Jackson 2/18/2009

Because Shelby didn't get to come hiking with me last weekend, I decided to take today off to go for a small hike before the storm hits tonight. We decided to do Mt. Jackson because it was only 5.2 miles and it would leave us enough time to get home before the snow starts. I have already hiked this mountain before, less than two months ago but Shelby hadn't hiked it yet.

We got on the trail at about 9:30AM and immediately saw this sticker attached to the trailhead sign. I'm against Postholing as much as the next guy which is why I almost always wear snowshoes. I always carry them whether or not I'm going to wear them because you never know when you'll need them. Also, I feel safer knowing that I may have to bail out and use them if the weather should turn. I do feel that sticking these stickers to trailhead signs is a bit over the top though. I do kind of which there were signage that people could read to make them aware of how much postholing ruins the trails.

With that being said, Shelby and I would be barebooting with traction today. She would be in Microspikes and I would be using my Crampons. For the record, we did carry snowshoes and neither of us postholed even once.

After about an hour and 20 minutes, we reached the trail junction where we would be turning left to head over to Mt. Jackson. This is a little behind book time, but we did waste some time at the beginning putting on the traction and layering up. Above is a picture of Shelby at the trail junction. Only 1.2 more miles from here to the summit.

We kept going and the blue skies that we had started with had turned to grey. At about 3,700' we noticed that new snow had fallen, likely overnight and blanketed everything with a fresh coating of an inch of powdery fresh snow. Shelby kept commenting on how beautiful it was and I wholeheartedly agreed. We also started running into the infamous Gray Jay. We didn't feed the bird but did take a picture or two.

feeding these birds can be fun, but once you feed them, more and more of them show up and then they follow you until they feel you won't feed them anymore.

Eventually we took the turn in the trail where you could see the summit of Jackson in the distance. This always puts a little extra kick in my step. Here's a picture of Shelby in the Winter Wonderland.

In no time at all, we were at the steep scramble at the top. Here's a picture of Shelby on the scramble. She had very little trouble with it on the way up but ended up sliding down this part on the way down.

I actually thought Shelby would be scared of this part as she really hates exposure but she did very well and when she did slide down, she did the right thing and didn't panic. She had a nice controlled slide and was a little nervous at the bottom but was fine.

We spent quite a bit of time taking in the view and the breeze at the top was a little brisk but overall, we didn't need to layer up at the top or anything. The weather was great considering a storm was moving in, and the clouds added to the mood a bit and made for some great pictures.

This summit marks Shelby's 9th 4,000' peak, second in winter. My total still stands at 19 and my winter total is still 4. Ironically, Jackson is only my second repeat 4000' peak and both time's I've been here, it was winter. There is a marked difference between this trip and the trip I took in December though. Lots more snow has fallen since then.

This year we actually set goals for ourselves. Most of my goals are hiking and fitness related and most of Shelby's goals are life related.

In 2007 I hiked 40 Miles and in 2008 I hiked 105 Miles. This year my goal is to hit 150 Miles. So far I'm at 24 Miles.
In 2007 I hiked 6 - 4000' Peaks and in 2008 I hiked 13 so this year my goal is to hike 20 new 4000 Peaks. So far I'm at 1.
I also want to do at least one overnight backpacking trip which I have never done before and one 2 night backpacking trip.

Here's a picture of Shelby enjoying the view from the summit.

We made it back to the car at about 2:00 and made it home by 4:20 which was just in time for the snow to fall. Another great day spent in the whites with my wife.

Chocoroua 2/16/2009

Today I would be hiking Solo. Shelby had a meeting in Portland for lunch so I decided being a holiday and all I should do a little hiking while I had the chance. I decided to do Chocoroua. It's relatively close to home and is a peak I've done before. I reached the trailhead at about 8:30 and within a 45 minutes or so I was at the Champney Falls where I took this picture of a nasty set of icy stairs.

I also took this picture of the ice that was hanging off of the ledges here.

I took off on the trail for a bit and realized that I was making very good time and slowly but surely, views started opening up to the North on the switchbacks towards the end of the Champney Falls Trail. I finished my first liter of water here and was surprised that nobody had caught up to me on the mountain yet and that I hadn't seen anyone else. This is a very popular mountain and on a day like today I figured I would see more people.

A little under an hour after starting along the trail again, I saw a short spur path that said "View" on it which I had never noticed before. I bushwacked the 30' up the trail which had quite a snow pack which made the going difficult, but the reward was great. I took in the view and this is what I saw.

Before I knew it, I was above treeline and at the steepest part of the day which is right near the top of the mountain. Shelby hates this part as she is not too keene on any amount of exposure at all.

I reached the top and I sat down and had my tuna sandwitch and some GORP. I sat around eating and taking pictures and enjoying the day for about 20 minutes. The temperature was in the 20's or so, (Best Guess) and the wind was calm maybe hiting 5 miles per hour. There were 360 degree views from the Ossippe's to Mt. Washington and more.

I love days like this and I can't believe that there was nobody else up there. There are a number of trails that lead to the summit, but the entire time I was even above tree line and on the trail, I never saw anyone. I did take this picture of Whiteface and Passaconaway while at the summit. I hiked these two peaks in 2007. They were my 3rd and 4th 4000' peaks.

I made it to the car in about 4 hours from the start and had another great day in the White's.

Tecumseh 2/7/2009

Today Shelby and I headed up to Waterville Valley to hike Mt. Tecumseh which is the shortest of the 48 - 4,000' peaks in New Hampshire. To be honest, I hadn't heard too many good things about this mountain. I was always told that it was pretty much viewless and a waste of time. I was also told that if you were only going to do it once, do it in winter so you can get a little higher off the ground to get a better view.

With that being said, it's also a fairly short hike to this 4,003' peak which makes it a perfect starter hike for my Wife to join me on. Today is her First 4000' peak in winter. Granted, it's only my fourth but I've done longer hikes on snowshoes and a big part of snowshoeing is just getting used to the way your feet react with the ground.

We parked about .3 miles from the trailhead as the Ski Area was busy today being a nice day and a Saturday to boot. We had a fairly easy time and soon found that we were dressed just right for the day. There was no layering up or down at all. After about 1.1 miles, we hit this stream bed which is overrun with snow at the moment.

The trail to this point was fairly decent and easy and after another .1 miles or so, we hit the short spur path to the ski slopes where there was a pretty good view of the Tripyramids.

There was also a snowboard race that was about to start. All the participants were spending time waxing their boards while instructions were being given on the course. The picture to the left is of me, the Tripyramids and the snowboarders.

We then headed back up the trail which parallels the Ski slopes for a while and was well broken out by the snowboarders who use it as a trail. We never saw any snowboarders on the way up at all. At this point, the trail steepened significantly and I explained to Shelby how to take a rest step where you lock your knee in place while your other leg moves. It saves a lot of strain on the muscles and lets you go longer without having to stop and lose momentum.

Along the way there were quite a few funny faces planted into the snow. This one was my favorite and reminded me a lot of "Slimer" from the ghost busters.

Soon we came to the trail junction with the Sosman Trail. From here to the end we would follow the Sosman Trail to the summit. The Mt. Tecumseh Trail forms a loop with the Sosman trail but it was not broken out so we would not be following it today.

When we arrived at the junction, the wind was blowing pretty good and despite the 30 degree temperatures, it was cold. We put on our Balaclava's and I put on my extra fleece jacket for some added warmpth.

After we finished layering up, we headed back up the trail where the Sosman trail diverted left and after a few minutes, this view of the West and Mount Moosilauke opened up to us.

we arrived at the summit at about 11:40Am and Shelby was very happy as this was her first winter 4,000' Peak. Congratulations Shelby.

Shelby then took a picture of me at the Summit Cairn. This is my Captain Morgan Pose.

We then ate lunch and took in the view.

Considering this peak has "No Views", the day was great and the views were better than expected. From this point, we headed down and were at the trailhead again at about 1:05PM. We did this hike in book time exactly including all of the stopping and picture taking and view looking and food eating we did. This was a fun hike and a nice learning opportunity for us both. Maybe we'll even do it again someday.

Major 1/31/2009

Today I am taking Shelby on her second winter hike and I decided that we would do something bigger than last time, but with a good view. What better place than Mount Major in the Belknap Range. This is the third time I have been to the top of this summit and the second time for Shelby. This is the first time for both of us in Winter though.

Here's a picture of Shelby getting her snowshoes on. It took her a while and I think that because her feet are so small, the snowshoes don't tighten very well. They stayed on for the whole day though which was a good thing.

We soon got on the trail and found that the trail was broken out somewhat. The trail obvoiusly had a fair amount of traffic but it was mostly barebooting traffic which made snowshoeing a bit tough. The trail was very uneven, but the snowshoes kept us above the snow so we kept them on. It also looked like a back-country skier had come down the mountain on this trail.

A We reached left turn on the trail and decided to put some more gear on. We both put on our balaclava's and realized that we really needed to go out and buy some neck gators. The temperature was about 22 degrees and the wind was kicking up knocking the windchill down to I would say 5 degrees or so.

A good ways up the mountain we turned around and saw this view of the Ossipee Range on the other side of Lake Winnipesaukee. Seeing this view reminds me a lot of my hometown of Jackman, Maine. The view of Sally Mountain past Bigwood and Attean lakes is a lot like this one.

We did not take any pictures at the summit as the wind was putting quite a bite into the air, but I did snap this picture just below the summit on the ledges.

We ate a quick lunch at the summit inside the walls of what used to be a hut here and spoke quickly to a few teenagers who hiked up in crampons. We also said hi to a gentleman who hiked up in jeans and a sweater and was obviously very cold. He was going to head down the way we came up and the way the wind was blowing, I'm sure he was cold. I don't know why anyone would hike anywhere in winter wearing jeans.

Also at the top, there were 4 snowmobiles, they must have had a fun ride up to the summit. I'm sure it was warmer too. Amazing what a plastic full face helmet can do to shield you from the elements.

We headed down the boulder loop trail and beaver pond trails and the trail was very well packed, unlike the main trail. We did the entire trip in 2 hours and 25 minutes. Only 1 minute over book time. Considering how much time we wasted putting on more clothes and putting on handwarmers and eating lunch and taking pictures on the ledges, I thought this was a pretty good time. The next time I take Shelby out in winter, we're going to have to see how she handles a longer hike.