Hammock Camping on the Horn

Been a couple years since I went hammock camping so I was happy to get up to the Whites for a night in the area of Mt. Cabot. Went over Cabot for #45 of round two and then continued on to the Horn. Incredible sunset and sunrise. Very happy to be able to do this hike.

Peaked Hill Pond Trail

I'm trying to improve my hiking video game and I've working with some new fancy software.  Shot this short one at the end of my recent foray to the Whites.  I'll be working on some longer videos soon but this was a short bit of redlining to wrap up three days of hiking.

White Mountain Weekend - June 2020

I made it up to the Whites a few weeks ago for another of my solo hiking trips.  With everything going on with the virus I wanted to minimize my impact as much as possible.  To that end I got gas at the border and avoided all shops, restaurants and gas stations while I was up there.  I drove up Friday and returned Sunday morning, sleeping in my car both nights.  The only time I wasn't hiking was Saturday afternoon when I took the opportunity to take a drive through Evans Notch, a section of the Whites I was completely unfamiliar with.  It was nice to finally get a glimpse of the Baldfaces and the other peaks over there I've yet to explore.

I want to finish Round # 2 of the NH 4000 Footers this year so I went up there with the goal of chipping away at the nine I had left.  Cannon and the Kinsmans on Friday took care of three.  Mt. Jefferson and East Osceola brought my list down to four peaks.

I've been focusing on vertical gain this year in preparation for mountain work and I think it made a difference.  While I cannot simulate the hour long climbs of the Whites down here in Rhode Island I feel like my legs were stronger from all the hill repeats,  I think it gave me the focus to run up inclines I may have previously hiked.  And I still had a good amount of pickup in the legs for Sunday's ascent of the Osceolas. 

If you'd like to see a video of the weekend here you go!

2019 Year in Review

Another year gone.  Not a great year personally or professionally so I'm ready to usher in a new one and a new decade.  In terms of running, I finished fairly strong with a good second half of the year.  As with last year, my focus this year was general training for mountain adventures.  To that end, I avoided roads as much as I could, didn't worry about pace/distance and focused primarily on elevation gains and long inclines whenever I could.

I had set a goal early in the year of hitting 250k elevation gain for the year.  Midday through it was clear that I wasn't going to reach it so I re calibrated to 200k.  I finished with 210k which I'm happy about.  Mileage wise I ended up with just over 1600 miles which is fine.

Once again racing took a backseat as my appetite for it has waned.  I managed a whopping three races this year - two of which were classic events: the Blessing of the Fleet and L'il Rhody.   The third event was the inaugural Bubba's Backyard Ultra which I'll detail below.

Not going to bother with predictions/resolutions/goals for next year.  I want to get up to the Whites and other assorted mountains as much as I can.  I have some plans in mind but nothing I want to talk about yet.  The one tradition I intend to cling to is to list my Top 5 races/adventures of the year - let's get this done so that I post this blog before the year ends.

5. Blessing of the Fleet

Been a while since I ran this race.  Really been a while since I did any road racing at all.  As such I knew I'd be a shadow of what I was only a few years ago.  I went into this race intent on just having a good time.  With no training to speak of I raced based on feel and was happy to find myself running seven minute miles.  Finished in just under 70 minutes which is certainly no PR but faster than I thought I was capable of.  

4. Wildcat-Carter-Moriah Ridge Traverse

A fun traverse I had never done before.  Finished in around 7.5 hours and was happy with how my body held up.  A fine day in the fall season up in the mountains.  Also I stayed for the first time at the Rattle River Hostel which was a cool place.  They were able to shuttle me down to Pinkham Notch to make this a point-to-point journey.

3.  Two Nights at Zealand Falls Hut in March

A great three night trip with my hiking buddies to tag a bunch of winter peaks.  Always a good time to hang with them at the off-season huts.  Went over Hale on Day 1 and Zealand on Day 2.  Attempted to make it to the Bonds but the conditions were too much and we turned around at Guyot.  On Day 3 I went it alone over Mt. Tom and then down to my car at the Highland Center.  A beautiful time to be up in the Whites towards the end of the official winter season.

2. Bubba's Backyard Ultra

The third race I ran this year was an ultra of the Last Man Standing variety.  A fun event that forces participants to run a 3.5 mile lap every hour on the hour, it's not about going fast as much as it is about enduring beyond everyone else.  After 14 hours and 48 miles I was toast and quit in fifth place.  A really fun event that let's you connect with other runners in a way that you couldn't do with distance or timed events.  I hope to do another one at some point!

1. Pemi Loop

In late June I drove up to Lincoln Woods, woke up bright and early and ran a clockwise Pemi loop.  I added all the extra peaks (Galehead, N. Twin, Guyot and W. Bond) which made for a long, arduous day of 35 miles, 10,000' gain and 16+ hours.  Very trashed legs after this one but I managed to reach 12 of the 4000 footers in one go.  Definitely a wake-up call in terms of the work I needed to do to make these adventures sustainable but a great time as always.

Well that's about it for 2019.  As another year ends and this blog continues to fade into obscurity, who knows if this will be the last blog post ever.  Probably not but one never knows.   I'll try to get some more posts up in 2020.  And I hope everyone has a wonderful new year in 2020!