The Tripyramids

A few days ago, Katy and I were having fun with our NH 4000 footer list. Specifically, we were wondering how realistic it would be to complete the entire list by the end of this year, and we did this by attempting to map out an ultra-tentative master schedule of the remaining hikes. We did it - but holy crap that is a lot of hiking! With weddings, vacations, school work, etc filling our commitments for weekends, it is really hard to fit all of those hikes in. Only time will tell whether or not 2012 is the year that we apply for our 4000 footer patches, but at least we started off our sprint to the finish line on the right foot. The first hike on the master schedule is to tackle the Tripyramids on President's Day weekend. Today we followed through.

As the name suggests, there are three peaks that make up the Tripyramids: North, Middle, and South. However, only the North and Middle peaks qualify to be on the 4000 footer list according to the AMC's criteria. There are several possible routes up these peaks, but we chose the most popular winter route which approaches from the Kancamagus Highway to the north. After getting up at 5:00AM this morning, we were out the door at 5:30AM and at the trailhead for the Pine Bend Brook Trail just before 8:30AM.

We had been tracking several trip reports over the past few days up this trail, and most seemed to suggest that snowshoes would be the weapon of choice from start to finish. However, the weather was quite a bit colder today with temperatures hovering around 20 degrees Fahrenheit at the trailhead under sunny blue skies. We found the trail well packed down from previous snowshoers, with very firm and solid snow conditions. We decided to start with microspikes, strapped our snowshoes to our packs, and headed off. The first mile or so of the trail was straightforward with easy grades and a well groomed trail. However, while the conditions of the trail continued to be smooth and well packed, the steepness quickly increased. The next couple miles were a fairly relentless climb, with some sections being fairly difficult to ascend with just light traction. We made it to the trail junction with the Scaur Ridge Trail, though, and continued the steady ascent all the way to the peak of North Tripyramid.

It was quite a bit colder at the higher elevations, with temperatures likely in the low teens. But with almost no wind to speak of and sunny skies it was mostly just crisp and comfortable. We made an easy descent down North Tripyramid and made it to the top of Middle Tripyramid at about 11:30AM. The skies were clear and the views were fantastic on all sides. After a short break we began our descent. Our original plan was to do a simple out and back, but considering some of the hard packed and very steep sections that we ascended on the Pine Bend Brook Trail, we thought it might be worth trying the Sabbaday Brook Trail which is a similar length and ends up only a mile up the road from where we parked on the highway. This trail was a bit of a mess, as it was not well packed, and was damaged by bare boot traffic. We switched to snowshoes and started our way down, smoothing out the trail at the higher elevations.

As we continued to lose elevation, the trail became crustier and more difficult to smooth out. We kept the snowshoes on for almost the remainder of the hike, though, as it was easier to navigate over the top of the post holes and lumpy terrain. This trail also zig-zags across a stream probably over a dozen times but most of the crossing were either fairly easy to rock hop, or were bridged over with ice. Overall, it was a beat up trail, but the grades were much more gradual than Pine Bend Brook, and was likely a simpler descent. We arrived at the trailhead before 3:00PM and had a simple one mile road walk back to our car. Another great day and a great hike. 30/48 done!

Mount Jackson Revenge!

After a fun hike and a great weekend over the New Year's holiday, I wasn't sure when the next opportunity Katy and I would get to knock another NH 4000 footer off our list. Most weekends during the law school semester are extremely busy. However, during this past week, Katy mentioned several times that she was "really craving hiking". When she suggested yesterday that she was in a good enough position to maneuver a free day today for a day hike, I said: Sure! We looked at our list of remaining mountains, scoured the trip reports on New England Trail Conditions and Views from the Top, and settled on the shortest and "easiest" hike remaining: Mount Jackson.

I put "easiest" in quotes because there is a back story to Mount Jackson as it relates to our 4000 footer quest. Last year, during Katy's spring break in early March, the two of us took a trip up to Mount Jackson to make our first ever attempt at a winter 4000 foot summit. The forecast for that day last March called for partly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 20's and a chance of flurries. Doesn't sound too bad! We did not own snowshoes at this point so we rented our gear and headed off. When we arrived in Crawford Notch last year the snowbanks were well over 10 feet high and we had trouble even finding the trailhead on the side of the road. As you can see by the side-by-side trailhead shots from last year and this year, there was several more feet of snow on the ground at the bottom of the mountain. Regardless, we trudged our way in several feet of snow of an unbroken trail, fell into a spruce trap or two on the way up, and made our way to just below the summit cone. The final 200 meters or so of the hike up Jackson is extremely steep, and by this point we were up to about five or six feet of snow on the ground with heavy snow coming down. We weren't quite sure where the trail went from here (since it was completely unbroken) and tried several routes up the cliff of ice and snow in front of us. After several attempts we finally turned back. It was an adventure and I enjoyed the trip, but there was a twinge of disappoint in not reaching the summit.

So this year we were back for our revenge. The forecast for this morning called for, yes, partly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 20's and a chance of flurries. Perfect! The real barrier to our success last time, though, was not really the flurries turned blizzard, it was the sheer depth of the snow and the unbroken trail conditions that we faced. When we arrived at the trail head this morning, it was cold with a mix of sun and clouds, and of course much less snow than last year. The trail was well packed out by recent hikers but still with a decent enough depth and consistency to warrant snowshoes. We saw several groups out today, many using microspikes with a couple other snowshoers in the mix. By the time we were on the trail, it was close to 10AM.

We worked our way up at a decent pace, quickly getting into a good groove. The clouds and blue sky were swapping in and out, and we actually did get a few flurries during the hike, but it wasn't a flurry blizzard like the last time around. There were some reasonably steep sections of the trail up Mount Jackson, but we maneuvered through them with relative ease until we reached our nemesis: the summit cone. From here we could quickly see what happened to us last year -- We took a wrong turn and ended up attempting an ascent of a sheer cliff. With a packed out trail we could see that there was a wide sweep around to the right that we missed or were unable to correctly follow last time around. This time we followed the correct route, and made it up the still very challenging, but manageable final scramble to the summit. Mission Accomplished.

The summit was partially clear and afforded views in all directions. This final section of the hike was the only section that popped up above treeline and it was a noticeable difference. The wind was howling and the windchill was likely below zero. We snapped a few pictures, took in a few views, and then headed back down. We were back to the car before 2PM and headed back home after finally exacting our revenge! 28 out of 48 4k footers now complete!

Mount Waumbek

With the fall semester over, the holiday family gatherings complete, and the spring semester not quite upon us yet, Katy and I decided to take a few days for just the two of us. We both have brand new snowshoes that we'd really like to break in, so we headed north and spent New Year's weekend in the White Mountains. The weather for Saturday looked iffy, with freezing rain and rain showers in the forecast. So we decided to spend that day poking around Jackson, NH, and ice skating at Nestlenook. It turned out to be a cloudy day but with very little precipitation and just an overall good time.

After a low-key New Year's Eve, we woke up relatively early on Sunday morning for a New Year's Day hike up Mount Waumbek. Mount Waumbek is one of the shortest of the NH 4000 footers and is a relatively straightforward out and back hike, 7.2 miles round trip. Despite our desire to snowshoe, all of the trip reports seemed to indicate that there just wasn't enough snow on most of the peaks, even at the higher elevations. Several Waumbek hikers over the previous few days reported using microspikes all the way up, so that's what we used as well. At about 9:30AM we were at the trailhead, with only one other car in the lot and temperatures in the low 30's and climbing.

The early part of the trail was a mix of ice and bare ground but this quickly gave way to persistent icy conditions covering the entire trail. The microspikes handled this with ease, though, and we were able to move along at a good pace. As we continued to gain elevation, the temperatures dipped back below freezing with a good 4-6 inches of snow on the ground. The trail was well packed down, though, and easy to navigate. Blue skies were threatening at the start of the hike, but we hiked right into a cloud and were viewless at the minor Starr King summit and the tree covered Waumbek summit. We reached the peak before noon and grabbed a few pictures and a quick snack before heading down.

On our descent, we passed several other groups going up, and when we reached the trailhead, the small lot was full and the temperatures were well into the 40's. We stayed another night at the Town and Country Inn in Gorham, NH before heading back home today. Overall it was a great hike, a great day, and a great New Year's weekend getaway with my favorite person. Mount Waumbek is our 27th NH 4000 footer and our first official winter 4000 footer.

Pierce and Eisenhower

It has been a summer of hiking for me and Katy this year as we've gotten halfway home bagging all of New Hampshire's 4000 footers. We're in the midst of a schedule shift now, though, as Katy has returned to law school for her second year and free weekend days have quickly become scarce. However, this being Labor Day weekend, we had targeted it as a potential opportunity to get one more hike in. Most weather reports had indicated that Saturday would be the best day for a hike, with Sunday and Monday sporting potential showers and thunderstorms. We attended a wedding on Saturday, though, so we would have to make do with our less ideal options. My original thought was that we would hike the Tripyramids since they were the shortest drive away, but with those trails containing some extremely steep and very challenging slides, it seemed as though those should be saved for a drier day. With a busy schedule and a dicey forecast, we went to sleep on Saturday night still undecided about a hike (though we set our alarms for 5:30AM just in case).

We awoke early Sunday morning to the harsh sound of my alarm clock in the quiet darkness before dawn. Our new thought for a hike was to tackle the simple and straightforward Crawford Path up a couple of presidentials, Mount Pierce and Mount Eisenhower. The weather reports were conflicting, but included extreme fog warnings for the morning hours, chance of showers in the afternoon, chance of thunderstorms later in the day, and temperatures in the 60's and 70's. "Should we go?" "I don't know I just want to go back to sleep." "Ok we'll go." We threw together some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, snacks, and water, packed some rain gear in our day packs, and were out the door at around 6:45AM. The ride up was uneventful with no precipitation, but we did encounter some significant fog as we got farther north. Once we reached Crawford Notch, though, the fog had mostly lifted, with summits still in the clouds but patches of sun trying to poke through. We were on the trail a bit later than usual but before 10AM under promising conditions.

The hike up the Crawford Path was a steady ascent but with no real significant steep sections. We went by several small waterfalls along the route and easily made our way to the top of Mount Pierce before noon. Clearly some trail maintenance crews had been through the trail in the past week as we experienced no obstacles and some obviously recently cleared and cut blowdowns in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene a week ago. The summit of Mount Pierce required a side tour off the Crawford Path up the Webster Jackson Trail where we were still mostly socked in the clouds, but could begin to see some hazy views. The Mount Washington Hotel was visible through the clouds into the valley, and most of the trail up to Mount Eisenhower was visible with the summit still covered. We ate our lunch and then pressed on to the summit of Eisenhower, which was blustery but a little bit clearer. It was very hazy, but you could see all the way to Mount Jefferson at this point. We were feeling ambitious, and nearly continued on to Mount Monroe, but ultimately decided against it as that would've turned a simple 10.5 mile hike into a nearly 15 mile slog. We came down off the summit of Eisenhower and took a left turn onto the Edmands Path to work our way down.

We started hearing distant rumbles of thunder during our hike down, and those rumbles continued for an hour or so. The skies were continuing to brighten, though, and the thunder coincided with a few 30 second sun showers but that was it. We made it down to a trailhead parking lot at about 3PM, but still had a 2.5 mile hike on the road to get to the other trailhead where we parked. We did this in under an hour and then made our way back home, stopping at the Tilton Diner along the way for dinner. Once again we beat the forecast, with essentially no rain, some thick and hazy cloud cover but no significant fog, and temperatures eventually reaching the upper 80's. It was a nice hike, an enjoyable day, and I'm really glad we decided to do it.

Mount Hale and Zipline Tour

This past weekend Katy and I took a mini vacation ... to the White Mountains in New Hampshire ... again. If you've been keeping up with this blog you will notice that this has been a frequent destination of ours this summer. Before the summer, when we had only summited 10 of the 48 4000 footers in New Hampshire, Katy set a goal for us. She decided that we should get halfway there, to 24 mountains in total, before she returns to law school in late August and inevitably has significantly fewer free weekends. I wasn't sure if we'd find the time to do it, but with this past weekend coming up, we found ourselves just one peak away, at 23 mountains total. Rather than doing a single drive up, hike, drive back day trip, we decided to make a little longer stay of it this time, and celebrate the halfway point in style.

On Saturday morning we woke up early, packed up our hiking gear and an overnight bag, and headed up towards the White Mountains. We chose Mount Hale for this hike for a couple reasons. One is that it's nice and easy, a short 4.4 mile round trip hike that will give us plenty of time to enjoy the rest of our weekend doing other things. Second, it's conveniently located only a few minutes drive from the Mount Washington Hotel, a place that Katy has always wanted to stay and what better time to stay then now? We arrived at the trailhead just after 10AM with warm temperatures and surprisingly partly sunny skies. The forecast had been calling for a chance of showers all week so I had anticipated we might be in for a wet hike, but it turned out to be dry the whole way. The hike was short and straightforward, but pretty steep and steady nonetheless. We arrived at the summit in just over an hour. There's not much to see on the top of Mount Hale as the open summit area is completely surrounded by relatively tall trees. We ate a snack, snapped some pictures and spoke with two other peakbagging couples for a while at the peak before heading back down. The descent was also quite simple, and we were back at the car in the early afternoon and headed over to check into the hotel.

The Mount Washington Hotel is a beautiful place, and the weather actually improved and cleared out some more in time for us to explore the grounds, hang out by the pool, and then have dinner outside with views of the Presidentials. It was a short trip, but it really was nice to have a relaxing afternoon at a grandiose place such as this. It briefly brought me back to a little taste of our fantastic two weeks in Hawaii last year for our honeymoon. On Sunday morning it was foggy and rainy, but we continued our adventure seeking, going on a three hour zipline tour at the Bretton Woods ski area across the street. I had never done ziplining before, but it was a really neat experience. The course at this location had over a mile of ziplines in nine zips total with some over 150 feet off the ground. Cool!

Our recent adventure in the White Mountains barely lasted 36 hours but it felt like a vacation of much greater length. Sometimes just a taste of the perfect combination of fun and relaxation can go a long way.

Liberty and Flume

After a very busy July, Katy and I thought it would be nice to take a weekend off from scheduled activities, and just leave one open for a change. We had already been hiking, swimming, kayaking or some combination of the aforementioned every single weekend in July so far. So yesterday we laid low, caught up on chores and to-do's around the house, and just generally relaxed. However, a funny thing happened: "I'm kind of craving hiking" Katy said. The weather for both yesterday and today was perfect. Warm, in the 80's, not a cloud in the sky. So on a whim we decided that today we would continue our 4000 footers and finish off the Franconia Ridge, hiking Mounts Liberty and Flume.

We got up around 6:00AM this morning and managed to quickly pack up our day packs and be out the door before 7:00AM. The weather was perfect as predicted, and we arrived at the trailhead in Franconia Notch around 9:00AM with completely clear skies, temperatures in the 70's and warming, and calm conditions. We were on the trail at 9:15AM to begin the 10 mile loop hike over Mounts Liberty and Flume. There are a couple of options when hiking Liberty and Flume. I had never done them before but most guide books and trip reports indicate that the Flume Slide Trail up Flume is a class 3 trail, has an unbelievably steep section that rises over 1800 feet of elevation in about 0.7 miles. Most suggest that you should only ever ascend the Flume Slide Trail and if conditions are wet or slippery, consider skipping it altogether by ascending Liberty via the Liberty Spring Trail and doing an out and back to the top of Flume. It was a perfect day and we didn't really think conditions could get any better, so we opted for the loop option up the Flume Slide Trail.

The descriptions of the Flume Slide, generally, were accurate. I would not say any part of it was "fear for your life" steep, but there were many sections in that final 0.7 miles that were difficult to navigate, and pretty much all of it was hand over hand relentless rock scrambling. There were several sections where Katy decided to forgo the actual trail and forged left or right into the bush. She found that she often had better luck with the denser roots and branches to grab onto and power her way up rather than the sometimes steep and sporadic foot and hand holds of the rocks. We eventually made it to the top, though, and it was certainly worth it. The summit of Flume opened up into an expansive cliff outlook looking down into the southern edge of Franconia Notch and also back down to the Kancamagus Highway. On a perfectly clear day there were a lot of views to soak in.

We ate our lunch on top of Flume and then continued on with an easy mile between peaks to the summit of Mount Liberty. Out of all the peaks we have visited so far, this is easily one of the best if not the best in the bunch. Liberty is completely exposed with a large rocky summit peaking out barely above the treeline. From the roomy peak, you can see the large and intimidating Lincoln and Lafayette peaks to the north. You can see the rocky cliff walls of the Cannonballs. You can see the unassuming ridge of Owl's Head and the larger, scarred slopes of the Bonds in behind it. You can see down to the Kancamagus Highway and over to the ski slopes of Loon Mountain. You can see Washington and the high Presidentials peaking out from a distance behind the Bonds. You can see a lot more, but those are the highlights, and the pictures don't really do it justice. On a day like today with warm temperatures at the summits and calm, clear skies, I feel like I should've brought up a grill, some lawn chairs and a cooler of beer. Maybe next time.

Our descent was simple and straightforward in comparison to the Flume Slide. We passed by a large group of backpackers and some folks staying at the Liberty Spring tent site down the trail and made it back to the car around 3:30PM. A great hike on a perfect day, we grabbed some food on the way back home. Numbers 22 and 23 done!

Whiteface and Passaconaway

We've spent a lot of time up in New Hampshire this summer, piling up 4000 footers, enjoying time at the big lake, and spending time with family and friends. This past week was no different. My family has a generally annual stay up at Lake Winnipesaukee in Moultonborough, NH and this year they were up there once again. Being on the north side of the lake meant that we would be only a half an hour from the trailhead of the two southernmost 4000 foot peaks, Mounts Whiteface and Passaconaway. So we packed up our gear and made our way to the very isolated and picturesque Wonalancet, NH.

Mo was jokingly upset that she was not invited on our last trek up the Osceolas. She described that hike as "Katy and O minus Mo". Well we were plus Mo once again for the 11.5 mile loop over Whiteface and Passaconaway and the three of us were at the trailhead at around 9:00AM. When we arrived we bumped into another young couple from Nashua, NH in the parking lot. They were peakbagging too and had done 14 up to that point. We saw them several times throughout the hike along with a few other groups. Generally the trail was pretty quiet, though, on a clear day but hazy with temperates well into the 90's in the valleys. We worked our way up the Blueberry Ledge Trail in the heat with some of the trail exposed to the sun. The climb was relatively straightforward with the exception of the last half mile which consisted of some pretty significant rock scrambling. Fortunately it was dry, though, so we were able to scramble up without too much trouble. We made it to the open and exposed viewpoint just below the true summit at about 11:30AM.

We had good views of Lake Winnipesaukee from the top, and stopped for some lunch, snacks, and pictures before continuing on over the true summit of Whiteface and then onward to the summit of Passaconaway. It was over three miles of hiking between the peaks but the trail was pretty easy with just the final three quarters of a mile offering some steep grades. Passaconaway had a wooded summit, but there were several ledges and viewpoints close by. After another quick stop we headed back down the Dicey's Mill Trail to complete the loop. We motored down with Katy setting her typical blistering descent pace. I think her new hiking poles helped as well. We arrived back at the trailhead at around 4:00PM for the completion of numbers 20 and 21!

This was a fun hike in a neat area. The trailhead is actually home to a network of trails that all kick off from private property at the end of a dead end road. It had a bit of a different feel to it then the notches to the north and there definitely may be more worth exploring once our 4000 footers are complete. For now, though, the beat goes on as we continued the rest of a relaxing week at the lake and are trying to coordinate getting to the halfway point of 24 peaks before Katy goes back for her second year of law school and our schedules quickly fill up once again!