Bit off more than I could chew
The easiest 4K is probably Osceola (3.2 miles, 2,050 feet) but the footing is very rough. I was thinking of Pierce (3.2 miles and 2,400 feet), with easy grades and decent footing. Steve Smith suggested Hale by the Firewarden's Trail for even better footing, but given the good forecast for yesterday I wanted a summit with views. So I drove towards Crawford Notch with the intention of doing Pierce.
As I drove along 302 I saw Ike's lovely round bald head. It's only 300 more feet than Pierce, I thought. So off to the Edmands trailhead I went.
Five minutes on the trail (almost flat with excellent footing for a trail at the start) I realized my mistake. The footing was excellent for a trail, but very different from the roads I had been walking on for the past three months. Then, of course, the trail got a bit steeper and rougher.
For the first half hour or so I was uncomfortable on the rough trail. Then my body remembered that it knew how to hike, and for the next hour or so I was back in the groove. After some time, though, the unaccustomed effort started taking its toll. By the time I reached the junction with the Mount Eisenhower Loop I was tired, and one look at the steep climb up the summit cone persuaded me to call it a day.
So far it had not been too bad; I reached the junction in 2:39, book time is 2:40 I had lunch and started down.
It was on the way down that I paid for my over-ambitious choice of trip; 2:30 to do 2.9 miles
The bad news is that I may be old enough to know better, but that in point of fact I don't. The good news is that I did no harm to myself, and was able to climb 2,400 feet of trail. I had friend staying with me for the weekend, and found it fully appropriate to drink the champagne I had bought in anticipation of a successful hike. I am back hiking!
Today I will do some PT and StairMaster. Tomorrow I will do a more appropriate hike: Mount Pemi by the easier of the two trails, from the Flume. 1.8 miles each way with 1,250 feet of elevation gain. The hike, in fact, that I should have done yesterday had I used my brain.
On Thursday I felt pretty good about my preparation, sending this email to a friend with whom I planned to do The Moose by Gorge Brook on Sunday (tomorrow):
Alas, I did not realize that 10 miles and 2,000 feet on a good road is emphatically not the same as doing an easy 4K
The easiest 4K is probably Osceola (3.2 miles, 2,050 feet) but the footing is very rough. I was thinking of Pierce (3.2 miles and 2,400 feet), with easy grades and decent footing. Steve Smith suggested Hale by the Firewarden's Trail for even better footing, but given the good forecast for yesterday I wanted a summit with views. So I drove towards Crawford Notch with the intention of doing Pierce.
As I drove along 302 I saw Ike's lovely round bald head. It's only 300 more feet than Pierce, I thought. So off to the Edmands trailhead I went.
Five minutes on the trail (almost flat with excellent footing for a trail at the start) I realized my mistake. The footing was excellent for a trail, but very different from the roads I had been walking on for the past three months. Then, of course, the trail got a bit steeper and rougher.
For the first half hour or so I was uncomfortable on the rough trail. Then my body remembered that it knew how to hike, and for the next hour or so I was back in the groove. After some time, though, the unaccustomed effort started taking its toll. By the time I reached the junction with the Mount Eisenhower Loop I was tired, and one look at the steep climb up the summit cone persuaded me to call it a day.
So far it had not been too bad; I reached the junction in 2:39, book time is 2:40
I had lunch and started down.It was on the way down that I paid for my over-ambitious choice of trip; 2:30 to do 2.9 miles
The bad news is that I may be old enough to know better, but that in point of fact I don't. The good news is that I did no harm to myself, and was able to climb 2,400 feet of trail. I had friend staying with me for the weekend, and found it fully appropriate to drink the champagne I had bought in anticipation of a successful hike. I am back hiking!
Today I will do some PT and StairMaster. Tomorrow I will do a more appropriate hike: Mount Pemi by the easier of the two trails, from the Flume. 1.8 miles each way with 1,250 feet of elevation gain. The hike, in fact, that I should have done yesterday had I used my brain.
