Tuckerman's Ravine...Where it all began.

What many people know about me is that I love hiking. I find solace and peace among the trees and mountains. What most people don't know is how I came to be a hiker. It all started innocently enough, as most stories do.

However, in order to tell the story, I need to let you know that another passion of mine is photography. I like to photograph everything. I take thousands of photos a year. While I don't consider myself an expert, with today's fantastic digital cameras, I am able to take some great shots. That being said, it was late Spring in New Hampshire (USA), and for skiers, that meant the annual pilgrimage to ski Tuckerman's Ravine .

Two of my friends, Doug & Craig, were back country skiers and  wanted to hike up to Tuckerman's and have me take photos of them. This sounded like great fun. I have always dreamed of skiing Tuck's, but never had the skill level. This way I could go, and not have to worry about skiing, just take photos. I figured this hike would be a piece of cake. I was in good shape from being a cyclist and I had hiked Mt Monadnock (the 2nd most climb mountain in the world) before, so I had hiking experience. This was going to be easy, or so I thought.

So, on April 28, 2009, the two of them met me early at my house and off we went for the two and a half hour ride. I got more excited with each mile closer. Finally, we made it to the parking lot (which was already quite full). This is the first place that my total inexperience began to show itself. Both Doug and Craig looked at me incredulously, as if I had completely lost my mind.

The problem? I was wearing all cotton, and according to them, COTTON KILLS. What they meant was that you will sweat on the hike, and cotton does not dry quickly. This could be very dangerous if the weather turned bad, and as I have learned through the years, on Mt Washington, things can change quickly. Thankfully, Doug had spare, non cotton hiking clothes, and we were close enough in size.

Finally, once properly attired, we set off. The going was smooth, and the trail was wide at the start. There appeared to be a lot of other hiker/skiers going up as well. They day was cool, not cold and blue sky prevailed. I was getting excited with every step.

Soon, I began to realizing that hiking shape and biking shape were not the same thing. I was using totally different muscles and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I was really struggling with this walk up the hill.

Well, after what seemed like a 100 miles of walking straight up, we eventually arrived at the Hermit Lake shelters and took a break. Well, they took a break. I thought I was going to die. I eventually came to the conclusion that I was not going to make to Lunch Rocks, which is the traditional spot to hang out and watch the folks skiing and boarding the Ravine.

I told Doug and Craig to go on without me. I was so disappointed in myself and very embarrassed that I was struggling so badly.

I could see Tuckerman's Ravine from where I sat and if I looked really hard, I could see the skiers hiking up the head wall.
 

I was so close, but so exhausted that I might have been 100 miles away. I simply could not go on. Well, while my friends and many others, enjoyed the day hiking and skiing, I wallowed in self pity. Then made a decision. This would NEVER happen to me again.

I decided right there and then that I would hike every one of New Hampshire's 48 4000 foot mountains.

I finished in a little under two years, and now, after 5 years of hiking, have summited over 150 of New Hampshire's mountains, many of them solo hikes. I now consider myself a child of the forest and going hiking seems like going home to me now. It's a place I belong...my happy place.

The moral of my story is don't let disappointments destroy you. Take those are as a chance to improve, to go a new direction, to try a new plan, to walk a different path. Just make sure some of those paths are dirt. Cheers and happy hiking. Thanks for reading!

Success is how you look at it...

So, I have more cuts, scrapes and bruises from yesterday's hike than I have ever had from any hike before. Our destination was Mt Success, and a little past the summit, the remains of Northeast Airlines DC 3 Flight 792 which crashed on Mt Success November 30th, 1954.  Once compete, I would have six of the 52 With A View mountains remaining to complete the list.

We would hike 2.4 miles on the Success Trail to the junction of the Mahoosuc Trail (part of the Appalachian Trail), go South another .6 or so on the AT to the summit of Mt Success, and then on another short bit to the crash. It seemed simple enough.

The hike started easy enough and we quickly made it to the first outlook. We were rewarded with some tremendous views. It was well worth the little side trip off the main trail.

This wasn't a big mountain, but things went downhill quickly. First, Richard Easterbrooks and I mistook the AT Boundary for the AT trail, and went about 3 miles out of way.

The AT Boundary, for those who don't know, is placed on either side of the Appalachian Trail, marking the boundary of the Appalachian Trail system.


Realizing we were going the wrong way, we tried bushwhacking our way to the summit, but found the going impenetrable. I was lucky enough to get a signal on my phone and through the miracle that is Facebook, reached out to my friend Darcy Davenport. 

With her help we were able to figure out where the trail actually was. Since this was his first hike since injuring his knee, Rich implored me to continue on to get the summit. He had had enough of being lost and decided to wait for me at the trail junction to give his knee a rest, while I continued on.

Not wanting to keep Rich waiting, I ran the entire way to the summit. It was steep in some spots, and I was very winded when I reached the top. 

After summiting, I decided to try to find the crash site. A nice couple I met on top told me it was only about 2/10ths of a mile away (it wasn't). 

After continuing on, I finally found the remains of the wreckage of Northeast Airlines DC 3 Flight 792. 

To get to the wreckage, you need to leave the trail a little. After taking photographs of the wreckage, I decided to head right back to meet Rich.

However, on the way out, I got turned around and had no  idea which way to go.

I walked for 2-3 tenths of a mile and realized I was going the wrong way. I retraced my steps to the crash site so I could try to find the trail again. After a short time, I still found myself going the wrong way. 

The thought of needing rescuing mortified me!! Although I would be fine if I had to stay the night in the woods, I knew that I would never live it down with Rich.


 
I had now been blundering about the wilderness for nearly an hour and was becoming extremely tired from all the extra up and down trying to find my way. While I won't say I was beginning to panic, I was getting a bit concerned I would be spending the night in the woods.

  

I decided the best course of action was to go straight up the mountain to find the summit. I knew that the trail would be definitely there. I clawed my way through some thick, nearly impenetrable scrub growth. I can't remember how many times I got scratched, stabbed, tripped and fell over branches or had the trees grab at my pack and get me tangled. I even lost my GPS in the process too!

After considerable effort, and brute force, I broke through and made my way to the summit and found the trail again. Having now been over 1.5 hours since leaving Rich at the trail junction, I immediately began running the trail to make up time. After many slips and slides down some of the steeper sections, I finally made it back to Rich. 

At this point, we began the slow, 2.4 mile slog back to the vehicle. The remaining walk, although long, went uneventful and we eventually made it back.





I definitely have to say that Mt Success was not my favorite mountain, although it was worth seeing the crash site.

Thanks for reading.

The Percy Peaks

I haven't written anything for my blog in a long time, so I thought a blog about my latest hike would be a good start to get back into writing.

The first thing you should know about me is that I love the woods and the mountains. I enjoy being in the wilderness more than anywhere else on earth. I get as excited as a kid on Christmas morning whenever I am heading off for a hike. I have my pack ready, hiking clothes picked out, maps made and routes studied several days before the hike.

This past Saturday was no exception as my friend Rich and I headed to Northern New Hampshire to hike The Percy Peaks. The Percy Peaks are part of a hiking list (We hikers love lists) called  The 52 With A View - New Hampshire.

The day promised to be perfect with blue bird skies and temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s. The trail-head is almost 2 1/2 hours away, so we left around 5 AM.

The roads were nearly empty at that time. Just the occasional trucker and fellow hiker. When we finally arrived at the trail head, we were the first to arrive and had our choice of parking spaces in the small area off the road.

We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sky was blue, the sun was out and the temperatures were just right.

We quickly gathered our gear and set off on the Percy Peaks Trail.



The trail was decent and well marked, blazed in orange. The forest are finally in full green mode finally. Sadly, there are occasions that the Black Flies are out too!

After about 1.6 miles, we reached the junction of Old Summer Club Trail, which would lead us to the trail up South Percy.

We had debated whether or not to do both peaks, but when told that South Peak has a great view of Percy North, decided to bag both summits. In our research, we decided that the North Peak looked the harder of the two, so we decided to do the South Peak first. Boy were we wrong!

The South Peak trail was steep, overgrown and not well marked at all. It was just shy of bushwhacking in some spots. Once we reached the summit, it was all worth it. The views, although not 360 degrees, were spectacular. It was well worth the effort. After about 40 minutes or so of enjoying the summit,we decided to head on over to North Percy. The trail down off South Percy was not better going the other way!

Surprisingly, the walk up North Percy was much easier than we had expected. It was quite easy compared to the hike up the South Peak. We made the summit in good time, with little effort. After taking the obligatory summit picture, we had some snacks and relaxed a bit before the hike back to the Jeep.

 The summit did not have 360 degree views, but if you searched for them, you could locate enough view spots to see pretty much all around the mountain.

It was a picture perfect day!! The right combination of blue sky, puffy clouds, perfect temperatures, little problem bugs, and spectacular views. It's not often you get days like this in the mountains of New Hampshire.

The views on the way down from North Percy were every bit as good as I have seen anywhere. The footing on the rock slabs was good, although, as I said earlier, I would not want to attempt this hike in wet conditions.

South Percy certainly didn't look so bad from this vantage point, but we new better. I would classify this hike as  moderate, with some harder sections throughout.

It is dog friendly, or at least we saw a couple of dogs on the hike, and on the summit of North Percy. For any avid hikers, I would certainly rate this as a must do hike. Thanks for reading.

Special Delivery...

When I awoke, I didn't realize how close to dying I would come later in the day.

The day started out innocently enough with a beautiful, sunlit, blue bird July sky. A warm morning breeze wafted through the house, carrying with it the smell of fresh cut grass and summertime.

Today was a special day. It was my daughter's 7th birthday, and we had a house full of family and friends coming later in the afternoon to help us celebrate. Since most of the major preparation for the days festivities had already be done, I thought I would take advantage of the glorious morning with a 50 mile bike ride.

I quickly gathered some bike clothing, brushed my teeth, said good morning to my dog and headed to the garage. Zoey leaned against the wall, waiting patiently as always.

(My daughter has named all my bikes so I will always have someone to ride with.)

I donned my helmet & sunglasses, put the water bottles in the cages, clicked into the pedals and off I went.

Traffic was light as I headed out to ride across the bucolic New Hampshire countryside. My route would take me by ponds, farms, covered bridges, roadside streams, undulating hills, and quaint New England hamlets of Central New Hampshire. It was a route I knew well, and enjoyed tremendously.

The ride was wonderfully uneventful, and I was soon on the home stretch. The last three miles of the route are on a rather busy road, and since it was my daughter's birthday, I didn't want to chance a accident. I chose to take a detour that would add 2-3 more miles, and one, long, big hill. Although longer and harder then the route I would normally take, it was much less traveled, and therefore safer in my mind.

Nearing the top of the big hill, I was passed by a FedEx truck. I was a bit upset at this, because I knew I would quickly catch him on the 3 mile twisting decent to my house. Sure enough, not that far from the top, I caught him.

Since I couldn't pass him on the twisting, steep descent, I decided that I would save some energy and draft him. I looked at my speedometer and noticed we were going a little of 50 mph. I was quite impressed with this driver's skill considering how perilously narrow the road was.

It was right at this point that I decided that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. No sooner had I thought that, the FedEx driver missed his turn and slammed on his brakes. I didn't even have time to scream any expletives before slamming into the back of the truck at 47 mph.

I survived the initial impact rather unscathed. Sadly, Newton's Third Law of Motion states "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." I bounced off the truck like a baseball off a bat, slamming into the ground with some distinction. The impact with the road shattered my helmet, pushing it forward, breaking both my glasses and my nose. Both the bicycle and I continued sliding and tumbling down the road, until suddenly coming to a stop against a tree.

I sat up rather slowly, checking myself for injuries. I had blood dripping from my broken nose. My body was covered in road rash, with both knees and elbows bleeding. I had (and still do) bone chips in my elbow, and although I didn't know it then, a slight concussion. So much for going the long way to stay safe.

The poor FedEx driver didn't know I had hit him until he saw me go tumbling by. He ran to me to see if I was okay, and all I could think to ask him was "how's my bike?". Thankfully, my bike was unscathed! The driver was horrified, so I reassured him that it was my fault entirely.

I ask to use his phone to call my wife. It went something like this "Leslie, I am alive and that is a good thing. However, I've seemed to have had a run in with the back of a FedEx truck and need you to come get me. I don't think I can the ride rest of the way home." Well, you can only imagine her reaction.

After we got home, I showered and cleaned up my wounds as best I could. I did not go to the hospital (although I should have), because I had no desire to ruin my daughter's birthday party.

The ironic twist to this story is that the very same FedEx driver delivered my new bike helmet the following week. The look of recognition and surprise on his face was priceless.

Remember, always wear a helmet when riding your bicycle and never, ever draft behind moving vehicles unless you are a professional!

Thanks for reading...