Taking Flight

This was a difficult hiking year, and it was all Mt. Madison's fault! Well, actually, not this Mt. Madison hike. This hike was fine. However, this July hike was the second of my two Madison hikes this year. Back in February, I injured my left knee hiking Madison during the winter. It felt fine during the hike, but then afterwards it definitely did not feel fine. It took me two months to recuperate from that injury, just in time to hike an AT section with Parched. My knee held up fine during that hike, but then a couple of days later I tripped crossing the street at home and seriously injured my right knee. I knew that I had a hike of Mt. Katahdin coming up in late July (blog on that one coming soon!), so I figured I had better test the knee and see if it could hold up against big mountains, and what better way to do that than by testing it in the same place where all of this originally started, Mt. Madison? Of course, I had other reasons, too. Back in June 2023, I did a hut to hut ...

It's been a long, long time since the last time I wrote one of these blog posts. Almost two years, I think. However, I'd like to get back into it, and my recent trip to Zealand Hut seems like a good opportunity. First, though, some introduction. Back in Summer 2024, my friend Sylvia put together a trip to Mt. Katahdin. Joining her on the trip were her husband Alan, her friend Chris, her brother-in-law Paul, our friend Vanessa, and I. Paul actually went up earlier and hiked the day before the rest of us because he was coming from farther away and wanted to avoid forecasted bad weather. Sylvia, Alan, Vanessa, and I rode up together and met Chris along the way. I'll probably do a separate post about it at some point, but for now the important thing to know is that we all enjoyed hiking together despite a couple trials and tribulations brought on by the weather. Thus, when Sylvia proposed that we should all do a winter hut trip together, I was in. We were originally supposed to...

February break means hiking opportunities! The question was what to hike? The evening before my hike, I was scrolling though options, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I thought about Washington or Franconia Ridge, my perennial favorites, but the weather conditions didn't look quite right for them. I considered North Kearsarge, but I wasn't sure that it was worth driving to New Hampshire for. I decided on Crawford Notch, as I hadn't hiked the Willey Range in five years. I got up at 5:30 AM and was on the road about an hour later. I stopped at Big Dave's Bagels in North Conway, and they were busier than I had ever seen them. I wasn't sure if I was running late, or if that was the result of stopping in on a weekday. I did get my bagel and continued on my way. I got to Crawford Notch and parked on the road near the train station. I decided against carrying snowshoes, and I got on trail about 8:40. On the road (trail) again... The trail itself was fantastic this...

I know this is a hiking blog, but sometimes I do other outdoor activities. Today I went skiing. Technically, I was supposed to go skiing with Dragonfly, but she had too much homework. Thus, it was just me. Dragonfly and I are planning to go skiing at Bretton Woods next month, and so I figured it was a good idea to get my skis back out, since I haven't been in several years. Truthfully, I wasn't sure how it would go. Things like getting on and off a lift aren't exactly the same as riding a bicycle, and they don't necessarily come back as quickly. Even the process of going down the mountain took some re-learning. I wanted to start with beginner trails, but the area I was skiing in didn't allow for that. You know what, though? I am getting ahead of myself. Let's back up. I drove up to Mt. Abram from Westbrook, and got there almost exactly when I wanted to, half an hour early. I was able to show my receipt for my online lift ticket purchase and get the actual lift t...

It used to be a tradition for my friend Sylvia and I to do a backpacking trip into the White Mountains, usually to Lonesome Lake Hut, over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. I don't get to see her much anymore, so I was excited when we decided to bring the tradition back for this year. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Sylvia realized that she had double booked herself against her grandson's first birthday, so she had to cancel. However, I didn't want to cancel the trip. I got in contact with Dragonfly's brother-in-law, Parched, who keeps up a crazy hiking schedule these days. I asked if he wanted to join me for the trip. He was interested, but he had a conflict and couldn't start until around 2 PM on Saturday. Lonesome Lake is a short, easy hike, so I wasn't concerned about that. We decided to go for it, and so we agreed to meet in Lincoln and then drive to the trailhead. I was running late, so I didn't get a chance to stop at Big Dave's Bagels in North...

My winter adventures continued this week with a tough decision to make. Did I want to go to attempt Sugarloaf and Spaulding in northern Maine for my Winter 67, or did I want to continue to work on the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire? I don't feel ready for the sheer exertion of the Maine hike, and I am worried about how little daylight there is right now, so I decided to keep hiking in New Hampshire to build my legs back up. Maybe I will go after Sugarloaf over February break. Dragonfly and I looked at the various paths available up Moriah, and I decided on the Carter-Moriah Trail. This was for several reasons. First, I had never done it before, so it would give me the chance to try something new. Second, it seemed like the most direct route to where I wanted to go. Third, there were recent trail reports about it. Those trail reports said that the trail was better hiked in spikes rather than snowshoes, so that was music to my ears. I did strap the snowshoes to my pack, though, a...

Part of winter vacation is getting the chance to hike in the snow! With school having gotten out Wednesday, Thursday seemed like the perfect day to hike. The question was where to hike to? I thought about attacking Sugarloaf and Spaulding, or maybe Abraham, in northern Maine, but those all involved logistical issues that I wasn't quite ready to tackle. In general, the difficulty of a hike doesn't intimidate me. However, logistical difficulties do. Finding parking, trail information, road closures, and so on is stressful. Thus, I decided to fall back on a hike that was a tough climb, but also simple logistically: Mt. Washington. "But wait, Hawk," you might be saying, "your title says Mt. Monroe." We'll get to that. I packed my winter gear the night before my hike. As usual, I packed heavy, making sure that I had my bivy, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad, in case I got into trouble. I am finding snacks to be a difficult issue in the winter, because my proven...