Sunday August 19th, 2012

Today I hiked with Susie. We went back to attempt Mt Madison ( 5, 366'). This one was nagging at me a bit as I tried to do this one with Noreen when she was visiting from Wisconsin, but the weather was not in our favor that day and we had to go down. Today was a beautiful day.... abeit a hot one. ( I went through all my H2O by the day's end.) We were on the trial by 7am and off by 2 pm and climbed a total of 8.2 miles. We had several ominous signs along the way warning us that this is one of the most challenging routes with many miles of exposed terrain above tree line and very steep and strenous climb with 4, 100' of vertical to cover. The sign at the start of the trial warns not to attempt this hike unless you are in top physical condition. So I guess Susie and I did pretty well! My legs were a bit tired from the day before hiking the three peaks with the guys but Susie hikes a good pace and kept me going with easy conversation. It gave us a nice time to catch up. At the top we ran into 4 guys who were summitting the first of the 3 they were planning to do this day. One had never hiked a 4 thousand footer before. Not sure I would have picked this as his first one? The view from the top I'm sure was enough to keep him going as it was absolutely spectacular! I would like to dedicate today' s hike to Dick Sullivan

Saturday August 18th

Today I hiked with the guys: Richard and Rick. We hiked Mt Tom ( 4051'), Mt Field ( 4,340') and Willey ( 4, 285').  Richard was back from his vacation to Hawaii and was eager to hike...too much sitting on the plane I suppose. It was raining when we got up that morning and humid but it dried out nicely and got brezzy and cool in the afternoon. We had summited all 3 peaks by 12 noon! The climb down however was not as quick as we might have thought. There was some very steep sections and several steep ladders that had us decending backwards. It was all going well until we got to the last section on the Kedron Flume trail. As the name would suggest...it was quite wet. There was one rock that Rick told me " no matter what...don't step on this rock.. you will fall". Did I listen? Of course not, I had to try it out for myself and ended up on my butt in a puddle of mud. Next time maybe I'll listen. We ended the day with a stop for Ice Cream...nothing better than a little rainbow sherbert at the end of a long hike! Followed by a lovely dinner out with good friends.  I would like to dedicate Mt Tom to Fred Mac Donald, Mt Field to John Keator and Mt Willey to Beth Barry

Saturday August 4,2012

This weekend I did a quick hike solo. I hiked Mt Jackson which is 4052'. It is taller than Owl's Head and Isolation but alot of vertical in a much shorter period of time. I was able to hike the 5.2 mile round trip in less than 3 hours and that was with a break for lunch! It was a hot day...near 90 and humid. I am anxiously waiting the start of fall and cooler temperatures. I did come across many groups of nice people and some families hiking with young kids...they loved climbing over the rock top. It was a beautiful view with the Presidentials on one side and Willard on the other. Mt Willard holds special memories for me as it is one of my all-time favorite rock climbing days on " Across the Universe". It would have been nice to get some photos of the beautiful view but when I got to the top my cell phone/camera was dead. So I didn't get the shots of the views or of me feeding the Canadian Jays out of my hand. I have pictures in my head that will have to suffice. I have included some pictures of my brother and family in this weeks blog. They have been a huge source of support and encouragement for me since starting this adventure. We had our own adventure this week in North Conway...horseback riding, kayaking on the Saco and playing in the Wildcat River. A great place for a fun family vacation! I would like to dedicate this climb to Michael Cline.

Saturday July 28th

Happy Birthday Mom! I hiked with you in mind today.

Today I hiked Mt.  Isolation ( 4003 ft) with Badri and Beatrice. I met Badri on 2 of the hikes that I did with on-line hiking Meet up groups. She is from Canada and has completed the Adironadak 46 and is working on completing the NH 48. She is an extremely motivated hiker and drives 6 hours down to hike. The three of us headed out despite the weather forecast of afternoon storms. We made our way up the Rocky Branch trail to Isolation trail and finally Davis path. It was 14.6 miles round trip. Part if the trek in was through my least favorite type of hiking: through swampy, marshy, muddy areas with grass up to my elbows. But the rest of the hike was fine and we had good conversation to keep us going. The weather stayed good at least until we reached the summit. Badri predicted that we would have sunshine on the summit and we did! Isolation was positioned under the only area of clear blue skies. All the other mountains were in or surrounded by dark ominous clouds.  Isolation is a remote little peak with a very unique view of Washington and the Presidentials. It is in the Montalbain Ridge which stretches 20 miles from Washington to Isolation. We left the summit as the dark clouds headed our way and made it with 3 miles left to go before the skies opened up and poured rain on us for the next 2 1/2 hours. Badri and Beatrice stayed upbeat and didn't seem to mind getting soaked. It actually felt good as it wasn't cold. All the same I was pretty happy to get a hot shower when we finshed. Isolation makes peak #30 and 160 miles now since this journey began. I would like to dedicate this peak to Richard Kelley. He is a man with a gentle soul and big smile. He wears his BC shirt and colors with pride and continues to give his all every day.

Saturday July 21-Sunday July 22,2012

 This edition of the Blog should probably be titled " Barbie Goes to the Bonds". I am a city girl who usually does not leave home without my makeup and curling iron. Who would have thought I would be camping in the middle of the wilderness...certainly not me. But I did and survived just fine. This weekend we climbed 7 peaks in the Pemigwassett Wilderness: Galehead ( 4,024'), South Twin ( 4,902'), North Twin ( 4,761'), West Bond ( 4,540'), Bond ( 4,698'), Bondcliff ( 4, 265') and Zealand ( 4260'). We hiked a total of 23.4 miles over 2 fun filled days. I would not have been able to do this trip without a lot of help! I would like to send a special thank you to Richard, his son: Steven, Ed and his son Andrew and daughter Erin. The guys carried up all the tents, stoves, food, wine etc... The weight of their packs was ridiculous but they made it look easy! This is the first time I have had to carry a full pack for an over night hike and it definitely added a whole other level of difficulty. I will admit that it was a struggle at times. It felt so good at the places were we could drop the packs and climb up a peak without the added weight. Richard and Steven have done this hike before and were such a huge help knowing where to go, where to get water, set up camp etc... There were several highlights of the trip for me. The first one came at the third peak. We came across a woman named Katie who is also a PT and works at Maine Medical. She heard about the fundraising we were doing for CCALS and right then and there gave me a donation as did her friend. I was extremely touched that out there in the middle of nowhere everyone we met was so supportive.  The second was after we got to our campsite and set up camp, we then headed up to the top of West Bond to cook dinner and watch the sunset. There were a fair amount of people up there cooking dinner and they were doing the same as us...taking it all in. The third highlight came the next day when we woke up (none too early) and headed over to Bond and Bondclliff. The view and the feeling you get up there it like nothing I have ever seen or experienced before. You are standing on a cliff high above everything looking out over mountain after mountain. It is the most beautiful, most awe insipring experience I have had. I am so grateful for having this journey and being able to share it with such great friends. We were blessed with good weather, plenty of laughs and eveyone stayed healthy. I couldn't have asked for more. I would like to dedicate this weekend to: Karen Langford, Mike Beradi, Zee Crocker, Danice Smith, Sam Lionetto, Alvin Payne and Jennifer Rosado.

Sunday July 8, 2012

   This weekend I had a special treat. My friend  Noreen flew in town from Wisconsin to hike with me. We used to work together at SRH what seems now like forever ago and have been friends for over 20 years. I am extremely touched that she took the time to come out here to do this with me. We had hoped to hike on Sat but temps were high and there was a high chance of thunderstorms. We wanted to do some of the Presidentials which means that we would be above treeline most of the day and passing through thunderstom junction. Since we were going to be in an area where there isn't even a bush to hide under we waited until Sunday to hike. The temps were cooler for  sure but the wind was more than either of us had planned on. We made good time hiking and climbing up the steep rocky summit of Mt Jefferson ( 5,716 ft) but by the time we reached the top I had pulled on all the clothes I had in my pack as it was about 30 degrees with sustained winds of 50 mph. We made our way down Jefferson and through the saddle area between the gulfs where the wind gusts were up to 80 mph and we had to crawl on all fours ( literally) to avoid getting knocked over. We were not even able to talk to each other for about 45 min as you couldn't hear each other over the winds and we were using every bit of energy we had to stay on our feet. We made it up Mt Adams ( 5,799 ft) which is the second highest peak in NH behind only Mt Washington. Our original plan was to try to get in Mt Madison as well but that one will have to wait for another day as we ran out of time. I know I say in each blog that" this is the hardest climb I've had so far". But it is true each time as each hike brings new and different challenges to overcome...just as life does. Noreen stayed positive all day and was a huge support and source of comfort in the most challenging of moments. I am dedicating Mt. Jefferson to Mark Rosen, he has been a patient of mine for 10 years now and is still going strong. He is on his way to Israel and hoping to find a cure for ALS during his trip. I wish him a safe journey.

Saturday June 30th

Well this weekend was a big weekend in my journey...the biggest so far. Three of my friends and I set out to do Owl's Head mountain in the Pemigewasset Wilderness. It is only 4,025 feet. But what it lacks for in height and scenery it makes up for in length of time and mileage. In order to get to the trail that takes you up the actual mountain, we needed to hike 8 miles in, then 1 mile straight up and then all the way back out again for 18.2 miles total. Along the way we had to negotiate over 7 river crossings. The first 2 we made it through without incident, the third one Rick had his boots fall in the river and he had to hike the remaining 12 miles of the day in wet boots. The fourth river I fell in and the fifth claimed Susie. Hilary made it through the day without falling in the river but I think she ended up with the biggest blister at the end of the day. There were several funny moments along the way...meeting up with the man with spandex shorts who declared "this mountain sucks!" and getting to the top only to find out that that wasn't the only top. The hiking book describes Owl's Head as being "everything a mountain should not be." I disagree, there were some great views from the slides and although it was the most difficult thing I have done so far it taught me how strong we are and how much you can achieve when you set your mind to it. Every hike I take time to count my many blessings. My three friends in this hike are at the top of that list... I couldn't have done it without them and they were the perfect crew to have on this particular adventure! I dedicate this hike to George M. His story is the best example I have seen of patience, family and love.