Reba and I received our first hiking patch this week, the Belknap Range Hiker patch!

This past Sunday Beth, her daughter Madison and I climbed Owl’s Head which is a 4000 footer in the Lincoln area.  This is one of the mountains that is the most dreaded to climb due to the long distance of the hike, the relative flatness of most of the hike and the lack of a view for all the work it takes to get there.  In the winter months bushwhacks are created to help cut some of the distance off the hike and avoid the rock slide that you have to climb to get to the summit.

We mapped out our hike on our GPS app so we had a good idea where the bushwhacks where in case the trail had not been broken out yet.  Due to the distance I left Reba at home and will repeat it in the summer when we can do an overnight to break up the distance for her.  We started at 7:30 and followed the Lincoln Woods Trail for a few miles until we came to the Black Pond Trail.   Both trails are very flat so we where able to move along quickly.  Once we got to the pond we had our first glimpse of Owl’s Head.  It seems to shot straight up out of the woods.

Looking up at Owls Head     Black Pond

The bushwhack had been packed out which was great but whoever cut the trail did not follow the original bushwhack trail so we did become a little concerned that we might be lead astray.  But we pushed on and used our GPS to help us out and we ended up where we needed to be on the Lincoln Brook Trail.  We followed this trail for a few more miles until we reached the next bushwhack, called the Brutus Bushwhack.  At this point we where rather tired and it was already noon.  We had decided on a 2 pm turn around time if we did not make it to the summit.  We had only seen one other group of people that where head back out so we where beginning to have doubts  about finishing.  But then another group of hikers came along and our doubts changed knowing we where not the only ones out that far in the wilderness.

We began to climb up the bushwhack which was a very, very steep ascent up to the summit.  The snow was not packed down well and soft so the climbing was slow and exhausting.  It took an hour to make it to the top and we did get a few views of the Franconia Ridge and the Bonds which was nice.  Once you hit what you think is the top really is not the top.  You have to hike another quarter mile till you actually hit the real summit.

We where very excited to have made it to the summit, but then the thought of having to go down and back out was not very exciting.  we had some lunch and then started our descent down the steep slippery mountain.  Once back down we began the long trek back out to the parking lot on very flat trails.  By the time we made it to Black Pond it was 6 pm and the exhaustion was hitting us.  We finally made it back to the car at 7 pm and before dark set in.  The total hike was about 17 miles.

This hike was by far the most mentally challenging hike I have ever done.  Knowing that I will not be doing it again in one day is a comforting feeling, but it is nice to know that I can hike 17 miles in one day! Only 3 more 4000 footers until I am done with all 48.  Then on to hiking the 4000 footers in ME and VT to complete the 67.

This week I did an annual hike with my dad and Uncle Bill.  Both are my Uncle Tim’s brothers.  This year they wanted to hike Mt Sunapee.  None of us have ever hiked this mountain, but the trail descriptions sounded like it was not very hard and only 5.4 miles.  It was a cold windy day, but the sun was out and not a cloud in the sky.

We started out on a packed trail that lead us to the top of the Sunapee ski area.  It offered a great view of the White Mountains.  We had to follow the ski trail to the next trail.  We found that this trail was not packed out so I took the lead and packed the trail out.  This trail went on for over a mile.  We got to a nice look out of Isolation Lake, the trail leading from this point was well traveled so it made the going much easier.

Until we reached a point in the trail that was supposed to have a fork in it, but there wasn’t a fork.  The GPS app I use, the map we printed out and the AMC map I have all had the fork indicated on it, but it wasn’t there.  Having left a car at the trail head we where trying to get to we decided to bushwack to try to find the trail.  This added a few extra hours on to the hike and another mile.  We did finally find the trail and our car.  It was an interesting hike and great to be out there with my dad and uncle!

After the what felt like never ending snowfall Lindsey and I and of course all the dogs hiked Piper Mt in the Belknap Range in Gilford.  Someone had already broken the trail out which was great.  I have hiked Piper a few times in the past and have completed the Belknap Range.   It is a nice hike that leads to an open rocky top with good views.  To get to the top of Piper you have to park on Carriage Rd and walk to the trail head during off season.  The trail you take to the top is Piper Mtn Trail, round trip it is about 3 miles.  The trail climbs slowly with a few steep pitches.  The snow was very deep off trail and Reba thought it was great to chase after squirrels into the deep snow.  Benson the Bassett Hound attempted to follow but quickly realized it was not a good idea since he was sinking up to his ears in the snow.  The top of Piper was rather windy and we had it all to ourselves.  There are many cairns at the top but not many visible with all the drifted snow, but the rock chair was snow free.  To get to real top of Piper you have to hike a little further till you get to a large cairn that marks the highest point of the mountain.  It was another great hike and more amazing pictures from Lindsey!

On Sunday I had originally planned to hike Owl’s Head which is a 4000 footer that I need to complete the list.  But scheduling problems with the others in the hiking group and weather made us change our plans.  So Beth and I choose to hike Mount Tecumseh in Waterville Valley.  It is a 4000 footer that we have both hiked during the summer but hadn’t hiked it in the winter.  It was cold so I did not bring Reba with me on this hike.  The trail we took was the Mt Tecumseh Trail which starts in the parking lot of the ski area.  The trail was still soft from all the snow and the snow that was falling on us so we used snowshoes the whole hike.  It is a short hike but a steep hike up to the top.  This trail is also popular with backcountry skiers who skin up it and ski down the ski trails and we ran into a few along the way.  The total mileage for the hike is around 5 miles and it took us 2.5 hours to complete it.  It was much faster to hike in the winter since the snow covered up the long stretch of stone stairs that are found on this trail.  No few at the top this time but it was Gumby’s first time up!

This past weekend my daughter Emma, Lindsey and the dogs went for a short hike to Arethusa Falls in Crawford Notch.  The hike was short maybe about 2.5 miles round trip and relatively flat.  It is a very busy trail and even with us starting later in the afternoon on a Sunday the trail was still busy.  Buck and Reba had a lot of leash time on this hike, which they where not to happy about but it’s good to remind them about leash manners.  When we got to the falls we had it all to ourselves so we spent time taking pictures and just admiring the beauty of the falls.  It was much larger than I imagined and Lindsey took some more amazing photos!

On Wednesday before the big snow storm I went for hike up Rattlesnake in Rumney NH with my friend Jen.  Reba and Buck were the only dogs on this hike and we did not see another person on the trail!  The trail up to the top is easy and takes less than an hour to get to the top.  At the top it is a open rock that provide nice views.  It slipped my mind to take pictures of Gumby on my last few hikes, but he was with me in the backpack!

Just short, local hikes again this week so I will be sharing probably the most amazing and difficult hike I have done so far.  In August 2016 my friends Kathie, her dog Bodhi, Beth and her daughter did our first overnight backpacking trip.  Kathie has overnighted many times so she was a tremendous help to us newbies.  We started out on the Zealand Trail which leads you to the AMC Zealand Falls Hut then took Twinway Trail to the wooded summit of Zealand, once we took our pictures at the summit we headed over to Mt Guyot which is 4000 feet but not on the list.  It is an open summit and has some amazing views.

Then we headed to the Guyot Campsite were we planned on spending the night.  This is a very busy campsite so we did our best to hike at a faster pace than normal.  The trail to the campsite was a very steep descent with lots of rocks and roots to navigate, that along with heavy packs and being exhausted made it rather unpleasant.  Once we made it to the campsite we where lucky to get a platform large enough for all of us.  We set up camp, refueled and set out to tag Bond and Bondcliff.

We used smaller packs so hiking was a little easier.  The trail to Bond was a short hike from the campsite, but the trail to Bondcliff was tricky and long.  But the scenery and view around the trail was amazing which made it bearable.  When your out their you truly feel like you are completely alone.  The Bondcliffs are incredible the views were amazing and Reba and I ventured out on the cliff for our picture, we didn’t go all the way out, honestly I think we where both a little nervous!  After spending sometime at the cliffs we headed back, exhaustion was setting in and it was a long hike back to the campsite.  Once back we had some dinner and then went to bed.  Reba really likes the tent so she slept well even with all the commotion from the other campers around us.

The next morning Beth, her daughter, Reba, Bodhi and I headed out to tag West Bond.  Kathie had already hiked West Bond and stayed back to rest some more.  It was drizzling rain and very foggy.  When we got to the summit it was completely soaked in so no view for us.  We headed back and packed up camp.  From the campsite we headed back towards Mt Guyot and took Twinway to the summit of South Twin, the trail to South Twin was fairly level and a nice easy hike.  But the last quarter mile to the summit was a tough uphill ascent.  When we summited we had the pleasure of running into a friend who had overnighted at Thirteen Falls Campsite.  After a nice visit we headed out on the North Twin Spur Trail to North Twin, then down North Twin Trail back to where we left a car.  North Twin Trail was a very, very long trail that felt like it would never end!  The total mileage was 22 miles in two days.  It was a great first overnight backpacking trip!