Bobby
Active member
According to the thermometer in my kitchen, it was nine degrees. Ugh. Already dressed and almost packed, I ran outside and started my truck. Like me, it gave a little groan then turned over. Some last minute gear for my pack, a cup of coffee, and off I went. Oops…. forgot to gas up – one more stop to make before really getting going.
I was on my way to the Highland Center to meet up with Mad Townie for a hike up to Mt. Pierce. We haven’t hiked together in over two years, and I was looking forward to seeing him again. A seven-thirty meet up time was agreed upon.
Thankfully, it was an uneventful ride. I did see a moose on the roadside just before the Zealand parking lot. It looked like he was licking salt from the road. There was a solid snow pack on the sides of the road, and the rising sun showed a clear day over the snow covered Presidentials.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed the truck thermometer showed –13. I got out of the truck and inhaled, and my nostrils froze shut…..I thought “this can’t be good.
” I found Mad Townie sitting in the living room at the HC relaxing. The weather report showed low temps and high winds. Both of us had the appropriate gear, so we went back outside and geared up, and crossed the highway to the Crawford Path.
The trail was broken out nicely, with an inch or so of snow blown over it. There were several blow downs along the way. We crawled under a few, over some and around the rest. The wind howled overhead but didn’t really affect us, yet. The snow got deeper and we were able to bare boot, which we did all the way to the summit. We took a short break at the Mizpah Cut-Off, and then continued the ascent.
There were occasional views to the west through the trees and the promise of the ridge helped motivate us. That, and the fact that standing still for too long wasn’t such a good idea; kept us moving right along. We stopped just short of the open ridge and covered up any exposed skin, then we broke out of the trees to a spectacular view of the Southern Presi’s and Mt Washington…. and wind, about 30 mph. Quickly we reached the summit and we were able to get out of the wind. We guessed the temperature was somewhere around –8. Lunch and pictures followed and after about fifteen minutes our fingers and toes started to get cold, so we donned our snowshoes and started down. The wind was in our faces for a few minutes until we got back into the shelter of the trees. It was just long enough that one of my eyes started to ice up!
It didn’t take long to get back to the Highland Center, we moved right along on snowshoes. I was surprised that we didn’t see any other hikers on the trail. The temperature at the HC was eleven degrees, so we had a gain of twenty-four degrees, we should have brought our shorts! We said our goodbyes and headed home. For me, that included a stop at the Country Store in Moultonborough and a visit with Silver Fox also.
It was great to hike with Mad Townie again. The time flew by as we caught up and talked away. It’s hard to believe that given the conditions we faced, we had to count this as a Fall hike. Not that I’m counting, but this was also my first December 4K. Good company, good hike, outstanding all around day.
pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=133019&id=523928481&l=b3eb27b5ca
I was on my way to the Highland Center to meet up with Mad Townie for a hike up to Mt. Pierce. We haven’t hiked together in over two years, and I was looking forward to seeing him again. A seven-thirty meet up time was agreed upon.
Thankfully, it was an uneventful ride. I did see a moose on the roadside just before the Zealand parking lot. It looked like he was licking salt from the road. There was a solid snow pack on the sides of the road, and the rising sun showed a clear day over the snow covered Presidentials.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed the truck thermometer showed –13. I got out of the truck and inhaled, and my nostrils froze shut…..I thought “this can’t be good.
” I found Mad Townie sitting in the living room at the HC relaxing. The weather report showed low temps and high winds. Both of us had the appropriate gear, so we went back outside and geared up, and crossed the highway to the Crawford Path.The trail was broken out nicely, with an inch or so of snow blown over it. There were several blow downs along the way. We crawled under a few, over some and around the rest. The wind howled overhead but didn’t really affect us, yet. The snow got deeper and we were able to bare boot, which we did all the way to the summit. We took a short break at the Mizpah Cut-Off, and then continued the ascent.
There were occasional views to the west through the trees and the promise of the ridge helped motivate us. That, and the fact that standing still for too long wasn’t such a good idea; kept us moving right along. We stopped just short of the open ridge and covered up any exposed skin, then we broke out of the trees to a spectacular view of the Southern Presi’s and Mt Washington…. and wind, about 30 mph. Quickly we reached the summit and we were able to get out of the wind. We guessed the temperature was somewhere around –8. Lunch and pictures followed and after about fifteen minutes our fingers and toes started to get cold, so we donned our snowshoes and started down. The wind was in our faces for a few minutes until we got back into the shelter of the trees. It was just long enough that one of my eyes started to ice up!
It didn’t take long to get back to the Highland Center, we moved right along on snowshoes. I was surprised that we didn’t see any other hikers on the trail. The temperature at the HC was eleven degrees, so we had a gain of twenty-four degrees, we should have brought our shorts! We said our goodbyes and headed home. For me, that included a stop at the Country Store in Moultonborough and a visit with Silver Fox also.
It was great to hike with Mad Townie again. The time flew by as we caught up and talked away. It’s hard to believe that given the conditions we faced, we had to count this as a Fall hike. Not that I’m counting, but this was also my first December 4K
. Good company, good hike, outstanding all around day.pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=133019&id=523928481&l=b3eb27b5ca
