Greetings!

There's not really a place to introduce oneself, but I figured since all of my hiking occurs in New England, this was a reasonable spot!

I've been lurking for awhile... Thanks to the wealth of information on here, it's made a few of my trips much more enjoyable. I'm pretty new to hiking anything more than the hills we have in NE CT, but I did Franconia Ridge loop last summer & am hooked! Heading up to NH this Friday with family, & if weather cooperates, I'm hoping to knock off Madison, Adams, & Jefferson (with the help of my wife shuttling me). Also with information from here, I did 2 winter hikes up Mt Monadnock. I don't have any specialized gear for winter hiking, but am hoping to do more of it in the future. Both myself & my friends I "dragged" along loved it... Quiet, no crowds (compared to normal), perfect temps for a fat guy like myself, and the added fun of snow & ice!

Just figured I'd stop in & say hello & thanks to everyone for providing so much insight & knowledge about all things hiking! If you see a fat guy sucking wind on the side of the trail in the next few days, don't worry... I'll survive!

Mike

Keep knocking off hikes like the northern Presidentials and the pounds will slip away with the miles.

Welcome Puma!

- Puma

Hey there! I live out your way in Woodstock, CT and do a lot of hiking in the Whites as day trips. It can become quite an addiction. Well worth those long drives for the views.

Welcome to the CT Chapter of VFTT. (Okay there is no CT Chapter)

You'll want to pick up some winter gear, things like snowshoes and some type of traction. Just back from a Monday trip to the Southern Presidentials.

Haha I don't know if I could ever day trip up to the Whites. Though I see that some places allow sleeping in the parking lot after a evening drive up, which would be more my pace. I'm currently trying to finish up the CT portion of the NET (18 more miles planned for Thursday!), then hopefully I'll be able to maybe do weekends up there (somehow NH is a harder sell to my wife & 3 year old lol).

The only gear I have so far are Hillsound microspikes & some cheap gaiters. Everything else is gear accumulated from other activities & hiking gear. The next thing I need to invest in, for winter hiking, is some specific cold weather boots. Love my Merrell Moabs, but low cut & not waterproof can only get you so far (though with some good wool socks they've done an admirable job!).