2010 Stats

Another year in the books

2010 Stats
4000 foot peaks - 0 (depressing)
Hikes - 3
Miles Total - 14.0
Elevation Gain Total - 2,550'

Average Miles Per Hike - 4.67
Average Elevation Gain Per Hike - 833'

This was a bit of a depressing year for me hiking wise.  We discovered in early January that we would be having a child this year and Max was born on September 7, 2010.  With my wife being pregnant all summer, the only hiking I did was in the spring and they were mostly short hikes for the sake of my sanity.  I'm hopeful in 2011 to be able to get out more often.

2009 Pictures

Well I was looking through my pictures today from 2009 and last year I picked a top 10 for the year. This year I figured I would do the same although my pictures for the most part last year seemed better. Remember, clicking these pictures will bring you to a larger version of the picture.

Picture #1 is a picture of my wife nearing the Summit of Jackson in February. There was a nice fresh new coat of snow and her bright red jacket makes the background look even brighter.Picture #2 is a picture of the Bonds and the rest of the Pemigewasett Wilderness area from the Osseo Trail heading up towards the Summit of Mount Flume in September.
Picture #3 is a picture of some waterfall on the way up to Mt. Isolation. I couldn't believe how symmetrically rectangular it was. If I ever make my way back up this way I'm defiantly bringing the good camera and a tripod.Picture #4 is Shelby again on the Summit of Jackson in February looking towards Mt. Washington. I do believe this was her first Winter 4k.
Picture #5 is a picture of Shelby looking up towards the ladders on the way up to Mt. Willey.

Picture #6 is a picture of a solitary Gray Jay on the top of Mt. Starr King.Picture #7 is a picture of me on top of Little Haystack. Shelby took the picture while I was wrapping the huge welt on my shin from falling a few minutes earlier.Picture #8 is another picture from on top of Mt. Starr King of a Gray Jay. This time it is leaving Shelby's hand full of food and the angle is an angle I've never seen of one of these birds before.Picture #9 is taken from the Summit of Mt. Isolation looking at the Montalban Ridge towards Mt. Washington and the Southern Presidentials.
Picture #10 is just a picture of the wilderness sign on the way up to Mt. Isolation. I like the green in the background with the natural wood of the sign in the foreground.

Pawtuckaway 4/19/2010

I needed to get out hiking again so I decided I would head to Pawtuckaway State Park. South Pawtuckaway is on the New Hampshire Fire Towers list plus it would be a good distance hike for me to start getting back into shape a bit. I paid the Iron ranger at about 10AM and was on my way. I hiked the Mountain View Trail which was pretty well maintained with no blowdowns or anything and I reached the Summit 3 miles later.

I looked at my new watch which was made by Tech 4.O which shows altitude, calories burned, heart rate, barometric pressure as well as a whole host of other things. The altitude reading read 1345'. This summit is only 908' so I re-adjusted the altitude which I had never done before. The readings proved to be correct for the rest of the day.

I went to the top of the fire tower which was quite windy but more enjoyable than being on the summit due to the large numbers of flies in the air. There are views from all directions once at the top of the stairs for the fire tower. I stayed for a bit and continued on towards Round Pond. The trail was pretty well maintained the entire way except for a few washouts where you can see the rain washed away pieces of trail.
I made it to round pond which doesn't appear to be round. None of them really seem to be round but oh well. I scared off a few ducks walking along the edge. I sat here briefly only for a moment to eat my pb&j and I hiked the Round Pond Trail back to my car. The Round Pond Trail is mostly an old road that appears to still be maintained. I figure the hike to be about 9.0 miles with about 1700' of elevation gain but my elevation and mileage could be wrong. I'm going by the altimeter which I readjusted and it is constantly adjusting itself so chances are it's not 100% accurate. Also the mileages in the park seem off with their math. One sign will say 3 miles while the next will say 2.7 it's really not accurate within the park.

Next time I'm here I'll hopefully hit north peak and the boulderfields.

Orris Falls 3-27-10

Yesterday I was driving home from an appointment for work and saw a sign that said Orris Falls .7 Miles off of Thurell Rd in South Berwick, Maine. I decided that today after work I would take a hike on it. It's Friday and I have a few hours to kill so why not. I could use some getting mind off of work and a few hours of exercise.

I arrived at the parking lot, grabbed a pamphlet and took off down the trail. It was very wet again due to the recent rains. The trail is protected by the Great Works Regional Land Trust. The area I would be hiking in today is part of the Orris Falls Conservation Area.

I walked on down the trail and found the trail to the Falls. I tried to get some pictures of the falls but due to the high water, I could not cross the stream to get a decent photo. Next time I'll be sure to get a decent photo. It appears to be a fairly large set of falls though.

I continued on a little ways and found the Beaver Bog area and the beaver dam itself. The high water had breached a section of the dam but it was still holding for the most part.

I then took off down the trail even further and was hoping to get to balancing rock before I had to turn around due to darkness. I think I was just before Tatnic Ledges when I took this picture of an animal track.

I think it may be an otter but I am not sure. Let me know if you know for sure. I appologize for the small picture. It's much easier to see in large size.

I stood up after looking at the track, took 2 steps and my cell phone vibrated on me which never happens when I hike. I answered the phone and my wife was on the other end.

Shelby: "Nick, where are you?"
Nick: "I'm Hiking why?"
Shelby: "Because I cut my hand and I need to go to the emergency room to get stitches!"
Nick: "Than Go, I can't do anything for you here!"
Shelby: "Ok, I'm going, it's bleeding really bad!"
Nick: "I'll meet you there!"

At this point, I turned around and ran the roughly 1.3 miles back to the car and headed for the hospital. There's never a dull day around here. More to come!!

York River Camera Fun 3-25-10

Today I was driving around and happened upon a fairly heavy flow coming from what seemed to be a small stream. I happened to have my camera on me so I parked on the side of the road and took the camera in a little ways and saw this:
I spend the better part of an hour walking up and down the banks of this stream and found upstream a ways that there were a few buildings. I don't know what they are but they are in the middle of the woods, fairly run down and there is no power feed to them. On the way out, I snapped this pictureNeither of these pictures are particularly special but again, I got to play with the camera and the polarizing filter. The recent rains have really played havoc on the streams. Turns out this is the outlet of York Pond called the York River. It can be found off the Brixham rd in Eliot, Maine

Mt. Agamenticus 3-20-10

Today I needed to hike. Period. I haven't been hiking since September. I did not even get one single winter hike in and I need to hike. Work has been super stressful so I decided to just go. The house is not clean, the walls are not painted and it's rained just about every weekend so I need to hike. We'll call it a mental health walk.

With my wife's blessing I took off towards Mount Agamenticus. It's a cute little mountain year York, Maine that has a bunch of hiking trails on them. Once at the parking area on Mountain road for one of the small trails, I hiked down the opposite side of the road to a stream that I could hear and messed around with the camera for a bit. None of the pictures were particularly good but I got to mess around with my new polarizing filter. After about an hour of messing around I turned around and bushwacked back up the hill to the road to the trail and then hiked up the mountain.

I forget which trail I took because I lost my map but I hiked up to the Ring trail then up the Horse trail then down the backside's Sweet Fern Trail back to Ring and back down the trail I started. It was a quick hike but it was nice to be out on a sunny day.