gaiagirl
New member
I had plans to head up North and do some hiking on a couple of my surprise weekdays off this week (lately I feel as if I hike MORE than I work; hard to complain about that!!) but my hiking partner had to cancel for Tuesday. Originally I had planned to head up North Tuesday night to hike Wednesday, figuring we could go up and retrace our route up Monroe which we didn't get all the way up a couple of weeks ago because I was having trouble regulating my temperature on that day (too hot, then quickly WAY too cold, which is not fun in my opinion 
)
Tuesday morning I was all ready to go, thinking about other stuff I could do before leaving to hit the gym for a couple of hours on the way toward my drive to the mountains, when it occurred to me that it was a gorgeous day, the sun was out, and I hadn't yet bagged Tecumseh!!! After tidying up, making sure all the stuff I would need was packed for a couple of days, and then gassing up for the trip, I hit the road for Waterville Valey, making it to the trailhead just after NOON. Not too much to say about Tecumseh .... I don't hate this hike the way some people seem to, and the views from the ledge before the summit of the Osceolas, South Hancock and Carrigan were impressive, but it isn't the most memorable either. It WAS, at least, a pretty blue sky day, colder and dry, which are better conditions for me for winter hiking since it makes it harder to overheat, which seems to be happening to me lot in these non-winter temp, winter hikes of late!!!
The following day heading from the North Conway area to 302 toward the Cog was when the real fun would begin. We went from beautiful clear blue sky and puffy cumulus clouds to big, low dark clouds that were obviously dropping snow on some of the summits in Crawford Notch --- is it EVER sunny with views and blue sky there in winter??? I can't recall a time recently when it has been, but it has made for some memorable hiking . We put on our boots in the building at the Cog and started up the Ammonusuc Ravine trail at about 10AM with 14 degree temps at the trailhead. I love this trail, spring, summer and now winter too. The sounds and sights of the brook are soothing and peaceful and the steep sections are a lot of fun both coming up and down now that I am using and learning something about the right equipment (ie my new Koflach's and semi-rigid, real-deal crampons --- thank you Jim ). We made it up above treeline and to Lakes of the Clouds in great time. Here we were met by the wind, finally, but not the 60mph gusts that had been forecast but one skier at the Cog before we left. It was windy, and cold, but very manageable and with some limited nearby views of the Presis. We snapped a couple of pictures on the summit and headed back down and quickly out of the wind and back down fairly swiftly below tree-line. We stopped briefly for a bite to eat and some water and continued to make our way back down toward the trailhead. Our pace heading down was very good and we made it back to the truck, to our surprise, before 2PM. This was #17 and counting of the Winter 48 for me .... Not bad for a girl (a girl who wasn't sure she liked winter hiking very much until recently, really!!!) ...LOL
) Tuesday morning I was all ready to go, thinking about other stuff I could do before leaving to hit the gym for a couple of hours on the way toward my drive to the mountains, when it occurred to me that it was a gorgeous day, the sun was out, and I hadn't yet bagged Tecumseh
!!! After tidying up, making sure all the stuff I would need was packed for a couple of days, and then gassing up for the trip, I hit the road for Waterville Valey, making it to the trailhead just after NOON. Not too much to say about Tecumseh .... I don't hate this hike the way some people seem to, and the views from the ledge before the summit of the Osceolas, South Hancock and Carrigan were impressive, but it isn't the most memorable either. It WAS, at least, a pretty blue sky day, colder and dry, which are better conditions for me for winter hiking since it makes it harder to overheat, which seems to be happening to me lot in these non-winter temp, winter hikes of late!!! The following day heading from the North Conway area to 302 toward the Cog was when the real fun would begin. We went from beautiful clear blue sky and puffy cumulus clouds to big, low dark clouds that were obviously dropping snow on some of the summits in Crawford Notch --- is it EVER sunny with views and blue sky there in winter??? I can't recall a time recently when it has been, but it has made for some memorable hiking
. We put on our boots in the building at the Cog and started up the Ammonusuc Ravine trail at about 10AM with 14 degree temps at the trailhead. I love this trail, spring, summer and now winter too. The sounds and sights of the brook are soothing and peaceful and the steep sections are a lot of fun both coming up and down now that I am using and learning something about the right equipment (ie my new Koflach's and semi-rigid, real-deal crampons --- thank you Jim ). We made it up above treeline and to Lakes of the Clouds in great time. Here we were met by the wind, finally, but not the 60mph gusts that had been forecast but one skier at the Cog before we left. It was windy, and cold, but very manageable and with some limited nearby views of the Presis. We snapped a couple of pictures on the summit and headed back down and quickly out of the wind and back down fairly swiftly below tree-line. We stopped briefly for a bite to eat and some water and continued to make our way back down toward the trailhead. Our pace heading down was very good and we made it back to the truck, to our surprise, before 2PM. This was #17 and counting of the Winter 48 for me .... Not bad for a girl (a girl who wasn't sure she liked winter hiking very much until recently, really!!!) ...LOL
