Playing Hooky with the Moose 9/25/14

What better way to escape the misery of the a 40 hour week than by calling in sick and getting paid to hike?!  Because just like fishing, a bad day of hiking is better than a good day at work.  But this wasn't going to be a bad day of hiking.  After accomplishing the brutal one-day Presidential traverse all other hikes will be measured by that.  I studied the route for this hike but never looked into the mileage or times as I usually do. There was a major storm coming from the south that was supposed to drench Mass and RI, but a high pressure system was sitting over northern NH keeping the rain at bay.  Kyle and I went through the usual meetup routine and headed to Mt. Moosilauke to summit it and all the sub peaks including Mt. Jim, Mt. Blue and the South Peak.

Mt. Moosilauke is the most western and maybe most southern 4,000 foot peak in the White Mountains and to get there we took route 93 to 112 West to route 118 South.  This was new territory for us.  Route 118 was a windy hilly mountain road and it seemed to take forever to get to Ravine Road which was where the trail head started.  Once we reached the unpaved Ravine Road we took it all the way to the end where the Dartmouth College run Moosilauke Ravine Lodge is located.  It was in the low 50’s as we began to prep what little gear we were going to carry for this trip.  All I had in my pack was a days worth of food, my first aid kit and 70 oz. camelbak.  As we were getting ready another hiker was  putting on his bright orange hunting mittens and said to us “It stinks to have to wear gloves already”.  I innocently replied to him something like “It’s not that cold” and he seemed to throw me a look of death.

Our boots hit the Ridge Trail before 8:00.  The trail was easy to follow even though there weren't many (if any?) trail blazes to follow.  We crossed some of the nicest bridges I've ever encountered in the White Mountains.  I felt as though my Camelbak bladder was leaking, so I eventually removed the tubing and only used the reservoir.  Doing this made me realize that my wet back is probably a combination of a dribbling bladder but more so of an overly sweaty back.  Anyway, the ridge trail passes directly over Mt. Jim.  I found a small herd path which ended up being just that so we assume we did summit Jim.  After about an hour and a half of hiking we reached the Beaver Brook trail junction.

First Foot Bridge we encountered on the Ridge Trail

2nd Bridge

Some mushrooms nestled in a bed of sphagnum moss.

Bright Red Capped Mushroom growing on the trunk of a tree.

On Beaver Brook Trail there was supposed to be a herd path that led to Mt. Blue and when we reached the area where we though it would be, we started keeping an eye out for the path.  At one point I noticed some survey marker tape leading up and started what would have been a gnarly bush whack through some thick trees and brush.  That wasn't the way to Blue.  As we moved along, Kyle noticed a stuffed animal off the trail and in the woods.  I grabbed it and contemplated bringing it home to Kayla and Emma, but thought it would be better off left in the woods.  I placed it on a rock hoping he would bring a couple of laughs or scares to more hikers later on in the coming days.

Stuffed albino squirrel holding a nut we found off the trail and I placed on this rock.

Squirrel watching us walk away and wondering why we weren't taking him home.

Jungle of moss, leichin and mushrooms growing on a log.

After I had all but given up on hiking up to Mt. Blue, Kyle turned a corner and said here it is.  A short tiny cairn was at the junction of the herd path.  This was no bush whack and was more of a foot path.  The path went through a pine forest and was really soft and nice to walk on.  There were animal paths all over this area and I saw a pretty big bear footprint pressed in on the hiking trail along with a few moose footprints.  Mt. Blue is a mountain on a list called Trailrights 72 and a summit log is supposed to be hanging from a tree somewhere.  All that was there was a ripped plastic bag that was probably brought there by the bear with the giant paw.  Bummer because I was looking to sign this log.

Cairn marking the herd path to Mt. Blue.

Herd Path up to Mt. Blue.

Mt. Blue summit.  You can make out the bag left by Paws the bear in the middle of the picture.

After a few minutes on Blue, we kept moving and as we were getting closer to the treeline to the summit of Moosilauke, I thought I heard an animal running away up ahead and when I heard Kyle yell "Whoa", I thought for sure he came across a moose on the path.  Once I caught up to him to find out what was going on, he pointed out the Spruce Grouse that was hanging out on the the trail and had flew up into the trees.  I took a few pictures of him and kept trying to get closer .  My camera must have been a couple of feet from him.  He was definitely less scared than I was!

Curious and brave Spruce Grouse just hanging out just before tree line.

Another angle of the Spruce Grouse.  If it weren't for that red eye he'd blend into the tree nicely.

The summit was like a battle field, there were stones everywhere piled up to block the wind as Moosilauke is notorious for bad weather conditions.  We were lucky we didn't have to use them today.  We had to be the first hikers to the summit today and were the only ones up there until we were joined by the guy with the orange hunters mittens who happened to be named Jim.  While on the summit we traded hiking stories with Jim.  He was an interesting guy who happened to mention all the bra-less women he saw on the Welch Dickey Loop hike and the naked hut girls bathing in a river.  Kyle and I probably never noticed these girls because we were probably hiking too fast!  He followed us down Moosilauke and I talked with him the entire way down.  Once we reached the junction of the spur path to South Peak we split up.  But not before Kyle asked him about the wooden cross on his neck.  Jim said he stole it from his daughter because his "fat whore adultering wife" gave him a silver cross and he refused to wear it.  That had Kyle and I chuckling most of the way up to the South Peak.

 Final uphill towards the summit above treeline.

Kyle getting set to hunker down in the bunker like summit.

Northeasterly view just above treeline to White Mountain National Forest.  (200 ISO)

Wider view of White Mountain National Forest.

Looking West towards Mt. Clough and Blueberry Mountain.

Franconia Ridge from summit (200 ISO).

Zooming in on the hiker (not Jim) we left on the summit from South Peak.

After a few minutes on the South Peak we backtracked to the Carriage Road to get off the mountain.  From the Carriage Road we took the snapper trail.  The road and trail were brutal on my knees.  I should have used my hiking poles on the way down but for some reason I didn't.  I was so tired at one point that I wanted to sit down but I told myself "why are you going to sit down when you'll be sitting for 2.5 hours in the car on the way home."

Carriage Road.

Blue Bead Lilly.  While looking to find out what this actually was I learned that Native Americans used these berries to treat injuries and bruises.

When we finally got down the mountain we hit a spider web of trails that was pretty confusing.  We used our best judgments to choose the right trail which led us right by the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge.  There were 2 bunk houses along with the lodge.  On the deck of the lodge there were some college kids eating and 2 others were building a new giant structure.  I had to take a peak inside the lodge.  We were done at around 1:00 and were contemplating trying another hike.  I stopped in at a General Store in North Woodstock for a chocolate milk hoping it would help me recover a little.  But, it didn't and we decided to head home.  I wanted to pull into a parking lot to change out of my hiking boots and in the process I nicked my tire causing a bubble to form.  Kyle looked up what the bubble was online and read something that the tire could blow out at high speeds, so we took it relatively slower than usual making a couple of stops to check on the tire.  We made it home and I'm in the process of replacing the tire.  Great day, great hike.

Tom, Field, Willey & Avalon 6/7/14

Time is tight these days and a couple of weeks have already gone since this hike.  It's about time I document it before I forget some of the details.  Before this hike it had been a few months since hiking Owls Head and my job was mentally dragging me down into pit of depression and rage.  I felt as though I needed to escape to the quietness of the deep woods and the smell of the high mountain pines.  I was already planning on doing a solo hike until Kyle called letting me know that his schedule had opened up and he too had a mountain itch.  We decided on heading the furthest north we had been for a day trip and hit up Mts. Tom, Field and Willey, all 4,000 foot mountains on the list of 48 peaks.

I left West Boylston at 4:30 and met Kyle at the Berlin park and Ride for 5:00 under an already bright sky.  We reached Lincoln and the White Mountain Bagel Company by 7:00 and continued north through Franconia Notch until we meandered our way to the Willey House in Crawford Notch.  I say meandered because we actually missed the exit that would bring us to Route 302 and had to backtrack a exit or two. 

We reached the Crawford House parking area around 8:00 and there were few cars in the lot as well as a group of three that were leaving for the trail head while we were getting our gear in order.  There was a low cloud cover in the notch but the forecast called for clearing and the clear skies we saw to the north on the ride up were a sign of the weather to come.  At 8:20 we started on the moderate grade of the Avalon Trail.  The trail was in good shape and we passed some spur trails to cascades on the left.  The Avalon Trail to the A-Z trail and it wasn't long for us to reach the spur trail to Mt. Tom.  I found myself treading lightly through the puddles and mud on the trail while listening to the birds and concentrating on breathing in the fresh mountain air.  Just what the Doctor ordered.  Around the peak of the mountain there were several scenic vistas and we spent a little time at each of them.  Most of the views were looking in a southwesterly direction towards the Pemigewasset Wilderness and the mountain ranges beyond.

 Soon enough we were back on the trail and headed down the spur trail and then up the Willey Range Trail towards Mt. Field, the highest of the three mountains (4,340').   There was one viewpoint on Mt. Field looking north and the red roof of the Mt. Washington Hotel popped out.  We didn't stay long because the wind was whipping pretty good.

We continued towards Mt. Willey on the Willey Range Trail which provided a couple more trail side views of the Pemigewasset Wilderness.  Luckily we were the first to reach Mt. Willey and get a good spot to take in the spectacular views of the Crawford Notch and Presidential Range.  The higher peaks on the range were still in the clouds but blue skies prevailed everywhere else.  Soon we were joined by a single hiker Kit who had recently undergone his second hip surgery and was getting back into hiking.  He was a local and had good knowledge of the area and pointed out some slides on Webster Cliff.  Soon a group of four hikers showed up and one of them raised my anxiety when he tried playing the name dropping game with me of people from West Boylston.  The guy was nice enough, but what a buzz kill.  I couldn't leave soon enough for the backtrack to Mt. Field.

Add caption

Add caption

We moved pretty quickly on the Willey Range Trail and soon reached the junction of the Avalon Trail.  We headed down the Avalon Trail to Mt. Avalon.  The trail was steep in some spots and a short scramble to the peak of Mt. Avalon provided more spectacular views of Crawford Notch were finally greeted by our first bugs of the day.

The remainder of the hike down to the junction of A-Z Trail was steep and we encountered more people on this section of the trail than we had all day.  We had planned to take the spur trails to take a look at the cascades, but a group of workers were maintaining the trail as it was National Trails Day.  We did manage to make it to one of the cascades where the water was so cool and refreshing.

The ride home was pretty brutal.  I was exhausted and had to drive with the window open with the wind blowing in my face to stay awake.  Kyle was nodding off.  The hike was a true success offering spectacular views throughout the hike and had the solitude and aspects of the mountains I was looking for but, the car ride was too long.  So long that we drove for longer than we hiked.