Taking Flight

My very first backpacking trip, if you can call it that, was with my friend Sylvia all the way back in 2015. She took me on a trip to Lonesome Lake Hut in the White Mountains over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. I struggled. My thumb was broken at the time (a recurring theme for me), so I couldn't use poles. Sylvia had a pair of spikes for me, but they broke, so I tried to hike in the snow without any of the proper equipment. It was tough, and I totally wore myself out doing what I now know is a relatively easy hike, but I did make it. I had a great time, too. I enjoyed it so much that it became a tradition, and then I eventually branched out to doing other types of backpacking trips. Recently, the roles have kind of reversed. Sylvia has wanted to get into doing more modern, lightweight backpacking, and so sought out my help. Given how much she taught me about backpacking to begin with, I was more than happy to return the favor. I loaned her some equipment, gave her recommendat...

I don't know why, but for a long time leading up to this hike, I couldn't get Mt. Washington off my mind. I really wanted to hike it, and I couldn't tell you a good reason why. Maybe I just saw it mentioned in too many books and YouTube videos. I have attempted to hike Mt. Washington four previous times (twice successfully), and all four times were from the west side of the mountain, via the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. In fact, you can read about the most recent of those attempts  here  on this blog. This time, I wanted to do something different. The more famous approach to the big mountain is via the east side, starting from Pinkham Notch and ascending via one of several routes. The easiest route is probably the Boott Spur Trail, but it's also the longest. The most iconic route is via the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, but that area is also famous for avalanches. The most difficult route is Huntington Ravine, and I wasn't going to go near that in winter conditions. Thus, I d...

It's been a while since the last time that I did a blog post. I didn't hike for a while after the Appalachian Trail, but I have gotten back to hiking in recent months. I don't blog as often as I should because pulling photos off my iPhone is a pain, but I hope to get back to doing it more soon. Also, I hope to backfill some blog posts from some of the missed hikes. It's winter again, so this blog post was all about continuing to work toward my winter list goals. At the beginning of this winter, I had four peaks still to go to complete my Winter 48 in New Hampshire. They were North and South Twin, Garfield, and Tecumseh. Tecumseh is an easy peak that I have been saving for my finisher so that my girlfriend Dragonfly can hike it with me. Garfield could be done in a day hike, but I want to do it as an overnight backpacking trip because I enjoy winter backpacking. The Twins are still on the list because they require a road walk, and that makes it a very long hike, difficult...