mtruman
New member
If this year of hiking has taught us nothing else it is how to be adaptable. Very few trips have turned out as planned but all have turned out great. This weekend was no exception. Over a month ago we planned an overnight backpack to the Baldies with Tim, Val, Kevin, Judy and Emma for this weekend. As the weekend approached and the weather forecast got worse and worse we knew that this trip was out. Neither an overnight in cold rain or an "adventure" on the wet ledges seemed like a very good idea. Since we had already arranged a house/dog/daughter sitter for the weekend we weren't giving up though. Let's make some lemonade out of these lemons...
Tim and Val had invited us to come and offered to find alternate hikes to do with us regardless of the weather. Since Friday looked like the best of the days we decided to go early and sneak in an extra hike. We left RI mid-morning to avoid the weekday Boston traffic and had smooth sailing all the way up.
West Rattlesnake and Five Finger Point
At 1:00 we were at the West Rattlesnake trailhead and ready to go. We picked this one since it was a) close to Tim&Val, b) one we hadn't done and c) hopefully nice lake views on a clear day. We weren't disappointed. We headed up the Bridle Path to West Rattlesnake and were greeted by beautiful views and a small weekday summit crowd. Didn't hang out too long before heading down the Pasture Trail which drops down very steeply toward the lake. We took the Five Finger Point trail out to and around the point and this was our favorite part of the walk. The trail runs right next to the water all the way around and there are several small beaches and swimming areas that would be great on a hot summer day. On the way back up we decided to take the Col Trail and skip East Rattlesnake due to time. The Col Trail was surprisingly steep as was the Ridge Trail back up to the west peak and we worked up a good sweat on the way up. One more stop to soak in the view and then back out to the car. The whole hike turned out to be really great and much more of a workout than expected. Will definitely do this one again and be sure to visit East Rattlesnake next time as well.
West Rattlesnake summit and Squam Lake
The views from Five Finger Point
Old soldier on West Rattlesnake
Friday night we had a great time hanging out with Tim&Val, enjoying the wonderful dinner they prepared along with an apple pie that Nat had baked for dessert (oh yeah, the start of a food weekend) and trying to come up with a plan for Saturday with a forecast that was calling for 2-3 inches of rain with thunderstorms. Turns out that we both had been thinking about Zealand Valley as one of the top "in the rain" options and decided to go with that as long as things didn't get even worse...
Zealand Valley, Thoreau Falls
On Saturday morning the forecast had improved and it looked like the really bad stuff wouldn't come till later in the afternoon. We headed out after stuffing ourselves with the great breakfast that Tim prepared (I would definitely need to hike more if he was providing breakfast all the time or I'd gain 20 pounds) and were at the Zealand trailhead at 9:00. The walk out to Thoreau Falls was beautiful. The colors were really nice and the clouds, mist and occasional drizzle provided a nice touch going through the ponds and bogs. The rain held off and didn't really bother us at all. After a nice break at the falls we headed back and up to the hut with another break for lunch and a hot cocoa to warm up. The only really hard rain happened while we were hanging out at the hut (more good timing) and had let up by the time we headed back out. The walk back to the car was nice and I couldn't believe that we'd actually done 10 miles when we were done. Day 2 was now more than successfully salvaged!
Zealand beaver pond
The view from Thoreau Falls
Zealand Valley from the hut
Marching in the mist
Saturday night we went to the Common Man and enjoyed our own little Ashland Booze and Vittles night. The heavy rain arrived and stayed for the night and we started to wonder if our luck was running our for Sunday. By the time we got back to the house and checked the forecast things were looking up. Cloudy with clearing by mid-morning and rain starting later in the day. Could we really luck out again? Val got in touch with Kevin and Judy and they said they'd join us on Sunday and suggested a hike over Gunstock, Belknap and Piper - one that the rest of us hadn't done before. We all agreed that this sounded great. (continued)...
Tim and Val had invited us to come and offered to find alternate hikes to do with us regardless of the weather. Since Friday looked like the best of the days we decided to go early and sneak in an extra hike. We left RI mid-morning to avoid the weekday Boston traffic and had smooth sailing all the way up.
West Rattlesnake and Five Finger Point
At 1:00 we were at the West Rattlesnake trailhead and ready to go. We picked this one since it was a) close to Tim&Val, b) one we hadn't done and c) hopefully nice lake views on a clear day. We weren't disappointed. We headed up the Bridle Path to West Rattlesnake and were greeted by beautiful views and a small weekday summit crowd. Didn't hang out too long before heading down the Pasture Trail which drops down very steeply toward the lake. We took the Five Finger Point trail out to and around the point and this was our favorite part of the walk. The trail runs right next to the water all the way around and there are several small beaches and swimming areas that would be great on a hot summer day. On the way back up we decided to take the Col Trail and skip East Rattlesnake due to time. The Col Trail was surprisingly steep as was the Ridge Trail back up to the west peak and we worked up a good sweat on the way up. One more stop to soak in the view and then back out to the car. The whole hike turned out to be really great and much more of a workout than expected. Will definitely do this one again and be sure to visit East Rattlesnake next time as well.
West Rattlesnake summit and Squam Lake
The views from Five Finger Point
Old soldier on West Rattlesnake
Friday night we had a great time hanging out with Tim&Val, enjoying the wonderful dinner they prepared along with an apple pie that Nat had baked for dessert (oh yeah, the start of a food weekend) and trying to come up with a plan for Saturday with a forecast that was calling for 2-3 inches of rain with thunderstorms. Turns out that we both had been thinking about Zealand Valley as one of the top "in the rain" options and decided to go with that as long as things didn't get even worse...
Zealand Valley, Thoreau Falls
On Saturday morning the forecast had improved and it looked like the really bad stuff wouldn't come till later in the afternoon. We headed out after stuffing ourselves with the great breakfast that Tim prepared (I would definitely need to hike more if he was providing breakfast all the time or I'd gain 20 pounds) and were at the Zealand trailhead at 9:00. The walk out to Thoreau Falls was beautiful. The colors were really nice and the clouds, mist and occasional drizzle provided a nice touch going through the ponds and bogs. The rain held off and didn't really bother us at all. After a nice break at the falls we headed back and up to the hut with another break for lunch and a hot cocoa to warm up. The only really hard rain happened while we were hanging out at the hut (more good timing) and had let up by the time we headed back out. The walk back to the car was nice and I couldn't believe that we'd actually done 10 miles when we were done. Day 2 was now more than successfully salvaged!
Zealand beaver pond
The view from Thoreau Falls
Zealand Valley from the hut
Marching in the mist
Saturday night we went to the Common Man and enjoyed our own little Ashland Booze and Vittles night. The heavy rain arrived and stayed for the night and we started to wonder if our luck was running our for Sunday. By the time we got back to the house and checked the forecast things were looking up. Cloudy with clearing by mid-morning and rain starting later in the day. Could we really luck out again? Val got in touch with Kevin and Judy and they said they'd join us on Sunday and suggested a hike over Gunstock, Belknap and Piper - one that the rest of us hadn't done before. We all agreed that this sounded great. (continued)...
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