Handcock & Handcock South (NH #18, #19)

Hardpacked trail and barebooted pretty much the entire trail…only passed or was passed by a few people the whole day.  Pretty boring hike with marginal views of Moosilauke and the southern peaks of the 48.  Didn't eat enough again…was feeling pretty beat midway through.


Epic Beard Mark on the Summit of Mount Handcock.

Isolation (NH #17)

Very long hike…ate pretty well, but my foot fell into a water crossing mid-calf.  With four miles to go…in the dark…in the snow.  Glad to get this one out of the way.  Nice "very small" summit…but visibility was only 'decent' towards the Cats and Carters.

Grand Canyon, AZ

Hiking trip at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. At the last minute I joined a group of 15 to hike and camp down South Kiabab Trail to Phantom Ranch. On day two, I hiked solo to the North Rim and back. On day three, we hiked out up Bright Angel trail. I have lots more to type.

The Group waiting for the bus to cart us to the South Kaibab Trailhead.

From the first 'rest area' on the South Kaibab Trail.

The "Black" Bridge over the Colorado River.

On the North Kaibab Trail.

Yay, a patch!

More Photos Here

Passaconaway & Whiteface (NH #15, #16)

Talked to some dude named Chris (I think) for a bit on the Summit of Passaconaway.  Nice hike…parts of the the trails are pretty 'rough' and fairly hard to follow compared to others I've hiked.  At one point I simply couldn't find where to go and luckily 2 hikers came along in the other direction.  I bailed on the TryPryimids (I had intended on bagging both the North and Middle) and followed a river/brook trail down.  Knowing I'd have to walk a mile on the road to get back to my Jeep.  The water crossings were real tough, and at times took upwards of 10 minutes to determine the best place to do so.  In a few instances, i just bushwacked my way down to the next section of trail.
With a mile to the trailhead and darkness falling, I fell into the river and was completely submerssed.  We had recently had very heavy rains and I found a nice deep pocket of water to rest in.  The good news was my feet weren't throbbing any more due to the cold water, but I didn't have the windows in my Jeep and frooze for the first couple of miles until I found a gas station that sold sweatshirts.  Good hike...very limited views.

Madison

Failed Presi-Traverse number 2! This time it was with Lopes, Bolen and Rodriguez.  Started at 6AM and finished at 8PM.  The weather was misty/misting with visibility of about 50 feet. Expected number of peaks; 8.  Actual number of peaks; 1.  Even though we failed, there was lots of laughing and I had a great time.

Finally noticed that it you eat lots of food…hiking ain't so tough

Here's Pedro and Jeff blazing the trail!

Tom, Field & Willey (NH #12, #13, #14)

Real easy hike…only ran into a few people on my way back down.  Some decent views towards the Presidentials, but Washington was cloud covered.


Looking North towards the Presidentials.

Moosilauke (NH #11)

Great family hike (minus zoe)

Weather held up until just prior to the summit.  It rained pretty much the rest of the hike back to the base.  The girls weren't really thrilled and Veronica got some pretty nasty blisters.  Kathy was a great sport, and though this time she didn't fall into a water crossing, she got jipped of any views again!  We had a lot of family fun and conversation this day.

Cannon (NH #10)

Nice hike…very easy climb up Cannon but on the observation deck at the summit I was presented with a couple of folks reeking of cheap perfume. By the looks of them, they rode the tram up but the stench was so overwhelming I only stayed for a couple of minutes.  In any case…the views were pretty good, and the weather was great.  I got a very late start, but still wanted to try and bag the Kinsmans.  I hiked the 3+ miles over the Cannon Balls and was pretty tired.  It was getting late and with only 4 tenths of a mile to go to the summit of Kinsman North, I turned back down.  As it turns out, it started to rain around Lonesome Lake hut and I was glad I turned down when I did.


Looking towards Lafayette & Lincoln.

Madison (NH #9)

Failed Presi-Traverse.

Rain from the start..and Moe didn't feel to much like hiking once we reached Madison Hut (after the summit)  We did make pretty good time, but with the weather being what it was, it was probably for the best that we turned back when we did.

Osceola & Osceola East (NH #7, #8)

Easy hike…pretty boring, with very limited views.  I ran into maybe 10 or 15 people on my way back over from East Osceola starting on the summit of Osceola and continued until I made it back to my Jeep.


Saw Bambi on the way to the mountain!

Zealand (NH #6) +Guyot

Great hike and longest to date.  Some snow on the trails but the mono-trail held up pretty well until mid-afternoon.  At that point it started turning into mush.  Because of that I turned back at Guyout after initially intending on throwing the Bonds into the hike.  I saw only 2 people the whole day for about 1 minute.  Over all the trail is easy and will remember the next time I go to bring Zoe.


From Guyot.

Flume & Liberty (NH #4, #5)

Still winter above 3000 feet.  Very interesting adventure bringing the dog along.  This was the wrong trail to do so…and was the wrong trail for Kathy's first 4000 footer.


All in all, it was a good day.  No views and Kathy fell into a stream, but we had a good time just the same.

Kathy and Zoe just summiting Mount Flume.

Adams (NH #3)

Great hike…I encountered snow at about 3000 feet and I didn't bring any winter gear.  Just the same…other than a small section coming down Adams towards the Madison Hut, the monotrail held up and footing wasn't a big issue, but it did sorta feel like walking up a hill in beach sand. (minus the cold)

Hiked down with a group of AMC hikers that I had met in the parking lot.  We went differnt routes up and I recall thinking how mine was longer and I still beat them.  I felt good :)

Wanted to also summit Madison, but didn't have the energy after a long and snow filled hike.

Mount Washington from Thunderstorm Junction.

Looking up at Mt. Adams.

Lincoln & Lafayette +Little Haystack

This was my first day hike loop in the White Mountains.  The weather was awesome.  It was something like 70 degrees in Boston and though I'm sure the summit temp wasn't 70 but, after hiking up it felt that way.  Somewhere above 3000 feet, the snow showed up, but the monorail was pretty solid so no tracation was required...which was a good thing since I didn't have any.