wardsgirl
Active member
My BF and I had high hopes that the promise of good weather was going to hold for the weekend. We had originally considered a Franconia Ridge hike, but driving through the notch revealed high winds and clouds at elevation. No problem, we checked into a room at the 4 Seasons in Twin Mountain, and headed up Route 115A to visit Waumbek instead.
When we got to the end of the dirt road, there was one car already parked in the solitary wide space. Since there was a bit of room on the right, and the car was angled nicely, so we unloaded our gear, and carefully backed into the remaining narrow space between the car and the snowbank, making sure that the other driver could back out easily when they returned.
The trail looked like it had been hiked this morning by only one single hiker wearing snowshoes. However, we would later learn that the wind and light snow had obscured the previous tracks of many others. After an easy hike to the well, I put on snowshoes to improve my traction. My BF wore crampons, as the underlying trail was rock hard.
By the way, does that well creep anyone else out? I remember when my kid and I hiked Waumbek a few years ago, he thought "Samara" from the movie "The Ring" was going to emerge from the well at any moment. Remembering that, I wrote "SAMARA WUZ HERE" in the snow with my trekking pole. This was just one of many snow-graffiti phrases that were seen along the trail this Valentine's Day.
We were soon met by descending hikers who obviously started a lot earlier than our 11:30am. It was our first "Celebrity Hiker" sighting of the weekend: none other than Big Earl and Trailtrotter Sue! We stopped and chatted for a bit and wished them well on their way to Cannon- but we all know how that turned out! Yikes!
As the afternoon began, the sky cleared and we were treated to the beautiful contrast between the unmelted snow that coated the trees against the brilliant blue sky. We were joined by two hikers who had parked down on Route 2. Cathy and Dennis from Orange, MA may not be classified as "Celebrity Hikers" quite yet, but they are lurkers on VFTT, so it's only a matter of time!
Closer to the summit of Starr King, we were met by a descending AMC Maine Chapter group. This group of six had packed the trail down thoroughly. Their dog carried a stick all the way down the trail. We stopped for a late lunch on Starr King and admired the views over to the Presies, where the weather looked challenging. The sun was shining brightly over the Pliny and Pilot Ranges this afternoon, so we headed over to Waumbek. My BF soon discovered that his crampons were no match for the ridge's less consolidated snow and he switched to his snowshoes after postholing one time too many.
We ran into Cathy and Dennis again in the col, sure that we would see them on another peak someday soon. On the summit of Waumbek, there was no evidence of Jazzbo and company's Pliny traverse of weeks past. I hiked down the Kilkenny Ridge Trail for a bit and imagined what it would have been like to drop down into that wildness for their epic hike. No thanks, we have other plans for tonight!
Since it was about 4:00pm when we began to meander back down the mountain, we were pretty sure that we would be the last visitors to Waumbek today. But we were wrong! Just below the summit of Starr King, we ran into a couple and their two dogs who were ascending the trail. They asked us how far it was to Starr King, and we assured them that it was just around the corner. Then, as the sun began to set, yet another "Hiking Celebrity" was seen ascending Starr King Trail! It was Mike Foster, the caretaker at Gray Knob, working on his 4th 4k'r of the day, having climbed Tecumseh and the Tripyramids since starting at 3:00am this morning. We wished the young whippersnapper well on his quest to hike 20 4k'rs this week! Hmmm… with that much stamina, I wonder why he didn’t just continue to Cabot?
Soon we reached the car, went back to the 4 Seasons, and enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Woodstock Station, although the extremely loud band began to play just as our dinner was served. The next day, we observed numerous Fish and Game activities taking place in and around Crawford Notch – happily, we all know how that turned out!
For the exciting conclusion of our "Hiking Celebrity" sightings weekend, on Sunday, we followed an Xterra almost all the way home down Route 16. NH license plate -HIKER-. Hi there, whoever you are! See you on the trails!
When we got to the end of the dirt road, there was one car already parked in the solitary wide space. Since there was a bit of room on the right, and the car was angled nicely, so we unloaded our gear, and carefully backed into the remaining narrow space between the car and the snowbank, making sure that the other driver could back out easily when they returned.
The trail looked like it had been hiked this morning by only one single hiker wearing snowshoes. However, we would later learn that the wind and light snow had obscured the previous tracks of many others. After an easy hike to the well, I put on snowshoes to improve my traction. My BF wore crampons, as the underlying trail was rock hard.
By the way, does that well creep anyone else out? I remember when my kid and I hiked Waumbek a few years ago, he thought "Samara" from the movie "The Ring" was going to emerge from the well at any moment. Remembering that, I wrote "SAMARA WUZ HERE" in the snow with my trekking pole. This was just one of many snow-graffiti phrases that were seen along the trail this Valentine's Day.
We were soon met by descending hikers who obviously started a lot earlier than our 11:30am. It was our first "Celebrity Hiker" sighting of the weekend: none other than Big Earl and Trailtrotter Sue! We stopped and chatted for a bit and wished them well on their way to Cannon- but we all know how that turned out! Yikes!
As the afternoon began, the sky cleared and we were treated to the beautiful contrast between the unmelted snow that coated the trees against the brilliant blue sky. We were joined by two hikers who had parked down on Route 2. Cathy and Dennis from Orange, MA may not be classified as "Celebrity Hikers" quite yet, but they are lurkers on VFTT, so it's only a matter of time!
Closer to the summit of Starr King, we were met by a descending AMC Maine Chapter group. This group of six had packed the trail down thoroughly. Their dog carried a stick all the way down the trail. We stopped for a late lunch on Starr King and admired the views over to the Presies, where the weather looked challenging. The sun was shining brightly over the Pliny and Pilot Ranges this afternoon, so we headed over to Waumbek. My BF soon discovered that his crampons were no match for the ridge's less consolidated snow and he switched to his snowshoes after postholing one time too many.
We ran into Cathy and Dennis again in the col, sure that we would see them on another peak someday soon. On the summit of Waumbek, there was no evidence of Jazzbo and company's Pliny traverse of weeks past. I hiked down the Kilkenny Ridge Trail for a bit and imagined what it would have been like to drop down into that wildness for their epic hike. No thanks, we have other plans for tonight!
Since it was about 4:00pm when we began to meander back down the mountain, we were pretty sure that we would be the last visitors to Waumbek today. But we were wrong! Just below the summit of Starr King, we ran into a couple and their two dogs who were ascending the trail. They asked us how far it was to Starr King, and we assured them that it was just around the corner. Then, as the sun began to set, yet another "Hiking Celebrity" was seen ascending Starr King Trail! It was Mike Foster, the caretaker at Gray Knob, working on his 4th 4k'r of the day, having climbed Tecumseh and the Tripyramids since starting at 3:00am this morning. We wished the young whippersnapper well on his quest to hike 20 4k'rs this week! Hmmm… with that much stamina, I wonder why he didn’t just continue to Cabot?
Soon we reached the car, went back to the 4 Seasons, and enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Woodstock Station, although the extremely loud band began to play just as our dinner was served. The next day, we observed numerous Fish and Game activities taking place in and around Crawford Notch – happily, we all know how that turned out!
For the exciting conclusion of our "Hiking Celebrity" sightings weekend, on Sunday, we followed an Xterra almost all the way home down Route 16. NH license plate -HIKER-. Hi there, whoever you are! See you on the trails!
