally hit Shining Rock around 11 and made the side trip, which I will say was well worth it. We had some great views into the notch, over to Cannon/Kinsman and Moosilaukee and the like, despite the cloud deck. We hit Little Haystack's summit around 11:45 and hung out there for a while.

We saw the flag go up on Flume, and then the one on Liberty. We also saw the flag on the side of Cannon, once we figured out what this reddish blob was all about! Lincoln was behind a cloud at this point, and Lafayette was in a cloud most of the day. As we crossed over to Lincoln we saw a helicoptor cross between Liberty and Little Haystack and then loop around Owl's Head, the Bonds, and then off to the East.

When we hit Lincoln's summit at 1, we stopped for lunch. While we were eating a bunch of people mentioned smelling hot dogs. Sure enough, the scout troop that was manning the flag on this summit was frying up hot dogs just below and East of the summit for their lunch. They had a few extras at the end that they gave to a couple thru-hikers and a couple other lucky people.

As I mentioned, Lafayette was in the clouds almost all day. We summitted just before 2, just in time for them to lower the flag. Then it was down to the hut, we didn't linger on the summit long as there was nothing to see. Naturally as soon as we got to the hut the entire ridge broke out of the clouds and stayed clear for the next couple hours as we descended. After a short stay at the hut, we headed down the Bridle Path and were back at the car just a tad after 5. The whole loop took us nearly 9 hours and we were tired. But it was well worth it. There were some great views until we hit Lafayette (Lincoln broke out before we hit it), and great views of the Ridge along the Bridle Path.

The trails were fine aside from the lower .25 miles of the Bridle Path. This section was VERY washed out, it looked like a dry streambed with all the loose stones, not like a trail. Some major work will be needed on this, the trail was eroded down roughly 3-4 feet in spots. Falling Waters was in fabulous shape all the way up though. Just the long climb that it always was I guess.

There were lots of people on the ridge on this day of course, what with it being the ridge but also FOT48.

Lincoln and Lafayette made 3 summits for my friend, and he is interested in possibly more (all 48 anyone? :) I'm going for round 2 now.

I hope all that got to experience this even either as a participant or just as a bystander like us enjoyed it and remembered what it was all about. 10 years ago I remember exactly where I was and how I found out about the planes hitting the towers. I suspect most others remember these details as well.

A good weekend overall and I intend to do much more hiking next year. I'm now working on round 2 of the NH48, but I also want to get the New England 4Ks, so maybe those will be next year's project?

4 Years in the Making - A Visit to the Moose - September 10, 2011

My friend and I were up in the Whites for the weekend. It was my first hike since my dad and I did Carrigain for number 48 in 2007, and my friend's first real hikes.

I opted to have us do Moosilaukee on Saturday, knowing it was an easier hike, and also thinking we'd see more flags on Sunday from the Ridge. We hit the trail at 9AM, there were already a bunch of cars along the road by the lodge. The trip up Gorge Brook was uneventful, there was one sorta tricky stream crossing about .5 miles after the Snapper Trail peeled off, but that was it. A nice, steady climb as I remembered it, and there were a lot of people both passing us and that we passed on the way up. We summitted at 11:30, meaning a total ascent time of 2.5 hours, a great time I felt, roughly the pace I used to climb at when I was in shape.

The summit was completely clear and the views were FANTASTIC. The only other time I was on this summit, we were in the clouds and could barely see the old concrete foundation from the summit. This time it was 100-mile+ visibility (as reported on the Mount Washington Observatory Site most of the day). We could see well beyond Lake Winnipesaukee, well into Vermont, Mount Washington, etc. Anyone hiking on this day knows what it was like. The only downer was there was a pretty stiff breeze the whole time. We huddled on the East side of the summit like most everyone else and ate a hot lunch, boy did that hit the spot!

Unsurprisingly, there were a LOT of people on the summit this day, I'd say easily 50-60 at once, and we saw a fair number on the Carriage Road as we descended. We also saw somewhere around 12-15 dogs, all either at the summit, or shortly into our descent. The dogs were having a great time. Dartmouth was having some sort of freshman orientation down at the Lodge and I think a bunch of them made the hike up too.

One person brought up a flag and mounted it on a long stick on the summit. A day early, but who cares, it was a great symbol and well appreciated.

Anyway, we started down at 12:30 and were at the car by 2:30. 5.5 hours total including a one hour stay at the top, not too bad at all by my standards (I know some of you are crazy fast). Especially with it being 4 years since I did anything really strenuous. We went down the Carriage Road to the Snapper and back to the car.

I was thinking of a visit to the South Peak of Moosilauke, but we missed the side trail. I chalked this up to forgetting the spur was off the Glencliff Trail and not the Carriage Road. Well, I later was reminded that the spur trail left right from the Carriage Road/Glencliff Trail junction. We just missed the sign. O well.

The trails were all in terrific shape except for the one crossing I mentioned earlier. It was obvious some work had been done on the trails since Irene, but not much, I think they weathered the storm pretty well. The bridge near the bottom of Gorge Brook has had some work done on it recently, this could well be due to Irene damage or just work that was done this summer. I'm not sure right now. Can't say the same for the road to the lodge, it is very pitted at the entrance and there is a spot partway along it on the left as you come in where a 1-2 foot width of the road about 25 feet long washed away.

We both felt fine come morning, just a few mild aches aside from my knees that have not been good in over 10 years (before I even started hiking...). But overall a great day.