Memorial Day Weekend Hiking!

Memorial Day Weekend ended up being a great weekend for hiking.  The weather started out rainy with no views and gradually changed to bright sunny skies by mid day on Memorial Day.  Click on one of the links below to view trip reports

Date
Click below to view trip report
Miles
Elevation Gain
5/28
13.0
4,400
5/29
20.0
8,150
5/30
26.2
6,600
 
 
 Lonesome Lake Trail
 Carter-Moriah Trail
 Hiking down the Wildcat Ski Trails
with Mount Washington in view
 The Franconia Ridge
Liberty and Flume from Mount Lincoln
Posted by at 5:02 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Semi-Pemi Loop (Garfield / Lafayette / Lincoln / Liberty / Flume)

Date
Memorial Day Weekend ~ Click below to view trip report
Miles
Elevation Gain
5/28
13.0
4,400
5/29
20.0
8,150
5/30
26.2
6,600

Date of Hike: 5/30/11

Lincoln Woods Trail:1.4 miles
Osseo Trail: 1.0 miles
Lincon Woods Trail: 1.5 miles
Franconia Brook Trail: 7.4 miles
Garfield Ridge Trail: 4.4 miles
Franconia Ridge Trail: 5.0 miles
Osseo Trail: 4.1 miles
Lincoln woods Trail: 1.4 miles
Total Miles: 26.2 miles (6,600 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Heading into Monday I had no idea what to hike because I was getting conflicting weather reports.  So I decided to head up to Flume and if the weather cleared up by the time I got up there I'd keep on hiking, if not I'd go home...by the end of the day I had done a killer hike I never thought of doing!
- On trail 5:45am, turned around on Osseo Trail 6:30am, Garfield 10:15am, Lafayette 12:05pm, Lincoln, 12:35pm, Liberty 1:55pm, Flume 3:35pm, finished 5pm.  Temps in the 60's and 60's wind gusts above 25 mph near Lafayette, skies cleared off by 10:30, hazy but very good views.
- The hike up to the Osseo Trail on Lincoln Woods was the same as it ever was...kind of boring.  As I started up the Osseo Trail I kept looking up and everything was blanketed in thick clouds and I was not feeling "it." A few hundred feet and about a half mile up the Osseo Trail I stopped and said "This friggan sucks" and turned around and decided to just go wander around the Pemi for a few hours which somehow turned into half a Pemi-Loop!
- I had never been on the Franconia Brook Trail past the Lincoln Brook Trail junction so I headed there to explore around and maybe try to check out any remnants of the old logging roads form the early twentieth century.
- As I was hiking I could see the sun trying to break through so I just kept on walking towards Thirteen Fall Tentsite and then past the tentsite up the Franconia Brook Trail which is more like a stream at this point than a trail all the way up to the Garfield Ridge.
- I turned left and knew at this point I'd be doing half a loop an was rewarded with the clouds clearing off as soon as I got to Garfield and stayed out of the clouds the remainder of the day.
- The hike along the Garfield Ridge was rugged as always but was great popping above treeline about a miles from Lafayette's summit and the beginning of the Franconia Ridge.
- As usual with such great weather the Franconia Ridge between Lafayette and Little Haystack was busy with all kind of hikers.
- However once past the Falling Waters Trail junction on Little Haystack I was back hiking in solitude all the way until Liberty Springs Trail junction.
- There were a few hikers between Liberty and Flume but once heading down the Osseo Trail I was by myself all the way out to Lincoln Woods.
- I was exhausted after hiking so many miles over three days but was thrilled that I hiked on Sunday instead of going home or I would have missed the kick A$$ views from the Franconia Ridge


 Beaver Pond off the Franconia Brook Trail
 Franconia Brook Trail
 Owl's Head from Mount Garfield
 Classic Franconia Ridge Pic
 Mount Lincoln
 Kinsmans and Cannon Mountain
 Pemigewasset Wilderness
 The Bonds
Franconia Ridge from Flume Mountain
Posted by at 1:08 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Moriah / Carters / Wildcat Traverse

Date
Memorial Day Weekend ~ Click below to view trip report
Miles
Elevation Gain
5/28
13.0
4,400
5/29
20.0
8,150
5/30
26.2
6,600

Date of Hike: 5/29/11

Carter-Moriah Trail: 13.8 miles
Wildcat Ridge Trail: 3.0 miles
Ski Trails (Upper Polecat, Middle Wildcat, Lower Wildcat, Wild Kitten): 3.2 miles
Total Miles: 20.0 (8,150 elevation gain)
- With the weather improving it was time to start hiking big traverses, up first the Wildcat/Carter/Moriah Traverse.  The first 8.5 miles I'd be hiking solo from Moriah to North Carter where I'd meet up with Alton and Patrick and hike over the Carters and Wildcats.
- On Trail at 5:30am, Moriah, 7:30am, North Carter 9:45am, Height 11:30am, Carter Dome, 12:00pm, Wildcat A 1:15pm, finished 3pm. Temps in the 60's in and out of the clouds with hazy views and light wind.
- I'm not a huge fan of the Carter Moriah Trail past Mount Surprise, it always takes me longer to get to the summit than it seems it should.
- From Moriah to North Carter would be my first time on that section of the Carter-Moriah Trail.  From Mount Moriah to the Stony Brook Trail junction is simply beautiful walking in and out of the scrub over ledges with terrific views of the Carters and the Presidential Range. I wouldn't want to be out there in the winter though, looks like it'd be tough to follow the trail in the snow.  I also really enjoyed the steep ascent up to North Carter, it's ledgey and lots of fun.
- I ran into a bunch of people backpacking the Carters and Moriah along the way.  Some were happy but others looked spent and miserable!
- At the North Carter Trail junction I meet up with Alton and Patrick and we hiked at a solid pace over the Carters and Wildcats.  We stopped at Mont Height where views were good to the north but socked in everywhere else.
- The hike up to Wildcat and over the ridge drained me.  This hike has lots of elevation gain and it's over unforgiving terrain but I sucked it up and kept up with both Patrick and Alton.
- We took the ski slopes back down, Alton is not a fan of the steep descent off Wildcat "E" Peak. Instead of staying on the Polecat Ski Trails the whole way down we cut back across the mountain under the ski lift, and wrapped back down going under the zip lines.  We even ran the last five minutes or so which was a killer!
- While heading down the slopes the Views across to Washington opened up make for some spectacular scenery!


 Carter-Moriah Trail heading away
from Moriah towards the Carters
 Imp and Moriah Mountains
from just below North Carter
Hiking down the Wildcat Ski Trail with
 Mount Washington in view
Posted by at 12:49 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

North Kinsman, South Kinsman, Cannon Mountain

Date
Memorial Day Weekend ~ Click below to view trip report
Miles
Elevation Gain
5/28
13.0
4,400
5/29
20.0
8,150
5/30
26.2
6,600

Date of Hike: 5/28/11

Lonesome Lake Trail: 1.4 miles
Fishin' Jimmy Trail: 2.0 miles
Kinsman Ridge Trail: 7.3 miles
Lonesome Lake Trail: 2.3 miles
Total Miles: 13.0 (4,400 elevation gain)
- Since the weather was crummy for views I had no specific mountains that I wanted to hike but I was hoping to go for a semi-challenging hike and the Kinsman Ridge between Kinsman Junction and Cannon Mountain was the perfect hike just for this day.
- On trail at 7:45am, South Kinsman 10:05am, Cannon 12:30pm, temps in the 60's all day, misty rain, heavy thick cloud cover, couldn't even see Lonesome Lake from the Around Lonesome Lake trail in the afternoon which is 10 feet off the path!
- With all the rain over the past month the trails are a mixed bag.  Some spots they're holing up well but places with damaged or backed up water bars are a muddy mess or flooded with big puddles taking up the whole trail.
- Without views this hike is a mini-sufferfest, especially hiking through the Cannon Balls.  The highlights of the hike were the two steep sections, one on the upper half of the Fishin' Jimmy Trail and the last section over huge boulders up the Kinsman Ridge Trail below Cannon.
- There weren't many hikers along the ridge but there were a ton (lost count at 75) heading up to Lonesome Lake Hut.
- Even with the socked in views it was still a good start to a three day weekend.


 Lonesome Lake
 Fishin Jimmy Trail
Lonesome Lake Trail
Posted by at 12:29 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: , , , ,

Spring Showers on the Osceola's

Date of Hike: 5/15/11

Mount Osceola Trail: 8.4 miles (3,000 elevation gain)
Click here for trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- I had no intentions on hiking this weekend at all...However on Saturday night I received a text from Alton wanting to know if I was up for a hike on Sunday.  Sunday's forecast was for a washout but I was sick of training at the gym, I wanted to break in my new boots, and wanted to see if this annoying soreness around my knee was anything to worry about so it was off to the Osceola's with Alton for a quick hike in the rain!
- On trail at 10am, Osceola 11:20ish, Osceola East Peak 11:55ish, finished 1:30pm. Temps in the mid 40's to low 50's, no wind, no views, drizzle until final descent off Osceola then rain showers.
- Alton is an "Uber-Athlete" having run in marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons, etc., so we booked it up to the Mount Osceola trail and didn't stop until the summit to take a break and refuel.  I was also thrilled that my knee only felt uncomfortable for about one ten minute stretch and then was fine the rest of the day!
- The trail was wet and muddy until the around 3,800 feet where rotting snow and ice slowed us down a bit because we stubbornly didn't put on our microspikes.
- From Osceola over to East Osceola we put on our micro's and charged down into the col bypassing the chimney then headed up to the wooded no thrills summit of East Osceola.
- On the way back over to Osceola we went strait up the chimney, it was really wet but lots of fun.  After passing the chimney we just put our heads down and marched up to the summit of Osceola as the rain started to finally come down on us.
- The descent back to the car seemed to take forever (as it always does) and once again we were stubborn and didn't stop to put on dry layers so we were officially soaked to the bone and our fingers became tingly with some numbness.
- Back at the car we changed into dry clothes which took forever since our digits were numbed up pretty good.  What a weird feeling as my fingers felt so weak and weren't functioning right making the simplest tasks like tying shoes or buttoning buttons impossible!
- It was a freaky but cool ending to a great rainy day hike!

Pictures: Click here for all pictures

 Alton hiking up into the Chimney
 Mount Osceola Trail, the Chimney
Stopping to catch my breath!
Posted by at 8:19 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)