DiamondRidge
New member
- Joined
- May 27, 2009
- Messages
- 210
- Reaction score
- 14
Moosilauke 1/16/2010 - A New Member of the 4k Community
Justice (age 5), the younger of the two girls, has been asking to hike a 4k for awhile now. Back before winter officially began she declared that she wanted to do Moosilauke, in the winter, for her first 4k...
Her mother might be crazy...
Might be, but I like to include her in the hiking and she said she wanted to do it, so..
And why not, we'll just turn around when she decides she's done, right?
Absolutely. So, we spent a few weeks trying to find a good day to try this. Fortunately for us, Justice also pointed out that hiking in a cloud would be really cool because she could take a piece of it to give to Sissy - so we didn't have too much pressure to find a clear day, just a calm day.
Calm day?!
Hey, you're getting ahead of me here.
Anyway, Momma started watching the forecasts trying to find a good day to take Miss Justice out on her debut 4k. And Justice started to get impatient. Each Friday when I picked her up from Daddy's it was "Can we hike Moosilauke tomorrow?" She was determined that she was going to do this and she wanted to do it NOW darn it.
Sheesh, I wonder where she gets that mindset from Momma
She comes by it honestly.
The warmup was predicted for this weekend and the skies looked (according to the weather channel) to be partly sunny on Saturday. Sounds good to me. Higher summits had the winds at a not insubstantial 50mph, but we had webbing and the attitude that we could Always turn around if necessary, so sure, let's give it a go.
Saturday morning we got to the trailhead just after 7:00 - the skies were looking pretty good except the big dark one hovering over the summit, but that one there's alot of time between the trailhead and the summit when you're hiking at the pace of a 5 year old, so we weren't too worried about it sticking around.
MooseMaiden and I were hoping the View Queen would work her magic and push that big ol' cloud away as we approached the summit.
The kids were in good spirits as we got out of the car and into the brisk morning air. They were running around the parking lot with their microspikes
They make itty bitty microspikes for Justice boots!
and generally driving their Momma crazy by getting into the snow banks and being kids without thought of getting cold.
More of a short putt Momma
Hush you!
So, after securing the sleds to Momma's pack and checking three times to be sure we had everything we could possibly need and more, we hit the trail.
MooseMaiden took the lead and into the fields we went, with Justice alternately running to catch up to sissy and keeping pace with her for awhile, then falling back to where Momma and Gwynna were taking up the rear. We reached the forest and the bridge where we took our first little resty.
Momma might not feel the need to eat on the trail, but the rest of us humans do need nourishment and now was going to be a good chance to stop and set a positive outlook for the day by getting some food and drink into all of us before any of us Really Needed it.
Yes, and we made a good choice, because Justice ate like a little horse
Onward and upward, through the beautiful forest we went. After being on the trail for a bit, we were passed by a gentleman on his way down the mountain, he was moving really steadily and seemed in good spirits - turned out it was Rick B who had just bivied out overnight having been caught in a whiteout! Wow, he was doing super for having just been through that! Go Rick Go!
I really wanted to go all EMT on him, but I didn't want to break his stride, so I just went with exchanging pleasantries and let him go on his way - good thing as it turns out, because we later found out that F&G was down at the trailhead getting ready to come up after him.
I got to spend the next few hours listening to how creativity can pass the hours and the miles. Thanks Ladies
No problem - Dust is fun!
We were making pretty good time, all things considered, and things had been steep for awhile. MooseMaiden was up ahead and, like a trooper, not complaining at all. Just as Justice was starting to peeter out, the Carriage Road opening appeared! Yay! Time to layer up, drop the sleds, and get ready for the summit approach!
And get food and drink Momma!
Oh, yeah, that too
We met some very big dogs while we were getting ready to push for the summit - fortunately they were all very friendly and under excellent control by their people.
Just as we were getting ready to head off to the summit, our buddies Tom and Keith came up from behind us - Yay! We all set out together to make our final push. MooseMaiden was in the lead with the rest of us following behind. She was willing to lead all the way, but insisted on stopping to wait for Justice short of the summit so that they could reach it together - isn't she a good sister?!
She's an awesome sister, we couldn't have done this without her!
True. Nor could we have done it without you!
Aww, shucks.
Anyway, enough of the sappy stuff. We walked along Carriage Road, in and out of the trees - carefully inspecting some very cool specimens, completely encased in ice. Justice was getting tired but still doing really well. When we got to the wide spot in the trail before you leave the trees and go out into the open we decided to rope Justice to Gwynna, just for some added security, the winds certainly didn't feel 50mph, but no need to take extra risk when you can abate some of it.
oh, man, you sound like you work in safety or something! We really just wanted to make a super cool kite - its better than balloon boy!
We continued on, out into the open and into the wind. Justice was roped to Gwynna but still nervous about the wind. She was getting tired - but Sissy came to the rescue and went back to her, held her had and said, "c'mon Justice, you can do this, I know you can!"
If the tears wouldn't have frozen her face, DR probably would have been crying right then.
Yup, I was so proud of MooseMaiden for that I could have cried.
The summit approach was slow and steady with Gwynna's arm around Justice to shield her from the wind and all of us working together to keep Justice motivated and encouraged...
And then - "I can see the summit J! - Its right there ahead of us!"
At this point, Justice picked up and was rearing to go again - we still had to take it slow, but we were getting there - they were really going to make it!!!
DR was practically floating she was so excited!
The girls and Gwynna approached the summit sign as I took pictures to document it.
And they made it to the sign!
A nice gentleman offered to take a picture with the four of us in it - so we also got this picture
Gwynna unfurled the prayer flags and attempted to get them to fly somewhere other than all over her. I offered my silent prayers for the people of Haiti and for many more family hikes.
One of the hardest things about hiking the big mountains with the little ones is that they're only half way done when they reach the summit - we still had to get down!
Down was an interesting experience. We got back down to the junction and took some layers off and got ready to hit the sleds. I was a nervous Nellie about the girls sledding down some of the parts, but Gwynna assured me that they'd be fine!
of course I did, they were too, weren't they Momma?
Yup, matter of fact, I was the only one that ended up off trail and in spruce traps!
We got to witness a fabulous sunset that none of us could really appreciate fully...
Yeah, it meant that we were going to run out of precious daylight!
Long story short, we made it out and all in one piece. Missing only a mitten (Thanks for finding it for us Trish and Alex!). All fingers and toes are present and accounted for.
Got back to the car about 11 hours after leaving it.
One beautiful day on the trail.
Welcome to the 48 Justice - we dub you "WaterHorse" for all your magic and wonder.
Justice (age 5), the younger of the two girls, has been asking to hike a 4k for awhile now. Back before winter officially began she declared that she wanted to do Moosilauke, in the winter, for her first 4k...
Her mother might be crazy...
Might be, but I like to include her in the hiking and she said she wanted to do it, so..
And why not, we'll just turn around when she decides she's done, right?
Absolutely. So, we spent a few weeks trying to find a good day to try this. Fortunately for us, Justice also pointed out that hiking in a cloud would be really cool because she could take a piece of it to give to Sissy - so we didn't have too much pressure to find a clear day, just a calm day.
Calm day?!
Hey, you're getting ahead of me here.
Anyway, Momma started watching the forecasts trying to find a good day to take Miss Justice out on her debut 4k. And Justice started to get impatient. Each Friday when I picked her up from Daddy's it was "Can we hike Moosilauke tomorrow?" She was determined that she was going to do this and she wanted to do it NOW darn it.
Sheesh, I wonder where she gets that mindset from Momma
She comes by it honestly.
The warmup was predicted for this weekend and the skies looked (according to the weather channel) to be partly sunny on Saturday. Sounds good to me. Higher summits had the winds at a not insubstantial 50mph, but we had webbing and the attitude that we could Always turn around if necessary, so sure, let's give it a go.
Saturday morning we got to the trailhead just after 7:00 - the skies were looking pretty good except the big dark one hovering over the summit, but that one there's alot of time between the trailhead and the summit when you're hiking at the pace of a 5 year old, so we weren't too worried about it sticking around.
MooseMaiden and I were hoping the View Queen would work her magic and push that big ol' cloud away as we approached the summit.
The kids were in good spirits as we got out of the car and into the brisk morning air. They were running around the parking lot with their microspikes
They make itty bitty microspikes for Justice boots!
and generally driving their Momma crazy by getting into the snow banks and being kids without thought of getting cold.
More of a short putt Momma
Hush you!
So, after securing the sleds to Momma's pack and checking three times to be sure we had everything we could possibly need and more, we hit the trail.
MooseMaiden took the lead and into the fields we went, with Justice alternately running to catch up to sissy and keeping pace with her for awhile, then falling back to where Momma and Gwynna were taking up the rear. We reached the forest and the bridge where we took our first little resty.
Momma might not feel the need to eat on the trail, but the rest of us humans do need nourishment and now was going to be a good chance to stop and set a positive outlook for the day by getting some food and drink into all of us before any of us Really Needed it.
Yes, and we made a good choice, because Justice ate like a little horse
Onward and upward, through the beautiful forest we went. After being on the trail for a bit, we were passed by a gentleman on his way down the mountain, he was moving really steadily and seemed in good spirits - turned out it was Rick B who had just bivied out overnight having been caught in a whiteout! Wow, he was doing super for having just been through that! Go Rick Go!
I really wanted to go all EMT on him, but I didn't want to break his stride, so I just went with exchanging pleasantries and let him go on his way - good thing as it turns out, because we later found out that F&G was down at the trailhead getting ready to come up after him.
I got to spend the next few hours listening to how creativity can pass the hours and the miles. Thanks Ladies
No problem - Dust is fun!
We were making pretty good time, all things considered, and things had been steep for awhile. MooseMaiden was up ahead and, like a trooper, not complaining at all. Just as Justice was starting to peeter out, the Carriage Road opening appeared! Yay! Time to layer up, drop the sleds, and get ready for the summit approach!
And get food and drink Momma!
Oh, yeah, that too
We met some very big dogs while we were getting ready to push for the summit - fortunately they were all very friendly and under excellent control by their people.
Just as we were getting ready to head off to the summit, our buddies Tom and Keith came up from behind us - Yay! We all set out together to make our final push. MooseMaiden was in the lead with the rest of us following behind. She was willing to lead all the way, but insisted on stopping to wait for Justice short of the summit so that they could reach it together - isn't she a good sister?!
She's an awesome sister, we couldn't have done this without her!
True. Nor could we have done it without you!
Aww, shucks.
Anyway, enough of the sappy stuff. We walked along Carriage Road, in and out of the trees - carefully inspecting some very cool specimens, completely encased in ice. Justice was getting tired but still doing really well. When we got to the wide spot in the trail before you leave the trees and go out into the open we decided to rope Justice to Gwynna, just for some added security, the winds certainly didn't feel 50mph, but no need to take extra risk when you can abate some of it.
oh, man, you sound like you work in safety or something! We really just wanted to make a super cool kite - its better than balloon boy!
We continued on, out into the open and into the wind. Justice was roped to Gwynna but still nervous about the wind. She was getting tired - but Sissy came to the rescue and went back to her, held her had and said, "c'mon Justice, you can do this, I know you can!"
If the tears wouldn't have frozen her face, DR probably would have been crying right then.
Yup, I was so proud of MooseMaiden for that
I could have cried.The summit approach was slow and steady with Gwynna's arm around Justice to shield her from the wind and all of us working together to keep Justice motivated and encouraged...
And then - "I can see the summit J! - Its right there ahead of us!"
At this point, Justice picked up and was rearing to go again - we still had to take it slow, but we were getting there - they were really going to make it!!!
DR was practically floating she was so excited!
The girls and Gwynna approached the summit sign as I took pictures to document it.
And they made it to the sign!
A nice gentleman offered to take a picture with the four of us in it - so we also got this picture
Gwynna unfurled the prayer flags and attempted to get them to fly somewhere other than all over her. I offered my silent prayers for the people of Haiti and for many more family hikes.
One of the hardest things about hiking the big mountains with the little ones is that they're only half way done when they reach the summit - we still had to get down!
Down was an interesting experience. We got back down to the junction and took some layers off and got ready to hit the sleds. I was a nervous Nellie about the girls sledding down some of the parts, but Gwynna assured me that they'd be fine!
of course I did, they were too, weren't they Momma?
Yup, matter of fact, I was the only one that ended up off trail and in spruce traps!
We got to witness a fabulous sunset that none of us could really appreciate fully...
Yeah, it meant that we were going to run out of precious daylight!
Long story short, we made it out and all in one piece. Missing only a mitten (Thanks for finding it for us Trish and Alex!). All fingers and toes are present and accounted for.
Got back to the car about 11 hours after leaving it.
One beautiful day on the trail.
Welcome to the 48 Justice - we dub you "WaterHorse" for all your magic and wonder.
