Monday - Bartlett, NH - 4.3 miles
I got out of the house at 5:15 AM and drove about 10 minutes to the Mount Stanton trailhead. It was 1.4 miles to the summit of Mt Stanton and another 0.7 to Mt Pickering. There were some runnable sections near the base but also some steep climbs which wore me out. Nice views from various ledges of the Bartlett valley and Attitash. Once on the other side of Stanton, there were great views of Stairs Mountain, Iron Mountain and the hills where we're staying. The trail descended before climbing again to the top of Mt Pickering. A great early morning trail run but a stark reminder that I'm a flatlander. I need to taper my expectations when I go out on a longer adventure later in the week. |
| Sunrise from the ledges of Mt Stanton |
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| The hills where we're staying |
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| I dig this spot |
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| A New Balance fan could get in real trouble in that store |
Beer:
1x Baxter Stowaway IPA (20 oz)
1x Tuckerman Pale Ale (20 oz)
Tuesday - Bartlett, NH - 2.8 miles
Amanda went rappelling down a waterfall this morning. She was very excited. I jogged with Oliver in the morning while she was making preparations. The roads around the cabin are wide open with awesome views and killer houses. Oh to live up here! Good run and the hills kept both Oliver and myself honest.While Amanda and Em were doing the rappelling thing (Em took pictures) Ezri and I went to North Conway to check out a few stores (I used to love going to Dondero's Rock Shop as a kid and I was happy to see that it remains unchanged.) Then we returned to Echo Lake for a bit more swimming.
I was going to run in the afternoon but it's almost 90 degrees out. I wasn't that psyched to begin with and then we decided to move my solo adventure up a day. We have a date with Santa's Village. The next two days both have sporadic thunderstorms on the menu. But tomorrow is forecast to be 90 while Thursday drops to 82. So we'll try for SV on Thursday. So I'm taking it easy the rest of today in preparation for tomorrow's effort (whatever that may be. At this point it's very much dependent on the weather.)
Beer:
1x Moat Mountain Iron Mike Pale Ale
2x Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Wednesday - Twin Mountains, NH - 18 miles
Peak bagging that started at North Twin trail. Took me over North and South Twin. Went on to Galehead and Guyot. Separate write-up to follow. |
| Beautiful day up in the mountains |
In the afternoon we took a brief trip to Jackson Falls just before the thunderstorms began. It came down awfully hard for a while. Amanda made a terrific steak dinner.
Beer:
2x Moat Mountain Violet B's Blueberry Ale
1x Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Thursday - 0 miles
Oh my sweet calves! It feels like someone filled them with cement! The result of yesterday's effort was brutal and immediate when I woke up this morning. After a bit of shambling around the cabin they began to loosen up some. We drove almost an hour north today to hit Santa's Village for the first time. We've always just gone to Storyland since it's five minutes away. SV was really nice though. Ezri loved it. There were no crowds, the park was extremely clean and the forecast thunderstorms didn't materialize until we got back home in the late afternoon. At that point a restaurant excursion would have been a shitshow so we opted for some tasty takeout from the nearby Red Fox Restaurant. Good choice. And I fulfilled my contractual obligations of being cheerful and mobile at Santa's Village despite 18 miles of trails on Wednesday.Beer:
1x Hop Nosh IPA
1x Stone Ruination IPA
Friday - 0 miles
360 push-ups (standard/military/wide/decline) 40/30/50/30/50/50/30/50/304th of July today but the forecast is miserable with rain/thunderstorms all day. We went to breakfast in North Conway and then spent a couple hours doing the tourist thing, shopping downtown. A return visit to Dondero's where Ezri bought a cool stone fish. And then back across the street to revisit the climbing shop (they have a great consignment basement - I picked up a windbreaker and soft shell jacket this week.) Then we grabbed some pizza at the famous Elvio's to bring home for lunch.
We spent the rest of the day puttering, packing and cleaning up the cabin. Figure we'll try to leave bright and early tomorrow so that we can enjoy the better weather back home in Rhode Island. I shall miss you New Hampshire. Hopefully another hiking adventure is in the cards later this year.
Beer:
1x Moat Mountain Iron Mike Pale Ale
1x Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Al
1x Allagash Saiso
1x Moat Mountain Violet B's Blueberry Ale
Saturday - Bartlett, NH - 4 miles
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Before finishing the packing and cleaning the cabin I went out and did four very easy miles with the dog. My calves are still pretty sore from Wednesday and I didn't have much pep on those neighborhood hills. Still, it was nice getting some last looks at the nearby hills (one road had a great view of Mt. Stanton and Mt. Pickering that I hiked on Monday.) I didn't get over to nearby Iron Mountain as I hoped and I also didn't get around to trying to take back the nearby segment I had created. Oh well, there's always next time!Sunday - Charlestown, RI - 7.1 miles
Nice cool morning back in Rhode Island. No real desire but I dragged myself down Old Coach Road for a penance run. Legs still don't have much life and my body is lacking for energy after a week of beer and junk food. Back to the grind tomorrow.Weekly Mileage: 36.4 miles
Year to Date: 1,051.6 miles
Another great vacation week in the books! I miss the White Mountains already. We had a lot of fun up there and hopefully next time we venture north Ezri will be able to go hiking with me. Oh and my elevation gain for the week? 9,048 feet. No wonder my legs are beat!
Cool pics. Sounds like you're having quite the vacation. Wednesday's adventure was amazing. My two favorite outlets in NH are NB and NHSLC. Enjoy the rest of the trip.
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