dr_wu002
Well-known member
Julie (Timmus) and I had planned a hike in the Whites for a few reasons: 1) She wanted to hike in the Whites; 2) We'd been chatting for a while and figured it'd be nice to go for a hike together; and 3) She had painted one of her lovely drawings for Jess (gf) and I was meeting her to pick it up. Due to the weather we kind of settled on Tom, Field and Willey and planned on walking through Zealand Notch as well, if time permitted.
After a brief meetup at AMC Highland Center, we drove over to the Ripley Falls Trailhead. She showed me the drawing she made, my jaw almost hit the ground (pretty amazing), and then we headed out for Willey.
Ok, so we're going along and there's almost no snow on the ground and the weather is really holding out for us -- no rain just yet. But once we hit the steep stuff, the icy snow appeared again and we needed our snowshoes to keep from sliding all around (and killing ourselves). Then once we got to the summit of Willey, we got nailed with the wind and the freezing rain. Ironically, most of the summits, including Washington, were cloud free so we got some great views and snapped a few decent photos.
We moved on, chatting, and headed over to Field (more wind and freezing rain but still some nice views), stopping along the way to check the little views here and there. Most of the woods are completely open all along the Willey Ridge -- probably some fun bushwhacks if you go for that sort of thing.
After ascending and descending Tom, we stood at the junction for the A-Z Trail, desciding whether or not we go to Zealand Notch or head out. The wind and rain was brutal and the prospect of 12 more miles through it didn't necessarily sound appealing. Also, Julie had reinjured her ankle that she hurt on a self-arrest a few weeks ago and was struggling a little. So, we decided to take the A-Z Trail down to Crawford Notch instead -- unfortunately though both of our cars were at Ripley Falls so either we had to hitch hike or walk the 4 miles through the Notch.
Despite the nasty freezing rain, we opted to walk the notch -- I had driven it countless times but never really got to walk through it & take in some of the views. Great idea! The views are really wonderful through the notch & since we weren't wearing our noisy snowshoes anymore we were able to chat some more. After the hike we stopped by an interesting local bar in Twin Mountain to get some coffee & talk even more. A good hiking partner is always a good find!
So, it was a little bit of a short hike for the both of us (7 hours) and a little disappointing that we didn't get to walk through Zealand Notch (and visit Zealand Falls, Thoreau Falls, Ethan Pond etc.) but the overall fun of hiking with Julie more than made up for that. We have some more hiking ideas for this summer so hopefully she'll return some day when the weather is a little nicer! Otherwise, the weather wasn't so bad (freezing rain can be fun, just not 20 miles of it!) and it was a really great day. Jess loved the drawing when I gave it to her after the hike (her birthday is today!)
Pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/549848617wIeuAK
-Dr. Wu
After a brief meetup at AMC Highland Center, we drove over to the Ripley Falls Trailhead. She showed me the drawing she made, my jaw almost hit the ground (pretty amazing), and then we headed out for Willey.
Ok, so we're going along and there's almost no snow on the ground and the weather is really holding out for us -- no rain just yet. But once we hit the steep stuff, the icy snow appeared again and we needed our snowshoes to keep from sliding all around (and killing ourselves). Then once we got to the summit of Willey, we got nailed with the wind and the freezing rain. Ironically, most of the summits, including Washington, were cloud free so we got some great views and snapped a few decent photos.
We moved on, chatting, and headed over to Field (more wind and freezing rain but still some nice views), stopping along the way to check the little views here and there. Most of the woods are completely open all along the Willey Ridge -- probably some fun bushwhacks if you go for that sort of thing.
After ascending and descending Tom, we stood at the junction for the A-Z Trail, desciding whether or not we go to Zealand Notch or head out. The wind and rain was brutal and the prospect of 12 more miles through it didn't necessarily sound appealing. Also, Julie had reinjured her ankle that she hurt on a self-arrest a few weeks ago and was struggling a little. So, we decided to take the A-Z Trail down to Crawford Notch instead -- unfortunately though both of our cars were at Ripley Falls so either we had to hitch hike or walk the 4 miles through the Notch.
Despite the nasty freezing rain, we opted to walk the notch -- I had driven it countless times but never really got to walk through it & take in some of the views. Great idea! The views are really wonderful through the notch & since we weren't wearing our noisy snowshoes anymore we were able to chat some more. After the hike we stopped by an interesting local bar in Twin Mountain to get some coffee & talk even more. A good hiking partner is always a good find!
So, it was a little bit of a short hike for the both of us (7 hours) and a little disappointing that we didn't get to walk through Zealand Notch (and visit Zealand Falls, Thoreau Falls, Ethan Pond etc.) but the overall fun of hiking with Julie more than made up for that. We have some more hiking ideas for this summer so hopefully she'll return some day when the weather is a little nicer! Otherwise, the weather wasn't so bad (freezing rain can be fun, just not 20 miles of it!) and it was a really great day. Jess loved the drawing when I gave it to her after the hike (her birthday is today!)
Pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/549848617wIeuAK
-Dr. Wu
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