percious
Well-known member
My wife realized early on Friday afternoon that I was grumpy for want of hiking. It has been since early February since my last fix, and I was aparently getting on her nerves for it. The solution: send me off to hike for the next 12+ hours.
Latching onto my friend's trip by way of a few cell phone calls, my buddy Ben and I eagerly hiked our way up what we thought was the Gould's trail after much confusion, and one loop around. We arrived at camp around 11:15 PM only to find our friends snuggled up tightly in their sleeping bags. We had other ideas.
After dropping uneccessary gear, we hurried our way towards the summit, following the snomobile tracks much of the way, emerging on the summit road. We then ducked of onto the un-broken AT trail, and upon reaching the first radio tower, we donned our down jackets. The lights of the village below were spectacular, and we were happy to be close to the summit.
The summit tower was magnificent in the dark, standing out as a bright beacon for miles around. The moon was full, and we had little need for headlamps the entire journey. We took some pictures, soaked in the views, and headed out.
We arrived back at camp after 1am, and dove into our sleeping bags for what was a restless night of cold sleeping. I had underestimated the weather, and shivered through the night. My buddy fared better, but he was given a fleece liner to add to his bag by his brother.
The next day, our other two companions joined us, and we all decided for a bushwhack straight off to the summit. This proved to be an excellent route, as the forest was wide open with the thick snow, and it eliminated considerable distance as we cut a more direct route than the snowmobile track.
Along the way we saw fox tracks, and at one point we crossed some x-country ski tracks. We emerged at the summit in little more time than it had taken us the night before, our second summit for the day.
Again the views were spectacular, and we could see Monadnock and some other of the whites, as well as Stratton in VT. If anyone knows which White Mountains you can see from Greylock I would find the information valuable. My guess is that we were looing at Techumseh or Moosilauke, but I am not certain.
We were feeling pretty fatigued after leaving the top, and one of us took an eye-poker to the face, so we took the snowmobile route back down to the shelter to grab our things and head out.
We made quick time, and were back at the cars by 2pm. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I felt priviledged to spend it with good company. Thank you Emily!
-percious
P.S. I'll have pictures up on my website later in the week. I am kind of back-logged for pictures right now.
Latching onto my friend's trip by way of a few cell phone calls, my buddy Ben and I eagerly hiked our way up what we thought was the Gould's trail after much confusion, and one loop around. We arrived at camp around 11:15 PM only to find our friends snuggled up tightly in their sleeping bags. We had other ideas.
After dropping uneccessary gear, we hurried our way towards the summit, following the snomobile tracks much of the way, emerging on the summit road. We then ducked of onto the un-broken AT trail, and upon reaching the first radio tower, we donned our down jackets. The lights of the village below were spectacular, and we were happy to be close to the summit.
The summit tower was magnificent in the dark, standing out as a bright beacon for miles around. The moon was full, and we had little need for headlamps the entire journey. We took some pictures, soaked in the views, and headed out.
We arrived back at camp after 1am, and dove into our sleeping bags for what was a restless night of cold sleeping. I had underestimated the weather, and shivered through the night. My buddy fared better, but he was given a fleece liner to add to his bag by his brother.
The next day, our other two companions joined us, and we all decided for a bushwhack straight off to the summit. This proved to be an excellent route, as the forest was wide open with the thick snow, and it eliminated considerable distance as we cut a more direct route than the snowmobile track.
Along the way we saw fox tracks, and at one point we crossed some x-country ski tracks. We emerged at the summit in little more time than it had taken us the night before, our second summit for the day.
Again the views were spectacular, and we could see Monadnock and some other of the whites, as well as Stratton in VT. If anyone knows which White Mountains you can see from Greylock I would find the information valuable. My guess is that we were looing at Techumseh or Moosilauke, but I am not certain.
We were feeling pretty fatigued after leaving the top, and one of us took an eye-poker to the face, so we took the snowmobile route back down to the shelter to grab our things and head out.
We made quick time, and were back at the cars by 2pm. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I felt priviledged to spend it with good company. Thank you Emily!
-percious
P.S. I'll have pictures up on my website later in the week. I am kind of back-logged for pictures right now.
