Enapai
New member
I don't normally post many trip reports on the web site here, mainly because many of my trips are solo and I go out into the woods to enjoy the solitude. I find the trail conditions reports quite useful, so I do my best to post timely updates when appropriate. Never-the-less, I have really enjoyed hiking with several members of this community, so I though I would share the completion of my first list (NH48).
I started hiking in NH in 2002 after moving to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. I had hiked some in the ADKs previously but I never really been inclined to hike any lists. I went out in August 2002 and hiked Cannon Mountain. The same day, my wife went out and got a cat (I am still on the fence about the whole cat thing), but it did bring about an opening to get a dog (my wife is not a dog person). Colden (my chocolate lab) has accompanied me on the majority of my journeys.
Coming into 2009, I had two mountains left (Carrigain and Adams). At least two years ago I decided to save Adams for the end after a discussion with one of my friends. In the middle of May, I found a convenient time to get to the summit of Carrigain. It was a blustary day, but the views were plenty clear and it was readily apparent why many folks save Carrigain for the end. My work schedule is busy around Memorial Day, and I was running in the VT City Marathon, so Adams would have to wait until the beginning of June. I wanted to get it done early as I have an outside chance to finish up the ADK46 this summer as well.
Many of those that I had hiked with were tied up on 06/08/2009, but I was accompanied by my co-worker Dave. It was doubly neat that he could join me because Adams was his first NH 4ker. Of course Colden was there as well.
Since the weather forecast was good we decided on taking Airline all the way to the summit. We stopped just before breaking out of the tree line to lather up with some sunscreen.
Soon thereafter we broke out above tree line.
My friend Dave was in absolute awe and repeatedly remarked how he could now totally understand why I hiked mountains. King's Ravine is pretty impressive. I was already thinking that saving Adams for the end was a good choice.
We climbed some more and as we did, we found the flowers were beginning to bloom. I am not really good at identifying flowers, but I enjoy looking at them just the same.
Never the less, the last vestiges of winter were still apparent.
We got up to the junction with the Gulfside Trail and began working our way around John Quincy Adams and got to the summit cone of Adams itself.
Before long we were at the top. It was windy, but I loved cresting the summit before getting my first view of Washington. And what a view it was!!
I was so glad that I saved Adams for the end. My friend Dave at the summit (his first):
And of course the obligatory summit shot:
The views to the Carters were fantastic. The northern presidentials were in the entire glory and it was like looking straight down at Starr Lake. Views extended into Maine and to the Greens in Vermont. We headed down to get out of the wind and some of the clouds passed with the sun coming back out. Dave and I decided to head over to Quincy Adams and just enjoying being above tree line. We got to the top of Quincy Adams and basked in the sun for lunch, while enjoying the birdseye view of Madison.
We decided to head down Valley Way to complete a loop. We decided to follow Fallsway as we neared Appalachia. Colden enjoyed a quick dip in the water:
Six hours and ten minutes of hiking time total with about 30 minutes of summit time and another 15 minutes meandering around the falls. A fabulous day in the mountains.
I look forward to many more adventures in the mountains with the community here.
Cheers.
I started hiking in NH in 2002 after moving to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. I had hiked some in the ADKs previously but I never really been inclined to hike any lists. I went out in August 2002 and hiked Cannon Mountain. The same day, my wife went out and got a cat (I am still on the fence about the whole cat thing), but it did bring about an opening to get a dog (my wife is not a dog person). Colden (my chocolate lab) has accompanied me on the majority of my journeys.
Coming into 2009, I had two mountains left (Carrigain and Adams). At least two years ago I decided to save Adams for the end after a discussion with one of my friends. In the middle of May, I found a convenient time to get to the summit of Carrigain. It was a blustary day, but the views were plenty clear and it was readily apparent why many folks save Carrigain for the end. My work schedule is busy around Memorial Day, and I was running in the VT City Marathon, so Adams would have to wait until the beginning of June. I wanted to get it done early as I have an outside chance to finish up the ADK46 this summer as well.
Many of those that I had hiked with were tied up on 06/08/2009, but I was accompanied by my co-worker Dave. It was doubly neat that he could join me because Adams was his first NH 4ker. Of course Colden was there as well.
Since the weather forecast was good we decided on taking Airline all the way to the summit. We stopped just before breaking out of the tree line to lather up with some sunscreen.
Soon thereafter we broke out above tree line.
My friend Dave was in absolute awe and repeatedly remarked how he could now totally understand why I hiked mountains. King's Ravine is pretty impressive. I was already thinking that saving Adams for the end was a good choice.
We climbed some more and as we did, we found the flowers were beginning to bloom. I am not really good at identifying flowers, but I enjoy looking at them just the same.
Never the less, the last vestiges of winter were still apparent.
We got up to the junction with the Gulfside Trail and began working our way around John Quincy Adams and got to the summit cone of Adams itself.
Before long we were at the top. It was windy, but I loved cresting the summit before getting my first view of Washington. And what a view it was!!
I was so glad that I saved Adams for the end. My friend Dave at the summit (his first):
And of course the obligatory summit shot:
The views to the Carters were fantastic. The northern presidentials were in the entire glory and it was like looking straight down at Starr Lake. Views extended into Maine and to the Greens in Vermont. We headed down to get out of the wind and some of the clouds passed with the sun coming back out. Dave and I decided to head over to Quincy Adams and just enjoying being above tree line. We got to the top of Quincy Adams and basked in the sun for lunch, while enjoying the birdseye view of Madison.
We decided to head down Valley Way to complete a loop. We decided to follow Fallsway as we neared Appalachia. Colden enjoyed a quick dip in the water:
Six hours and ten minutes of hiking time total with about 30 minutes of summit time and another 15 minutes meandering around the falls. A fabulous day in the mountains.
I look forward to many more adventures in the mountains with the community here.
Cheers.
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