chinooktrail
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2004
- Messages
- 981
- Reaction score
- 165
I started out the day trying to be a responsible home owner. Clean the house, vacuum, dust, clean out the fridge, wash kitchen floor, go to the 'transfer station', or dump. YAWN.
I was back home cleaning the garage when I kept hearing a voice calling to me ever so softly. Slowly, I turned around, and there was Mount Chocorua, beckoning me to the summit.
How could I refuse? After a quick change and grabbing some crackers and taking a handful of Motrin I was on the trail by 12:30. The day was perfect, severe clear blue skies and temps just around 55, perfect for me. I went about 15 minutes and decided to throw caution to the wind and risk an attempt at being rescued by the Air National Guard. I used the convertible zipper part of my zip off pants, thus exposing my 'fish belly white' legs, and risking that someone would think I was trying to send mirror signals. Oh well, they were soon covered in mud splatters anyway.
The very bottom of the trail was dry, then it got a smidge muddy, not too bad. Then, after about an hour of hiking I hit the snow, which was with me for the rest of the trip except very sunny rock spots and the summit cone. I only saw a few people coming down and I thought the summit would be very crowded. A lot of people had been boot skiing down, which made it a little tough to get up, but not too too bad. This trail is certainly condensed enough that today it was bear bootable. (Did you hear that Steve, if you and Christa do this next weekend you have to come over for dinner!)
I made it up and over the summit cone to spectacular views all around, and only 3 other people and one dog! Amazing for this peak on such a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, I expected to see dozens of people. I sat and took in the views, and even took a few photos. If I can figure out how to get the pictures from the camera onto the computer and then how to post them I will, no promises, I will try later.
After another handful of Motrin, a few crackers and a swig of water it was back down the trail. At the junction with Brook Trail I veered off to take that down, since that is my normal route. But, after a very short while I realized that it looked as though only one other person had done this recently, and they were post holing badly. So, since that was not on my agenda today, back up to the junction I went, and headed down the Liberty Trail.
This was interesting, because of all the times I have climbed Chocorua, which is quite a few, I have never gone down via the Liberty Trail. By the time I got to the section that you have to sort of climb on the ledge and use the holes drilled into the rock and the few metal bars left to get by a pretty steep part I was laughing to myself, thinking hum, this is probably about the point on the Brook Trail where I always think, oh yeah, now I remember, there are some scary downhill sections on this trail… The sad thing is, I ALWAYS forget until I get there!
So, back past the cabin, the steep section and down the trail I went. I didn’t see another soul the rest of the day, and had a very nice hike out, fabulous views, deep woods smells and stopping every now and again to just take in the silence, then a few birds or the babbling brook. Very nice way to spend an afternoon. I am getting used to this hiking solo thing, and really beginning to enjoy it.
I was back home cleaning the garage when I kept hearing a voice calling to me ever so softly. Slowly, I turned around, and there was Mount Chocorua, beckoning me to the summit.
How could I refuse? After a quick change and grabbing some crackers and taking a handful of Motrin I was on the trail by 12:30.
The day was perfect, severe clear blue skies and temps just around 55, perfect for me. I went about 15 minutes and decided to throw caution to the wind and risk an attempt at being rescued by the Air National Guard. I used the convertible zipper part of my zip off pants, thus exposing my 'fish belly white' legs, and risking that someone would think I was trying to send mirror signals. Oh well, they were soon covered in mud splatters anyway. The very bottom of the trail was dry, then it got a smidge muddy, not too bad. Then, after about an hour of hiking I hit the snow, which was with me for the rest of the trip except very sunny rock spots and the summit cone. I only saw a few people coming down and I thought the summit would be very crowded. A lot of people had been boot skiing down, which made it a little tough to get up, but not too too bad. This trail is certainly condensed enough that today it was bear bootable. (Did you hear that Steve, if you and Christa do this next weekend you have to come over for dinner!)
I made it up and over the summit cone to spectacular views all around, and only 3 other people and one dog! Amazing for this peak on such a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, I expected to see dozens of people. I sat and took in the views, and even took a few photos. If I can figure out how to get the pictures from the camera onto the computer and then how to post them I will, no promises, I will try later.
After another handful of Motrin, a few crackers and a swig of water it was back down the trail. At the junction with Brook Trail I veered off to take that down, since that is my normal route. But, after a very short while I realized that it looked as though only one other person had done this recently, and they were post holing badly.
So, since that was not on my agenda today, back up to the junction I went, and headed down the Liberty Trail. This was interesting, because of all the times I have climbed Chocorua, which is quite a few, I have never gone down via the Liberty Trail. By the time I got to the section that you have to sort of climb on the ledge and use the holes drilled into the rock and the few metal bars left to get by a pretty steep part I was laughing to myself, thinking hum, this is probably about the point on the Brook Trail where I always think, oh yeah, now I remember, there are some scary downhill sections on this trail… The sad thing is, I ALWAYS forget until I get there!
So, back past the cabin, the steep section and down the trail I went. I didn’t see another soul the rest of the day, and had a very nice hike out, fabulous views, deep woods smells and stopping every now and again to just take in the silence, then a few birds or the babbling brook. Very nice way to spend an afternoon. I am getting used to this hiking solo thing, and really beginning to enjoy it.
