Saturday, October 29, 2011

Baldface Loop


Trying to get through some of the trips I've done over the last few weeks...definitely been busy and been having fun! Here's a little peek at the Baldface Loop that Doug, Paul and I hiked the last weekend of October. Beautiful day and a little spiciness scrambling up South Baldface.










Sunday, October 23, 2011

Chocurua 10.23.11

























Had a stellar day hiking Chocurua today. Doug, Mark and I rolled out of Portland around 7:30 and were hiking by 9:15. Temps were cool. Little wind. Endless views. Perfect fall New England day! Brought the dogs with us and they were beat by the time we got back down to the car. All in all it was a great day out with excellent friends.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Pemi Loop!


So I don't know how I talked Mark and Nate into doing this hike with me, but I must have left out little details like: 25 miles, lots of elevation gain and loss, super rough terrain, etc... Well they signed on and we met up at Mark's at 5:45 yesterday morning. We rolled into the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center a little before 8 and were on the trail shortly there after...

We made good time to the first turn off that really began the day. Up 4 miles to Mt. Flume and then along Franconia Ridgeline we went. Lots of steps, lots of people and lots of wind! It must have been blowing around 40 mph and there were a few time I almost got blown off my feet! There were literally lines up to the summits so we did the best we could to get ahead of the masses and skirt around the idiots who think it's a good idea to take breaks in the middle of the trail. Once we hit Lafayette we didn't even stop because we knew that once we started the descent over to Garfield we'd ditch the crowds. It was nice to be reasonably alone again, but we were only half way through the hike and really had to buckle down and find the mental strength to continue. We were sore, tired, hungry and thirsty, but we kept going. Not really an option at that point. It's cool how when you commit to a situation like this hike, the only way to go is ahead. Turning around or sitting down and spending the night wasn't an option.

We finally stocked up on water, got some food in our stomachs and hammered out the last 11 miles to the car. By the time we got there, all three of us were totally over hiking and only wanted to eat, drink, and go to bed...today of course, I'm ready to go again!