p2piper
New member
Submitted by Pat (Nancy's Comments in italics)
Stats
Date: September 9, 2006
Time: 8 hours and 15 minutes
Weather: Sun, fog, brief shower, sun, thunderstorm – mid 60’s
Miles: 9.6
Steps: 31,090
Trails: Avalon Trail – A-Z Trail – Mt. Tom Spur – Willey Range Trail – Avalon Trail
Holy Sh** Factor: minimal except during the thunderstorm
When we decided to hike on Saturday, the weather report said it would be the better of the two weekend days. Little did we know. As second time special guests we brought along Luna (my Australian Shepherd) and Dejah (Nancy’s daughter’s Yellow Lab) for their second, third and fourth 4,000-footers. We pulled into the Crawford Notch Depot, hoisted our packs, (which seem to get heavier and heavier each hike as we pack more "just in case" sh** -- do we really need all that extra stuff?) and leashed the dogs – on the Avalon Trail by 9 a.m. We noticed a large group of hikers start up the Trail ahead of us and another couple behind us packing up white PVC pipes. I wondered what special project they had in mind as they started up the trail.
The trail was very civilized for the first mile and a bit, although I definitely broke a sweat. (Okay, folks. By the time Pat breaks a sweat, I'm totally soaked, hair slicked down around my face -- very pretty. I have hair issues. Pat's hair, on the other hand, looks just as good on the summits as it does at the trailhead. Go figure!) I was anxious about my dog, Luna, and her unpredictable behavior toward strangers, but she was great at the start of the hike. She ignored all the hikers – and we met quite a few at the start – and was having a ball playing with Dejah, running up and down the trail. After a couple of easy water crossings, we arrived at the intersection of the Avalon and A-Z Trails at 9:48 a.m. We took the A-Z Trail – 1 mile to the Mt. Tom Spur. The sun that had accompanied us at the start of the hike faded to clouds and the forest became darker. It is amazing how much the sun affected my mood – when it’s out, I almost always feel better, stronger, happier. When it’s cloudy, my mood darkens and I am less prone to laughter. Nancy was very quiet on this hike. Usually she is the more outgoing and voluble of the two of us – her silence not the norm. I asked if she was okay – she said she was, maybe a little anxious about the dogs, but recognized her silence. That’s okay – for me the sign of a close friendship is being able to be silent together without feeling the need to fill every moment with words. By nature, I am a quiet one so I was very much at ease.
We met the couple carrying the PVC pipe and passed them on our way to the intersection of the Mt. Tom Spur and the Willey Range Trail. We hit the intersection at 10:41 a.m., meeting a family (two toeheaded kids and a couple of parents). The little girl wanted to pet the dogs and approached me where I was holding Luna on leash, Dejah standing next to her. I thought she wanted to pet Dejah, but she smacked her hand down toward Luna’s head without warning and Luna reacted by lunging at her. I was on alert so I pulled her back before the little girl realized what had happened. We quickly moved on up the Spur and I was concerned about Luna’s reaction. She hasn’t seen many small children and maybe her too-quick approach frightened her. Regardless, her reaction was not acceptable so I moved into hyper-vigilance for the rest of the hike.
We reached a height of land at 11 a.m. (windy and 64.3) and each followed different paths trying to figure out which led to the real summit. There were no signs – I found a cairn on the southeast facing side of the mountain and Nancy found half a cairn on the northwest side. We decided the summit of Mt. Tom (elevation 4,051) was the larger cairn and took a couple of pictures. (Okay folks. Here I go again. Is this the summit? No, maybe this is the summit. Or maybe here. Here's a cairn. Peakbagging should not be guesswork! Check out <a href="http://www.mv.com/ipusers/halley/signless.html">The case of the Signless Summit</a> on our website.) On our way down the . Tom Spur we met three people – Luna behaved herself this time – who told us about Flags on the 48 and that there were groups hiking all 48 4,000 footers in New Hampshire to commemorate 9/11. They were very friendly and I was sorry to miss the flag raising but we had two more peaks to bag and the weather was not very nice.
We arrived at the Willey Range Trail at 11:40 and hiked the .9 miles in 40 minutes. On the Mt. Field summit (elevation 4,340) we found an American flag flapping in the stiffening wind near an outlook and a group of folks sitting around the summit cairn eating lunch. (Because we've learned that you don't find a**holes above 4,000 feet, I would have loved to talk with the summit sitters. But the dogs were presenting a major challenge.) Because the dogs were begging, we hiked five minutes and sat on the trail to eat our lunch. Twenty five minutes later we were back on the trail, crossing the Willey Ridge toward the Willey summit. The ridge walk was a nice one, not much in the way of views, but neither was it a series of steep ups and downs. The Mt. Willey summit (elevation 4,285) caught us by surprise – mostly because we heard strange noises coming from the woods at the top. As we rounded the bend at 1:35 p.m., there were four hikers and a beautiful Golden Retriever taking down the flag they had raised as part of the Flags on the 48 commemoration. In fact, one of the hikers was Chris, the organizer of the event. They celebrated our 27th peak, shared their own accomplishments and told us more about the Flags on the 48 project. Really nice guys – told us to walk down a ways to see the view of Mt. Webster and the Presidentials. We wouldn’t have known about the view without their counsel. Although the view was hazy and the peaks lost in clouds, we could imaging the breathtaking view in fine weather. The guys took off down toward the Ethan Pond Trailhead while we started back toward Mt. Field and the Avalon Trail.
A rain shower started while we were on the summit, so we brought out rain jackets and pack covers. On previous hikes, we had waited too long before gearing up for rain and ended up much wetter than we needed to be. The shower ended a half hour later and the sun came out. We didn’t stop to take off our rain jackets – another mistake – and sweated our way back to Mt. Field by 2:50 p.m. (Okay, by now my hair is REALLY pretty!) I stripped off the soaked jacket and for the first time we had the summit to ourselves. That respite was short-lived as four young hikers joined us. Luna was aggressive, dashing toward the lead hiker and barking. I called her to me and got her on leash immediately. That was the end of our stressless peace. We ate a granola bar and repacked our bags before heading down at 3:06 p.m.
Around 4 p.m. we approached the Mt. Avalon summit spur but decided to keep moving. Ten minutes later we heard the first thunder and we tried to move faster down the trail. This was our first experience with thunderstorms in the Whites and I was impressed by the downpour, thunder and lightning. (Impressed...not the word I would use. More like scared sh**less!) I know there were areas much harder hit than we were, but we had our share of rain and wind. We slogged through the last two hours and joyfully reached the Crawford Notch Depot at 5:15 p.m. Changing out of soaked clothes into warm dry ones (We have become such smart hiking girls -- a change of clothes -- thank GOD!) was the best feeling I could imagine. Delicious. Pure bliss. One of our best lessons learned: bring a change of clothing. The idea of driving 3 hours in soaking clothes made me cringe. The dogs were exhausted, finally, and slept all the way home. Another great day of hiking.
25, 26, and 27 out of 67
Stats
Date: September 9, 2006
Time: 8 hours and 15 minutes
Weather: Sun, fog, brief shower, sun, thunderstorm – mid 60’s
Miles: 9.6
Steps: 31,090
Trails: Avalon Trail – A-Z Trail – Mt. Tom Spur – Willey Range Trail – Avalon Trail
Holy Sh** Factor: minimal except during the thunderstorm
When we decided to hike on Saturday, the weather report said it would be the better of the two weekend days. Little did we know. As second time special guests we brought along Luna (my Australian Shepherd) and Dejah (Nancy’s daughter’s Yellow Lab) for their second, third and fourth 4,000-footers. We pulled into the Crawford Notch Depot, hoisted our packs, (which seem to get heavier and heavier each hike as we pack more "just in case" sh** -- do we really need all that extra stuff?) and leashed the dogs – on the Avalon Trail by 9 a.m. We noticed a large group of hikers start up the Trail ahead of us and another couple behind us packing up white PVC pipes. I wondered what special project they had in mind as they started up the trail.
The trail was very civilized for the first mile and a bit, although I definitely broke a sweat. (Okay, folks. By the time Pat breaks a sweat, I'm totally soaked, hair slicked down around my face -- very pretty. I have hair issues. Pat's hair, on the other hand, looks just as good on the summits as it does at the trailhead. Go figure!) I was anxious about my dog, Luna, and her unpredictable behavior toward strangers, but she was great at the start of the hike. She ignored all the hikers – and we met quite a few at the start – and was having a ball playing with Dejah, running up and down the trail. After a couple of easy water crossings, we arrived at the intersection of the Avalon and A-Z Trails at 9:48 a.m. We took the A-Z Trail – 1 mile to the Mt. Tom Spur. The sun that had accompanied us at the start of the hike faded to clouds and the forest became darker. It is amazing how much the sun affected my mood – when it’s out, I almost always feel better, stronger, happier. When it’s cloudy, my mood darkens and I am less prone to laughter. Nancy was very quiet on this hike. Usually she is the more outgoing and voluble of the two of us – her silence not the norm. I asked if she was okay – she said she was, maybe a little anxious about the dogs, but recognized her silence. That’s okay – for me the sign of a close friendship is being able to be silent together without feeling the need to fill every moment with words. By nature, I am a quiet one so I was very much at ease.
We met the couple carrying the PVC pipe and passed them on our way to the intersection of the Mt. Tom Spur and the Willey Range Trail. We hit the intersection at 10:41 a.m., meeting a family (two toeheaded kids and a couple of parents). The little girl wanted to pet the dogs and approached me where I was holding Luna on leash, Dejah standing next to her. I thought she wanted to pet Dejah, but she smacked her hand down toward Luna’s head without warning and Luna reacted by lunging at her. I was on alert so I pulled her back before the little girl realized what had happened. We quickly moved on up the Spur and I was concerned about Luna’s reaction. She hasn’t seen many small children and maybe her too-quick approach frightened her. Regardless, her reaction was not acceptable so I moved into hyper-vigilance for the rest of the hike.
We reached a height of land at 11 a.m. (windy and 64.3) and each followed different paths trying to figure out which led to the real summit. There were no signs – I found a cairn on the southeast facing side of the mountain and Nancy found half a cairn on the northwest side. We decided the summit of Mt. Tom (elevation 4,051) was the larger cairn and took a couple of pictures. (Okay folks. Here I go again. Is this the summit? No, maybe this is the summit. Or maybe here. Here's a cairn. Peakbagging should not be guesswork! Check out <a href="http://www.mv.com/ipusers/halley/signless.html">The case of the Signless Summit</a> on our website.) On our way down the . Tom Spur we met three people – Luna behaved herself this time – who told us about Flags on the 48 and that there were groups hiking all 48 4,000 footers in New Hampshire to commemorate 9/11. They were very friendly and I was sorry to miss the flag raising but we had two more peaks to bag and the weather was not very nice.
We arrived at the Willey Range Trail at 11:40 and hiked the .9 miles in 40 minutes. On the Mt. Field summit (elevation 4,340) we found an American flag flapping in the stiffening wind near an outlook and a group of folks sitting around the summit cairn eating lunch. (Because we've learned that you don't find a**holes above 4,000 feet, I would have loved to talk with the summit sitters. But the dogs were presenting a major challenge.) Because the dogs were begging, we hiked five minutes and sat on the trail to eat our lunch. Twenty five minutes later we were back on the trail, crossing the Willey Ridge toward the Willey summit. The ridge walk was a nice one, not much in the way of views, but neither was it a series of steep ups and downs. The Mt. Willey summit (elevation 4,285) caught us by surprise – mostly because we heard strange noises coming from the woods at the top. As we rounded the bend at 1:35 p.m., there were four hikers and a beautiful Golden Retriever taking down the flag they had raised as part of the Flags on the 48 commemoration. In fact, one of the hikers was Chris, the organizer of the event. They celebrated our 27th peak, shared their own accomplishments and told us more about the Flags on the 48 project. Really nice guys – told us to walk down a ways to see the view of Mt. Webster and the Presidentials. We wouldn’t have known about the view without their counsel. Although the view was hazy and the peaks lost in clouds, we could imaging the breathtaking view in fine weather. The guys took off down toward the Ethan Pond Trailhead while we started back toward Mt. Field and the Avalon Trail.
A rain shower started while we were on the summit, so we brought out rain jackets and pack covers. On previous hikes, we had waited too long before gearing up for rain and ended up much wetter than we needed to be. The shower ended a half hour later and the sun came out. We didn’t stop to take off our rain jackets – another mistake – and sweated our way back to Mt. Field by 2:50 p.m. (Okay, by now my hair is REALLY pretty!) I stripped off the soaked jacket and for the first time we had the summit to ourselves. That respite was short-lived as four young hikers joined us. Luna was aggressive, dashing toward the lead hiker and barking. I called her to me and got her on leash immediately. That was the end of our stressless peace. We ate a granola bar and repacked our bags before heading down at 3:06 p.m.
Around 4 p.m. we approached the Mt. Avalon summit spur but decided to keep moving. Ten minutes later we heard the first thunder and we tried to move faster down the trail. This was our first experience with thunderstorms in the Whites and I was impressed by the downpour, thunder and lightning. (Impressed...not the word I would use. More like scared sh**less!) I know there were areas much harder hit than we were, but we had our share of rain and wind. We slogged through the last two hours and joyfully reached the Crawford Notch Depot at 5:15 p.m. Changing out of soaked clothes into warm dry ones (We have become such smart hiking girls -- a change of clothes -- thank GOD!) was the best feeling I could imagine. Delicious. Pure bliss. One of our best lessons learned: bring a change of clothing. The idea of driving 3 hours in soaking clothes made me cringe. The dogs were exhausted, finally, and slept all the way home. Another great day of hiking.
25, 26, and 27 out of 67
