Mt. Zealand- #32

This past weekend was the weekend of the Mt. Washington Road Race! I will write a separate post about that race, but for now I’ll update you about the day after– where Lauren, Matt, Erik, Ryan, Rui, and I all hiked Mt. Zealand, a mountain we all had never truly summited and would work for our respective NH48 lists.

We were a little slow, having raced Mt. Washington the day before, but it was a great hike, filled with dogs and HEAT.

I don’t have too much to say. I love the mountains and my friends and dogs. The end? Stay tuned for the hike we did the next day…

VT weekend- Mansfield, Ellen, Abraham (#3 & #4)

I have so much to catch up on and no desire to type out a story. So I’ll be super brief.

A few weekends ago we went up the Vermont– a large group of Bostonians… plus Hannah and a new friend named Dani. To sum it up:

Saturday- Jeremy, Ruby, and I went up the steep AF Hellbrook trail, dropped off Ruby + Buck, and J, Sky and I continued on up the apple, chin, and over to the forehead of Mt. Mansfield, the tallest mountain in Vermont. I have climbed this in the past so I am not counting it as a new summit. Windy and rain, but the Long Trail on top is clear and beautiful. We went back on the LT down, running on wet rock and flying! It felt great!

Sunday’s adventure was a traverse. Ryan, J, and new friend Dani and I went from App gap to Lincoln Gap on the LT.. Hannah and Ruby performed a miraculous car swap for us. On this hike, we hit summits of Mt. Ellen (4, 081 ft) and Mt. Abraham (4, 016) (and some smaller peaks along the way). It was a great weekend where I felt strong the whole way!

Great weekend of climbing and drinking and dogs and friends!

#31- Moosilauke, the Gentle Giant, Sweet Child O Mine!

The week after Cannon, I decided that it was mountain time for the rest of the year. I wanted a solo trip, a quiet, chilly, snowy peak morning with just me and Poopgirl. Not that hiking with Jeremy is awful, but he should taper and probably recover from hitting the ice earlier.

Anyway, the night before I ended up at the Drop with Erik because earlier I saw a dope blue Corona mountain bike in the window and naturally assumed I could win it at some point. We went in maybe an hour after I walked by and the bike was gone. It looked like this:

Pretty sweet, right?!

Anyway, so after a few beers, I end up in bed at the outrageously late hour of 10:30pm. Hey, for me, that’s pretty late. I intended to wake up at 5:30am and get on the road early, so I tried to get to sleep. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep at all that night and I don’t know why. I got a few hours and woke up at 5:00am, half an hour before my alarm. At first, I thought I’d set the alarm back to 6:30am, since it didn’t really matter that I was the first one on the mountain. Then I considered not even going and instead just climbing at the Blue Hills. But hey… 5am and awake? IT’S GO TIME. I shook my head, got up, fed the dog, counted my things and got on the road.

I’ve learned from my past that I will always regret not going and doing something awesome, just because what I want to do in the moment is different.

Anyway, I didn’t stop to get gas or breakfast. I snacked on some granola in the car but mostly was planning on eating snacks on the summit. Thus, the faster I climbed, the sooner I could eat.

The Moosilauke trailhead is at the end of Ravine Lodge Rd. The plan, based on actual trail research and reading trip reports this time, was to head up the Gorge Brook Trail to the summit, then take the Carriage Road to the south summit and cut back on the Snapper trail. The trail head is a few miles west of Woodstock off 93. My drive north always seems to fly. I’m sure I am speeding, but there is really no one else out there. I was cruising on this beautiful mountain road through the wilderness and the radio went out. Not uncommon, I just let the white noise take over. Then, something really inexplicably important happened. As I am starting to get excited to be on a mountain, the white noise disappears as I turn sharply to expose the other side of the mountain I am driving around. Suddenly, in crystal clear lucid condition, the song Sweet Child O Mine by none other than Guns N Roses comes on, not halfway through, but at the very beginning. I had 6 minutes to the trail head and this song was going to take me there.

I mean, go ahead and open up youtube or spotify or itunes or whatever (Tidal?) and put that song on. Put it on, don’t do any work, don’t even read the rest of this post. Just get excited, for whatever you are doing today, this weekend. Whatever you are looking forward to, just think about that and BLAST THIS SONG. I can wait.

See? Didn’t that feel AWESOME. If you’re not ready to fuck some shit up, try again. Still no? Maybe this version will work…

“Dane Cook. Pay-Per-View. 20 minutes. Let’s go.” – goddamn Derek

Anyway. The hike was amazing. It was gentle, moderate climbing, I passed 2 people on my way up and was able to savor the summit, beautiful and exposed all to myself (plus Sky) for 45 minutes. No wind, no need to hide. Didn’t use spikes or winter coat. I was able to run down a lot, just smiling, arms out, chasing my dog through the woods…

Final exposed approach up the Gorge Brook Trail

It’s been a weird few months for me. I’ve been riding high for over a year, not manic but not really in touch with reality in all ways. I’ve been staving off a crash, just thinking it will come, but not ever sure it will. Just because I’ve been happy lately and for a prolonged period of time does not mean that sadness must follow, or that the sadness that may follow will be as intense and crippling as it has been before. I’m trying to work through creating my own balance instead of just accepting that which comes, but also, if it does come accepting it can have benefits. As long as I am in touch with myself, that’s just fine.

Enjoy the moments, Sweet Child O Mine!

#30 for me, #17 for Sky- Cannon Mountain

Last week we had a few 70 degree+ days (like the day I dehydrated, for example), so I decided to seek colder climate. Luckily for me, colder climate also means mountains! To New Hampshire!

The decision was not last minute for me, but may have been for Jeremy. I asked him what his weekend long run plans were, so as to not interfere with marathon training. I mentioned I was looking to head to the mountains and he said he had to run long. And then he changed his mind and decided to long run Friday, a day before the mountains. And then it was “hot as balls” as they say, so he just biked instead. Regardless, Saturday was the day to head up!

I attempted to do some trail and mountain research, looking at recent trip reports to see what was manageable with just microspikes. Spring hiking in the White Mountains is a mess. The trails can be muddy below and pure hard ice above. Most of the reports I read were for mountains I had already climbed and very little interest in. Jeremy and I both thought Cannon was a possibility so we settled on that. Then, apparently, neither of us did any other research about which trails to take nor what those trails would be like.

On Friday at work, my lovely officemate and friend Telli said she and some friends were also going to hike something big in NH Saturday! I tried to talk her into hiking Cannon but I wasn’t sure if she has spikes or anything. She said she was going up with other experienced hikers and some less experienced hikers. I tried to warn her that spring hiking in NH does not mean the same as spring hiking in Massachusetts. But I trust Telli to make good decisions.

Anyway, Jeremy and I got to the trailhead SO EARLY, we were on the trail by 8:30am. I swear, when I am driving from Boston to the Whites, I drive through some kind of time warp black hole continuum space loop (that’s real, right?) and end up arriving in what truly feels like no time. I recall seeing many cops in NH and am #blessed that I didn’t get pulled over.

The trail we decided on—the High Cannon Trail—is not very long. It was maybe 3 miles from car to summit but that fucker sure did CLIMB. From Lafayette Campground right off Rt. 93, we started ascending immediately. I started with a short sleeve base, running top, and winter coat but quickly stripped down to just the base. This is my first mountain climb since Eisenhower and Pierce a few months ago and I felt amazing. I mean, really amazing, the climb felt comfortable and my movements were fluid. I wanted to run up the damn thing and coach Sky was really pushing the pace. Jeremy, with the long bike ride the day before, wasn’t feeling as great which was helpful in containing me and Sky. Otherwise we would’ve reached the top so early.

The trail was awesome a;so. Winding up switchbacks on the south side of the mountain, occasional outposts for a good view (something we did not have that day), and awesome large rocks. There were a number of fallen trees that were still growing, roots coming out of the ground. Very cool.

So…remember how neither of us did any research about the trail? This is partially because I really have never had a problem with Sky on the trail before (other than her dumb jump into the ravine last winter). I know most of the ‘dog problem’ trails like huntington’s ravine and the rock slide trails (although I think she could manage those, too). High-Cannon never stuck out to me as one that was reported difficult for dogs. Imagine my surprise, fear, anxiety, and nervous laughter when we come across a set of ladders and really no way for her to climb around it. They didn’t climb straight up but rather up and over a nice fall to the higher ledge. We tried to goad Sky into at least attempting to climb but she wouldn’t budge. I climbed ahead, dumped my backpack at the top and then crab walked back down the ladder. Slowly and carefully we hoisted her rung by rung with me on top, arm under her for support, and moving her legs one at a time up the ladder.

Once we got to the top of the ladder, we thought was we’d try to descend via another trail, since getting her down that ladder was just out of the question. Once again, research the trail!

The climb from here was icy, microspikes were needed and made for a smooth travel to the summit. The summit was fracking freezing with strong winds! We climbed the ice rimed observation tower but not for longer than a few minutes and then back into the trees. We hiked back down to where the second tral-Lonesome Lake- split and decided to eat. A couple of other hikers passed us near the summit and then again as we started our descent. We climbed down and realized that this trail had more ice and was initially quite steep. I was managing okay, but there came a section where Jeremy slipped and fell hard and slid a bit. It looked rough on him and he was understandable much slower and more careful after that. There was even a section where Sky was unwilling to try to go, so I went back up to move her around on a side path. The other hikers came down and passed me while I was trying to talk Sky off a ledge.

Foggy views

Tower just covered in ice

Eventually, there was a section that was really awful. The other hikers went up and around and that wasn’t too much better. Jeremy said it was pretty bad and he hasn’t hiked on ice this bad. I was less worried and more willing to try, but given that Sky wasn’t so keen I listened to Jeremy and… 500ft back up the mountain we go! We had one more option, the ski trails. So we ventured over there and my thinking was that these would probably also be icy, steeper, and exposed to the wind. But I kept my mouth shut and we tried it and they weren’t so bad! The non-snow sections were squishy. I sank 4-5 inches with every step. Stepping on a mossy rock led to a slip. When the trail split, we saw a lot of icy steepness on the main ski trails but there was a section below the tramway that didn’t get the same artificial snow all winter and had no ice. We opted for that as least dangerous.

Holy crap that trail sucked though. It was cool at first, but unrelenting. Huge downs, you never knew when you stepped how far down your leg would go. There was ample thorny brush and some hard to navigate steep sections. There were no trees to hold for support. Unrelenting. I kept joking aloud about how we were training for Barkleys! “It’s the rat’s jaw!” Sky had no issues. At least none she told me about.

So skeptical after we found some tires buried in this mess. Jeremy rolled one all the way down the slope! 

Baby Rat’s jaw! 

At the sweet, sweet bottom we walked 3 miles on the bike path back to the car. All in all, an interesting adventure. Got in some elevation, carried my dog up a ladder, and learned to do a bit of research before hiking.

Oh, how did Telli manage you ask? She and her friends decided Mt. Washington was the best option. I know Telli doesn’t have crampons or spikes so I got nervous when she told me that. They tried the Ammonoosuc trail and made it up about an hour before they realized they could not summit. She told me she went in sneakers and they didn’t have a winter coat. I’m so glad they turned around! Sure she could get up, but I don’t think they could’ve gotten down.

Snowy Saturday & Super Sunday

February has hit Boston! We started the month with temps rising into the low 60s, then only to plummet and welcome 8 inches of snow, and now–mid month– we are entering a polar vortex with windchill bringing us to -30 degrees “life threatening” cold temps. Life sure is rich!

I’ve upped my running this month. I’ve been run commuting as much as I can, at least 3 days a week. I’ve been getting lots of small short runs in, but haven’t gone for a long run yet. I am hoping to change that but in the meantime, I don’t mind getting the miles where I can. Currently, I took a few days off to prevent metatarsalgia from escalating, and I feel good about it.

Last weekend, Erik, Jeremy, Sky, and I took to Douglas State Park with intentions of hitting the Mid State Trail all the way south to RI and then over to CT and back up. It would’ve been 19-20 miles. Yet, that area got maybe 10 inches of snow the day before which made running difficult and made my foot pads scream. We ended up hiking for a few hours and it was a beautiful day. We ended by hitting up Wormtown brewery in Worcester.

 

The next day was SUPER SUNDAY. The Brighton Bangers were racing this as a team, close to 30 teammates ran it! The race offers a 5k and 5 miler option and allows dogs to compete, too (so long as they start in the back). I thought this would be a good opportunity to try Sky out at a large race (~2500 people). We signed up for the 5k with the intention of running the 5 miles over to the start.

Well Sky was great at the beginning, waiting for the race to start. She was certainly a little stressed with tons of people walking about and petting her and she didn’t know why we were just standing around. The 5 mile race started first and we stood along the road on the side. This was where she started to flip out. As the runners passed she began whining and barking and crying. I felt awful and tried to calm her down with food. She was so uncomfortable, I honestly thought about just forgetting the whole thing and running home. But really, Sky is smart and I think with experience she will be able to be comfortable with the crowds. I’d like to bring her to races for the rest of her life, so this stage of discomfort (for both of us) is something that we have to work on together.

After the 5 milers ran through, we walked to the back of the start. There were other dogs lined up and if I stood with her, she barked at them. So I paced around the start which seemed to calm her down more. She was slowly getting more comfortable so long as we were moving. She is not used to us being outside, her on leash, and us not moving. I think that is what she needs the most practice with.

Once we started, she was TOTALLY fine. She is made to run. I was hoping to take it easy and run slowly but geez, Sky wanted to race. She pulled me for a 26 min 5k, which is far from either of our best runs but she just wanted to get ahead. If there was anyone ahead of us, her goal was to catch them! I should train for a 5k and rest up before one and then see how fast she can pull me!

She ignored other dogs while we were running, she chased runners, made people smile, and wore her own singlet to rep the Brighton Bangers! At one point in the race, she barreled into a road cone and I couldn’t stop laughing. This dog can race but she is not made for OCRs. That’s probably a +5min penalty.

She did great for her first race, I thought. She was kind of a jerky asshole to other dogs once we were standing in the (poorly managed) afterparty. I think she was stressed and overwhelmed at that point but I was still proud. She is a dominant alpha rescue and her behaviors can be unpredictable so a big event like that is both mentally stressful for her AND for me. I’m proud we made it!

First winter peaks: Eisenhower and Pierce

While I am an avid 3-season hiker, I have always been curious about winter hiking in the White Mountains. Winter in New Hampshire can be brutal and unpredictable, especially in the mountains and even moreso above treeline. Temperatures can range from well below freezing to a lucky high 20s and windchill and windspeeds can change base temps in a heartbeat. Furthermore, snowdrift can make trails difficult to follow and losing the trail can be deadly. Many of the White Mountain deaths that I read about in the book Not Without Peril occur during the winter when people start up underprepared, when the trail is lost, or when the weather turns. That being said, I knew I wanted to do my first real winter hiking with at least 1 person who knew what they were doing. Luckily, I was able to go with 2 such seasoned winter hikers.

A fellow running club friend plans and executes a number of hikes year round in a hiking group called Barefoot at the Top. He and Jeremy were my resident experts on this hike and they guided myself and 4 other novices through the hike. The original plan was to climb Mt. Pierce via the Crawford path and then back down, but knowing that trail, I recommended getting Eisenhower as well because Pierce is really easy and together the two would make for a more adventurous day.

So we headed up early yesterday morning– 6am. We took a Brighton car and a Somerville car. As a member of the Brighton car, I got to know some new people who I haven’t really gotten to talk much with before and that was awesome! We made it to the trail head around 9am and after some preparing, we started walking. We ended up heading up Edmunds Rd towards the Eisenhower trailhead which was fine. We would walk 2miles on the road and then head up Eisenhower, over to Pierce, and then back down. This was, after the descent, we would now have a 2 mile walk back to the car since we are knocking it out first. It was a nice warmup, by the time we hit the trails everyone stripped down. It was WARM, unseasonably! But once we made it up high enough, everything looked wonderfully frosted:

The climb up was smooth and a bit fast. We ended up splitting up into 2 groups for a little bit, but we met up again briefly after Eisenhower. After hitting the Crawford trail, we somehow missed the summit trail to Eisenhower but were able to catch it on the far side.

Once we regained our bearings, up we went to Eisenhower! I rather round and bald summit that typically, on a clear day, offers amazing views of approaching trails and the ridge trail to Monroe and the higher Presidentials. However, today we were offered only high winds and a cloud encompassing everything. Nonetheless, it was a fun summit! I imagined it felt like what the surface of Antarctica was like.. almost flat on top with low visibility and high high cold winds.

After summiting, we went back down to the Crawford Path and moseyed on over to Mt. Pierce. From my memory, Mt. Pierce is a rather underwhelming peak so I’m really happy we tagged Eisenhower as well!

We made it to the top of Pierce and it was far less windy so we managed a group shot!

Heading down the Crawford path, 3 miles until we were out of the woods, we ran into a grey jay! Last time I was on Mt. Pierce, I had this type of encounter:

And we made attempts at recreating it– lots of feeding of the bird from our heads and hands.

After hanging with the bird a bit, we hurried down off the mountain. By this time we were pretty hungry and thoughts of beers danced through my head. It was a quick and painless 3 miles down and out. We arrived back at the cars around 3:45, and afterwards headed as a group to Woodstock Inn and Brewery (where I always seem to end up after a long day in the Whites).

As my first winter hiking experience, this was amazing! I couldn’t have asked for better conditions (maybe I could’ve asked for less cloud coverage, but I’m not complaining!) and a better group to take me. I met some new people and one girl in our pack was out on her first ever hike. Pretty badass! With this experience, I’ll hope to try something more intense and maybe something that requires snowshoes (since we only needed microspikes for this hike). Overall, a really good adventure to start 2016 off right.

I didn’t knock any new peaks off my list with this adventure, but I think it’s better that I was on trails I was readily familiar with– this way I could manage to direct people and also know that I was on the right path. The ice kingdom of the White Mountains is majestic and demanding of respect and I look forward to respecting the mountains more and more in all 4 seasons to come.

#29- Mt. Carrigain

You can call it global warming. You can call it lucky weather. El Nino. Whatever. Whatever it is that is going on is resulting in December in the North East (and other parts of the world) to be incredible unseasonably warm. This past weekend, it was in the high 50s and low 60s. With weather that absurdly warm, and with no large snowfalls in the Whites, I thought I’d sneak one more mountain in this year.

Saturday was interesting for me. I had no school work to do for the first time in months, I couldn’t trail run because of my ankle. By noon, I had already gone to the gym and took Sky for a 4.5 mile walk through the woods. I was BORED. I ended up reading and watching a movie I had been meaning to watch. Then it dawned on me, I should’ve been on excursion to the WHITES.

So I mentioned this to Jeremy who agreed and we decided to head up Sunday. Leaving my place around 6am, I picked him up and we were northbound. The plan for to get Mt. Carrigain. A moderate 5 mile hike to the summit, 10 miles round trip. Shouldn’t be too much snow, perhaps some ice. The summit promised 360 degree views with a firetower.

We arrived to at the trailhead around 9am right after this couple with a beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog. Sky and Brewer ran around and played for a little but Jeremy and I hit the trail quickly. The Fire Signal trail was flat for 2 miles and then split towards Mt. Carrigain. We were on a moderate climb for a while. The hike was only made difficult by icy rocks. Snowmelt froze overnight and despite the warm weather, it was still early and still cold. But moving at a good clip got my sweatshop working in no time. I ended up in a T-shirt, feeling good.

The summit was what it promised.

Really beautiful, clear skies let us take in the Presis on one side and the valley around us. The firetower was ~2 stories. Sky was uneasy about climbing up at first, so we let her stay on the Earth. I wasn’t worried about her running away. But eventually, my brave poopgirl made it up.

The other couple and their Brewer made it up and we came off the tower to talk to them for a bit. Sky and Brewer were playing and I got nervous because it was so icy and an injury to a dog up here would be devastating. I calmed her down and then she just ran up the firetower on her own, and peaked over the railing at the top at us. What a clown!

I decided to wear my spikes for the descent. My ankle is still delicate so I wasn’t going to rely on my balance to keep my footing. I was happy to put on spikes, that was why I got them afterall.

Overall it was a great hike and a pretty unbelievable December day. Thanks, Carrigain!

 

Long Overdue: Lincoln and Lafayette (x2), I’ll be brief

It’s still summer, and while I have been spending time away from the mountains most recently, I still have managed to get some good climbs in. Then life took over a bit, I got lazy, etc. etc. so I have neglected a write up about 2 more peaks that I’ve bagged… and I’ve bagged each of them twice now! I’m going to write up briefly my encounters with #27, and #28– Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette.

The first time I tried for them, it was a beautiful bluebird day. I went up to NH with Erik with the intentions of doing the Pemi Loop. Sometimes, despite good intentions, my body tells me otherwise. We started at Lincoln woods and went up the Osseo trail to Mt. Flume and then Franconia Ridge to Mt. Liberty. These are both beautiful peaks with wonderful views, but I have also summited both before! From Liberty we ran over to Haystack, Lincoln, and then finally the push to Lafayette. My body was doing all kinds of funky things, I’m not entirely sure why still but my heart was racing too much on the climbs and I couldn’t seem to control it. Instead of jeopardizing the Pemi loop and my health, Erik and I descended from Lafayette down Old Bridle Path and hitchhiked back to Lincoln from a wonderfully nice woman who waited for us in the parking lot when we got lost coming down (I made a wrong turn up falling waters trail.. you’d think I’d realize we were ascending again). That hike was only 15 miles but still beautiful!

The iconic Franconia RIdge

So a few weeks after this little hike, Boston friends Mark and Em drove up on a Friday (technically Mark’s last day of work at his company) to hike the Franconia Ridge Loop. This 9 mile loop is one of, if not the, most popular hikes in the White Mountains. I was camping in Hancock campground in Lincoln with the plan of waking up and meeting them at the trail head around 8:30am. I woke up around 7:30am and it started raining. Uh oh! The forecast looked pretty bleak, rain all day. I called Mark after I made it into town with cell service to ask 1. if he was still coming 2. where he was currently and 3. what the weather is like there. He was ~30 min away, he didn’t experience the same down pouring that I had, and we would make a gametime decision about whether or not to hike.

Well, from the trailhead looking up, usually in the notch you can see sky high to the Pemi mountains and then across to Cannon–but that day you couldn’t see anything. It was like the mountains no longer existed! I was questioning the safety in going on this hike– going up would be no problem, but the ridge is fully exposed and going down would be very slippery and slow moving. I checked the forecast again and while rain would be relentless, there was no sign of thunderstorms which are the real danger. So Mark and Em arrived and I told them I saw other people headed up so why not! Up we went. We ascended via Falling Waters, a beautiful trail that climbs among waterfalls. It was about 5k to the top. It was beautiful! Once at the top, we traversed over to Lafayette. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t really raining at all up top. It was windy and misty, but I think we were actually above most of the rain clouds. Going down was slow, and it poured and poured on us but I’m glad we went.

Mark, Em, and Sky

Much different– no views!

I’m King of the world!

After the hike, of course, we hit up my favorite local brewpub in Woodstock, the Woodstock Inn and Sky ball got to nap in the car. This was day 2 of 4000 footer hikes, totally 20+ miles for Sky and myself, but with lots of elevation change. She passed right out!

Updog! – Moriah – Carters – Wildcats Traverse

So it’s Friday and I’m thinking “man, I really wish I didn’t have to wake up super early to go run 20 miles at the Blue Hills…I just moved my life into storage and ran Summit Ave repeats and biked downtown for the whole morning. If I run tomorrow, I have to do it early because it’s going to be super hot out and I don’t want to be out there with 7 miles to go in 80 degree heat.” Luckily for me, Ryan magically inquiries to me “hey, Sunday– let’s go do this 20 mile traverse in the white mountains.” Excellent! This is awesome because I’d rather hike 20 miles in the high peaks and now I don’t have to get up to run 2×10 mile loops in the blue hills. Awesome.

So the tentative plan is for Ryan & his friend Ben to meet me at Pinkham notch around 7:30 am, we leave my car and drive north to the start. Welp. Naturally we were pretty late. I got to Pinkham early and relaxed. Ryan didn’t pull up until close to 8… some driving problems. We headed north, 2 boys, 1 girl (me), and 2 pups. We were on the trail by 8:30am… which I find funny because they both wanted to start around 7am and I voted on 9am (which they said would be too late). ANYWAY.

We went up the Carter-Moriah trail, taking 4.5 miles to get to the summit of Mt. Moriah. I wasn’t feeling great in the legs– my Saturday of rest really wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be. Usually my legs loosen up during the first climb and I am good to go but this time it wasn’t happening. I was falling behind a bit on the climbs which is always a bad feeling, both physically and mentally.

The summit of Moriah was a worthy treat, not incredibly high but you got an outstanding view of the northern presis, much of which you’ll see in some photos later. After Moriah, we continued onward. The trail then dips you down for a long time, losing close to 1,000ft. During this descent, you are traveling down beautiful slab rock trail with open views to North Carter and beyond to Washington.

Sky and Ben sneaking into my Panorama

You have to go down to go up! We climbed a steady 1500ft. to get towards the top of North Carter… but before we started, we made a pit stop for water from a fresh stream at the Imp Shelter… always known as…

The Pimp Shelter

So with a full bladder, dogs got a good drink, and I took a gel and some salt tabs– up we went to go Finding Carter. This climb was steeper than the Moriah climb (but only a fraction of what was to come). There were a few more scrambles and chimney-esque climbs that Sky had some issues with. She is not well versed in these climbs and luckily, Ryan’s pup Cayenne was a good teacher. Sky was able to figure a lot of it out after a try or two. She def has some injuries from some of the rocks (cuts on her legs here and there) but overall she learned very quickly!

At the top of North Carter we relaxed for a bit and I ate some bagel and we laid out in the shade. From NC, we went over Middle Carter and then descended a bit. We were told not to skip Mt. Hight as it boasts some of the best views on the whole traverse. Well, that was an ass of a climb but we went up to Mt. Hight and it was incredible.

Ryan on top of Mt. Hight

From here, it was a flat ridge on over to Carter Dome- the highest mountain on this traverse. No real views on much of the Carter Range but it’s good to move across the terrain and see different aspects of the wilderness. After Carter Dome, we had a hell of a descent (I’d say the 2nd hardest of the 3 descents…) in which over 1.3 miles, we drop around 1500ft. right into the Carter Notch. This descent made my knee and IT band scream a bit, it was large rocky steps, uneven footing, and steep. It was also mentally challenging because at this point, we were approaching mile 13 or 14 and could see Wildcat A across the notch, knowing that we would have to climb something equally as steep. At the bottom of this descent, we were spent a bit. I know I was feeling hungry and tired. We stopped inside the Carter Notch Hut, and ate some of our trail food. Ryan and Ben split a coffee and I ate some hut made pumpkin pie (10 for 10, would eat again). There are no dogs allowed in the hut. I was so tired and too tired to worry about Sky. She had proven herself a worthy dog. We were in clearly a dog friendly environment. I just left her outside the hut with Cayenne while we were inside for maybe 20-30 minutes recuperating. I honestly expected Sky to run away or go exploring, but she was amazing. She tried to come in but eventually, she and Cayenne just sat outside the door and loved everyone who came by. She is really a wonderful dog and I’m grateful that she has Cayenne to learn from.

Cayenne (and Ryan’s and my foot). She is a water dog for sure!

Around 4:30pm we realized that we had ~6 miles to go and that included a very very steep climb up Wildcat A and an even steeper and more dangerous descent down Wildcat D. While we would be descending down the west side of the range, the sun would set behind Mt. Washington making it darker even earlier than otherwise. That meant we had to get our asses in check and get up Wildcat.

The climb up Wildcat on the map looked like ~1400ft in 7/10s of a mile. Yikes. That is pretty verticle. The trail wrapped around the mountain a bit more than I thought it would give that staring at Wildcat during our Carter descent looked like a flat sheer climb. Ben led the way, then I followed and Ryan came up behind me. I am sure he was sweeping me on purpose to keep me moving, but it was really encouraging to keep moving. He kept joking about what he would do to me if he caught me (at least I think he was joking) but still– I appreciate him keeping me moving. That climb, although steep and us on tired legs, was maybe my best climb of the lot. I pushed and was feeling quite good during it. Thanks Ryan!

The top of Wildcat offers some nice vistas to the east. We met a thru-hiker up there. She was just doing a very casual northern half traverse of the AT. She said the Presis are always difficult but people underestimate what comes right after. We were on the AT but going south and knew that she meant our descent was going to be hard… awesome!

Wildcat vista

We moved at a bit of a shuffle across Wildcats. I kept thinking about how I didn’t want to be descending down Wildcat D in the dark– I only had a handheld and not a headlamp with me! This is making me nervous for so many reasons– I could’ve SWORN I put my headlamp and other handhelds in my car with all my camping stuff when I moved out but it was nowhere to be found. Luckily I had the handheld in my glove box for emergencies. I think I need to buy a new headlamp before next weekend’s Pemi Loop attempt! Ugh!

Anyway, we made it to Wildcat D.. marked by the built look out.

To the west (also, the butt shot)

Coupla’ tired pups. 3 more miles, girls!

From here we weren’t 100% sure which mountain we were on to be honest, but that mystery was cleared up ~100 yards later…

There is a sign on the left side of the house that points up the mountain and says “Easier Way Down”… it’s a joke.. BUT the way we went down was NO joke.

Top of the Wildcat ski gondola.. let’s take that down please.

So we pushed onto Wildcat E and then down.. and down we went! On this descent, we lost about 2,000 ft in a mile. It was large flat rocks at first (a lot like the Flume Slide trail) and then we were just down. There were some built in stairs. This is where I am the most proud of Sky. She was able to learn quickly to find her own routes and safe ones. What a good dog!

I kept an eye on the sun, slowly watching it hover over the peak of Washington. This descent gave me foot pain, blister, knee agony, IT band issues, and maybe a lost toenail– but we made it out alive and in day light! 11.5 hours for the full 20 miles, car to car. Ryan’s watch recorded it, we didn’t stop the clock for anything so I wonder how much time we spent just sitting (I could math it I guess but wondering is okay). I think we might’ve been closer to 10.5 or 10 hours moving time which is what I expected. What I didn’t expect, going into this hike, was the terrain to be as gnarly as it was. I also didn’t expect my muscles to be as poorly working as they were but there’s something to be said for pushing through it and finishing.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, Ryan is a good influence in a number of ways. He keeps me enthused and doesn’t let me not believe that I can do something. I am not the most rock solid mental athlete around, I have confidence problems and when my body is already tired, it is easy to give up. Ryan not only brushes that off with “of course you can do it, dummy” but he makes me not want to think about it at a all and just enjoy the moment and what I am doing. I was worried about my knee/IT and dehydrating (my new nickname is “sweatshop”… pretty appropriate) but at no point was I going to die and I was never in real danger… so just keep going. I don’t know if I’ve ever been on trails with someone who makes me feel like I can do anything like that. Thanks dude. Updog!

My White Mountains

6 more peaks off my list:

• Moriah- 4049
• Middle Carter- 4610
• South Carter- 4430
• Carter Dome- 4832
• Wildcat A(ss)- 4422
• Wildcat D(ick)- 4050
• 

Mt. Ascutney… Again

If you recall, I had a fun race report from the Mt. Ascutney race, in which we charged up the auto road to the top of Mt. Ascutney in Vermont. It was 3.7 miles and 2300 ft of gain.

Well, this weekend I went camping there again. This was the weekend of the Vermont 100 mile race and Ryan and I were headed to AS 92 on Hunt Rd to set up and help runners. We decided to camp the night before at Mt. Ascutney State park with the dogs, and take a quick run up the trails to the real summit of Ascutney. Ascutney is ~ 3100ft tall and is very close to the NH border. From the camp, we picked the Futures Trail to the summit, 4.5 miles to the top and then another 4.5 back down.

We got some really interesting weather. It was beautiful in the night, but in early morning, the rain started and we could hear it from the safety of inside my tent. In the morning, we went into town to get some diner breakfast food, then we got back and it started raining again. Oh well! You can’t fear the rain once you’re already wet, right? So we suited up, grabbed some beers for the pack, and then took the dogs are headed up.

The trail up winds with climbs and descents that the auto road missed. We climbed up one side of the mountain, went across the ridge to the other and down. We then came across a trail sign for something called a Steam Donkey:

We obviously had to go see what that was all about and it wasn’t very far out of our way.

It was this rather large device that clearly had broken down on the mountain and was left for dead. Apparently it was used in logging endeavors, to carry things up and down the mountain. I’m not positive how it works but I’m glad we went to check it out and satisfy my curiosity! Anyway, after a brief Steam Donkey intermission, we continued up to the summit.

Ryan and Sky girl

The trails were really foggy, like that kind of vision where when you wake up and you’re still tired so you can’t really see. It was like that for the majority of the hike up. And the summit was of course no different…

really incredible views today

You can see on the poster the views we were supposed to get

Those photos are taken from on top of the observation tower at the top. You couldn’t see really more than 10 yards in front of you in any direction. Oh well! It took us ~ 2 hours to summit. From there, it was a fun run down.. taking about 45 minutes!

It was a good adventure and an easy way to get a lot of elevation in (~3500ft climbing). This month I’ve really surprised myself with the amount of climbing I have been able to get in. I’m not the fastest person on elevation gains but I can keep going without stopping. I think I should just keep going for both distance and elevation. I don’t know, I am just trying to have some fun in the mountains. It’s been a long time since I have had this much fun for a prolonged period of time.I just don’t want to have to worry about anything and when I’m on the trails, I don’t worry. Maybe I should worry about some things but.. I don’t. Nothing bothers me. I just exist.