For those of you following the knee woes, this was a "rehab" hike for me, "ordered" by my PT (for everyone else, I have patello-femoral syndrome which stopped me from hiking in late October.) This trip qualifies as my first official winter hike, albeit not a 4K. I brought my stabilicers, but ended up bare-booting the entire day. I did see some snowshoe prints, and some stabilicer prints too.
I left the Livermore lot at about 9:45 am. I've parked in this lot during winter many times, but this is the first time I haven't strapped on the skate skis. It was tempting (I had brought them) but the cover was really thin, and I wanted to test out the knees hiking. So, off I shuffled up Livermore Road (which wasn't groomed.) Until I hiked them this year, I could not have told the Tripyramids from any other bump on the ground, but they are unmistakable now.
3/10ths of a mile later I turned left onto the Greeley Ponds Trail. For the next mile or so, this is nearly flat, and follows the mad river, crossing it twice. Going early in the morning allows you to see animal tracks (snowshoe hare?) before they are trampled by the masses.
After three miles or so following (and trying not to trample) a set of ski tracks, the "Hiking Path" goes left, across a brook, while the ski trail continues onward and upward. Someone had come by late yesterday, from the looks of it, with snowshoes, but there were no tracks here yet from today. Another half mile or so and the lower pond comes into sight. Mount Kancamagus looks so different from below. I'm used to seeing it from atop Osceola or Tripyramid. The wind was blowing across the pond, and there were some fairly deep drifts at the south end.
Another half mile or so takes me to the upper pond. From here, the view is mainly of Osceola. I continued around the upper pond to the junction with the Mount Osceola Trail, which leads up to the east peak. Here I ran into one man coming down from east peak, and several groups walking up from the Kanc bound for the upper pond.
I'm now at the "top" of the elevation gain (all 700') for my planned hike. Time to check the knees on the way down. They showed no signs of protest, and so when I got to "The Flume" ("1.3 miles") I thought I'd head up and see. There were no tracks at all here, and I thought "What fun, to break the trail." It wasn't long before I saw more animal tracks (another snowshoe hare?) I got carried away and 20 minutes later I was at the top. NOW I would see if the knees protested on the way down. I stopped briefly to record my presence and picked my way carefully back down. My right knee (the problem knee) had a few moments where I felt a twinge, but nowhere near what it had been.
When all was said and done, I'd managed 10.8 miles and 1610 feet. Sitting here writing this, my knees are aware something has happened today, but the sharp pains never appeared. I may pay for this tomorrow, but it's a do-nothing day anyway. It was nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors. In particular, the whole hiking-in-the-snow thing was quite pleasant. In fact, I'm sure the 6-8" of powder I compressed with each step helped cushion the shock to the knees.
Photos
Happy New Year,
Tim
I left the Livermore lot at about 9:45 am. I've parked in this lot during winter many times, but this is the first time I haven't strapped on the skate skis. It was tempting (I had brought them) but the cover was really thin, and I wanted to test out the knees hiking. So, off I shuffled up Livermore Road (which wasn't groomed.) Until I hiked them this year, I could not have told the Tripyramids from any other bump on the ground, but they are unmistakable now.
3/10ths of a mile later I turned left onto the Greeley Ponds Trail. For the next mile or so, this is nearly flat, and follows the mad river, crossing it twice. Going early in the morning allows you to see animal tracks (snowshoe hare?) before they are trampled by the masses.
After three miles or so following (and trying not to trample) a set of ski tracks, the "Hiking Path" goes left, across a brook, while the ski trail continues onward and upward. Someone had come by late yesterday, from the looks of it, with snowshoes, but there were no tracks here yet from today. Another half mile or so and the lower pond comes into sight. Mount Kancamagus looks so different from below. I'm used to seeing it from atop Osceola or Tripyramid. The wind was blowing across the pond, and there were some fairly deep drifts at the south end.
Another half mile or so takes me to the upper pond. From here, the view is mainly of Osceola. I continued around the upper pond to the junction with the Mount Osceola Trail, which leads up to the east peak. Here I ran into one man coming down from east peak, and several groups walking up from the Kanc bound for the upper pond.
I'm now at the "top" of the elevation gain (all 700') for my planned hike. Time to check the knees on the way down. They showed no signs of protest, and so when I got to "The Flume" ("1.3 miles") I thought I'd head up and see. There were no tracks at all here, and I thought "What fun, to break the trail." It wasn't long before I saw more animal tracks (another snowshoe hare?) I got carried away and 20 minutes later I was at the top. NOW I would see if the knees protested on the way down. I stopped briefly to record my presence and picked my way carefully back down. My right knee (the problem knee) had a few moments where I felt a twinge, but nowhere near what it had been.
When all was said and done, I'd managed 10.8 miles and 1610 feet. Sitting here writing this, my knees are aware something has happened today, but the sharp pains never appeared. I may pay for this tomorrow, but it's a do-nothing day anyway. It was nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors. In particular, the whole hiking-in-the-snow thing was quite pleasant. In fact, I'm sure the 6-8" of powder I compressed with each step helped cushion the shock to the knees.
Photos
Happy New Year,
Tim
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