Saturday August 13.
Last weekend was the first weekend all summer that we didn’t get a hike in! We were in Keene so that I could work the Cheshire fair for scentsy. And although it was fun we were super bummed to not get a hike in, especially since it would be the only weekend in the entire summer that we didn’t hike! But that’s life and at least I got the 13th off. So we had two hikes, Waumbek that was supposed to be shorter and then Cabot that would be a little longer. Book time was 7 hours for Cabot and 5 hours for Waumbek. We were hoping to do Cabot in 4 hours and Waumbek in 2 ½. Ah little did we know.
So we tried to wake up at 6 am to just get the hikes over with and have the evening to relax. It was one of those mornings where it was so hard to get up and we fought with it all morning. But eventually we were up, fed and on our way. Cabot was going to be the longer of the two so we went there first, starting at the Berlin Fish Hatchery and taking the Bunnell notch trail. It was a fairly flat hike for the first mile and then it still wasn’t much climbing for the next 2 miles. At the 3 mile junction we were to take the Kilkenny ridge trail to the summit of Cabot. I knew we would have another trail junction in .3 miles and then have the last 2.4 miles to climb. Well for some reason Tony and I didn’t pay much attention to the sign and we went left, when we were supposed to veer right. I even thought to myself that it was weird we went left because I thought on the map we went right. But I didn’t question it because it had been a rough morning already. It was just one of those days where we both were so tired and exhausted from the week. We both had worked 50 hours, been super stressed about our life of finding a place to live for Dartmouth which was two weeks away, booking airline tickets, I had 5 hour drive to look at an apartment and countless other things. So the last thing I really felt like doing was hiking and I was definitely out of it.
Well I should have seen the other sign that we were on the wrong trail when it was just so overgrown. You definitely knew you were on a trail but for the entire time we had plants and trees just rubbing against us. There were tons of cobwebs, including this one that Tony walked through to feel the web on his face. He went to wipe it off and when he did this huge spider ended up on his hand. I’d never really seen Tony freak out from a bug but he was waving his hand around and a little creeped out by the big spider. I was not happy either because there were probably ones on me and I didn’t even know it. Well after 1.9 miles we came to a junction and were so excited because we thought it was about the time we’d be getting to the summit. I had thought it was weird that we never met the second junction at .3 miles but again I didn’t question it. We pulled the map out and discovered our horrible mistake. We’d just hiked 1.9 miles in the wrong direction on my least favorite trail. We laughed a little at our stupidity and we both agreed that at least it happened on a shorter hike but man it was annoying that it did happen on the day we were just so exhausted and over hiking.
Some hikes we start out not feeling it but eventually you get warmed up and enjoy it. Well this entire day was not enjoyable. So then we hiked the 1.9 miles back to the first junction only to discover that the sign clearly states the right way. We had just added 3.8 miles and 90 minutes to this hike, oh my. Well the last 2.7 miles to Cabot sucked too. It was such a grinder! Nothing so steep you had to use your hands but that made it worse because you could just keep going the entire time with nothing to slow you down but your fatigue. I couldn’t believe the amount of sweat that rolled off my face, it was disgusting. We eventually made it to the summit and we both just sat there not wanting to move. We started a little game of throwing rocks at targets just because we were trying to make it seem okay that we weren’t hurrying up. At this point Tony and I both were thinking how we didn’t want to hike Waumbek. We still had the hike back to the car from Cabot, then it would be a 45 minute drive to the trailhead and we were low on food so we would have to resupply. Yet we really wanted to get it done because we were closer to it than from home and more importantly we really wanted the Pemi loop to be our last hike.
On the long hike back to the car we agreed that we would go get some food, rest for a while and then decide if we were going to do it. It was one of the worst days I’d ever had hiking so I was really not wanting too, but I also knew that we would just man up and do it. We thought Cabot would take us 4 hours and it probably would have but because of our little mishap it ended up taking us 5 hours and 59 minutes. Ugh!
Well there weren’t many food options on our route to Waumbek so we ended up at this Country store and grill in Jefferson eating chicken fingers and a chicken salad sandwich. Although we were very hungry the food was not good at all. We asked the people there if we could fill up our water bottles and they said they didn’t have a sink that we could use…. mmmm ok? But there was this foreign gentleman that mentioned there was a stone wall a few miles down the road that had a spicket with water coming out of it. It was from a spring and all the locals drank out of it. I was a little skeptical but I did remember seeing a lady and little girl by some wall so it must be real. After we ate we headed down there and sure enough there was a spicket with water continuously rolling out of it. And it was yummy water! After we filled ours up when we were leaving a big family rolled up and drank it too, so that made me feel better.
Well the food and the spring water weren’t helping with my overall yucky feeling but we were so close to the trailhead we just couldn’t go home. So we drove right to the parking lot and decided maybe we should take a nap and that would help rejuvenate us? An hour later we woke up and realized if we were going to do this hike we needed to get going right away. It was 5:40 pm when we started and if we finished in 2 hours we’d probably be down before dark, but we had our headlamps in case we weren’t.
So the nap helped but I still felt horrible. I felt so sick and so tired and contemplated turning back multiple times. But I just kept telling myself it would be a short hike and to just do it and not mess up our plans. The first peak we would get to was Starr King and that was 2.7 miles in and this is where all the elevation gain was. After Starr King it was another one mile to Waumbek with a little descent and then another climb up to the peak.
So I have this thing that when I’m really tired while hiking or running I will actually count my steps. It seems silly and boring but it helps keep my mind occupied and off the fact that I’m miserable and exhausted. Just so you know it takes 2400 steps to get to Starr King. So basically I’m saying that I counted all the way to the summit and that’s because I was so exhausted and miserable the entire time I had to do something. It was a frustrating feeling because I didn’t think the hiking we had done and were doing was that hard and I shouldn’t be this tired. But I knew that sometimes you just have an off day, later we realized that we also did hike a lot of mileage that day.
Anyway, so Tony also had us on a schedule were every ten minutes we would stop and rest for 2 and drink some water. I know that I was on the path to dehydration but my stomach felt so icky I couldn’t drink much water, which in turn made me feel worse because I was sweating sooooo much!!
Well we eventually reached Starr King and man did I book it to Waumbek. Like I said it was one mile with some elevation gain but we hiked that one mile stretch in 23 minutes! We arrived at the peak with a total time of 1 hour and 46 minutes. Even though I was exhausted and I would have loved to sit for a while I wanted to take a quick picture and get going, because if anything outweighs my tiredness it was my fear of being in the woods at dark.
Another 20 minutes and we were back at Starr King and ready for the descent. Luckily it wasn’t too gnarly of a trail so we thought maybe we would try to run it and get down hopefully in 50 minutes, which would put the entire hike under 3 hours. It took us 1:23 to get up so it wasn’t that unfeasible but we’d have to be quick. Running NH trails is not like running Idaho trails. It’s soooooo technical and rocky, even on this trail, but we tried our best. We had a few close calls of falling on our face or rolling ankles but we survived. We did have to walk at certain points because it was just too tricky and probably 15 minutes in the darkness started to creep into the woods. We stumbled upon a couple who were camping at the summit and they had a beautiful bloodhound named Lily. The dog was so cute and would talk to us, she even weaved through my legs a few times; I miss having a dog around! The last 20 minutes of the hike it was very dark all around us. You could really only see where the headlamp shined, which was at the ground in front of you. I definitely heard some noises in the woods around us and was getting very creeped out. I do not like being out in those trees at night but I kept trying to stay calm because I knew we would be out of it soon. After 45 minutes we emerged out of the woods to our little car.
I never would have thought that after all the hiking the time I would feel the worst was when I was sitting in the car on the drive home but sure enough I got majorly sick. Tony and I assumed that I was having a big sugar crash from the food we ate throughout the day, and the food we didn’t eat like protein, fruits and veggies. I also think that I had some heat stroke and/or dehydration going on. But either way I was so sick on the 50 minute drive home that I had contemplated having Tony pull over so I could puke at one point. It was bad and I was trying to drink water but it was not going down well. Eventually we made it home and I forced myself to shower which ended up making me feel a little better. Then Tony cooked me some eggs and toast which helped a lot too, what a good husband.
So overall I hate to say it but that was probably the most miserable day of hiking yet. The presi traverse was still a harder endeavor and beat our bodies up more in a physical way, but Cabot and Waumbek was the most I had to grit through, which is not my specialty. We calculated things out though and we did end up hiking 21 miles which is the same as the Presi, although not as much elevation gain or as rocky footing. But I’m glad we got both peaks in and now all we have left is the Pemi loop that we’ll be doing from August 20-22nd. It’s the hardest hike yet with 36 miles, 10,000 feet elevation gain and 12 peaks. But we’ve decided to turn it into a backpacking trip taking 2-3 days so hopefully it won’t be as overwhelming.
Monday, August 15, 2011
29. Mt. Moriah 30. Middle Carter 31. South Carter 32. Carter Dome 33. Wildcat A 34. Wildcat D
After the Presi traverse we weren’t too concerned for the wildcat because it was supposed to be easier and shorter. But it would still be longer day than normal. And this hike was not as common as the Presi so it might it a little difficult to plan.
So Friday July 29th we were getting ready for the hike. We were supposed to be house sitting for Pam, Tony’s boss but we didn’t want to deal with packing and trying to stay the night there just for one evening. But she had a golden doodle dog named Zoe that we needed to take care of so we decided we would bring her back to our house to stay the night. Well man was that a bad idea. The poor dog could not relax and every noise she heard she would start to bark. We tried to get her to calm down and we thought at some point she would get tired and fall asleep. Well finally at 1:00 am we gave in and decided we had to take her back to the house. We were supposed to be waking up at 4 am so we were not pleased with this situation. And on the way to the house we got pulled over because a brake light was out, aka he wanted to bust us for a DUI. And it turns out that the brake light was never out, that little punk.
Anyway, we finally dropped Zoe and got back to our house. We kept debating on if we should start the hike right then, try to sleep for an hour or if we should postpone our wake up time. I didn’t want to start the hike right then but I figured an hour worth of sleep was not a good idea either. So we set our alarms for 5 am and snoozed for three hours. We were on the trail by 6:30 am and it was light enough that we didn’t need headlamps. We took the Carter Moriah trail up to Mt. Moriah. The entire hike was going to be 20 miles and 8000 feet elevation gain.
The hike was not very eventful in the beginning, but it was a tricky hike because it was very rocky, like big long rocks that you had to walk up but they were super wet so that meant they were very slick. It’s interesting how much longer a hike can take if the rocks are wet. Instead of being able to just walk up the rock you have to make sure your feet are firmly placed before each step and that you are holding onto trees, hiking poles, or anything that would help you get up. But other than that the hike was pretty typical and fine.
Tony was not feeling hiking but for some reason I actually felt really good throughout the day. Tony did say that he came into this hike not well-prepared. He was thinking it would be a little jaunt and we’d be done pretty quickly but then he realized that he wasn’t thinking and it would be another long day of hiking. Then he felt trapped and so it just made it seem very long. I on the other hand felt the opposite; I prepared for another Presi Traverse but the hike was much easier so I felt great!
This trail was on the AT as well so we met a lot of thru-hikers, including a few older gentlemen which was really cool to see (most of the time thru-hikers are 30 or under). Multiple times we had people say to us, “you aren’t going to go down the trail near the wildcat resort right?” and they would have extremely concerned looks on their face. We had heard that the trail up, (or down in our case) from Wildcat was really sketchy, even for White Mountain standards. Everyone kept saying they would be scared to go down that trail, going up was hard enough. And with the wet rocks you could tell people were very concerned. We had gone up some sketchy parts already but I was curious what that trail was actually like. But we would never know because Tony and I planned to walk down the ski trail once we got there.
At one point the wet rocks got the better of us and as Tony was walking down one wet rock he started to slip and he flailed his arm. Well unfortunately I was too close to him and SMACK! His arm went straight into my face and he hit hard. Luckily it was my forehead that took most of the hit so although it hurt it was way better than it could have been. I learned to give Tony more room when we’re on wet rocks.
About 8 hours into the hike we reached Carter Hut which was in Carter Notch. Coming down the notch was a steep half mile or so but it was really cool because it was a lot of rock steps. And the hut was very pretty because it was right on a little lake/pond and then behind it there was this fairly flat area with all these boulders. A lot of people just hike up to the hut for the day and do lots of bouldering and scrambling. We knew we still had a lot of hiking ahead of us so we didn’t go inspect it closer. But it was still cool to see. Now that we had descended into the notch we of course had to ascend back out to the first Wildcat peak. It was steep, but you rarely needed your hands and we got through it within 30 minutes. We found a sweet viewpoint that we got some pictures at but then continued on. We never found a cairn for Wildcat A and eventually we talked to these guys that said the viewpoint was the peak. Oops, no official picture but at least we did it. All that was left was Wildcat D!!
Wildcat is actually a ski resort that Tony and I snowboard at in the winter. And it has a few peaks but only two of them are official 4000-footers. Well we reached Wildcat D in 10 hours and 50 minutes and we were still feeling good. Definitely tired, and ready to be done hiking but nothing as miserable as the Presi traverse. There was a nice fire tower that we sat at and ate some delicious foods staring at the humungous Mt. Washington directly across from us. It’s so weird to be on one peak but still staring UP at another, especially when it’s so close to you; just across a highway.
Well after a short walk we eventually reached the ski chairlift and said okay let’s do what we’ve heard you’re supposed to; walk down the ski trail. Alright, well after 11 hours of hiking you are a little fatigued and not using your brain as well. Tony and I thought the winding cat track would be nicer on our knees but take longer so let’s just deal with a painful but short hike down the steep black diamonds. Mmm….we didn’t realize that during the summer the trails aren’t smooth like snow. They are actually very overgrown, rocky, hollow-ground at points, and little cliffs. Needless to say we made a big mistake and should have immediately made our way to a cat track, but we were kind of stuck on this trail unable to get to the other ones because there were really thick trees in the way. So we kept going down this trail with shrubs up to our chests and unable to see where we were stepping. Multiple times we both would roll our ankles or fall over. I even lost tall Tony once when he fell all the way to the ground and had all these shrubs around him, I actually could not see him anywhere. We would get spurts of shorter grass or we would stumble upon some animal’s path which gave us a break from the overgrown shrubs but we’d always end back on the tall dangerous stuff. I of course hated it the most because there were lots of bugs and I figured there must be ticks and/or spiders all over us! And it was so annoying because the entire time we could see Pikey, our car, and know we were so close, yet so far.
Finally we found a cat- track and of course it had a lovely dirt road on it. Man were we glad to see this road, even though we felt stupid that we didn’t get on it earlier! But either way we found it for the last ten minutes of the hike which put us to the car at 12 hours and 7 minutes.
These are our times for each peak:
Mt. Moriah 2:39
Middle Carter : forgot it
South Carter 6:01
Carter Dome 7:47
Wildcat A 9:37
Wildcat D 10:50
Ended at 12 hours and 7 minutes.
I will say it was much easier than Presi traverse, despite getting punched in the face and having the gnarly ending down the ski trail. And it was neat because a week later Tony had a hiker into his hospital that had fallen on the descent into the notch so that was cool to know where he fell. Although it was not cool that he fell because he broke his hip and was right in the midst of hiking the AT! Hiking can definitely be intense!
So Friday July 29th we were getting ready for the hike. We were supposed to be house sitting for Pam, Tony’s boss but we didn’t want to deal with packing and trying to stay the night there just for one evening. But she had a golden doodle dog named Zoe that we needed to take care of so we decided we would bring her back to our house to stay the night. Well man was that a bad idea. The poor dog could not relax and every noise she heard she would start to bark. We tried to get her to calm down and we thought at some point she would get tired and fall asleep. Well finally at 1:00 am we gave in and decided we had to take her back to the house. We were supposed to be waking up at 4 am so we were not pleased with this situation. And on the way to the house we got pulled over because a brake light was out, aka he wanted to bust us for a DUI. And it turns out that the brake light was never out, that little punk.
Anyway, we finally dropped Zoe and got back to our house. We kept debating on if we should start the hike right then, try to sleep for an hour or if we should postpone our wake up time. I didn’t want to start the hike right then but I figured an hour worth of sleep was not a good idea either. So we set our alarms for 5 am and snoozed for three hours. We were on the trail by 6:30 am and it was light enough that we didn’t need headlamps. We took the Carter Moriah trail up to Mt. Moriah. The entire hike was going to be 20 miles and 8000 feet elevation gain.
The hike was not very eventful in the beginning, but it was a tricky hike because it was very rocky, like big long rocks that you had to walk up but they were super wet so that meant they were very slick. It’s interesting how much longer a hike can take if the rocks are wet. Instead of being able to just walk up the rock you have to make sure your feet are firmly placed before each step and that you are holding onto trees, hiking poles, or anything that would help you get up. But other than that the hike was pretty typical and fine.
Tony was not feeling hiking but for some reason I actually felt really good throughout the day. Tony did say that he came into this hike not well-prepared. He was thinking it would be a little jaunt and we’d be done pretty quickly but then he realized that he wasn’t thinking and it would be another long day of hiking. Then he felt trapped and so it just made it seem very long. I on the other hand felt the opposite; I prepared for another Presi Traverse but the hike was much easier so I felt great!
This trail was on the AT as well so we met a lot of thru-hikers, including a few older gentlemen which was really cool to see (most of the time thru-hikers are 30 or under). Multiple times we had people say to us, “you aren’t going to go down the trail near the wildcat resort right?” and they would have extremely concerned looks on their face. We had heard that the trail up, (or down in our case) from Wildcat was really sketchy, even for White Mountain standards. Everyone kept saying they would be scared to go down that trail, going up was hard enough. And with the wet rocks you could tell people were very concerned. We had gone up some sketchy parts already but I was curious what that trail was actually like. But we would never know because Tony and I planned to walk down the ski trail once we got there.
At one point the wet rocks got the better of us and as Tony was walking down one wet rock he started to slip and he flailed his arm. Well unfortunately I was too close to him and SMACK! His arm went straight into my face and he hit hard. Luckily it was my forehead that took most of the hit so although it hurt it was way better than it could have been. I learned to give Tony more room when we’re on wet rocks.
About 8 hours into the hike we reached Carter Hut which was in Carter Notch. Coming down the notch was a steep half mile or so but it was really cool because it was a lot of rock steps. And the hut was very pretty because it was right on a little lake/pond and then behind it there was this fairly flat area with all these boulders. A lot of people just hike up to the hut for the day and do lots of bouldering and scrambling. We knew we still had a lot of hiking ahead of us so we didn’t go inspect it closer. But it was still cool to see. Now that we had descended into the notch we of course had to ascend back out to the first Wildcat peak. It was steep, but you rarely needed your hands and we got through it within 30 minutes. We found a sweet viewpoint that we got some pictures at but then continued on. We never found a cairn for Wildcat A and eventually we talked to these guys that said the viewpoint was the peak. Oops, no official picture but at least we did it. All that was left was Wildcat D!!
Wildcat is actually a ski resort that Tony and I snowboard at in the winter. And it has a few peaks but only two of them are official 4000-footers. Well we reached Wildcat D in 10 hours and 50 minutes and we were still feeling good. Definitely tired, and ready to be done hiking but nothing as miserable as the Presi traverse. There was a nice fire tower that we sat at and ate some delicious foods staring at the humungous Mt. Washington directly across from us. It’s so weird to be on one peak but still staring UP at another, especially when it’s so close to you; just across a highway.
Well after a short walk we eventually reached the ski chairlift and said okay let’s do what we’ve heard you’re supposed to; walk down the ski trail. Alright, well after 11 hours of hiking you are a little fatigued and not using your brain as well. Tony and I thought the winding cat track would be nicer on our knees but take longer so let’s just deal with a painful but short hike down the steep black diamonds. Mmm….we didn’t realize that during the summer the trails aren’t smooth like snow. They are actually very overgrown, rocky, hollow-ground at points, and little cliffs. Needless to say we made a big mistake and should have immediately made our way to a cat track, but we were kind of stuck on this trail unable to get to the other ones because there were really thick trees in the way. So we kept going down this trail with shrubs up to our chests and unable to see where we were stepping. Multiple times we both would roll our ankles or fall over. I even lost tall Tony once when he fell all the way to the ground and had all these shrubs around him, I actually could not see him anywhere. We would get spurts of shorter grass or we would stumble upon some animal’s path which gave us a break from the overgrown shrubs but we’d always end back on the tall dangerous stuff. I of course hated it the most because there were lots of bugs and I figured there must be ticks and/or spiders all over us! And it was so annoying because the entire time we could see Pikey, our car, and know we were so close, yet so far.
Finally we found a cat- track and of course it had a lovely dirt road on it. Man were we glad to see this road, even though we felt stupid that we didn’t get on it earlier! But either way we found it for the last ten minutes of the hike which put us to the car at 12 hours and 7 minutes.
These are our times for each peak:
Mt. Moriah 2:39
Middle Carter : forgot it
South Carter 6:01
Carter Dome 7:47
Wildcat A 9:37
Wildcat D 10:50
Ended at 12 hours and 7 minutes.
I will say it was much easier than Presi traverse, despite getting punched in the face and having the gnarly ending down the ski trail. And it was neat because a week later Tony had a hiker into his hospital that had fallen on the descent into the notch so that was cool to know where he fell. Although it was not cool that he fell because he broke his hip and was right in the midst of hiking the AT! Hiking can definitely be intense!
Friday, August 12, 2011
21. Mt. Madison 22. Mt. Adams 23. Mt. Jefferson 24. Mt. Washington 25. Mt. Monroe 26. Mt. Eisenhower 27. Mt. Pierce 28. Mt. Jackson
Ah the Presidential Traverse. Oh my!!! So we woke up at 3 am with only 3 hours of sleep. We had parked Dug at the end of the trail the night before so we just had to get to the trailhead. We were starting in Randolph at the Appalachia parking lot and we arrived at 4:10. It was still dark out when we arrived and it was a very full parking lot even then. You could tell there were a lot of overnight campers parked there but they must be out in the huts or in tents.
We did meet one guy in the parking lot, Patrick, who was doing the Presi traverse for the third time in his life. Tony and I got all ready, made sure we had the essentials for such a long day and started off on the trail at 4:30 am. We had the headlamps on and definitely needed them in the beginning. It was funny because it was supposed to be a clear, gorgeous day with maybe 10% chance of precipitation. Right when we began hiking it started to lightly rain. This hike is very dependent on the weather because you are above treeline for 80% of it. If there is any chance of lightning you do not want to be out on that ridge. But we carried on hoping the rain would end once we reached the alpine zone.
I thought that I would be scared hiking on the NH trails in the dark, since even in the day they can be creepy but really it was okay. I wasn’t sure if it was because we had just seen Patrick and a few other people, or because the sun was about to be coming up and I knew I was only in the dark for a short amount of time. Either way though it wasn’t too bad. Except, when you are first guy out on a trail you are the one to break down all the cobwebs and there are a lot! It’s amazing what a spider can get done in an 8 hour period. I of course let Tony lead at this point. I was thinking that hiking this early it would be cold so I started the day in my long pants, but it was soooo muggy and hot; pretty quickly I zipped off the lower part of my pants. And within 40 minutes we didn’t need the headlamps at all.
Patrick caught up to us after a little bit and hiked for about 30 minutes with us. He was trying to get it done in 12 hours but his best time hiking the Presi was 11 hours which made me a little nervous that this guy who has hiked it multiple times was hoping to do it in 12. Tony and I were really wanting to do it in 12 but we knew that was very optimistic. Book time was 15-16 hours and even though we usually crush book time on these longer hikes you are usually closer to it because of the fatigue that sets in.
Anyway, I was enjoying talking to Patrick but he kept a much faster pace and Tony and I both agreed days before that we should not burn ourselves out on the initial climb to Mt. Madison because it was supposed to be really hard. I hadn’t calculated the figures myself but had read/heard it was 4 miles with 3500 feet elevation or something along those lines, which needless to say is a lot of climbing for a couple of miles. After a little while we reached the alpine zone, and right before it they have a very big sign that says, “Warning: Turn back now if there is bad weather. Many people have died in the alpine zone, even in summer.” And we could see there were quite a few ominous clouds rolling in that we prayed didn’t have any lightning. We also knew that Dane, although a little crazy, had hiked the Presi in pouring down rain. So we continued on.
At this point the trail changed dramatically from the typical NH trails we know. It became way more rocky and we mixed in the hiking with some scrambling here and there. It also was very very windy and exposed. You could definitely feel the cooler temperatures which caused Tony and I to put our rain jackets on. We reached the summit of Mt. Madison in 2 hours and 37 minutes. It was way easier and faster than I was thinking which made me so happy! And it was really neat being up there because you could see the whole first half of our hike (all the way to Mt. Washington).
Here’s a little side note on Washington. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m), famous for dangerously erratic weather. A weather observatory on the summit long held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph. Washington is a big tourist attraction because of the wind but also it has the cog railway that you can take to the summit. There is also the Auto road that you can drive up, with very steep drops on the sides. They’ll have races, events (like the minis on top where mini coopers go to the top of Mt. Washington) and the weather observatory station. Tuckerman’s Ravine, what Tony and I hiked up and skied in April is also near the summit. Needless to say, it’s a big deal out here. Tourists want to see, drive, hike to the summit. And although it’s a measly 6200 feet compared to the mountains in the west, you have to remember that the start of the trails is at 1000 feet of elevation or less.
Anyway, so after we got to the summit of Madison we continued on our way. From peak to peak you have to descent at least 300 feet and then climb back up, that’s how they factor in which peaks are a part of the NH 48. So we went from 5367 feet to Madison hut at 4808 feet and then back up to Adams at 5799’. The Madison Springs hut was nice because we could fill up our waters and use the restrooms. It was funny to see kids running around in flip flops and people just waking up to eat breakfast. It would have been really cool to stay in one of the huts.
On our way to the summit of Adams we kept looking up feeling like it was Mt. Mordor. It was the same shape of it and the pitch reminded us of Frodo and Sam-wise. Near the summit a big gust of fog came rolling in. It was cool to be up on this mountain summit and see all this fog coming right at you. But there wasn’t really any rain with it and after 30 minutes it went on it’s way leaving us with clear, beautiful views the rest of the day. We reached the summit of Adams at 3 hours and 55 minutes. Time was going by pretty fast for us.
On the way to Jefferson we realized we were on a busy trail. We passed a lot of thru-hikers, people backpacking for a couple of nights and then of course some day hikers. It was annoying at times because if you wanted to go to the bathroom you had no privacy. We didn’t have any trees to hide behind and there was a steady enough flow of people that someone might walk up on you. But the huts were close enough that for the most part we were okay. I guess I should say I was okay becauseTony could relieve himself on the trail very quickly and discreetly.
There was one group of four guys that went past us and the last fella had on some Nike tennis shoes. I pointed them out to Tony as he went by and within two minutes we watched him roll his ankle, which was exactly what was on our mind. These guys had very little packs and were trying to move swiftly but we caught back up to them right before the climb to the summit. Tony and the other three guys were hiking at a much faster pace for the last 10 minutes of Jefferson so me and Nike dude went slower. You could definitely tell he was struggling and he mentioned that he didn’t hike much. They were all students at Harvard and came up to do the Presi Traverse and he didn’t really know what he was getting himself into. I felt bad for the guy because I could tell he was getting very frustrated that he was so much slower than the other dudes and he looked a little worried about the day he had ahead of him. We all had some food together at the summit of Jefferson, which we reached in 5 hours and 20 minutes. It was extremely windy at the summit and for the most part the rest of the hike to Washington was continuous wind, but still clear skies. At one point I took a step and wasn’t completely sure-footed and a gust came through that blew me off balance. It was cool!
From Jefferson we would be dropping to 4959’ and then climbing back up to 6288’. This stretch was where I really started to lose faith in accomplishing our goal. The lack of sleep was setting in, the fact that we had already been hiking for 5 ½ hours and we weren’t even halfway done, and my feet were super hot inside my boots; I was scared I was getting blisters. I think I also knew that Mt. Washington would be the best bail out point and if we continued past that we were committed to do the rest of it. (There were many more bail out points after Washington but at that point we would just be so close to being done it wouldn’t be worth cutting out early).
The last 30 minutes to Mt. Washington were brutal. We did see one bigger guy that looked like he had taken the cog railway to the summit and then just went hiking around from there. Well as he was trudging back to the building on Washington he got so tired he just sat down right in the middle of the trail. I felt his pain and considered joining him. But the cog train just went past us and all the lazy people inside inspired me to keep going.
We reached the summit of Washington in 7 hours and 4 minutes. It was a madhouse at the summit with families running around taking pictures, cars coming and going and the train as well. You could tell the difference between those that had been hiking and those that used machines to get to the top. There was a sign that marked the summit but it had a line with 25 people in it waiting their turn to take a picture. Tony and I contemplated standing in line but knew we shouldn’t waste the time so we opted for a different sign. We stopped for a bathroom break, ate some delicious raviolis out of the can, oh so yummy, and cheese, a new addition to our hiking menu. We changed our socks and man was it a fight to put those boots back on. We ended up spending too long at the summit, about 40 minutes but it was nice to sit and rest for a bit. Before I could allow myself the option of turning back we continued on our way. I knew the last half was going to be a lot easier and if we weren’t able to complete it then our whole summer would be screwed up.
After Washington I felt much better. My feet and legs still ached but I had a second wind and was ready to rock out the next seven hours! Our next summit would be Monroe but we would first hit the Lakes of the Clouds hut so we could refill our waters and use the restrooms again. Man these huts were so handy and awesome. We bought a freshly baked cookie for a dollar that this hut too.
Monroe, which we reached in 8 hours and 50 minutes was a very short and quick climb from the hut. We took a quick picture and then headed out. At this point it got a little confusing of what summit was actually Eisenhower but once we were actually at the base of the peak we knew we were there. It was a longer climb and I was worried it would take us a long time to get to the summit. Tony and I had started a game earlier in the day of guessing how long it would take us to get to each new summit and I’m usually bad at guessing the time, thankfully it was true for Eisenhower. I was very excited also because the entire climb up to the peak I didn’t stop once!!
Let me explain a few differences in the types of “stops” you take on a hike. There is an actual “rest” that involves taking a seat somewhere. Then there is a “break” which is sitting and usually eating food. But I always take a “breather” which is when I’m hiking up some steep stuff and just stop for a few seconds to catch my breath, let my legs stop working and orient myself again. I am very bad at taking breathers not only throughout a climb but especially right before the finish line. Tony is the opposite, he likes to just power through as fast as he can and then take longer “breaks” at the summit. The rule of thumb is: “hike your own hike.” But anyway, I didn’t take any breathers on the way to Eisenhower so that was cool.
There was a big group of kids at the summit so we had one chick take our picture by the cairn and man was she full of energy. She kept snapping photos of us and talking excitedly, we were not so energized but thankful for the variety of photos. After reaching Eisenhower in 9 hours and 55 minutes we had 6 peaks down and two to go!! So close.
From Eisenhower to Pierce Tony and I both started to get really exhausted. It hit us bad right before the last climb to Pierce because we came to a junction. We could either keep going another 5.2 miles to finish our goal or take the Crawford Path down to the car which was 2.7 miles. For some reason 2.7 didn’t sound too bad, but 5.2 sounded horrible at this point. We were pooped and knew it was going to be some work to finish this last bit. We contemplated bagging Pierce and then just coming back one afternoon just for Jackson. Of course we wouldn’t actually allow ourselves this luxury so we continued on and reached the summit of Pierce in 10 hours and 44 minutes.
On the way from Pierce to Jackson there is another hut, Mizpah Spring. It felt like the .8 miles to the hut was really 2 miles because it seemed to take us soooo long. At this point we were both starting to hurt but we just kept having this motto “you can’t be injured until we hit the car”. So we just had to ignore all the aches and pains. After Mizpah we got a little more energy and kept thinking we’re so close to be done! But really we still had another 3-4 hours, which was crazy to us. In comparison to what we had already done that day, it was nothing. Yet after what we had done it was so much.
Well the weirdest thing happened to me on this last stretch. I was walking on some wood planks in the trees (we had left alpine zone at Eisenhower) and there were bugs flying around being annoying; what bugs do. Well one bug flew in my ear, like far into my ear! I panicked and tried to grab at it to come out which this probably scared the bug sending him further into my ear canal. I wanted to calm myself down so I tried to convince myself that the bug had flown out and was not actually in my ear, even though it felt funny. Tony kept talking to me and I realized, like our motto, there is nothing I can do right now I just have to get to the car. Well five minutes later in the midst of conversation the bug crawled out of my ear and flew away. It was the grossest, weirdest, yuckiest feeling ever! I was so creeped out and worried that it had laid eggs or something. UGH! For the rest of the hike and even into the next day it just felt like something was still in there, not cool at all. And after so much exhaustion and the type of day we had you couldn’t help but be a little delirious and when something that weird happens it just makes you even more out of it.
We reached the summit of Jackson in 12 hours and 3 minutes. Oh my goodness! We had a fairly steep descent of 2.5 miles to the car but we kept a fairly quick pace because we were just so excited to be done. At one point we ran into this couple and they were in complete awe that we had hiked it all in one day. They kept saying, “you guys are incredible” which was nice to hear because we were starting to think we were just nuts. As always, the last 1.5 miles seems like it’s really 5 miles but we eventually emerged out of the trees and came upon the best site ever, an automobile. We had hiked 21.7 miles on rough, rocky terrain and a lot of elevation gain. We had done it all in 13 hours and 43 minutes so we finished at 6:15 pm. We hoped in our car and drove straight to the river to soak our weary bones.
Presi Traverse was the hardest thing I had ever physically done before, but every moment was worth it! It was really fun to go into work a few days later and talk to Dave, a coworker about his Presi traverse adventure. He was with a group of 6 people and they had given them 3 days to do the hike, staying at the huts. Well by day two he could tell that his group was not going to be able to complete the hike and they had to bail out at Mt. Washington. They lost the $700 they had used to reserve the hut for the second night and missed out on some peaks. But when you are in those mountains you have to play it smart and know when to turn back. It was just a good plan on his part but man was he mad when he heard I’d don the entire thing in one day!
We did meet one guy in the parking lot, Patrick, who was doing the Presi traverse for the third time in his life. Tony and I got all ready, made sure we had the essentials for such a long day and started off on the trail at 4:30 am. We had the headlamps on and definitely needed them in the beginning. It was funny because it was supposed to be a clear, gorgeous day with maybe 10% chance of precipitation. Right when we began hiking it started to lightly rain. This hike is very dependent on the weather because you are above treeline for 80% of it. If there is any chance of lightning you do not want to be out on that ridge. But we carried on hoping the rain would end once we reached the alpine zone.
I thought that I would be scared hiking on the NH trails in the dark, since even in the day they can be creepy but really it was okay. I wasn’t sure if it was because we had just seen Patrick and a few other people, or because the sun was about to be coming up and I knew I was only in the dark for a short amount of time. Either way though it wasn’t too bad. Except, when you are first guy out on a trail you are the one to break down all the cobwebs and there are a lot! It’s amazing what a spider can get done in an 8 hour period. I of course let Tony lead at this point. I was thinking that hiking this early it would be cold so I started the day in my long pants, but it was soooo muggy and hot; pretty quickly I zipped off the lower part of my pants. And within 40 minutes we didn’t need the headlamps at all.
Patrick caught up to us after a little bit and hiked for about 30 minutes with us. He was trying to get it done in 12 hours but his best time hiking the Presi was 11 hours which made me a little nervous that this guy who has hiked it multiple times was hoping to do it in 12. Tony and I were really wanting to do it in 12 but we knew that was very optimistic. Book time was 15-16 hours and even though we usually crush book time on these longer hikes you are usually closer to it because of the fatigue that sets in.
Anyway, I was enjoying talking to Patrick but he kept a much faster pace and Tony and I both agreed days before that we should not burn ourselves out on the initial climb to Mt. Madison because it was supposed to be really hard. I hadn’t calculated the figures myself but had read/heard it was 4 miles with 3500 feet elevation or something along those lines, which needless to say is a lot of climbing for a couple of miles. After a little while we reached the alpine zone, and right before it they have a very big sign that says, “Warning: Turn back now if there is bad weather. Many people have died in the alpine zone, even in summer.” And we could see there were quite a few ominous clouds rolling in that we prayed didn’t have any lightning. We also knew that Dane, although a little crazy, had hiked the Presi in pouring down rain. So we continued on.
At this point the trail changed dramatically from the typical NH trails we know. It became way more rocky and we mixed in the hiking with some scrambling here and there. It also was very very windy and exposed. You could definitely feel the cooler temperatures which caused Tony and I to put our rain jackets on. We reached the summit of Mt. Madison in 2 hours and 37 minutes. It was way easier and faster than I was thinking which made me so happy! And it was really neat being up there because you could see the whole first half of our hike (all the way to Mt. Washington).
Here’s a little side note on Washington. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m), famous for dangerously erratic weather. A weather observatory on the summit long held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph. Washington is a big tourist attraction because of the wind but also it has the cog railway that you can take to the summit. There is also the Auto road that you can drive up, with very steep drops on the sides. They’ll have races, events (like the minis on top where mini coopers go to the top of Mt. Washington) and the weather observatory station. Tuckerman’s Ravine, what Tony and I hiked up and skied in April is also near the summit. Needless to say, it’s a big deal out here. Tourists want to see, drive, hike to the summit. And although it’s a measly 6200 feet compared to the mountains in the west, you have to remember that the start of the trails is at 1000 feet of elevation or less.
Anyway, so after we got to the summit of Madison we continued on our way. From peak to peak you have to descent at least 300 feet and then climb back up, that’s how they factor in which peaks are a part of the NH 48. So we went from 5367 feet to Madison hut at 4808 feet and then back up to Adams at 5799’. The Madison Springs hut was nice because we could fill up our waters and use the restrooms. It was funny to see kids running around in flip flops and people just waking up to eat breakfast. It would have been really cool to stay in one of the huts.
On our way to the summit of Adams we kept looking up feeling like it was Mt. Mordor. It was the same shape of it and the pitch reminded us of Frodo and Sam-wise. Near the summit a big gust of fog came rolling in. It was cool to be up on this mountain summit and see all this fog coming right at you. But there wasn’t really any rain with it and after 30 minutes it went on it’s way leaving us with clear, beautiful views the rest of the day. We reached the summit of Adams at 3 hours and 55 minutes. Time was going by pretty fast for us.
On the way to Jefferson we realized we were on a busy trail. We passed a lot of thru-hikers, people backpacking for a couple of nights and then of course some day hikers. It was annoying at times because if you wanted to go to the bathroom you had no privacy. We didn’t have any trees to hide behind and there was a steady enough flow of people that someone might walk up on you. But the huts were close enough that for the most part we were okay. I guess I should say I was okay becauseTony could relieve himself on the trail very quickly and discreetly.
There was one group of four guys that went past us and the last fella had on some Nike tennis shoes. I pointed them out to Tony as he went by and within two minutes we watched him roll his ankle, which was exactly what was on our mind. These guys had very little packs and were trying to move swiftly but we caught back up to them right before the climb to the summit. Tony and the other three guys were hiking at a much faster pace for the last 10 minutes of Jefferson so me and Nike dude went slower. You could definitely tell he was struggling and he mentioned that he didn’t hike much. They were all students at Harvard and came up to do the Presi Traverse and he didn’t really know what he was getting himself into. I felt bad for the guy because I could tell he was getting very frustrated that he was so much slower than the other dudes and he looked a little worried about the day he had ahead of him. We all had some food together at the summit of Jefferson, which we reached in 5 hours and 20 minutes. It was extremely windy at the summit and for the most part the rest of the hike to Washington was continuous wind, but still clear skies. At one point I took a step and wasn’t completely sure-footed and a gust came through that blew me off balance. It was cool!
From Jefferson we would be dropping to 4959’ and then climbing back up to 6288’. This stretch was where I really started to lose faith in accomplishing our goal. The lack of sleep was setting in, the fact that we had already been hiking for 5 ½ hours and we weren’t even halfway done, and my feet were super hot inside my boots; I was scared I was getting blisters. I think I also knew that Mt. Washington would be the best bail out point and if we continued past that we were committed to do the rest of it. (There were many more bail out points after Washington but at that point we would just be so close to being done it wouldn’t be worth cutting out early).
The last 30 minutes to Mt. Washington were brutal. We did see one bigger guy that looked like he had taken the cog railway to the summit and then just went hiking around from there. Well as he was trudging back to the building on Washington he got so tired he just sat down right in the middle of the trail. I felt his pain and considered joining him. But the cog train just went past us and all the lazy people inside inspired me to keep going.
We reached the summit of Washington in 7 hours and 4 minutes. It was a madhouse at the summit with families running around taking pictures, cars coming and going and the train as well. You could tell the difference between those that had been hiking and those that used machines to get to the top. There was a sign that marked the summit but it had a line with 25 people in it waiting their turn to take a picture. Tony and I contemplated standing in line but knew we shouldn’t waste the time so we opted for a different sign. We stopped for a bathroom break, ate some delicious raviolis out of the can, oh so yummy, and cheese, a new addition to our hiking menu. We changed our socks and man was it a fight to put those boots back on. We ended up spending too long at the summit, about 40 minutes but it was nice to sit and rest for a bit. Before I could allow myself the option of turning back we continued on our way. I knew the last half was going to be a lot easier and if we weren’t able to complete it then our whole summer would be screwed up.
After Washington I felt much better. My feet and legs still ached but I had a second wind and was ready to rock out the next seven hours! Our next summit would be Monroe but we would first hit the Lakes of the Clouds hut so we could refill our waters and use the restrooms again. Man these huts were so handy and awesome. We bought a freshly baked cookie for a dollar that this hut too.
Monroe, which we reached in 8 hours and 50 minutes was a very short and quick climb from the hut. We took a quick picture and then headed out. At this point it got a little confusing of what summit was actually Eisenhower but once we were actually at the base of the peak we knew we were there. It was a longer climb and I was worried it would take us a long time to get to the summit. Tony and I had started a game earlier in the day of guessing how long it would take us to get to each new summit and I’m usually bad at guessing the time, thankfully it was true for Eisenhower. I was very excited also because the entire climb up to the peak I didn’t stop once!!
Let me explain a few differences in the types of “stops” you take on a hike. There is an actual “rest” that involves taking a seat somewhere. Then there is a “break” which is sitting and usually eating food. But I always take a “breather” which is when I’m hiking up some steep stuff and just stop for a few seconds to catch my breath, let my legs stop working and orient myself again. I am very bad at taking breathers not only throughout a climb but especially right before the finish line. Tony is the opposite, he likes to just power through as fast as he can and then take longer “breaks” at the summit. The rule of thumb is: “hike your own hike.” But anyway, I didn’t take any breathers on the way to Eisenhower so that was cool.
There was a big group of kids at the summit so we had one chick take our picture by the cairn and man was she full of energy. She kept snapping photos of us and talking excitedly, we were not so energized but thankful for the variety of photos. After reaching Eisenhower in 9 hours and 55 minutes we had 6 peaks down and two to go!! So close.
From Eisenhower to Pierce Tony and I both started to get really exhausted. It hit us bad right before the last climb to Pierce because we came to a junction. We could either keep going another 5.2 miles to finish our goal or take the Crawford Path down to the car which was 2.7 miles. For some reason 2.7 didn’t sound too bad, but 5.2 sounded horrible at this point. We were pooped and knew it was going to be some work to finish this last bit. We contemplated bagging Pierce and then just coming back one afternoon just for Jackson. Of course we wouldn’t actually allow ourselves this luxury so we continued on and reached the summit of Pierce in 10 hours and 44 minutes.
On the way from Pierce to Jackson there is another hut, Mizpah Spring. It felt like the .8 miles to the hut was really 2 miles because it seemed to take us soooo long. At this point we were both starting to hurt but we just kept having this motto “you can’t be injured until we hit the car”. So we just had to ignore all the aches and pains. After Mizpah we got a little more energy and kept thinking we’re so close to be done! But really we still had another 3-4 hours, which was crazy to us. In comparison to what we had already done that day, it was nothing. Yet after what we had done it was so much.
Well the weirdest thing happened to me on this last stretch. I was walking on some wood planks in the trees (we had left alpine zone at Eisenhower) and there were bugs flying around being annoying; what bugs do. Well one bug flew in my ear, like far into my ear! I panicked and tried to grab at it to come out which this probably scared the bug sending him further into my ear canal. I wanted to calm myself down so I tried to convince myself that the bug had flown out and was not actually in my ear, even though it felt funny. Tony kept talking to me and I realized, like our motto, there is nothing I can do right now I just have to get to the car. Well five minutes later in the midst of conversation the bug crawled out of my ear and flew away. It was the grossest, weirdest, yuckiest feeling ever! I was so creeped out and worried that it had laid eggs or something. UGH! For the rest of the hike and even into the next day it just felt like something was still in there, not cool at all. And after so much exhaustion and the type of day we had you couldn’t help but be a little delirious and when something that weird happens it just makes you even more out of it.
We reached the summit of Jackson in 12 hours and 3 minutes. Oh my goodness! We had a fairly steep descent of 2.5 miles to the car but we kept a fairly quick pace because we were just so excited to be done. At one point we ran into this couple and they were in complete awe that we had hiked it all in one day. They kept saying, “you guys are incredible” which was nice to hear because we were starting to think we were just nuts. As always, the last 1.5 miles seems like it’s really 5 miles but we eventually emerged out of the trees and came upon the best site ever, an automobile. We had hiked 21.7 miles on rough, rocky terrain and a lot of elevation gain. We had done it all in 13 hours and 43 minutes so we finished at 6:15 pm. We hoped in our car and drove straight to the river to soak our weary bones.
Presi Traverse was the hardest thing I had ever physically done before, but every moment was worth it! It was really fun to go into work a few days later and talk to Dave, a coworker about his Presi traverse adventure. He was with a group of 6 people and they had given them 3 days to do the hike, staying at the huts. Well by day two he could tell that his group was not going to be able to complete the hike and they had to bail out at Mt. Washington. They lost the $700 they had used to reserve the hut for the second night and missed out on some peaks. But when you are in those mountains you have to play it smart and know when to turn back. It was just a good plan on his part but man was he mad when he heard I’d don the entire thing in one day!
Monday, August 8, 2011
20. Mt. Carrigan (4681')
July 17, 2011
So this weekend I worked a Scentsy fair on Saturday and then on Sunday I was working at Joe Jones, which was such a bummer to us because then we weren't going to get a hike in this weekend. But luckily for us it was pretty slow at Joe Jones so Matt was cool with me leaving early. And just so you can understand how dedicated I am to all this hiking, I gave up the chance to go see the last Harry Potter movie to go on this hike instead. I've waited a long long time for this movie so it's saying a lot! Anyway, we knew the hike was 10 miles and 3255' of elevation gain making book time 7 hours. We were hoping to do it in 5 hours but even with that faster time there was a chance we may be hiking in the dark on the way down.
So when we go to the trailhead we tried to hike fast. It was a typical trail of gradual climbs and then the last mile or so was climbing. It was wicked hot out too, like 95 degrees and humid! We were in the trees so it gave us shade, but it also makes it like a canopy and even more humid. We had bought these electrolyte supplements at my work that you put in your water and they felt awesome on the way up. We were sucking down our camelbaks and feeling pretty good.
We saw quite a few people coming down the trail and they all looked at us like we were crazy to be starting this hike so late.But most of the people we saw seemed like they took at least 7 hours to do this hike. We saw one fella who looked like he never did anything physical in his life and he was talking about how miserable he was, and he was sitting on the trail. Anyway, we realized that it's a popular hike because there are some great views at the top. About 15 minutes before the real summit you come above tree line and have some great views of the Presi mountains for a couple of minutes. Then you head back into the trees for the last climb.
At the summit there was an observation tower which was really cool. It was neat being up there later in the day and not dealing with other people and we really wanted to sit and enjoy it. But we also knew that darkness wasn't too far away and even though we were prepared for it I'd rather not hike in the dark. We also started to think that maybe we could get down and make it to the last Harry Potter showing! I def had a new skip in my step when I heard this. So after summiting in 2 hours and 20 minutes we made our way back down the trail.
It was slow going because it was fairly steep and rocky. And we discovered that even when you have those electrolyte tablets to help you on the way up, you need regular water to still drink.....which we did not bring any of. So the entire way down we were craving water and our bodies were rejecting the stuff we had in our camelbacks, even making us feel sick when we tried to drink them. We were just sweating out all the stuff that 30 minutes before had been aiding our tired bodies. But it was a lesson we were happy to learn on this short hike and not the Presi traverse.
Unfortunately we reached the bottom and had only 20 minutes to get to the theater. We probably could have got there in 30 minutes but I was sooooo sweaty and gross and we were both starving. So we decided we would save the movie for the next day. And just super glad we got a hike in over the weekend anyways! It took us a total of 4 hours and 20 minutes and we went up the Signal Ridge trail.
So this weekend I worked a Scentsy fair on Saturday and then on Sunday I was working at Joe Jones, which was such a bummer to us because then we weren't going to get a hike in this weekend. But luckily for us it was pretty slow at Joe Jones so Matt was cool with me leaving early. And just so you can understand how dedicated I am to all this hiking, I gave up the chance to go see the last Harry Potter movie to go on this hike instead. I've waited a long long time for this movie so it's saying a lot! Anyway, we knew the hike was 10 miles and 3255' of elevation gain making book time 7 hours. We were hoping to do it in 5 hours but even with that faster time there was a chance we may be hiking in the dark on the way down.
So when we go to the trailhead we tried to hike fast. It was a typical trail of gradual climbs and then the last mile or so was climbing. It was wicked hot out too, like 95 degrees and humid! We were in the trees so it gave us shade, but it also makes it like a canopy and even more humid. We had bought these electrolyte supplements at my work that you put in your water and they felt awesome on the way up. We were sucking down our camelbaks and feeling pretty good.
We saw quite a few people coming down the trail and they all looked at us like we were crazy to be starting this hike so late.But most of the people we saw seemed like they took at least 7 hours to do this hike. We saw one fella who looked like he never did anything physical in his life and he was talking about how miserable he was, and he was sitting on the trail. Anyway, we realized that it's a popular hike because there are some great views at the top. About 15 minutes before the real summit you come above tree line and have some great views of the Presi mountains for a couple of minutes. Then you head back into the trees for the last climb.
At the summit there was an observation tower which was really cool. It was neat being up there later in the day and not dealing with other people and we really wanted to sit and enjoy it. But we also knew that darkness wasn't too far away and even though we were prepared for it I'd rather not hike in the dark. We also started to think that maybe we could get down and make it to the last Harry Potter showing! I def had a new skip in my step when I heard this. So after summiting in 2 hours and 20 minutes we made our way back down the trail.
It was slow going because it was fairly steep and rocky. And we discovered that even when you have those electrolyte tablets to help you on the way up, you need regular water to still drink.....which we did not bring any of. So the entire way down we were craving water and our bodies were rejecting the stuff we had in our camelbacks, even making us feel sick when we tried to drink them. We were just sweating out all the stuff that 30 minutes before had been aiding our tired bodies. But it was a lesson we were happy to learn on this short hike and not the Presi traverse.
Unfortunately we reached the bottom and had only 20 minutes to get to the theater. We probably could have got there in 30 minutes but I was sooooo sweaty and gross and we were both starving. So we decided we would save the movie for the next day. And just super glad we got a hike in over the weekend anyways! It took us a total of 4 hours and 20 minutes and we went up the Signal Ridge trail.
Monday, July 25, 2011
17. Tom (4051') 18. Field (4339') and 19. Wiley (4285')
July
I had a booth set up at the ossipee fair in Maine for the weekend. But it had been slower than normal and we really wanted to get a hike in. I was supposed to be there at 9 am on Sunday but I felt that arriving at eleven would be okay. Besides there were people around to make sure nothing got stolen and I also figured fair-goers would either be at church or sleeping in so it should be even slower.
But we had a hike ahead of us and so we still needed to get a super early start. We woke up at about 4 am and went to get Scott from his house. But we didn't get on the trail until a little after 5am. Book time said seven hours but we were hoping to do it in five.
Once we got started Scott took off super fast. He knew we were in a hurry but I was not in that much of a hurry! We figured he must of been excited and just ready to get going. And thankfully, sorry Scott, but thankfully he burnt himself out and slowed down. The sun was up by the time we started so there was no need for headlamps. And we got to the top of Tom in 1 hour and 27 minutes. We took a quick picture and carried on our way. It wasn't to far to Field but poor Scott discovered he had a blister there. So we took a little bit longer of a break so he could put some moleskin over his heel. And we all devoured Scott's delicious trail mix. I need to figure out where he bought that from because it was sooo good!
We reached the top of Wiley in 3 hours and felt we were making good time. So we stopped and enjoyed some more trail mix and rested our weary legs. We knew the downhill was going to be pretty steep because Tony and I had already done this hike back in the fall. So we all took it slow and just kept going. I felt bad for Scott because the steep trail was probably not being kind on his legs and blister. We remember how beat up we were when we first started hiking. But Tony and I had a few hikes under our belts this time and we felt great.
So Tony and I were a little ways ahead of Scott on the downhill and it was the funniest thing ever. I look down at two people hiking up the trail and recognized Ryan, Tony's classmate and his wife Lauren. So out of all the trails in NH, the fact that we weren't supposed to be hiking at all, and that we really don't know that many people in the state it was so crazy that we happened to run into someone we knew. So of course we sat and talked with them for a bit. They had done some backcountry camping and were headed up to finish out their trip. But Tony and I were in a hurry so we had to say goodbye and head on our way. Scott was pretty confused about who they were.
Along the hike Scott informed us about the Wiley house story. Apparently there was this family,the Wileys that lived in this home. There was this storm coming and they were scared that this boulder above their house would become unlodged in a mudslide and crush their house. So they (two parents and child) went into the shed to wait out the storm. Well unfortunately the slide came through and took out the shed, killing the family but the house was untouched because the boulder protected it. The house and the boulder still stand today and can be visited. But unfortunately we didn't have enough time to check it out.
We finished the hike in 4 hours and 50 minutes. And I got to my fair without missing anything!
I had a booth set up at the ossipee fair in Maine for the weekend. But it had been slower than normal and we really wanted to get a hike in. I was supposed to be there at 9 am on Sunday but I felt that arriving at eleven would be okay. Besides there were people around to make sure nothing got stolen and I also figured fair-goers would either be at church or sleeping in so it should be even slower.
But we had a hike ahead of us and so we still needed to get a super early start. We woke up at about 4 am and went to get Scott from his house. But we didn't get on the trail until a little after 5am. Book time said seven hours but we were hoping to do it in five.
Once we got started Scott took off super fast. He knew we were in a hurry but I was not in that much of a hurry! We figured he must of been excited and just ready to get going. And thankfully, sorry Scott, but thankfully he burnt himself out and slowed down. The sun was up by the time we started so there was no need for headlamps. And we got to the top of Tom in 1 hour and 27 minutes. We took a quick picture and carried on our way. It wasn't to far to Field but poor Scott discovered he had a blister there. So we took a little bit longer of a break so he could put some moleskin over his heel. And we all devoured Scott's delicious trail mix. I need to figure out where he bought that from because it was sooo good!
We reached the top of Wiley in 3 hours and felt we were making good time. So we stopped and enjoyed some more trail mix and rested our weary legs. We knew the downhill was going to be pretty steep because Tony and I had already done this hike back in the fall. So we all took it slow and just kept going. I felt bad for Scott because the steep trail was probably not being kind on his legs and blister. We remember how beat up we were when we first started hiking. But Tony and I had a few hikes under our belts this time and we felt great.
So Tony and I were a little ways ahead of Scott on the downhill and it was the funniest thing ever. I look down at two people hiking up the trail and recognized Ryan, Tony's classmate and his wife Lauren. So out of all the trails in NH, the fact that we weren't supposed to be hiking at all, and that we really don't know that many people in the state it was so crazy that we happened to run into someone we knew. So of course we sat and talked with them for a bit. They had done some backcountry camping and were headed up to finish out their trip. But Tony and I were in a hurry so we had to say goodbye and head on our way. Scott was pretty confused about who they were.
Along the hike Scott informed us about the Wiley house story. Apparently there was this family,the Wileys that lived in this home. There was this storm coming and they were scared that this boulder above their house would become unlodged in a mudslide and crush their house. So they (two parents and child) went into the shed to wait out the storm. Well unfortunately the slide came through and took out the shed, killing the family but the house was untouched because the boulder protected it. The house and the boulder still stand today and can be visited. But unfortunately we didn't have enough time to check it out.
We finished the hike in 4 hours and 50 minutes. And I got to my fair without missing anything!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
16. Owl's Head ( 4025')
July 4
Ah the dreaded Owl's head. It's a long hike, but we had heard it wasn't too difficult because the first 8 miles were relatively flat. The last mile is where the climbing takes place. Tony and I had contemplated running it but we were concerned about a few things. We knew there were some creek crossings and didn't know if we would get our shoes wet and be miserable. We also didn't want to carry a pack because that would be hard to run with and without a pack we were stuck with the clothes we could wear, the water we could carry, and same with the food. So we said let's just stick with the normal hiking.
We wanted to get another early start because there was of course a good chance of afternoon showers. So we got on the trail again at 8 am. The first two miles were super flat, wide trails right by the Pemi river. Tony and I were creating silly games to keep us entertained...it was going to be a long day. After a bit the trail turned to single track and we met up with this guy from Buffalo, NY who comes out every year to get some hikes done. Owl's head was going to be his 43 peak!!! So only 5 more to go. That's so exciting. Once we came to the first river crossing we ended up leaving him though because he was super slow crossing and then took a break there. The river crossings were typical but we were glad we didn't have tennis shoes on. Because we spent so much of the hike near rivers it was very buggy which sucked. And the trail was pretty narrow/overgrown so I was constantly walking through spider webs. Most of the webs aren't that bad but there are some times that there is huge web with the big spider right in the middle. If you don't see it you'll walk right through it and it could be on your face or your body!! As you know, I hate spiders so this is one of my least favorite things about hiking. I've figured out that if I use my poles to swing ahead of me then it breaks most of the webs down.
Anyway, we got to the last mile within 3 hours. Which we were jacked about because book time was saying 10 + hours and if all we had left was a mile we'd probably finish in seven hours, tops 7 and half. Ah, little did we know. The last mile, was one of the steepest we'd encountered. We may have seen things just as steep but it was not as long. This was actually considered one of the "slides" and it's exactly what you would think a slide is. You are just scrambling up loose rocks that occasionally slide when you step on them. And the entire mile was completely exposed to the sun. It was nice to actually get some color on our skin but the heat was even more exhausting. I definitely went into zombie mode. 1/2 mile in the terrain changed some. Instead of loose rocks it was a really narrow trail and you would have to grab on trees to help you up. And then the last 1/4 mile was on top of the ridge and so frustrating because you felt you had finally reached the summit and should be done but it kept hiking you along the flat section that was really overgrown. Finally we made it to the end though. We sat down for once and ate our lunch with Mark, a 55 year old guy who was on his second round of hiking the NH 48. It was one of the longest breaks that Tony and I have taken while hiking. We watched Mark as he really enjoyed it; kicking his boots off, creating a little seat, the whole nine yards. We thought it was neat but agreed we'd never be able to take our boots off on a hike otherwise we wouldn't be able to put them back on.
Well the downhill was just as slow going as the uphill because it was so steep you really had to be sure-footed. Once a bee was bugging me and I got distracted trying to swat him. I took a step and this little branch caught my foot and I almost went head over heels down the slide. That would have been really bad, especially for Mr. Tony who was below me. But Tony and I made it safely down and then realized that whole 2 mile endeavor took us three hours! We were thinking it would take us 30-60 minutes. WTF?
Needless to say we wanted to make some good time on the way back. Besides stopping to pump some water we were cruising. But the last three miles were so long!!! Especially because the last two looked and felt like the end. But after 8 hours and 43 minutes we made it back to Pikey. We grabbed our flip flops and headed straight to the river to let our feet soak; it felt absolutely amazing. So the trail we took was the Lincoln Woods trail to Owl’s Head path and it was 18.4 miles with 2900 feet elevation gain.
Ah the dreaded Owl's head. It's a long hike, but we had heard it wasn't too difficult because the first 8 miles were relatively flat. The last mile is where the climbing takes place. Tony and I had contemplated running it but we were concerned about a few things. We knew there were some creek crossings and didn't know if we would get our shoes wet and be miserable. We also didn't want to carry a pack because that would be hard to run with and without a pack we were stuck with the clothes we could wear, the water we could carry, and same with the food. So we said let's just stick with the normal hiking.
We wanted to get another early start because there was of course a good chance of afternoon showers. So we got on the trail again at 8 am. The first two miles were super flat, wide trails right by the Pemi river. Tony and I were creating silly games to keep us entertained...it was going to be a long day. After a bit the trail turned to single track and we met up with this guy from Buffalo, NY who comes out every year to get some hikes done. Owl's head was going to be his 43 peak!!! So only 5 more to go. That's so exciting. Once we came to the first river crossing we ended up leaving him though because he was super slow crossing and then took a break there. The river crossings were typical but we were glad we didn't have tennis shoes on. Because we spent so much of the hike near rivers it was very buggy which sucked. And the trail was pretty narrow/overgrown so I was constantly walking through spider webs. Most of the webs aren't that bad but there are some times that there is huge web with the big spider right in the middle. If you don't see it you'll walk right through it and it could be on your face or your body!! As you know, I hate spiders so this is one of my least favorite things about hiking. I've figured out that if I use my poles to swing ahead of me then it breaks most of the webs down.
Anyway, we got to the last mile within 3 hours. Which we were jacked about because book time was saying 10 + hours and if all we had left was a mile we'd probably finish in seven hours, tops 7 and half. Ah, little did we know. The last mile, was one of the steepest we'd encountered. We may have seen things just as steep but it was not as long. This was actually considered one of the "slides" and it's exactly what you would think a slide is. You are just scrambling up loose rocks that occasionally slide when you step on them. And the entire mile was completely exposed to the sun. It was nice to actually get some color on our skin but the heat was even more exhausting. I definitely went into zombie mode. 1/2 mile in the terrain changed some. Instead of loose rocks it was a really narrow trail and you would have to grab on trees to help you up. And then the last 1/4 mile was on top of the ridge and so frustrating because you felt you had finally reached the summit and should be done but it kept hiking you along the flat section that was really overgrown. Finally we made it to the end though. We sat down for once and ate our lunch with Mark, a 55 year old guy who was on his second round of hiking the NH 48. It was one of the longest breaks that Tony and I have taken while hiking. We watched Mark as he really enjoyed it; kicking his boots off, creating a little seat, the whole nine yards. We thought it was neat but agreed we'd never be able to take our boots off on a hike otherwise we wouldn't be able to put them back on.
Well the downhill was just as slow going as the uphill because it was so steep you really had to be sure-footed. Once a bee was bugging me and I got distracted trying to swat him. I took a step and this little branch caught my foot and I almost went head over heels down the slide. That would have been really bad, especially for Mr. Tony who was below me. But Tony and I made it safely down and then realized that whole 2 mile endeavor took us three hours! We were thinking it would take us 30-60 minutes. WTF?
Needless to say we wanted to make some good time on the way back. Besides stopping to pump some water we were cruising. But the last three miles were so long!!! Especially because the last two looked and felt like the end. But after 8 hours and 43 minutes we made it back to Pikey. We grabbed our flip flops and headed straight to the river to let our feet soak; it felt absolutely amazing. So the trail we took was the Lincoln Woods trail to Owl’s Head path and it was 18.4 miles with 2900 feet elevation gain.
Monday, July 18, 2011
13. North Kinsman (4293') 14. South Kinsman (4358') and 15. (Cannon 4100')
July 3
So it was actually on our agenda today to hike the Presi Traverse but our lovely weather kept calling for thunderstorms. We aren’t afraid to get wet but because the Presi is mostly on an open ridge we didn’t want to be out there during a lightning storm.
Instead we opted for the Kinsmans and Cannon hike. I wanted us to get an early start to try to beat the rain, so we got on the trail about 8 am. I know, not that early, but we did wake up about 6:15. We just had a few chores to do and a drive ahead of us. On this drive we were lucky enough to see another moose and a fox, so Kelli was happy.
We started at Lafayette Campground and hiked to Lonesome Lake first. Man was it a rough hike. Not necessarily because the trail was hard but we were just both in a very sluggish tired mood. Tony had the best excuse because he biked one of the hardest trails on Friday, I had an excuse of work. Which I know we all work and it’s not that good of an excuse but it’s three 9 hour days of not being able to sit down, so my little, or big, feet do get tired. Anyways, it was pretty funny to see us; we both were doing the zombie walk and not enjoying it. But we eventually made it to the lake and it was very pretty! We even saw a solo female thru hiker which was cool. After the lake we wound our way towards North Kinsman on the Jimmy Fishin Trail and it started to lightly rain. We threw on our rain jackets to keep dry, but it was warm so it got muggy.
We reached what seemed to be a summit and had a great viewpoint but there wasn’t a cairn. I wanted to keep moving so we headed on our way towards South Kinsman. This was a very busy trail. It was part of the AT so we saw lots of thru hikers, Tony missed his chance to talk to two guys that were coming from Maine. He’s been wanting to know what the Maine AT section is like and most of the people we see go south to north. He was bummed and I laughed . Well we reached South Kinsman and didn’t find a cairn again and got a little concerned of what summit we actually were at. Could we really only be to North Kinsman? That was a daunting thought. But pretty quickly a couple from Massachusetts came up and said they thought this was South Kinsman as well. Tony and I took a picture and called it good. We started the hike back towards North Kinsman and the first few steps were on some slanted, wet rocks. Well my darling Tony wasn’t paying too much attention and he started to slip. He was leaning back and his right leg kicked out as high as my head, thankfully I was to the left of him so he didn’t kick me in the head. And with his spry, quickness he was able to level himself off and not actually fall flat on his butt. I don’t know how he managed to escape that one but man did he look scared during the process. Little did he know that 35 minutes later farther down the trail he actually did slip on another rock and fall down. It was the slowest, controlled fall ever and the entire time he was looking at me with a look that said, “Okay, I’m going down but I’m okay. I’ll just place my leg here, yes it’s bent weird but I’m okay. Alright I’ve landed in a good position, on nothing jagged. Okay we’re all good.” Honestly, you could see that thought process by the expressions on his face.
Anyway, we moved along fairly quickly after those few little falls. We eventually came to the last ascent to Cannon. We had made a pretty long descent, which we always hate to do because we know we’ll just have to go right back up. And up we went. A very steep half mile to the next trail juncture. We saw a few people coming down and felt scared for them because one group had a dog and the 5 people didn’t look like they knew what they were about to hike into. The trail was obviously wet but it was so steep at this part that going down seemed very treacherous. We couldn’t even imagine how a dog would get down some of those spots. But we came off the very steep trail to a more commonly used path and ran into another group of people. One of the guys in their group didn’t have shoes on! It was crazy because this trail (even more so then other NH trails) was soooo rocky. His feet either hurt like hell or they were super super tough. As we were staring at his feet this Chinese man comes barreling down with a really confused, worried look on his face. He barely spoke English and tried talking to all of us. Tony, the nice, heroic man he is told Mr. Chinese-man that we would take him back to Cannon mountain lodge. We were about a half mile away and on not too dangerous of a trail, but it was raining out and this guy was in jeans, sneakers and a zip up jacket- so not dressed for hiking. So we just assumed he got turned around and needed to get back to the lodge. Cannon mountain is actually a ski mountain and in the summer people take the gondola ride up to the summit to see the views. But that half mile with Danny (Tony was disappointed in his common, uncool name) was pretty entertaining. We felt bad for him because he was really shook up and even told us at one point he was scared. He kept making Tony go back and help him over rocks and such. He was from Hong Kong and was travelling by himself. Poor Danny. But Tony took care of him and he made it to safety.
The lodge was a funny place because we come hobbling in, dripping wet and people are just sitting around with massive meals and delicious looking beers. Man did a beer sound good. But we didn’t bring our wallets which was probably a good thing. It was nice to be able to eat our bagels in a warm, dry environment-even though everyone around us had steaming hot plates of pizza and sandwiches. After drying off some we decided to get going as the rain had let up a little. We did get to use a real bathroom and get our waters filled out of the drinking fountain, much easier than a stream.
We ended the hike in 8 hours and 22 minutes. Slower than we were hoping but with the wetness it made it so slow-going and tedious. And like always on the way home I looked up to the slopes of Canon mountain and saw a bear walking around. Every time I look at the slopes in the summer I always see a bear. I thought we’d see one hiking but apparently they like the front, gradual side of the mountain versus the steep, rocky section we were on.
So it was actually on our agenda today to hike the Presi Traverse but our lovely weather kept calling for thunderstorms. We aren’t afraid to get wet but because the Presi is mostly on an open ridge we didn’t want to be out there during a lightning storm.
Instead we opted for the Kinsmans and Cannon hike. I wanted us to get an early start to try to beat the rain, so we got on the trail about 8 am. I know, not that early, but we did wake up about 6:15. We just had a few chores to do and a drive ahead of us. On this drive we were lucky enough to see another moose and a fox, so Kelli was happy.
We started at Lafayette Campground and hiked to Lonesome Lake first. Man was it a rough hike. Not necessarily because the trail was hard but we were just both in a very sluggish tired mood. Tony had the best excuse because he biked one of the hardest trails on Friday, I had an excuse of work. Which I know we all work and it’s not that good of an excuse but it’s three 9 hour days of not being able to sit down, so my little, or big, feet do get tired. Anyways, it was pretty funny to see us; we both were doing the zombie walk and not enjoying it. But we eventually made it to the lake and it was very pretty! We even saw a solo female thru hiker which was cool. After the lake we wound our way towards North Kinsman on the Jimmy Fishin Trail and it started to lightly rain. We threw on our rain jackets to keep dry, but it was warm so it got muggy.
We reached what seemed to be a summit and had a great viewpoint but there wasn’t a cairn. I wanted to keep moving so we headed on our way towards South Kinsman. This was a very busy trail. It was part of the AT so we saw lots of thru hikers, Tony missed his chance to talk to two guys that were coming from Maine. He’s been wanting to know what the Maine AT section is like and most of the people we see go south to north. He was bummed and I laughed . Well we reached South Kinsman and didn’t find a cairn again and got a little concerned of what summit we actually were at. Could we really only be to North Kinsman? That was a daunting thought. But pretty quickly a couple from Massachusetts came up and said they thought this was South Kinsman as well. Tony and I took a picture and called it good. We started the hike back towards North Kinsman and the first few steps were on some slanted, wet rocks. Well my darling Tony wasn’t paying too much attention and he started to slip. He was leaning back and his right leg kicked out as high as my head, thankfully I was to the left of him so he didn’t kick me in the head. And with his spry, quickness he was able to level himself off and not actually fall flat on his butt. I don’t know how he managed to escape that one but man did he look scared during the process. Little did he know that 35 minutes later farther down the trail he actually did slip on another rock and fall down. It was the slowest, controlled fall ever and the entire time he was looking at me with a look that said, “Okay, I’m going down but I’m okay. I’ll just place my leg here, yes it’s bent weird but I’m okay. Alright I’ve landed in a good position, on nothing jagged. Okay we’re all good.” Honestly, you could see that thought process by the expressions on his face.
Anyway, we moved along fairly quickly after those few little falls. We eventually came to the last ascent to Cannon. We had made a pretty long descent, which we always hate to do because we know we’ll just have to go right back up. And up we went. A very steep half mile to the next trail juncture. We saw a few people coming down and felt scared for them because one group had a dog and the 5 people didn’t look like they knew what they were about to hike into. The trail was obviously wet but it was so steep at this part that going down seemed very treacherous. We couldn’t even imagine how a dog would get down some of those spots. But we came off the very steep trail to a more commonly used path and ran into another group of people. One of the guys in their group didn’t have shoes on! It was crazy because this trail (even more so then other NH trails) was soooo rocky. His feet either hurt like hell or they were super super tough. As we were staring at his feet this Chinese man comes barreling down with a really confused, worried look on his face. He barely spoke English and tried talking to all of us. Tony, the nice, heroic man he is told Mr. Chinese-man that we would take him back to Cannon mountain lodge. We were about a half mile away and on not too dangerous of a trail, but it was raining out and this guy was in jeans, sneakers and a zip up jacket- so not dressed for hiking. So we just assumed he got turned around and needed to get back to the lodge. Cannon mountain is actually a ski mountain and in the summer people take the gondola ride up to the summit to see the views. But that half mile with Danny (Tony was disappointed in his common, uncool name) was pretty entertaining. We felt bad for him because he was really shook up and even told us at one point he was scared. He kept making Tony go back and help him over rocks and such. He was from Hong Kong and was travelling by himself. Poor Danny. But Tony took care of him and he made it to safety.
The lodge was a funny place because we come hobbling in, dripping wet and people are just sitting around with massive meals and delicious looking beers. Man did a beer sound good. But we didn’t bring our wallets which was probably a good thing. It was nice to be able to eat our bagels in a warm, dry environment-even though everyone around us had steaming hot plates of pizza and sandwiches. After drying off some we decided to get going as the rain had let up a little. We did get to use a real bathroom and get our waters filled out of the drinking fountain, much easier than a stream.
We ended the hike in 8 hours and 22 minutes. Slower than we were hoping but with the wetness it made it so slow-going and tedious. And like always on the way home I looked up to the slopes of Canon mountain and saw a bear walking around. Every time I look at the slopes in the summer I always see a bear. I thought we’d see one hiking but apparently they like the front, gradual side of the mountain versus the steep, rocky section we were on.
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