Shaw and Black Snout (5/1/21)

Today was my first chance to hike with my friend Steve in over a year. Back when I first started getting into serious hiking, I realized that I was going to need to go with a group for some of my major hikes, as it was just safer. I first tried hiking with the 4 Seasons Hiking Group, and while I enjoyed hiking with them and would certainly hike with them again, they weren't an ideal fit for what I was looking for. I was looking for hikes that were a little more serious than what they typically offered.

I ended up signing on with the Random Group of Hikers, and my first hike with them was magic. We hiked Field, Willey, and Tom, all 4000 footers, plus Avalon, which was on the 52 With A View list. The group of people was amazing on that hike. I met John, Vanessa, Michelle, Tabitha, and Hilde, all of whom I would end up hiking with multiple times in the future. However, the most important person I met on that hike was Steve. I nicknamed him Guidebook on that hike because of how thorough his knowledge of the mountains was, and how he was always pointing out interesting facts. Sadly, I haven't kept in touch with any of the other people on that hike through the pandemic, but thankfully I am still in touch with Steve. We have hiked together many times over the past few years, and now that we are both fully vaccinated, we were looking forward to hiking together again.

Steve had some knee concerns coming into this hike, so he didn't want to do a hike that would be too long or strenuous. I was of a similar mind, as the spring conditions made the White Mountains seem like a subpar destination anyway. Thus we decided to hike Mt. Shaw, and throw in Black Snout along the way.

I met Steve in the parking lot at 9 AM, and we started up the trail. We were keeping a brisk pace when a woman stopped us and told us that there was a waterfall that we had to go and see. We thought that sounded good, so we diverted over to it. There was a good bit of rain yesterday, so the waterfall was probably about as strong as you are ever going to see it. It was really impressive, and we took turns taking pictures of each other in front of it.

I failed to take TLC's advice, and went chasing waterfalls.

Once we were past the waterfall, we continued on for a while, just climbing and chatting, until we came to a spot where we had to cross that same stream. I say stream, because that's what it normally is. However, swelled by yesterday's rains, today it looked more like a rushing river. We weren't the only people trying to cross, either. There was a younger female hiker also trying to find a crossing spot. She looked like she was pretty competent, and that showed in how she wasn't taking stupid chances with the dangerous water.

Steve and the girl both fixated on one crossing spot that looked doable, but I picked out a different spot. My spot was definitely the easiest cross and gave me the best chance of keeping my feet dry, which was preferred. However, the problem with my spot was that you had to scale down some rocks to get to it. I thought it was worth scaling the rocks for the possibility of not getting my shoes wet, so I went for it. It did turn out to be an easy cross, and I was able to rejoin Steve on the other side after he crossed successfully. I then hung out for a minute to make sure that the girl crossed all right, which she did. She thanked me afterwards for waiting for her.

The rushing stream we needed to cross. Pictures don't do it justice.

We were all ready to hike on when two older ladies hiked up with their beautiful huskie mix dog. All three of us decided to help them cross rather than hike on. The spot that I had crossed at was right out for the two ladies, because there was no way that the dog could make it. Even the spot where Steve and the girl had crossed wouldn't have worked, because we didn't think Lobo the dog could make it across. Thus, the two ladies hiked up the opposite bank with Lobo in search of a better crossing spot. Steve scouted ahead while I hung back.

The huskie moved out ahead of the two ladies, looking for his own crossing spot. Steve and the girl tried to coax the dog across while the first of the two ladies crossed downstream. I figured that Steve had the dog covered, so I moved to help the second lady across. She decided to do things the exact opposite way that I would do them, as she opted to just put her feet right in the water and walk across the stream, which is honestly the safest way to cross.

While I was helping her, the other three people managed to coax Lobo across, so he made it to the opposite bank, and now everyone was safely cross the river. For the next few minutes, we all hiked together, with Lobo in front, then Steve and I, and then the two ladies, and then the younger hiker. As we walked and chatted, I found out that the two ladies were out there because they were working on the 52 With A View list, and they asked my advice about some of the other peaks, which I was happy to provide.

Eventually we all separated as people stopped for breaks. Steve and I ended up out in front by ourselves (although we had to convince Lobo not to come with us), and we entered the steepest part of the climb up Shaw. It's a tough section, but it's not Mt. Washington or anything, and we made slow and steady progress up it. When we got to the trail intersection between Shaw and Black Snout, we had to pick which one to go to first. Steve wanted to do Black Snout first, and that was fine with me, as I love Black Snout. It makes a great lunch stop spot.

The view from Black Snout.

We met one other hiker up on Black Snout, and it turned out that he was a road biker like Steve, and so they got to chatting about biking while Steve and I ate lunch. It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed it on top of Black Snout, but soon I was ready to move on.

We hiked over to Shaw, where we ran into the two ladies with Lobo from earlier, as well as the girl we had crossed the river with. They all expressed surprise that they had beaten us to Shaw, and we explained that we had stopped off at Black Snout first. It was a wise choice, too, as the wind was whipping across Shaw pretty good and it was too cold to be a lunch stop. I would estimate that the temperature on Shaw was in the 30s, with wind chill dropping it into the 20s. I wasn't carrying gloves with me, so my poor hands were suffering. We stayed and chatted for a few minutes, but we got moving pretty quickly, though not before taking some pictures of the great view that Shaw offers.

View from Shaw, with the Presidentials in the background.

The hike down was fast and easy. Steve and I chatted the whole time, and the miles flew by. Before long, we were back at the car. Steve asked if I wanted to join him at a local tavern for a bite to eat afterwards. I hadn't eaten indoors for a long time, so I was happy to do it if it didn't take me too far out of my way. It didn't, and we ended up enjoying a second lunch of nachos while we continued our conversation. I look forward to hiking more with Steve in the future. Always remember, you can't take flight until you spread your wings!