My friend and I spent a night on the Kate Sleeper Trail over
Presidents' Day weekend. We made it an easy carspot by leaving my car at
Sabbaday and making the short drive to the Oliverian Brook Trail. We started in
spikes but on the ascent to Passaconaway we switched to snowshoes and they
would be used for the bulk of the trip. Day 1 was cold and in the single digits
much of the day. We saw a good number of people as we went from Passaconaway to
Whiteface and then were were alone for the remainder, except for one pair we
met at the top of North Tripyramid and those enjoying Sabbaday Falls.
The heavy packs wore us down and we were tired by the time
we reached Whiteface. We were breaking
trail on Kate Sleeper and ready for camp. Luckily there were plenty of good
spots to camp on that trail. We set up camp in the low point between East and
West Sleeper and while the temps warmed through the night the wind also howled
something fierce. I had my share of camping blunders, doing a poor job with my
tarp tie-outs and having stove issues in the morning. Luckily Pete heated up
water for me. The most challenging part of the trip was the South Slide climb.
It was fairly icy but the snowshoes worked great for traction (as well as the
heel rises). Pete lost his Garmin InReach on the slide which was dispiriting
but we deloaded, threw on spikes and went back down. Luckily he found it right
where he suspected he lost it. We wore spikes the rest of the way up South
Tripyramid out of stubborn/laziness and that was a true slog. From there we
went back to snowshoes for the remainder of the trip.
After enjoying the short packed out section from Middle to
North to Middle Tri, we descended via the Sabbaday Falls Brook Trail. The trail
was choppy due to the recent warm temps and as we descended it probably reached
40 degrees, resulting in mash potato snow. That five mile hike out really
finished us off. Passaconaway and Whiteface were #27-28 on my winter 48 list
and Whiteface was #45 for Round 3 leaving me with three more to go (Owls Head,
Isolation and Wildcat A).
Well I've yet to get up to the Whites for winter backpacking yet this season. Had two trips planned in January that were cancelled due to weather. I had put this video together before the last one. It breaks down all the gear I plan on bringing. Hopefully I'll make it up there in a couple weeks!
Spent the weekend on the Kilkenny Ridge with a friend. We both drove up to South Pond which was a
long dark drive for me with RI/MA traffic.
Surprised to see someone else camping there as well (they were doing a
single day traverse as it turned out). We
woke up around 5 AM and I drove us down to the Mt Starr King trailhead where we
began around 6:30 AM.
I was pretty happy with my gear choices but it wouldn’t be a
backpacking trip if I didn’t screw something up.When it came to footwear I found myself having
to choose between my trail runners and my insulated winter boots (I realized
too late that I’ve never had to rely on an in-between shoe).Recent trail reports suggested a dusting of
snow, if any, and the temps were forecast to be in the mid-30s.I went with my trail runners.
There was a light layer of snow in the woods almost
immediately, and within a mile, on the trail as well.It was 21 degrees to start but soon the sun
was up and the temp rose quickly towards 30.It was bright with clear skies and we enjoyed the views from Starr King
and Waumbek.The trail is immediately
different once you pass the Waumbek outlook and begin the Kilkenny Ridge
Trail.We were pushing through spruce
branches and stepping over a couple down trees.The snow here was probably only ½ inch but it was dusting the tops of my
shoes and soon soaking through.
Despite the wet feet I was warm and we would switch between
sunshine and shade as we travelled up and down the Weeks.We weren’t sure exactly how far we were going
to get but we figured we could make it up to the Cabot summit.As we reached the notch between the Weeks and
Terrace Mountain my feet finally began to get cold and uncomfortable.I threw a couple toe warmers in there and we
proceeded on.
Once we began travelling up Cabot we were in the sun again
and my feet warmed, which was comforting both physically and mentally.The views from Bunnell Rock were splendid and
the thermometer read 60 degrees in the sun.Lovely!But those temps wouldn’t
last.We were both plodding up that last
climb to Cabot Cabin and my feet were once again getting cold by the time we reached
it.The interior had been spruced up
with a new paint job since my previous visit.We didn’t linger long as we weren’t planning to stay at the Cabin so we
continued almost to the summit of Cabot and then ventured into the woods to
find a place to camp.We didn’t have
great options but we were starting to lose the light and now my feet were
really cold.So we settled on a spot and
I went through the stressful process of setting up the hammock in the cold.
Almost as soon as that thing was set up I jumped in and went
to work warming my feet up.I made my meal
from the hammock and only left its cozy confines to hang my food bag and pee. Of course, it wasn’t all rainbows and space
heaters.I spilled the water I was heating
for my water bottle and barely had enough left for coffee in the morning.And I’m not sure why I bought cheesy potato
soup since I’m not a big cheese fan.I
guess I was hoping it wasn’t too cheesy but that was a fool’s hope.Nevertheless I gutted it down.
Mountain Forecast had predicted temps that night in the
mid-30s but it ended up getting down to the mid-20s.I was still fairly warm but I did pop a
couple hand warmers and placed them on my midsection in the middle of the
night.Packing up is always the hardest
part of cold weather backpacking and as usual I made a mess of things.When you’re only out for one night I just
cram it all in there so I can get moving again.
Day 2 was much easier than Day 1 with less miles, much less
elevation and less snow.The views from
the Horn were excellent and it almost felt like a summer day in the sun by
Unknown Pond.The long descent from
Unknown Pond before we climb Rogers Ledge was an enjoyable saunter, with lovely
views through the bare trees.
The final steep climb up Rogers Ledge gave us a workout but
we were rewarded with the final scenic overlook of the trip.After descending most of the way we opted to
take the Devil’s Hopyard trail which we both needed for redlining
purposes.The Hopyard quickly put me in
my place when I slipped on a rock and almost went head first into the drink, thankfully
submerging just my arm.Ripped my pants
up though.The Hopyard was very
impressive – it gets noticeably cooler in there almost immediately and the
running water under the rocks just sounds awsome.We went as far as we dared but we should have
researched beforehand – there’s an End of Trail sign we did not reach so I’ll
be heading back there again at some point.
Then it was an easy walk to South Pond and we were
done.Overall a great trip with great company.I’m still very much a novice at cold weather
backpacking and learned more valuable lessons.The Kilkenny Ridge is the place to go for solitude - past Waumbek we encountered
four people the entire trip.If you have
an idle 23 minutes here’s the video of the full excursion.Now to go find some waterproof boots.
I was looking forward to heading back to the Whites but I wasn't sure it was going to happen with Tropical Storm Henri making landfall 10 miles from our house. Luckily the storm veered off to the west after making land and the wind, while very blustery for a while, tapered off after a few hours. No damage to speak of, just some fallen branches.
With the storm in the rearview, I resumed my plans and drove up on Monday the 23rd. I decided to do an overnight at the Kinsman Pond campsite, going in via the Mt. Kinsman Trail, over the Kinsman Ridge Trail and down the Reel Brook Trail. Then a few miles of road back to the car. It was in the 80s and very humid when I started and I was soon pretty gross. There was quite the large variety of mushrooms in the woods. The views from Bald Peak were the best that I would have on this hike. The Mt. Kinsman Trail was only four miles with moderate grades but the heat and humidity wore me out and I was tired by the time I reached the campsite.
I was the only one there. Not even a caretaker (the weather sign had been updated the previous day so I guess the caretakers switch off/take breaks early in the week?) There were no bugs to speak of which seems normal for August. But the mosquitoes are so bad at home I always assume the worst. I heard a couple guys arrive around 8 PM and later learned they were AT hikers. I tried out the new 30 degree underquilt I recently purchased for my hammock. Temps only got down to 58 and even then I was a little cool in the morning which likely speaks more to the fact that I'm usually cold than my insulation setup.
I hiked over the Kinsmans in the morning which were in the fog. I was surprised and embarrassed when I discovered that I had never actually reached the summit of South Kinsman before. Apparently I had failed to make it all the way there on my previous two trips. Whoops! If nothing else it made for a funny (if profane) scene in the video below.
So I essentially completed my first round of the NH48 on this hike.
After that I made my way down the Kinsman Ridge Trail which was tough going at times. Some very slick rocks. Met an older woman hiking the AT who had stayed at the Eliza Brook campsite. She was impressive with her huge pack. I really enjoyed the running water alongside much of this trail. Some top notch swimming holes. I found the powerline section interesting as that's not something you see often up in the Whites. I wonder if people follow it or if it's all overgrown?
My feet were achy as I made my way down the Reel Brook Trail and was annoying with myself for misjudging the distance somewhat. The road walk went on longer that I'd like but I did encounter a cool little cemetery with some markers for the Kinsmans. After reaching the car I considered what to do as it was a little later than I had planned. I opted to stick to my original plan - hiking past Nancy Pond and camping on the Carrigain summit. But that's a tale for another day.
Spent last Wednesday sleeping in the woods. Felt it was time to try out the new hammock I bought and get back in the swing of warm weather hammock camping. Yet again I learned that a sleeping bag in the hammock won't cut it even if it's 60 degrees when going to bed. Gonna have to look into a warm weather underquilt.
Otherwise I had a great time. I thought this video came out really well.
After previously testing my hammock out on top of my hill I
was excited to give winter camping a shot when I ventured up to the White
Mountains last week. I had a lot of day hikes planned as I continued to work on
completing my winter 4000 footer list (now currently at 23/48) but I also
wanted to spend a night in the woods. I ended up planning hikes around the
Lincoln, NH/Kancamagus Highway area as it provided easy access to lots of peaks
as well as a good spot to set up my hammock without driving hours around the
Whites.
On my second day I hiked the Tripyramids in the morning and
then I relaxed in Lincoln for a couple hours before returning to the woods
around 3 PM. I found a nice spot near a stream about 1/4 mile from the car.
While I backpacked in with all my gear I also used the short distance to return
to the car to grab some extras such as booties and another quilt. Maybe the
hardest thing for me was going to bed so early as I normally go to sleep around
10:30. But once it got dark I settled in to the hammock and actually fell
asleep pretty quickly.
This worked out because after midnight it began to snow. It
was extremely light and fluffy and almost seemed like rain at first. For awhile
things were good but then the wind picked up and at that point my tarp failures
became evident. I dozed again and woke to snow covering my quilt. I hemmed and
hawed about what to do before finally deciding to pack up around 4 AM (I
normally wake up between 4:30-5:00 so I was pretty much up anyway).
While my tarp issues are pretty evident in the video I was
super pleased with how the underquilt/sleeping bag performed. Granted it was
only about 22 degrees so not super cold but I was cooking in there and even
when I decided to pack up my feet were only at the very beginning stages of
cooling off. I went to bed with a hot water bottle but removed it around 10 PM
as I was just too warm. Overall I consider this a positive test of my gear. Now
I need to focus on my tarp in order to ensure I have success in the future.
Here's the video:
Finished up my second round of the 4000 Footers last Saturday on Mt. Carrigain. After hammock camping in the birch woods two miles from the summit on Friday night, I woke up early and hiked up in the dark to finish Round 2.
Then I went around the backside and bushwhacked up Vose Spur as part of the New England Hundred Highest. There's a fairly well defined herd path so it's not a true bushwhack but it was certainly still a lot of work.
Pretty happy with this video which gets a little silly at times - all in remembrance of a great pair of crocs that are gone forever.
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.
I fell off the blog train again. I suppose I barely had one foot on
it to begin with. Well let me give it another attempt, sometimes that's
all we can do.
I missed writing up a few things since I
was MIA. I had a three day White Mountain adventure at the end of
June. Day 1 featured a quick trip up the Hancocks, Day 2 was a fine
hike up Carrigain and then on Day 3 I tackled a wet Tuckerman's Ravine and Mt
Washington in some fun, foggy conditions. Originally I had plans for a traverse of the Northern Presidentials but rain earlier in the weekend derailed those plans and by Day 3 I was too tired to attempt it.
Run
with the Beavers race in mid-July went well. It wasn't the humid
sufferfest of last year and I was pleased with my performance.
I
took off two weeks from work in July, an unheard of length of time for me.
During that we went up to Montreal and Quebec City for a fun family vacation
north of the border. I got some good runs in both cities and enjoyed my attempts at speaking French badly.
So after some summer adventures I was looking forward to running the Kismet Cliff Climb again. But as summer waned and fall approached I decided to rethink my White Mountain plans that weekend. I had already run Kismet and had done fairly well and there were plenty of other adventures up there that I was thinking about - and eventually I decided to attempt a Presidential Traverse instead.
I didn't sleep well but I really liked my setup. Will give it another go!
Sunset at Ethan Pond
But I also had started tinkering with a hammock camping setup. The Manchild uses a hammock and Amanda had gotten me one for Father's Day. So I went down the wormhole, learned a good deal and decided to start my White Mountain weekend with an "easy" night of camping at the Ethan Pond shelter. So I hiked with my big pack for 2.5 miles, set up shop on a tent platform and then hiked up Mt. Willey because it was right there and how could I not? By the time I returned to camp it was bustling with people. I enjoyed a fine meal and conversation in the "kitchen" before retiring. Unfortunately I slept very little. Chalk it up to being my first night in the hammock which apparently is a thing. I laid awake for most of the night, listening to noises in the woods. So not an ideal way to prepare for a long day on the Presidentials but what was done was done. Check out the video below for highlights from this Ethan Pond trek:
So in the morning I packed up and made my way back to the car by 7:30 AM. I drove a few miles to the Highland Center and prepared my gear for the day. The forecast was prefect - mid 60s and little wind. This made it easy to go with my minimal setup. I wore my hydration vest. I had a bag of gels/salt tabs/treats, hat/gloves, a spare water bottle, first aid, headlamp, a windbreaker and my lightweight hiking poles. A brought a small water filter and a tiny bag of survival stuff which was probably overkill but better safe than sorry.
Since this was a point to point trip I had to hike either to or from my car. I didn't like the idea of heading from my car and relying on a shuttle to get me back there. The logistics would have kept me worried me all day. But taking the shuttle from the Highland Center meant starting the trek at 10 AM. Later than I would have liked. After looking at some comparable Strava activities, I figured I could complete this in eight hours before darkness set in so in the end I went with taking the shuttle to the start.
It was a bumpy ride but I still dozed off towards the end. Then suddenly we were at the packed Valley Way parking lot and it was time to begin. Immediately I was ready to go. I jogged a bit over the first few miles but pretty soon the climbing began and it was up, up, up. Once I hit the massive boulders on the side of Madison things slowed down considerably. It was tough to even see the cairns from the sun glare. After Madison it was down to the Madison Hut where I filled my bottles including the backup I had brought. This proved wise as it was a hot day, even up there. I snagged a piece of coffee cake and then out the door I went.
Madison Hut and behind it Mt Adams awaits
Mt Jefferson Summit w/ Washington and Southern Ridge behind
Mt Adams was a brutal climb with some fun scrambles. It's clear that what training I did do had not prepared me for this kind of climbing. Not sure I can really duplicate this down in Rhode Island for future efforts but it certainly was a reality check. At the top of Adams I rested for a minute and snacked before continuing on (I kept the breaks to about 2-3 minutes on the Northern Peaks and even less on the Southern ones.)
I scraped my knee lifting it over a boulder in between Adams and Jefferson and it bled like a bastard. I probably should have made use of the first aid I had brought but stubbornly pressed on ahead, figuring I'd clean it up at the Washington summit. The Gulfside trail was beautiful and I was amazed how fortunate I was with the weather. By the time I reached Jefferson I had been running for about 3 hours 20 minutes. I couldn't tell if I was on schedule or not and Washington seemed so far away (even though it was only a couple miles).
It was the climb up to Washington where I really began to feel the day's effort. This slope isn't particular steep but my feet were feeling the endless rock assault and the knee wound had crusted over into an ugly thing. The trail approached the train tracks and watching the Cogs head up kept me distracted. Finally I reached the last steep pile of rocks at the Summit and the gaggle of people waiting in line to get their picture with the summit sign.
Chasing Cogs
Summit Madness
Lakes of the Clouds Hut
I had been anticipating dressing my wound and grabbing some real food in the cafeteria. Now that I was here I recalled Jonny's blog from a few years ago when he reached the summit. I had the same reaction and just wanted to escape. I filled my water bottles and continued on. Heading down the Crawford Path now I was able to get a bit more speed and kept this up as I approached the Lakes of the Clouds Hut. It was shut up for the season so there were no treats to be had at this one.
The southern peaks were a contrast - the trail is much less technical and more runnable, but my legs were utter shit. It wasn't until I had descended Eisenhower that the first twinges of leg cramps began and luckily they held off. I chatted with some folks briefly at the summit of Pierce who were also doing traverses and then I kept going on the final stretch of the Crawford Path back to the car.
Eisenhower
It was a delicate mixture of going as fast as I could while keeping my leg cramps from unleashing. I had managed to not use my poles all day - at first it was out of pride but it was useful to have them out of the way as I picked up speed (slightly) on the second half. I actually came across some backpackers I had met the previous night who were heading up to the campsites near Mizpah Hut and they congratulated me on getting it done. Finally at about 5:15 PM I reached the end of the trail. 7 hours and 10 minutes total. An honest effort for a flatlander and one I'm proud of.
Here's my video of the adventure:
This whole thing went about as well as it could. Perfect weather! I definitely tried to put up a good time and I didn't dillydally too much. Having finally done it I'd love to take another whack at it in 2018 and see if I can bring my time down. I didn't pick the fastest trails and there's definitely room for improvement. This was also a big confidence booster as I looked to other long mountain adventures going forward. Basically this is the kind of stuff I want to do as much as I'm able while I'm still able.
Fun Facts:
Mt Madison, Adams and Jefferson were #37-39 on my 4000 Footer List.
Mt Pierce and Mt Washington are now tied for my most ascents at four apiece
This trek brought my total number of 4000 Footers in NH for 2017 (including repeats) to 18
