Can you believe I’ve only made it up to the mountains 4 times this summer? I understand that 4 times may seem like a lot to the naked eye, but I assure you that it feels like a prolonged absence from the place I love each summer. I made it up to Garfield and Franconia Ridge with Victor back in June. It was hard to “hike” everything, knowing that running itself is not the danger, but falling was a big risk. To refresh your memory, I am recovering from Pulmonary Embolism diagnosis back in May, and am on a course of Xarelto for 6 months. Running is an approved and encouraged activity… but physical trauma is actually quite dangerous with a risk of internal or external bleeding. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been a little risky… but never in some place as remote as the summit of a mountain or alone.
I’ve been calling this summer the “Try New Things” tour or my “Alternative Summer”. I haven’t been training for any long ultra-marathons, and I haven’t been spending all my free time in the mountains. This has given me the freedom to explore new activities and new places right in my home city of Boston. Instead of heading north every weekend, I’ve been able to spend time locally and finding new corners of my neighborhood to enjoy. This whole year has been about making fewer excuses to try new things, and that philosophy exploded this summer.
For example, I have spent a large amount of time on the river this summer. I bought a season kayak/canoe/SUP pass and have done all 3 of those activities. I’ve even been able to take Sky Girl out on the river with me, where we were quite a hit with everyone on bridges we paddled under. I have always loved the water, not just swimming but the calm of a river or lake. Even in the hottest days of the year, setting out on a board with the pup was never out of the question. This activity was made even more enjoyable by the masses of my friends, from different circles of my life, who also enjoyed summertime on the river.
Another river activity that deserves some written real estate in this post was the great tubing adventure on the Deerfield River. I’ve sat in a lazy tube before, with a floating cooler and an incipient summer sunburn, but this tubing adventure is what I would call “active tubing”. Jeremy invited myself, Victor, Mark, and Seero out to the Berkshires (the most magical place in MA) to go tubing down the river. If you are picturing the lazy tubing, please wipe your mental canvas clean and instead picture a rushing river with class 3 rapids, where we went 4 miles in an hour. This trip was like one long slide, where you had to dodge rocks and attempt to paddle with your nearly useless hands outside the tube, while getting splashed. Storms threatened and sunglasses were lost (sorry, Mark). I had a blast, possibly the most fun single hour activity I’ve participated in.
I could go on and on about this alternative summer. There were other activities (mountain biking, visiting new parts and parks in Boston, etc.) but by August, I was ready to get back to my familiar happy place, climbing in the mountains.
Cabot is so far north. Holy crap! Jeremy and I left on one of the last days of August with the intention to drive up to Cabot, conquer that bad boy, camp out, and then hit Owl’s Head. The day did not follow as ideally as we had hoped. First, I woke up that morning with a horrible sore throat. I have been battling a sore throat on/off since coming home from San Diego and it seems like every 3 days it returns. That morning, I woke up feeling sick and questioned my ability to hike and camp. I was thinking about what would happen if I wore my body out and then got real sick again, worse than just a sore throat. After sleeping a little more, I decided I’d at least try it. So with the late start, Jeremy and I headed north, and north… and when it doubt just keep driving north…
Cabot is WAY the hell up there! After what felt like an eternity, we made it to the fish hatchery. Neither of us has hiked Cabot before, and a quick google search claimed that the gate at the hatchery closes at 4:30pm. The trailhead is a 2 mile road walk/run away from the gate… so Jeremy and I had a decision to make. After realizing that we could take our time, we left the car on the outbound side of the gate and added 4 miles to the 11 mile loop. We hiked the Cabot loop counterclockwise, heading up Unknown Pond trail first, then hitting the Horn and the Bulge and finally summiting Cabot and then heading down.
The day we chose was HOT. Not only hot but HUMID. Like, stupid humid. Like only stupid humans would venture on a day like today. And only stupid humans would bring a dog and make a dog do this hike on a humid day like that. Well, I don’t claim to be very smart…
Speaking of Sky, she did absolutely great on this 15-mile day! She showed no signs of slowing down, no signs of fatigue, and she was actually running down the road faster than Jeremy and myself at the end. Her strength surprised me, as she isn’t the young pup that she was when I first got her (she’s not old, but just not young) and her road running is very slow these days. This pleasant surprise is encouraging me to bring her on more, longer mountain days.
Anyway, Jeremy and I camped on the Kanc after this and decided to lick our wounds and go home the next day, saving Owl’s Head for another day.
Vermont High Peaks—CHECK. Over the Labor Day Weekend, Victor and I made last minute plans to head up and check out some trails. We didn’t want to stay in the Whites, and I assumed that we would be unable to since they apparently get more visitors than Yosemite per year (Jeremy’s claim!) so instead we thought about doing some trails in Vermont. That made me remember that I only had 1 more of the Vermont 4000 footers to summit, Killington, to finish the list.
Victor planned a cool 20 mile loop starting and ending at our campsite in Gifford Woods State Park. GW is a great place to camp if you are looking for a place in that area. There are plenty of amenities, it’s very clean and well maintained, and you have access to many trails from right there—including the AT and the LT.
Our loop changed slightly, based on quality of the trail, but we ended up making a large loop and out-and-back out of the Long Trail and the AT. We ended up heading up Pico, over and back to Killington, and then back down. We ran into Hannah Hawley just driving by on the road during one of 2 road crossings, which is kind of amazing. The total mileage was 19 miles and almost 5,000 ft of gain.
As fall approaches, I am looking forward to finishing my NH 48 during peak foliage. Owl’s Head is probably the most remote mountain of the list, nestled so snuggly within the heart of the Pemi Wilderness. It’s a 16-18ish mile out and back hike from Lincoln Woods (although of course you can make more mileage out of it from other locations) and I’m looking forward to using it as a big training day.
I started this blog with this list in mind, but it’s turned into a wilder journey than I could’ve predicted. I slowed down my progress so much that for a while I was wondering if I’d ever finish the list at all. I’m not done yet, so I will just keep wondering.
48 peaks 