July 19th 2014
Pine Bend Brook Tr. 4 miles
Mt Tripyramid Tr. 1.4 miles
Kate Sleeper Tr. 2.5 miles
Downes Brook Tr 0.8 miles
Rollins Tr 2.8 miles
Walden Tr. 2.8 miles
Lawrence Tr. 2.8 miles
Bee Line Tr. 3 miles
Champney Falls Tr. 3.2 miles ~ 25miles
Me and Rich met at the Champney Falls trailhead at 7 am. We left one car there and drove to Pine Bend Brook trailhead and started hiking around 7:30.
The first couple miles went fast with only couple of stops. It was a nice day and we were going fast. We passed couple of other hikers when it started to get steeper. We reached the first peak pretty quickly. Short walk on the slide was one of the highlights of the day. I almost missed to cut off and went down the slide! thankfully Rich was there to guide me back on trail lol.
The walk on Kate Sleeper trail was one of the nicest, there are a lot of blow downs, and i mean A LOT! After the hurricane there is still a lot of damage to the trail but most of the work is already done and its easily passable. We went through both peaks taking some quick picks and found ourselves on the Whiteface ledges not long after that.
Funny because both of us thought that thats where the summit of the mountain was. I have hiked this mountain before but it was 3 years ago and i totally forgot that the summit was a little further back with no views. We were surprised when we met 5 people all gathered near the view less summit down the road. At that time i remember the spot from previous hike, silly us thinking we were the only ones on the summit and nobody cared to check it out and just passed the ledges.
We followed Rollins trail to the summit of Passaconaway. We missed the Dicey's Mill cutoff and went to the summit through Walden trail. There once more we met the group from summit of Whiteface. It turned out they were hiking up Tripyramids and Sleepers as well that day.
From the summit we followed Walden trail down to Lawrence trail towards mount Paugus. That part of the hike was in deep woods with little light reaching from the sky, there were a lot of leaves on the trail and some parts had a lot of low growing foliage. I did not like that area much, it reminded me of my unsuccessful hike to Passaconaway through Big Rock Cave and Square Ledge from previous year.
I was also getting tired and even though my body felt fine my mind was telling me it was time for a nap. I was happy when we reached Lawrence trail intersection and couldnt wait for Paugus ledges to come.
We initially had a plan to bushwack real summit of Paugus but when we got to the outlook area we were too tired to go for it. It did look like a tough wack and i did not feel like spending additional hour to do that.
We decided to head for the Bee Line Trail and focusing on our last mountain of the day.
It turned out the whole hike was going to be a little over 25 miles and not 20 as Rich told me before, and that we were going to finish in the dark.
I do not have much experience in hiking in the dark so i wasnt to happy to hear that but there was not much to do about it. I had the headlight and it was going to be only around 30 min.
When we slowly started approaching Chocorua summit i was tired. I decided not to take any breaks and just went for the final approach. It was much cooler at that time and when i finally reached the peak i put extra clothes on. I think this was the only time there was nobody else there on the summit at the same time, it was around 7:30 and we were on the trail for 12 hrs at that time.
I was glad Rich had his filtration system with him and we could get some extra water throughout the hike. My 2.8 liters were not nearly enough to last through that long day. I also almost ate all of my food prepared for this day.
We spend around 15 min on the summit but i was eager to go down, even though Chocorua is one of my favorites i did not want to get stranded on the mountain during the dark.
The walk down was not too bad and we soon heard the sound of the Champney Falls. I did not see much of it because it was getting to dark.
I was pretty happy when we got the the parking lot. It was 9 pm and i had 3 hrs drive home ahead of me.
Thankfully i did feel fine and with some help of strong coffee and made it home safely.
I was a little wind up and had trouble falling asleep but finally around 2 am my head hit the pillow.
It was a fine day of hiking, the longest hike up to day for me and i felt great knowing my body is in great shape for even more!!!
Monday, July 21, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Back to Adirondacks-Mt Marshall
July 7th,14
18,8 miles
On Sunday night i decided to go Adks next day for a hike. I was not entirely sure what i wanted to hike, i had 4 different ideas, but eventually i settled on Mt Marshall.
Monday morning i woke up at 3am to sounds of sirens and lights, one of our neighbors had a fire, it turned out it was a barn which got burned down. Since i was awake i decided not to wait till 4am alarm but to start getting ready.
Me and MIsha left the house at 4:45 and started hiking at 9:18. The ride was long but it was so worth the hike.
The weather was nice, in low 60s with a lot of shade and cool breeze.There were showers in the forecast but i was hoping it wouldnt happen.
The area of Upper Works was filled with cars when we got there but in the registry book there were only two groups signed in that day. The rest must have been camping in the area.
We took off pretty quickly, crossed the bridge and took first right. After couple minutes there was another fork where i decided to go left, i was unsure but i saw that it was pointing to hunters pass and i thought i remembered that name from trip reports. What a big surprise it was when i got to the next intersection where it turned out we were not on the right trail. We ended up going towards Duck Hole and to get back on the truck i had to turn around or follow another trail for 2 miles where it would bring us to Calamity Brook. I decided on taking extra two miles. That part of the hike was in deep woods with zero views and mostly wet. Also it started raining lightly and sky got darker. Misha started panting more and it got humid. I was really happy when we finally got to the bridge and the right path.
From then on the trail was really interesting with several bog bridges, some cool rock formations and pretty roots. We also followed the stream for most of it which brought nice breeze and cooled the air down. Misha loved the fact she could cool of in the cold river all the time.
We reached the memorial area pretty quick, passing a couple of campers on their way back to the car.
The area was beautiful there, a lot of low shrub and body of water. We had it all to ourselves!
From there it was not long to get to the intersection where we would take the herd path to Marshall .
The path did not look long on the map, it was mostly following the stream and i was hoping to get to the summit in around 30 min.
Unfortunately it was not the case this time. The path disappeared and reappeared many times along the water. I followed the stream for the most part. It started raining again and it got tough to walk on the we ledges. Few times i slipped and almost fell. It got colder. My clothes got soaked. The scenery was beautiful though. The rocks were covered in moss in many places and running water made it look serene.
I was afraid i was going to have hard time to go down the same way, it was really slippery and i had almost no traction. My feet were soaked and i was covered in mud. I was not moving fast and it was talking long time to go up.
Misha was a good sport though, whenever she needed help she would wait and cooperate. I knew she was tired and i hoped the summit would come fast and we could take a lunch break.
It turned out that it was around 2 miles up the stream and then a walk in the more wooded area to get to the top. I was tired,cole and hungry. Also right before the end i got sucked in the mud almost all the way up to the knee.
When we finally got to the summit, it stopped raining and we had some food. I switched my soaked socks to new fresh ones and i took my wet t-shirt off and put long sleeve on. I was going to keep shorts on even though they were totally wet. We did a little over 10 miles at this point, so it looked like the whole hike was going to be 18 instead of 14 miles.
It felt good to eat something, Misha was happy too. We both were looking really dirty. I knew we could not stay much longer up, since it was getting close to 1 o'clock and i wanted to be back at the car around 5pm.
Thankfully on the way down, i discovered that the herd path up the mountain was actually almost all the way alongside the stream and i just didnt see it on my way up.I did not have to go down the ledges and with the water. I felt a little stupid that i didnt look for it more carefully going up.
The rain started again a little after we started going down. I covered myself with pack cover and managed to keep my fresh clothes dry.
When we reached Flawed lands once again this day i was feeling more relieved. I knew that from there it was going to be around 5 miles of fairly flat walk which we could do in a short time.
It stopped raining and it got a little brighter.We passed an older couple on their way to the lean to, they did not have much luck with the weather.
We stopped near the memorial area once more and i went looking for my coffee beans which i noticed went missing around that time. I was so happy when i found them in the brush near the water. Such a small things give you so much happiness sometimes.
We passed a group of 4 young men going back to their car. They hiked Iroquis that day and bailed from going up Alonquin because of bad weather. I had brief chat with the when we all go to our cars.
It was so good to switch to clean clothes and to sit down for a min.
It was just before 5pm when we were pulling away from the parking lot.
It was pretty good hike after all even though it rained a lot and we didnt have much views. I would love to get back there on a sunny day.
18,8 miles
On Sunday night i decided to go Adks next day for a hike. I was not entirely sure what i wanted to hike, i had 4 different ideas, but eventually i settled on Mt Marshall.
Monday morning i woke up at 3am to sounds of sirens and lights, one of our neighbors had a fire, it turned out it was a barn which got burned down. Since i was awake i decided not to wait till 4am alarm but to start getting ready.
Me and MIsha left the house at 4:45 and started hiking at 9:18. The ride was long but it was so worth the hike.
The weather was nice, in low 60s with a lot of shade and cool breeze.There were showers in the forecast but i was hoping it wouldnt happen.
The area of Upper Works was filled with cars when we got there but in the registry book there were only two groups signed in that day. The rest must have been camping in the area.
We took off pretty quickly, crossed the bridge and took first right. After couple minutes there was another fork where i decided to go left, i was unsure but i saw that it was pointing to hunters pass and i thought i remembered that name from trip reports. What a big surprise it was when i got to the next intersection where it turned out we were not on the right trail. We ended up going towards Duck Hole and to get back on the truck i had to turn around or follow another trail for 2 miles where it would bring us to Calamity Brook. I decided on taking extra two miles. That part of the hike was in deep woods with zero views and mostly wet. Also it started raining lightly and sky got darker. Misha started panting more and it got humid. I was really happy when we finally got to the bridge and the right path.
From then on the trail was really interesting with several bog bridges, some cool rock formations and pretty roots. We also followed the stream for most of it which brought nice breeze and cooled the air down. Misha loved the fact she could cool of in the cold river all the time.
We reached the memorial area pretty quick, passing a couple of campers on their way back to the car.
The area was beautiful there, a lot of low shrub and body of water. We had it all to ourselves!
From there it was not long to get to the intersection where we would take the herd path to Marshall .
The path did not look long on the map, it was mostly following the stream and i was hoping to get to the summit in around 30 min.
Unfortunately it was not the case this time. The path disappeared and reappeared many times along the water. I followed the stream for the most part. It started raining again and it got tough to walk on the we ledges. Few times i slipped and almost fell. It got colder. My clothes got soaked. The scenery was beautiful though. The rocks were covered in moss in many places and running water made it look serene.
I was afraid i was going to have hard time to go down the same way, it was really slippery and i had almost no traction. My feet were soaked and i was covered in mud. I was not moving fast and it was talking long time to go up.
Misha was a good sport though, whenever she needed help she would wait and cooperate. I knew she was tired and i hoped the summit would come fast and we could take a lunch break.
It turned out that it was around 2 miles up the stream and then a walk in the more wooded area to get to the top. I was tired,cole and hungry. Also right before the end i got sucked in the mud almost all the way up to the knee.
When we finally got to the summit, it stopped raining and we had some food. I switched my soaked socks to new fresh ones and i took my wet t-shirt off and put long sleeve on. I was going to keep shorts on even though they were totally wet. We did a little over 10 miles at this point, so it looked like the whole hike was going to be 18 instead of 14 miles.
It felt good to eat something, Misha was happy too. We both were looking really dirty. I knew we could not stay much longer up, since it was getting close to 1 o'clock and i wanted to be back at the car around 5pm.
Thankfully on the way down, i discovered that the herd path up the mountain was actually almost all the way alongside the stream and i just didnt see it on my way up.I did not have to go down the ledges and with the water. I felt a little stupid that i didnt look for it more carefully going up.
The rain started again a little after we started going down. I covered myself with pack cover and managed to keep my fresh clothes dry.
When we reached Flawed lands once again this day i was feeling more relieved. I knew that from there it was going to be around 5 miles of fairly flat walk which we could do in a short time.
It stopped raining and it got a little brighter.We passed an older couple on their way to the lean to, they did not have much luck with the weather.
We stopped near the memorial area once more and i went looking for my coffee beans which i noticed went missing around that time. I was so happy when i found them in the brush near the water. Such a small things give you so much happiness sometimes.
We passed a group of 4 young men going back to their car. They hiked Iroquis that day and bailed from going up Alonquin because of bad weather. I had brief chat with the when we all go to our cars.
It was so good to switch to clean clothes and to sit down for a min.
It was just before 5pm when we were pulling away from the parking lot.
It was pretty good hike after all even though it rained a lot and we didnt have much views. I would love to get back there on a sunny day.
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