Mt. Tecumseh

On 12/23/12, we set out for our first winter hike of the season! At only 4,003 feet, Mt. Tecumseh is the shortest of the 4,000 footers and at only 5 miles RT, its perfect for a late morning hike (I like to sleep).

I had been waiting a long time to finally hike in the snow. I love snow. People think I am crazy. I also have a small obsession with hiking gear, but I like to be prepared. My dad and Sean are the luckiest ones, they usually get to come shopping with me :) I am pretty sure that I solely keep EMS and REI in business. 

The trail head is in the Waterville Valley parking lot on the right hand side of the road. This hike would be the first hike with my new Vasque hiking boots. I know, another pair? Turns out the Keen's I got this summer are just a "fad", at least that's what the sales associate at REI said. I knew they were not going to last because I never had to break them in and I could bend them in half. They felt like a sneaker. These new boots are their polar opposite. They are so stiff I can't bend them at all. Once I break these boots in, I hope they are able to do what I expect of them. 

We started hiking around 11am, and only saw a handful of other hikers. We met a tiny Shiba Inu puppy who was out for her first 4000 footer hike! That made my day, I love little dogs. The dogs owners told us that the trail was mostly packed down but we would still need some sort of traction. So of course, I didn't use my brand new Kahtoola microspikes on this hike... I used my trusty old Kahtoola crampons. Honestly, I probably don't need both, but I like to have options. 

The humming sound of the chairlifts was a different sound to hear while hiking. We saw one couple who were hiking up with their ski's and planned to ski down. Genious. And much less stressful than skiing Tuckerman's. 

It had to have only been in the single digits at the summit with the wind chill. It was freezing! I think it would be a great idea to carry a little thermometer on your backpack to see the temperature. I took a risk too by using my hydration bladder because the tubing really wanted to freeze. It tried really hard but I just wouldn't let it. I kept drinking and moving the tubing around to keep the water from freezing. Sean didn't do so well and his froze. Next hike we will use nalgenes.

This would have been a great hike to butt sled down the trail on since it wasn't too steep. I had gotten Sean butt sleds for Christmas and didn't even think to give them to him a couple days early. Next time we will be able to use them!

Overall, this was a great short hike, perfect for the start of winter :)

Ready for the hike!

Only 2.5 miles

Snowy trail

The trees and the sky were beautiful

Snack time!

This little lookout is right on the edge of a ski trail!

Me and my new fleece headband

My favorite picture from the trip! The trees are so magical in the winter

At the snowy summit!

Looking out at Triyramids

Sean! 

Happy hikers :)

Mt. Moriah

Our original plan for this weekend was to hike the Wildcats and Carters with an overnight stay at the Carter Notch Hut... but when I called to make reservations for the hut, they only had 1 spot left! Change of plans. Instead we decided to hike Mt. Moriah, which is in the same range as the Wildcats and Carters along the Appalachian Trail, just farther north.

It was a freezing morning at only 25 degrees at 7am but by the time we reached the trailhead at 9am, it had warmed up to 40 degrees. I think that 40 degrees was the warmest it was all day due to the elevation change and the wind chill factor. We chose to hike the Carter-Moriah trail because it was a direct route to the summit with the shortest distance, 9 miles RT. The Carter-Moriah trail is easily reached by taking route 16 to route 2 in Gorham.

Snow covered Mt. Washington from the scenic vista just passed North Conway!

The trailhead

4.5 miles to the summit! 

First snow we saw of the season!

I was so happy to see snow

The trail started out moderately steep, but it was wide and flat since it used to be a logging trail. It flattened out and we were able to hike pretty quickly for the first few miles. We were wondering if we would see any snow and we did! I was so excited, but didn't expect to see ice farther up the trail. 

Incredible view of the Presidential's 

Zoomed in peak of Mt. Washington and the auto road

Little bit of ice in front of Sean, the trail got much more ice covered later on

Before the 2 mile mark, the trail changed and we were hiking on huge rock slabs. They looked like they were formed from a volcano. This is where the ice began, small patches at first and then the entire trail being covered towards the summit.

At the top of Mt. Surprise, a peak along the way

Stunning views

We watched the planes pull the gliders up and then let them go all day

Gliding on its own! I don't know if I would be brave enough to every go in a glider

Sean on a steep section of the trail 

The last section of the trail was completely covered in ice, so we had to bushwhack a little bit to avoid the trail. We were told by a few other hikers that there were already tracks off to the side of the trail which made it easier to pass by the ice. It was about 20 more minutes passed that point to the summit. The 360 degree views at the peak were extremely rewarding.

At the summit!

Mt. Moriah, 4049 feet 

View of the Wildcats and Carters to the south

Clouds rolling in

The snow covered trees were so pretty

This hike is definitely one of my favorites! I loved everything about the trail, especially how it changed so many times to keep it exciting. I was able to relax and not anticipate when we would reach the summit because there were no signs telling us how many miles were left.

 Since the trail was very muddy and icy, I would recommend the safest time to hike this trail is in the summer. If you are going to hike it in the winter, make sure you are prepared with micro-spikes/crampons and possibly an ice ax. If you slip down one of the rock slabs on the ice, you could get really hurt. On the way down, I actually slipped on a root on a flat section of the trail and landed in a split, smashing my knee on a rock. I was fine, but my patagonia wasn't so lucky, ripping near my wrist :( I still recommend this trail, just make sure to take proper precautions depending on the weather! 

Overall, our total hiking time was 5 hours and 45 minutes. Not too shabby :)

North & South Hancock's

North and South Hancock is a 9.8 mile hike RT. The parking lot is right at the hair pin turn on the Kancamagus Highway, and the trail head is across the street. You follow the Hancock Notch Trail for 3.6 miles until the split for Hancock Loop Trail, where you can choose to ascent either North or South Hancock. The first 3.6 miles is really mild with a couple of stream crossings that might be difficult in the spring. We had no problem with them, but the water levels are much less in the fall. The only challenging part of the trail for us was the .5 ascent to South Hancock, it's very steep. We prefer to hike up the really steep sections than down them which is why we chose to ascent South Hancock first. The views were really stunning with neat cloud formations. Here are some pictures! See below for my take on trail etiquette :)

Start of the hike and the first signs of fall!

A huge uprooted tree! 

The first steep part of the trail, heading up to South Peak

View from South peak

Easiest 1.4 miles we have ever hiked! Only took about 20 minutes to get to North Peak

View from North Peak

Trying to figure out which mountains we were looking at

A nice guy offered to take our picture!

The trail down from North Peak was a mess

Back at the parking lot... Osceola's in the background!

Since this hike wasn't too eventful, I wanted to take some time to talk about trail etiquette. One of the reasons I love the outdoors is because the people you meet are usually really friendly! Every once and a while, you run across people that arn't so nice and you wonder what they are doing on the trail because it doesn't seem to mesh with the serenity of the mountains. Some of the nicest hikers I have ever met were AT thru hikers on Mt. Moosilauke. Since they had been on the trail for months, they really knew the "rules of the road"... or trail! I wanted to take this time to share a couple of good rules to hike by. 

1. Smile and say hello to people you meet on the trail. It makes me feel much more comfortable if I know a little something about the other people on the trail. Nothing huge, just a little hello, how is your day, info about trail conditions if the other hiker is going the opposite direction. This could also work to your benefit if you get hurt and need assistance. Nothing is worse than when you say hello to a fellow hiker and they completely ignore you and walk right by without stoping, which brings me to the next rule...
2. The uphill hiker has the right of way. When I was researching this, there was a lot of controversy because people felt the descending hiker should have the right of way because they have gravity working with them. It seems to me though that the uphill hiker should have the right of way because they are working harder. I'm sure most uphill hikers wont have a problem taking a quick break to catch their breath, but some people like to keep going once they get in a groove. Be respectful to fellow hikers and give the uphill hiker the right of way.
3. Faster hikers should pass on the left. They should also let the hiker up ahead of them that they are coming. Nothing is more frightening than all of a sudden someone right behind you with no notice. 
4. Dogs. I love dogs but I've had my share of frightening moments with them on the trail. Traversing from North to South Hancock, I was hiking along minding my business when all of a sudden I heard something growling at me. It was a low grumble and I thought it was a bear. I froze and all I could think of was what the heck I was going to do it all of a sudden I saw a bear right on the trail. Turns out it was just a big... I mean big dog, quite a bit ahead of its owner on the trail coming to see who was up ahead. It stopped walking but kept growling at me until its owner caught up. The owner said nothing and kept walking... see rule #1. Keep scary dogs on a leash! Praise owners of well behaved dogs!
5. Huge groups of hikers. If you are with a large group, you should allow a solo hiker or smaller group to pass rather than clog up the trail. 
6. Leave no trace. Whether it is food waste, trash, bathroom waste. Pack it out with you.  Nothing worse than seeing #2 and toilet paper right next to the trail. Also, leave the trail how you found it and try not to go off the trail to prevent erosion. 

To me, these are some of the most important trail rules. I'm sure I will still run across a few unfriendly people while hiking, but at least I can be a good example and hope others will follow! If anyone disagrees or has more "hiking rules" to add, please let me know!

Happy Trails :)

Northern Presidential's

On August 25, Sean and I set out to hike the last 3 peaks that we missed on our original Presidential Traverse... Jefferson, Adams and Madison. You have to read the Presidential Traverse blog to see why we didn't summit those 3 peaks! Fortunately this time around, we were blessed with beautiful weather (no rain, wind, fog or lightening!)

The plan was to start at one end (Rt. 302) and hike to the other end (Rt. 16), since my mother was willing to drop us off and pick us up (thanks!!) We began our hike at the base of the Cog Railway via the Jewell Trail. We hiked up 3.7 miles until we met up with the Gulfside Trail, so we could continue north towards our destination. We did not hike back up to Mt. Washington since it was over a mile and there was no need to (although I love Mt. Washington). We didn't hike that fast (heavy packs again) and reached the Gulfside trail in really good time. The Jewell Trail is a great moderate trail, and probably the easiest way to hike up Mt. Washington, plus you can hear and watch the Cog which is pretty cool! 

First views from the Jewell Trail! Beautiful day

The Cog!

Looking south at the Southern Presidentials

Following the Gulfside Trail backwards was really cool because we were seeing some of the same landmarks we had seen last time, and others we did not see before. Every time we saw a section of the trail we remembered we would say what was going through our heads during the last hike! That was pretty funny. At one point, we saw a bunch of huge rocks we had said last time would be a good place to take shelter if necessary. The biggest difference this time around was that we were going to be actually seeing the summits and the views, since last time everything was covered in dense fog.

Headed towards Mt. Jefferson

Picture with a cairn, always!

A nice flat section of the trail!

At the summit of Jefferson!

After we summited Mt. Jefferson, we hiked down a little ways and decided it was a good time to eat lunch. After a few minutes, an adorable little girl who was only 5 years old came down the trail with her dad. She decided she wanted to take a break with us, it was really cute! I love seeing kids outdoors and on the trails especially when they are happy about it. We actually ended up hiking with the little girl and her dad for a while, she had fun using one of my hiking poles. Her little legs got tired, so her dad put her in his child carrier backpack and we parted ways. Somewhere between Jefferson and Adams, I got an energy spurt and took off to the summit of Adams so I could take another break (haha). We met some nice people at the summit, but it was really buggy so no one stayed long. Our next destination was the Valley Way tent site, where we would be staying the night. We stopped at the Madison Hut along the way and chatted with a few AT thru hikers. They are always the nicest people you meet on the trail!

Summit of Mt. Adams

Difficult rocks, trying to navigate my way down Mt. Adams

Looking at Mt. Madison. The Gulf in the middle is what we hiked up during our original PT. The ridge at the top of the picture is the Osgood Trail, which is what we hiked down to get to Rt. 16 the next day

Mt. Madison

The auto road

0.3 miles to the Madison Hut

Mt. Madison and Madison hut 

From the Madison hut, it was a half mile walk down the Valley Way trail to the tent site. The trail was wet and pretty steep. We learned at the Lake of the Clouds Hut, that the "croo" who work at the AMC huts have to hike up 80 lb. packs of food to keep the huts stocked. It doesn't matter if they are a 5 foot female or a 6 foot male! We met a girl who was hiking up one of these packs, it was huge! I wish I had a picture. It made me not resent my ~30 lb. pack as much. Finally, after the longest .5 mile downhill hike ever, we made it to the tent site and settled in. It was a perfect night for tenting, comfortable temperature, no rain, and no bugs.

Dinner!! No gross mac and cheese this time haha

Home for the night

Valley Way trail... it was actually pretty steep!

The tent site was recently worked on.

The next morning, we packed up all of our things and headed up to the Madison Hut to refill out bottles and take off for the day. Our final ascent was up Mt. Madison and then continued on down the Osgood Trail (AT). The farther north we got on our hike, the less people we saw. There were only 4 people on the summit of Mt. Madison, whereas the day before on Mt. Jefferson, there were probably 30 or so people. 

White blaze :)

Summit of Mt. Madison! Finally!!!

Proud of our accomplishment

Looking up at the Osgood Trail

Lots of rocks

Me with the Presidentials in the background

The Osgood Trail was all rocks. Halfway through the day, my feet were on fire from all the pressure the trail had put on my feet the day before that that morning. I had gotten new boots that month from REI that were really comfortable but never required break in. Too good to be true... I don't think they will last that long. We kept hiking and eventually were out of the exposed ridge. It was a really hot and muggy day. Towards the end of the trail we saw a couple of cross country ski trails, which made me wish it was winter! Its funny, when it's really hot, I always wish for winter, but in the dead of winter when it's freezing, I wish it were summer! Finally, we reached the end of the hike and couldn't wait to stick out feet in the river. Its the littlest things that make me happy!

Last river crossing, we knew we were close to the end of our hike

Luckily, we didn't see any bears!

Just hanging out on the side of the road waiting for our ride!

We sat on the ride of the road for a while waiting for our ride. Turns out they were at Dolly Copp swimming in the river, so we got to spend the rest of the afternoon in the water. Perfect end to a great hiking trip!