#16 & 17 North & South Hancock

6/17/06 - (Hiked w/Gwen) Met Gwen at the trailhead which is at the hairpin turn on the Kancamagus. There was a couple guys starting at the same time as we were (8:15). They both had dogs heavy with gear (and booties!). We started out before them. About an hour later we had stopped for water at a river crossing. I heard really loud music (Cum On Feel The Noise) and thought we had come back to the highway or something, when those 2 guys came out of the woods. One of them had a boom box in his backpack and as they passed he said "how's it looking?". So much for the peace of the mountains. We never did see them again, but we'd occasionally hear music through the trees and start running to get away from them. There were several river crossings and the trails got confusing so I think we lost them there because their car was still in the lot when we got back. It was super buggy at the summit and we could hardly stand still for our traditional summit photo. Back to the cars at 4:30

#14 & 15 Mt. Tom & Field (& Avalon)

10/1/05 - Hiked with Gwen. We actually summited 3 mountains this day but one of them wasn't a 4k footer (Mt. Avalon). It was a nice clear day. We fed some birds (Canadian Jays) that would eat nuts right out of your hand. Nice views from the summits. There was a family on Mt. Tom that had a guide to edible plants. The boy offered us some berries that didn't taste like anything. Another 9 - 5 hike.

cobweb

#13 Mt. Wiley

Mt. Wiley 8/6/05 - Hiked with Jim & Gwen - Trailhead is near Arethusa Falls trail, off 302. Met Jim and Gwen there. I ate half my food waiting for them. Started hiking at 9:30. The first part of the trail was relatively flat, crossing railroad tracks. The second half got much steeper (I guess it would have to). There were a lot of ladders made of logs (see pic). They were so fun to climb! Gwen and I lost Jimbo at this point and we passed a couple guys who are also doing the 4k footers. When we got to the summit Jimbo was up there hanging out with these 2 other guys exchanging funny hiking stories. One of them got a call from his wife and she must have asked him who he was with because I heard him say "they're woman hikers". We could see Mt. Washington and smoke from the cog from the summit. The hike down was pretty uneventful until I fell. It was actually on a flat area; I was just walking too fast and not paying attention. Got back to the cars at 3:30. This was my favorite hike so far. The weather was beautiful and I was feeling great on the drive home.

Mt. Liberty

Tiny mushrooms on Mt. Liberty

#12 Mt. Flume

7/9/05 Hiked and camped with Gwen. We stayed at the Liberty Springs tent site. Backpacked up, set up our site on the 8th, hiked to Liberty again and then Mt. Flume on the 9th and back down the same day. There was a boysout troop staying up there the same night and the caretaker gave us a spot away from them. There was one cute little boyscout though who kept watching us and asking us what we were doing up there. Gwen told him we were looking for the McDonald's that was up there and he said "I wish there was a clothing store up here". He was like 8 years old. The scouts were eating macaroni and cheese from a can, ewwww. Gwen brought her Jetboil so we enjoyed some delicious dehydrated food (and I'm not even being sarcastic!). It started to pour the day of our summit and it just sucked the lives out of us. We went without talking for a long time. Thankfully, it stopped by the time we came back for our packs. We were totally soaked though so we changed before breaking down the tent and heading back down.

#11 Cannon Mtn.

6/12/04 Hiked with Gwen. Easiest hike yet. The trailhead was in Lafeyette campground. There's a tram that goes to the summit and we ate lunch in the tram cafeteria (we didn't take the tram though, that'd be cheating). Our most civilized meal to date while hiking. We actually sat at a table, maybe we even used a fork. Got back to the car by 4:00.

#10 Mt. Zealand

10/12/01 - Hiked with Gwen. We were staying at the Zealand Falls Hut so we backpacked up to the hut the night before the summit. It was a quick hike, we started late in the day, and made it just in time for dinner. We put our stuff down in the bunk room, I snagged a bottom bunk (there's 3 levels of bunks).

We hung out at the falls after watching the sun go down.

There was a bachelorette party up there and they were getting high by the falls. Later on we were playing board games (Connect 4, Gwen won, big time) in the hut and talking to them. When we were going to bed (it was lights out and dark) I went to put the game away and spilled all the pieces all over the floor, which cracked us all up. It was funnier knowing they were high and that it was "quiet hours". I slept with ear plugs which was a great idea because there was 18 other people in the room. I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and the door was right next to somebody's head. I hit their pillow with the door. I wondered why they didn't put their head at the other end, away from the door. One of the girls who worked at the hut woke everyone up by playing "Dreaming My Dreams" by the Cranberries on her guitar. It was surreal for me because of the ear plugs, I wasn't sure if I was "dreaming" it or not. It was nice getting an early start the next day.

We left our packs at the hut, summited, then picked them back up on the way down.

#9 Mt. Liberty

8/25/01 Hiked with Jim and Gwen. Jimbo left me and Gwen in the dust. Gwen and I stopped at the tent sites and ate lunch. We met these 2 little adorable girls (Gwen pointed out a mouse to them). They were camping out with their fathers. "We're not sisters even though we look alike but we have the same birthday, May 1st, that's why we look alike. I'm older (6) than she is (5). My mommy's tummy was too small to keep me in any longer so I'm small. I'm going to be in 1st grade this year and she was in pre-school and she's going to kindergarten and that's my Daddy over there with the baseball cap on and her Daddy has a white shirt on. My Mommy's cleaning the school." And inhale. They asked their fathers if we could stay overnight but Gwen told them we had dinner reservations. We saw them later at the summit. One of the fathers was carrying a Barbie backpack. We also met this other guy who was trying to impress us with his watch and the 10,000 functions it had. "This is how fast I can ski, this is how high we are, blah blah blah". Gwen said he was wearing gold necklaces but I didn't notice because I was staring at his flip-up sunglasses that were in the "up" position. There were a lot of cool people on this trail. There was a skinny lady with a poodle, a woman in a long skirt holding a large child on her back and a guy on the summit who said the view was "fucking awesome". So true, so true.
Jimbo