p2piper
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Mountain: Mt. Cube (2,909)
Date: October 11, 2008
Time: 9:15 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. - 6.5 hours
Weather: Mostly sunny, breezy, 60's
Miles: 7
Elevation Gain: +2,200
Trails: Appalachian Trail
Picture Gallery
Last weekend we climbed Saddleback and Horn and my legs were pretty sore the next day - I always get sore on long, steep hikes, no matter how much I train. It's frustrating - I can't find a pattern to it. Sometimes I'll be sore after a 4 mile hike and sometimes I won't. Sometimes I'll be crippled by a 12 miles hike and sometimes I just feel fatigued. There's no pattern, except that I almost always feel some kind of leg soreness on hikes over the 8 mile mark. Blah.
Anyway, I started this week with my usual workout regime - spin class on Monday to ease myself into the week and warm up the old legs and heart, then a 4 mile run on Tuesday and a weight class right after. I felt something pulling, hurting in my right hamstring during the last hundred yards of the run. Then during the weight class, I felt it even more and every time I bent over to get my weights I felt it twinge. By the end of class, I told Nancy I was calling my massage therapist - I knew something was not right and we were running in the Tufts 10K on Monday, October 13. Not a good sign.
I took Wednesday off from exercise and was cranky and sad. Exercising makes me feel good - it gives me balance and reduces stress. I took Thursday off and saw my massage therapist who did a little searching around for the hurt spot and found it was in my butt - sacrotuberous ligament - instead of the upper hamstring. She also found nasties in my IT band. Since it's all connected, it fits. I'm a tight muscled person - probably part of the reason I get so sore, despite how much I stretch. She worked deep into the tissue, using her elbow to try and break up the spasms - ooowwwwwwwwwwwww. She had to remind me to breathe.
So I iced and told myself it would heal in time…or not. I took Friday off as well and started feeling better, although sore from the massage. I figured I could do a gentle hike and be fine for running a slow 10K on Monday. So I started looking for something fairly close to Keene that wasn't too short or too long and ended up choosing Mt. Cube from the 52 With a View list. 6.6 miles, 2,200 elevation gain, an hour and a half from Keene - who could ask for more?
On the drive up 91 we drove in and out of river fog to bright sunlight and incredible color in the trees. Our hope was to stop at the Fairlee Diner for breakfast before hitting the trail, but when we pulled into the parking lot we saw a line of people standing outside the door in the cold. We discussed the situation and decided to move on and hope we saw some place we could buy a breakfast sandwich. No, we didn't find any place so ended up at Cumberland farms. Then off to find the trailhead.
Since this is a popular hike with dogs, we saw lots of cars parked at the pullout near the trailhead and several dogs (with their people) getting ready to head into the woods. We followed close behind. The 3.3 miles to the junction of North Cube and South Cube were relatively gentle - the usual rocks and roots, water bars and rock steps. The leaves were beautiful and the air temperature perfect. We didn't see anyone on our way up. We took the short spur to North Cube - great views of Moosilauke - and we walked on quartz rock - slippery and gorgeous - very different from the usual granite.
We sat, ate our apples, some trail mix and then a large group of hikers - an AMC group led by the NH Chapter - came up and stood a short way away enjoying the beauty. We stopped to talk as we passed by and then headed up to Cube. Another wonderful view of Smarts Mountain, the Dartmouth Skiway, and points southwest. Lots of people at the top - we found a hot rock out of the way and sat in the sun in bliss mode. We stayed at the summit for close to an hour before heading back down.
Despite how much I dislike going down the trip down passed quickly and using my poles from the beginning of the descent kept my knees from complaining too much. We reached the car at 3:45 p.m. and went through our ritual of taking off the boots - aaahhh - putting on sneakers, pulling a cold Diet Pepsi and a cold Diet Peach Snapple out of the cooler and sitting down - oh my god, what a great feeling. Our bodies felt like they were still hiking but we were sitting still. It's an incredible moment to look back on the day and realize how lucky we are to love this so much and to be able to do it as often as we can.
Next weekend we are taking off and then we head back to Stratton, ME where we will complete our 67 on Saturday, October 25 - it will take a hurricane or a blizzard to keep us off those summits. I think I will always feel a sense of awe when I think about the last two years and the mountains we have climbed, the adventures we have experienced, the sights we have seen, the emotions we have felt, the summits that took several attempts before relinquishing themselves to us, the laughter, the tears, the incredible connection I feel with my hiking partner, Nancy, the responses we have received to our trip reports and our web site, the lives we have touched, and our own lives will never be the same.
And even though we will meet our goal of climbing the 67 4,000 footers in new England, it's not over yet. There's always more. Always.
Of course.
Mountain: Mt. Cube (2,909)
Date: October 11, 2008
Time: 9:15 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. - 6.5 hours
Weather: Mostly sunny, breezy, 60's
Miles: 7
Elevation Gain: +2,200
Trails: Appalachian Trail
Picture Gallery
Last weekend we climbed Saddleback and Horn and my legs were pretty sore the next day - I always get sore on long, steep hikes, no matter how much I train. It's frustrating - I can't find a pattern to it. Sometimes I'll be sore after a 4 mile hike and sometimes I won't. Sometimes I'll be crippled by a 12 miles hike and sometimes I just feel fatigued. There's no pattern, except that I almost always feel some kind of leg soreness on hikes over the 8 mile mark. Blah.
Anyway, I started this week with my usual workout regime - spin class on Monday to ease myself into the week and warm up the old legs and heart, then a 4 mile run on Tuesday and a weight class right after. I felt something pulling, hurting in my right hamstring during the last hundred yards of the run. Then during the weight class, I felt it even more and every time I bent over to get my weights I felt it twinge. By the end of class, I told Nancy I was calling my massage therapist - I knew something was not right and we were running in the Tufts 10K on Monday, October 13. Not a good sign.
I took Wednesday off from exercise and was cranky and sad. Exercising makes me feel good - it gives me balance and reduces stress. I took Thursday off and saw my massage therapist who did a little searching around for the hurt spot and found it was in my butt - sacrotuberous ligament - instead of the upper hamstring. She also found nasties in my IT band. Since it's all connected, it fits. I'm a tight muscled person - probably part of the reason I get so sore, despite how much I stretch. She worked deep into the tissue, using her elbow to try and break up the spasms - ooowwwwwwwwwwwww. She had to remind me to breathe.
So I iced and told myself it would heal in time…or not. I took Friday off as well and started feeling better, although sore from the massage. I figured I could do a gentle hike and be fine for running a slow 10K on Monday. So I started looking for something fairly close to Keene that wasn't too short or too long and ended up choosing Mt. Cube from the 52 With a View list. 6.6 miles, 2,200 elevation gain, an hour and a half from Keene - who could ask for more?
On the drive up 91 we drove in and out of river fog to bright sunlight and incredible color in the trees. Our hope was to stop at the Fairlee Diner for breakfast before hitting the trail, but when we pulled into the parking lot we saw a line of people standing outside the door in the cold. We discussed the situation and decided to move on and hope we saw some place we could buy a breakfast sandwich. No, we didn't find any place so ended up at Cumberland farms. Then off to find the trailhead.
Since this is a popular hike with dogs, we saw lots of cars parked at the pullout near the trailhead and several dogs (with their people) getting ready to head into the woods. We followed close behind. The 3.3 miles to the junction of North Cube and South Cube were relatively gentle - the usual rocks and roots, water bars and rock steps. The leaves were beautiful and the air temperature perfect. We didn't see anyone on our way up. We took the short spur to North Cube - great views of Moosilauke - and we walked on quartz rock - slippery and gorgeous - very different from the usual granite.
We sat, ate our apples, some trail mix and then a large group of hikers - an AMC group led by the NH Chapter - came up and stood a short way away enjoying the beauty. We stopped to talk as we passed by and then headed up to Cube. Another wonderful view of Smarts Mountain, the Dartmouth Skiway, and points southwest. Lots of people at the top - we found a hot rock out of the way and sat in the sun in bliss mode. We stayed at the summit for close to an hour before heading back down.
Despite how much I dislike going down the trip down passed quickly and using my poles from the beginning of the descent kept my knees from complaining too much. We reached the car at 3:45 p.m. and went through our ritual of taking off the boots - aaahhh - putting on sneakers, pulling a cold Diet Pepsi and a cold Diet Peach Snapple out of the cooler and sitting down - oh my god, what a great feeling. Our bodies felt like they were still hiking but we were sitting still. It's an incredible moment to look back on the day and realize how lucky we are to love this so much and to be able to do it as often as we can.
Next weekend we are taking off and then we head back to Stratton, ME where we will complete our 67 on Saturday, October 25 - it will take a hurricane or a blizzard to keep us off those summits. I think I will always feel a sense of awe when I think about the last two years and the mountains we have climbed, the adventures we have experienced, the sights we have seen, the emotions we have felt, the summits that took several attempts before relinquishing themselves to us, the laughter, the tears, the incredible connection I feel with my hiking partner, Nancy, the responses we have received to our trip reports and our web site, the lives we have touched, and our own lives will never be the same.
And even though we will meet our goal of climbing the 67 4,000 footers in new England, it's not over yet. There's always more. Always.
Of course.
