I had planned to hit the Northern Presidentials on Monday, but due to questionable weather I fell back to plan B - hiking with the family, as we were in the area anyway. I pulled out my trusty list of "hikes with my kids" and we settled on the Sugarloaves.
In the Zealand Road parking lot, we ran into Eric Savage and his two kids. Our oldest two seemed to enjoy having someone "just like them" to hike with. We topped off on North Sugarloaf first (2310'), and had lunch while staring at Adams, Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Tom, Field, West Field and Hale. It sure didn't look threatening nor fogged in on the Northern Presidential Ridge.
After lunch, we crossed over to Middle Sugarloaf (2539'). It was cooler, cloudier and windier. Off to the west, there were definite rain showers coming down. Looking towards the Presidentials was still clear, but cloudier for sure. We parted ways with Eric and company here as we had to get home to make dinner and deal with it being a school night, but it was nice to have met someone from the boards on a family trip. That hasn't happened before.
Hale behind South Sugarloaf:
Twin Mountain:
Presidentials with Rosebrook Range in front:
Twins, PATN, TN:
Trilliums were everywhere, BTW. No trout lilies any more, but I believe the bluebeads will be flowering shortly, and the bunchberry is just coming up (no flowers yet either.)
Painted Trillium:
Red Trillium / Stinking Benjamin:
We drove through several rain showers, one or two heavy ones, and the US Border Patrol near Waterville Valley, in their usual spot -- they weren't stopping people at this point, sot he delay was minimal.
This was a great family / kid-friendly hike, and would be a good half-day or second trip of the day combined with Hale, for example. The only caution would be on the ledges with kids. The third shot above, for example, has a 50+ foot drop straight down behind us.
Tim
In the Zealand Road parking lot, we ran into Eric Savage and his two kids. Our oldest two seemed to enjoy having someone "just like them" to hike with. We topped off on North Sugarloaf first (2310'), and had lunch while staring at Adams, Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Tom, Field, West Field and Hale. It sure didn't look threatening nor fogged in on the Northern Presidential Ridge.
After lunch, we crossed over to Middle Sugarloaf (2539'). It was cooler, cloudier and windier. Off to the west, there were definite rain showers coming down. Looking towards the Presidentials was still clear, but cloudier for sure. We parted ways with Eric and company here as we had to get home to make dinner and deal with it being a school night, but it was nice to have met someone from the boards on a family trip. That hasn't happened before.
Hale behind South Sugarloaf:
Twin Mountain:
Presidentials with Rosebrook Range in front:
Twins, PATN, TN:
Trilliums were everywhere, BTW. No trout lilies any more, but I believe the bluebeads will be flowering shortly, and the bunchberry is just coming up (no flowers yet either.)
Painted Trillium:
Red Trillium / Stinking Benjamin:
We drove through several rain showers, one or two heavy ones, and the US Border Patrol near Waterville Valley, in their usual spot -- they weren't stopping people at this point, sot he delay was minimal.
This was a great family / kid-friendly hike, and would be a good half-day or second trip of the day combined with Hale, for example. The only caution would be on the ledges with kids. The third shot above, for example, has a 50+ foot drop straight down behind us.
Tim
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