p2piper
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Date: January 27, 2007
Time: 8.75 hours
Weather: High overcast, some flurries, 10 degrees, no wind
Miles: 10
Steps: 29,068B
Trails: Stony Brook Trail to Carter-Moriah Trail and back
I was up at 3:45 am and on the road to pick up Nancy by 4:30 am. It is dark, dark, dark at 4:30 and it stays that way for a while. Nancy and I spent the first hour in the car nestled in our private worlds, easing into the day and wondering what kind of adventure the hike would hold for us. All our hikes are adventures. Not one of them has passed by without something to learn or see or feel. We stopped in Tilton for breakfast and Meredith for coffee and onward and upward. I missed the turn for Route 16 south in Gorham so we were trailhead chasing on Route 2 for 20 minutes before being directed to the right place. We were the only car at the Stony Brook trailhead. After changing and warming up we hit the trail at 9 am. The temperature was -2.
The first two miles of the trail were very gentle, covered with a crusty snow that had been broken out by many sets of boots. We followed the gentle slope of an old woods road until it started to climb. We saw moose tracks and as the trail became steeper we saw fewer and fewer human footprints ours were the only ones there. A couple of inches of fresh powder on top of a crust made it easy to bare boot it up the mountain. We reached the Carter-Moriah trail junction at noon. Nancy was moving slower than normal - she said her legs felt like jelly. I offered to turn around but she said a most adamant NO.
Despite the cold, Nancy worked up a nice sweat. Her fleece hat was white from evaporated sweat turned to ice and a three-inch long icicle hung from the ends of her hair. It really was a sweatcicle. I don't know how she does it - sweats like that and still keeps on all her layers. I was down to long underwear and a Techwick shirt - bare hands and no hat - to keep my body cool and prevent myself from sweating. I always find it amazing that my body can generate enough heat that I can be outside in cold like this and not have to wear gloves. Nancy knows her body and what it can and can't do in the cold. The only limitation of her method is that when she stops she gets cold really, really fast while I can stand around for a minute or two and be okay.
The walk up to the first ledge was beautiful. I love walking on ridges. There hasn't been a ridge trail yet that hasn't fascinated me, even those with no views but those provided by dense evergreen forest. The views north toward Canada and south toward the Carters were beautiful. The snow depth had increased on the way up and we were walking in powder ranging from 2 inches to a foot in places. All on top of a crust, although there were naked ice-free spots on some of the ledge rocks. Nancy was still dragging but unwilling to give up. I felt pretty good, despite the fact that my winter boots were igniting the bruises that hadn't completely healed from last Sunday's hike. It was discouraging to hurt with every step but I didn't let it bother me and offered to break trail.
When we came to the next open ledges, we looked southeast and saw Madison and Adams hovering in a cloud. My legs felt like this ledge must be the summit, but after looking around me I pointed out a peak to the northeast that looked higher than where we were so off we went in search of the summit. I was starting to get hungry so I ate a power bar but I was feeling like I was ready to hit the summit and start back. I didn't dare look at my watch but it felt like we were up there drifting from ledge to ledge thinking each one was the summit for hours. Nancy, trooper that she is, kept on moving. We finally reached the trail intersection and saw a sign to the Moriah summit (.1 mile). Unfortunately the trail was a twenty foot rock crevice that was full of ice covered in snow. I gamely started up and just before reaching the top found that I had no purchase at all and nothing to hold onto. I started slipping backwards towards Nancy who also had precarious footing. I suggested we go back and put on our STABILicers, but Nancy just urged me on. I suggested getting off the ice and trying to pull ourselves up using the trees on the side of the trail but she responded by pushing me up the trail until I could get a handhold. Once I was secure, she used my legs to pull herself up. Later she told me that the idea of going back to put on STABILicers or using the side of the trail was not something she had the energy to do. It was either do it now and at that moment or not at all.
We reached the summit at 1:55 pm. Sliding back down the ice flow was a quick way down. Nancy changed clothes at the trail intersection and we started back down around 2:15 pm. Shortly after we started down I felt the bruising from the fronts of my boots really kicking in and I knew this was going to be a long walk back. I had tried to put moleskin on the bruise - cut out a hole for the bruised area so the boot wouldn't push the sock onto the sore spots, but it didn't work. I don't know what to do about these boots - I guess I'll have to buy another pair, but that's an expense. I just wish I could figure out how to pad the boot in such a way that it wouldn't bruise me.
The walk down was long and I moved slowly. Sometimes the pain was tolerable, sometimes it was not. We brought out the headlamps around 5 pm and walked out to the parking lot at 5:45 pm. I was wicked happy to a) take off my boots, b) sit down, and c) get something to eat. We spent the drive reminiscing about the many hikes we have experienced in the last nine months. All the adventures and misadventures. Why we do this. How other people think we're crazy, especially hiking in the winter. How much beauty we have seen, how few people have seen the beauty we have seen, what a rare and special thing we have.
44 out of 67 4,000 footers in New England
46 out of the 100 Highest in New England
38 out of the 48 4,000 footers in New Hampshire
Date: January 27, 2007
Time: 8.75 hours
Weather: High overcast, some flurries, 10 degrees, no wind
Miles: 10
Steps: 29,068B
Trails: Stony Brook Trail to Carter-Moriah Trail and back
I was up at 3:45 am and on the road to pick up Nancy by 4:30 am. It is dark, dark, dark at 4:30 and it stays that way for a while. Nancy and I spent the first hour in the car nestled in our private worlds, easing into the day and wondering what kind of adventure the hike would hold for us. All our hikes are adventures. Not one of them has passed by without something to learn or see or feel. We stopped in Tilton for breakfast and Meredith for coffee and onward and upward. I missed the turn for Route 16 south in Gorham so we were trailhead chasing on Route 2 for 20 minutes before being directed to the right place. We were the only car at the Stony Brook trailhead. After changing and warming up we hit the trail at 9 am. The temperature was -2.
The first two miles of the trail were very gentle, covered with a crusty snow that had been broken out by many sets of boots. We followed the gentle slope of an old woods road until it started to climb. We saw moose tracks and as the trail became steeper we saw fewer and fewer human footprints ours were the only ones there. A couple of inches of fresh powder on top of a crust made it easy to bare boot it up the mountain. We reached the Carter-Moriah trail junction at noon. Nancy was moving slower than normal - she said her legs felt like jelly. I offered to turn around but she said a most adamant NO.
Despite the cold, Nancy worked up a nice sweat. Her fleece hat was white from evaporated sweat turned to ice and a three-inch long icicle hung from the ends of her hair. It really was a sweatcicle. I don't know how she does it - sweats like that and still keeps on all her layers. I was down to long underwear and a Techwick shirt - bare hands and no hat - to keep my body cool and prevent myself from sweating. I always find it amazing that my body can generate enough heat that I can be outside in cold like this and not have to wear gloves. Nancy knows her body and what it can and can't do in the cold. The only limitation of her method is that when she stops she gets cold really, really fast while I can stand around for a minute or two and be okay.
The walk up to the first ledge was beautiful. I love walking on ridges. There hasn't been a ridge trail yet that hasn't fascinated me, even those with no views but those provided by dense evergreen forest. The views north toward Canada and south toward the Carters were beautiful. The snow depth had increased on the way up and we were walking in powder ranging from 2 inches to a foot in places. All on top of a crust, although there were naked ice-free spots on some of the ledge rocks. Nancy was still dragging but unwilling to give up. I felt pretty good, despite the fact that my winter boots were igniting the bruises that hadn't completely healed from last Sunday's hike. It was discouraging to hurt with every step but I didn't let it bother me and offered to break trail.
When we came to the next open ledges, we looked southeast and saw Madison and Adams hovering in a cloud. My legs felt like this ledge must be the summit, but after looking around me I pointed out a peak to the northeast that looked higher than where we were so off we went in search of the summit. I was starting to get hungry so I ate a power bar but I was feeling like I was ready to hit the summit and start back. I didn't dare look at my watch but it felt like we were up there drifting from ledge to ledge thinking each one was the summit for hours. Nancy, trooper that she is, kept on moving. We finally reached the trail intersection and saw a sign to the Moriah summit (.1 mile). Unfortunately the trail was a twenty foot rock crevice that was full of ice covered in snow. I gamely started up and just before reaching the top found that I had no purchase at all and nothing to hold onto. I started slipping backwards towards Nancy who also had precarious footing. I suggested we go back and put on our STABILicers, but Nancy just urged me on. I suggested getting off the ice and trying to pull ourselves up using the trees on the side of the trail but she responded by pushing me up the trail until I could get a handhold. Once I was secure, she used my legs to pull herself up. Later she told me that the idea of going back to put on STABILicers or using the side of the trail was not something she had the energy to do. It was either do it now and at that moment or not at all.
We reached the summit at 1:55 pm. Sliding back down the ice flow was a quick way down. Nancy changed clothes at the trail intersection and we started back down around 2:15 pm. Shortly after we started down I felt the bruising from the fronts of my boots really kicking in and I knew this was going to be a long walk back. I had tried to put moleskin on the bruise - cut out a hole for the bruised area so the boot wouldn't push the sock onto the sore spots, but it didn't work. I don't know what to do about these boots - I guess I'll have to buy another pair, but that's an expense. I just wish I could figure out how to pad the boot in such a way that it wouldn't bruise me.
The walk down was long and I moved slowly. Sometimes the pain was tolerable, sometimes it was not. We brought out the headlamps around 5 pm and walked out to the parking lot at 5:45 pm. I was wicked happy to a) take off my boots, b) sit down, and c) get something to eat. We spent the drive reminiscing about the many hikes we have experienced in the last nine months. All the adventures and misadventures. Why we do this. How other people think we're crazy, especially hiking in the winter. How much beauty we have seen, how few people have seen the beauty we have seen, what a rare and special thing we have.
44 out of 67 4,000 footers in New England
46 out of the 100 Highest in New England
38 out of the 48 4,000 footers in New Hampshire
Glad you guys had a great day. -Pat
