king tut
New member
At some point Friday night during happy hour, I think after the Jalapeno nachos, I decided since most of my peeps were out of town this weekend, I should head out and do some hiking in New Hampster. I tend to think that I make most of my best decisions over a few beers. Well, most of them...
So I headed home and threw my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent and other various heavy items into my big LL Bean backpack. I have never really subscribed to the whole "ultra light" backpacking theory. I prefer to study the quad busting "don't leave home without it" method of backpacking. I filled up tons of water bottles, placked plenty of food, and even grabbed a book in the basement, Freakonomics, hey it's a best seller, it must be good!
So I left my house sometime after 7 in the morning and headed out to NH. After several stops I arrived in the Notch area sometime after 10 and looked for a parking spot at the head of the Crawford Path. All the spots were taken, so I decided to head down the road to where the AT crosses 302. Apparently people wake up early to hike.... Cheaters. I did manage to find a spot left in the parking lot off of 302 where the AT crosses to go up to Ripley Falls. I headed up the trail at about 10:30, and planned on hitting Willey, Field, and Tom. Other than that, no real plans from there, I would just see where the hike took me. So I started out at a moderate pace, with my unneccesarily heavy backpack and started climbing Willey. The climb was moderate for a few miles and then I hit the ladders... These must have been the craziest set of ladders that I have seen in a while. Long, steep, and they just kept going and going and going. When do they end?
Well after a few hours of climbing, I got to the top of Willey. I took out my AT map and realized that I had just climbed 3,000 + vertical feet from the parking lot. No wonder it seemed to take a while. From there, the hike over to Field was easy, just a small little ascent to the top, where I stopped and pulled out my bag of cookies and started chomping away. It was pretty chilly on top of the peaks these days, so I only hung around for 5 minutes or so at each one, as I did not feel like getting too chilled. The trail down to the A-Z trail was .9 mile, and took maybe 20 minutes to go down and then from there it was time to ascend Mt Tom. It was the smallest of the peaks, so I thought it would be a rather easy ascent, but it actually turned out to be a medium ascent of maybe 300 or 400 hundred vertical feet to the top where there were two nice viewpoints in each direction. I had a nice lady from a hiking group snap my picture at the rock pile on top, went to the other viewpoint and saw some nice Grey Jays and then headed on down to the notch.
I arrived down at the notch around 3 o'clock and filled up my water bottles and decided what to do next. I could head back down 302 or go up into the Southern Presidentials. I had yet to climb Mt Jackson or Webster, so I decided to head up the Crawford Path and make my way down the Southern Presidentials. The temps were cooling off as I was heading up the trail, but I was so hot from climbing that there was a constant fog around me from the sweat and steam coming off my body. I got up to Mitzpah around 4 o'clock and thought about camping out at the tent site up there, but since it was only 4 and quite cool, i did not want to just hang around up there and be cold for several hours, so I decided to truck on.
At this point in the hike, my body was starting to get fatigued. I had climbed around 6,000 vertical in about 6 hours with my heavy pack, so I decided that it was getting time to try to find somewhere to crash for the night, and I was also getting very excited about my upcoming dinner of Beefaroni in a can. Shortly after this I reached the top of Mt Jackson, and I stopped to take in the views. This was difficult though as the wind was really whipping and was tossing my large frame around with no problem at all. After a few minutes of fighting the wind, I gave up and headed south on the trail where after a while I found a nice spot to set up my tent for the night. I finally got to partake in my Beefaroni, Gatorade, and a couple packages of glowing orange crackers. I am an easy person to please. I settled down in my sleeping bag and cracked open Freakonomics and read 3/4 of the book that night. Really was not too much else to do up there at night time. But anyways, pretty interesting book if you like economics and random science.
I went to bed a little before 10 but then woke up just before 3 in the morning as it was pretty cold out and I just did not feel like sleeping anymore. I packed up my tent and headed on down the trail at around 3:30 in the morning, with my headlamp shining the way. I only hiked for around 45 minutes or so before I could turn my headlamp off and the natural light shone the way for me. I stopped at my first peak of the day, Mt Webster and had some really nice views just before the sun came up. I took a few pics, as the clouds over the Presidentials created a very cool early morning visual.
I gimped down the last 3 miles of the trail, and got back to 302 right around 7 in the morning and my knees were absolutely killing me. I was kinda grumpy, but happy to be done the pounding knee punishment for the day. I crossed 302 and said hello to a gentleman standing at the rear of an Element. I remember Cantdog(Julie) has an Element, but I thought, what are the odds it is her? I jumped in my car and headed out from the parking lot and up 302. I saw another person in the Element as I drove out and it did look like her. Was that you Cantdog?
Fun hike, 4 more peaks off my list. And a wonderful drive back to VT via rte 302. I will look back on this hike with fond memories once my knees stop hurting.
So I headed home and threw my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent and other various heavy items into my big LL Bean backpack. I have never really subscribed to the whole "ultra light" backpacking theory. I prefer to study the quad busting "don't leave home without it" method of backpacking. I filled up tons of water bottles, placked plenty of food, and even grabbed a book in the basement, Freakonomics, hey it's a best seller, it must be good!
So I left my house sometime after 7 in the morning and headed out to NH. After several stops I arrived in the Notch area sometime after 10 and looked for a parking spot at the head of the Crawford Path. All the spots were taken, so I decided to head down the road to where the AT crosses 302. Apparently people wake up early to hike.... Cheaters. I did manage to find a spot left in the parking lot off of 302 where the AT crosses to go up to Ripley Falls. I headed up the trail at about 10:30, and planned on hitting Willey, Field, and Tom. Other than that, no real plans from there, I would just see where the hike took me. So I started out at a moderate pace, with my unneccesarily heavy backpack and started climbing Willey. The climb was moderate for a few miles and then I hit the ladders... These must have been the craziest set of ladders that I have seen in a while. Long, steep, and they just kept going and going and going. When do they end?
Well after a few hours of climbing, I got to the top of Willey. I took out my AT map and realized that I had just climbed 3,000 + vertical feet from the parking lot. No wonder it seemed to take a while. From there, the hike over to Field was easy, just a small little ascent to the top, where I stopped and pulled out my bag of cookies and started chomping away. It was pretty chilly on top of the peaks these days, so I only hung around for 5 minutes or so at each one, as I did not feel like getting too chilled. The trail down to the A-Z trail was .9 mile, and took maybe 20 minutes to go down and then from there it was time to ascend Mt Tom. It was the smallest of the peaks, so I thought it would be a rather easy ascent, but it actually turned out to be a medium ascent of maybe 300 or 400 hundred vertical feet to the top where there were two nice viewpoints in each direction. I had a nice lady from a hiking group snap my picture at the rock pile on top, went to the other viewpoint and saw some nice Grey Jays and then headed on down to the notch.
I arrived down at the notch around 3 o'clock and filled up my water bottles and decided what to do next. I could head back down 302 or go up into the Southern Presidentials. I had yet to climb Mt Jackson or Webster, so I decided to head up the Crawford Path and make my way down the Southern Presidentials. The temps were cooling off as I was heading up the trail, but I was so hot from climbing that there was a constant fog around me from the sweat and steam coming off my body. I got up to Mitzpah around 4 o'clock and thought about camping out at the tent site up there, but since it was only 4 and quite cool, i did not want to just hang around up there and be cold for several hours, so I decided to truck on.
At this point in the hike, my body was starting to get fatigued. I had climbed around 6,000 vertical in about 6 hours with my heavy pack, so I decided that it was getting time to try to find somewhere to crash for the night, and I was also getting very excited about my upcoming dinner of Beefaroni in a can. Shortly after this I reached the top of Mt Jackson, and I stopped to take in the views. This was difficult though as the wind was really whipping and was tossing my large frame around with no problem at all. After a few minutes of fighting the wind, I gave up and headed south on the trail where after a while I found a nice spot to set up my tent for the night. I finally got to partake in my Beefaroni, Gatorade, and a couple packages of glowing orange crackers. I am an easy person to please. I settled down in my sleeping bag and cracked open Freakonomics and read 3/4 of the book that night. Really was not too much else to do up there at night time. But anyways, pretty interesting book if you like economics and random science.
I went to bed a little before 10 but then woke up just before 3 in the morning as it was pretty cold out and I just did not feel like sleeping anymore. I packed up my tent and headed on down the trail at around 3:30 in the morning, with my headlamp shining the way. I only hiked for around 45 minutes or so before I could turn my headlamp off and the natural light shone the way for me. I stopped at my first peak of the day, Mt Webster and had some really nice views just before the sun came up. I took a few pics, as the clouds over the Presidentials created a very cool early morning visual.
I gimped down the last 3 miles of the trail, and got back to 302 right around 7 in the morning and my knees were absolutely killing me. I was kinda grumpy, but happy to be done the pounding knee punishment for the day. I crossed 302 and said hello to a gentleman standing at the rear of an Element. I remember Cantdog(Julie) has an Element, but I thought, what are the odds it is her? I jumped in my car and headed out from the parking lot and up 302. I saw another person in the Element as I drove out and it did look like her. Was that you Cantdog?
Fun hike, 4 more peaks off my list. And a wonderful drive back to VT via rte 302. I will look back on this hike with fond memories once my knees stop hurting.
