In mid-October in a cold day we went backpacking. This time we did a loop covering Mt.Willey and Mt.Field in New Hampshire. Total was about 15 miles with 4500 feet elevation change.
Starting point was at the train station of Crawford. The hike starts by crossing the train track. As I went up high, the air got cold. Actually it was so cold.
Two weeks ago when we went backpacking, we saw very pretty fall colors: yellow, orange, and red. Now all leaves are gone. There are still colorful leaves on the ground, but the view is brown. It was amazing how quickly seasons change in New England, especially summer to autumn, then winter. Now, long winter has began.
Only a few miles from trailhead, the view was already winter wonderland. Trees were snow covered and trail were also covered with white. Wow. We didn't know it was already winter there and didn't bring microspikes. Winter seemed to come in such a hurry, and still red berries were on the ground with snow as if they were saying it was too quick transition.
Also my shoes got wet. Due to heavy rains on weekdays before our hike, the trail was extremely wet and muddy. Then trail went up about 1500 feet and we reached a junction to the Mt.Tom. To go to Mt.Tom it was 0.6 mile of 300 feet elevation gain. Because it was a spur trail, I didn't feel like going. Besides, a hiker who just came back from Mt.Tom said, "There is no view and the trail is muddy."
While Mr.N and I were thinking if we went or not, the hiker said, "But you can go to 4000-footers."
Grrr.... to be honest I am a little annoyed by 4000-footer list.
4000-footer is a list of mountains those are higher than 4000 feet in New Hampshire, or New England. There are separate lists for each. A lot of people do the list. So if the mountain is 4001 feet high, I see many hikers on the trail, even if there is no view at the top. If the mountain is 3999 feet high, there is barely no hikers even if the view is really great. I am not a list person, and I would rather enjoy nice view for hiking. I prefer to do 3999 feet with nice view.
There is an official 4000-footer club managed by Appalachian Mountain Club, but you need to pay to join. Upon completion, you can buy patches. Still paying for completion?! I personally don't like it. Hiking should be always free! OK. It is okay to pay a little. For 2-week John Muir trail for $5 as I did.
Well anyway, the U.S. is a free country. AMC can do whatever they want, but I can say my opinion freely as well!
So we just skipped Mt.Tom and continued the hike for the next viewpoint. After passing Mt.Tom, there was hardly nobody, which was nice. This was the 4000-footer list effect. After a few miles later, we met two backpackers on the trail heading towards Mt.Tom. They said, "You guys are the first hikes we met today" You see how big the 4000-footer effect is.
Soon after that we started to look for a place for lunch. We found a nice disperse campsite near the stream. The ground was dry and nice. I found a fire place. As a campfire junkie, I couldn't help starting fire during lunch break. There are many birch trees nearby, so I was able to find paper birch everywhere to start fire. Campfire at lunch break. SOOOOO much fun.
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| Nice Pond |
After lunch break, clouds were cleared up and blue sky came. The air got a little warmer. It was really nice. The trail was also nice along some ponds and ridge.
We passed near the Zealand hut. We didn't pass exactly the hut, but turned the junction nearby. The junction has a hanging sign saying "hot food for sale at hut". Ha. Hot food sounded nice, but I knew that the hut foods were very American, so I didn't check it out. Also it was a detour. As a Japanese, I always like hot Japanese food in the outdoor setting: ramen, udon, soba, Japanese curry, Japanese pasta, etc....I am picky.
On the ridge there was talus. It is quite unusual to see talus in New England. My memory of talus is always linked to pika. Pikas live in the talus. I always see whenever hike in the high county in the Sierra or Rockies I see many cute pikas. Sadly there are no pikas in New England, probably because it is not high elevation enough for them. I miss pikas.
Soon near the talus region, we saw a hiker with big beard. He was a though Appalachian hiker! He did southern states, then did Maine, then came back to New Hampshire and going south. Mr.N said that this kind of thru hike is flip flop hike. The hiker was cool. He said, "I see a light in the tunnel" Good luck to the hiker.
After 4 p.m, we started searching a campsite. The official campsite was along the Ethan pond. There are several developed site (still dispersed) at the Ethan pond. Usually those official site, 0.25 mile before and after the site was prohibited to camp. We were hoping that fire was allowed there, but we saw a sign it was prohibited. White Mountain National Forest allows fire below tree line, because it is National Forest. However, Appalachian Mountain Club that is maintaining the forest on behalf of National Forest makes their own strict rules and some portions, such as official campsites, are not allowed to have fire.
Because campfire is always my highlight of backpacking, we decided to continue walking. However, it was only 0.6 miles to be flat. After that really steep climb starts, so it was unlikely to have flat camping spot.
We searched a possible camping spot, however, all the ground near the trail was extremely wet. Actually trail has continuously small log bridge due to the wet. Along the trail was very mossy, meaning probably tent would be sunk if it was pitched.
We searched 0.55 mile of 0.6 mile. I was optimistic: I thought that there would be something we can do always. I thought that we could avoid a steep hill and continue a different trail or worst case we could go back to Ethan pond. In contrast to me, Mr.N was upset.
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| campsite |
At the 0.59 mile, I found an established dispersed site!!! An establish site means a flat spot without trees and obviously it has been used for camping for many times by many hikers. Even nicer fact about the site we found was that the big fire place was there! (see the picture left)
We had a biiiiig fire at night and had a biiiiiig fun.
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| Campfire |
Next morning, we of course had another morning fire.
While we were having breakfast by the fire, a group of backpacker guys passed by. The site was a little off to the trail, a lot of people could miss it.
The guys' conversation we heard:
A: It is stinky here. Did you fart?
B: No, it is from campfire there.
A: Oh campfire there.
B: And I farted.
A: OK.
It was funny. Mr.N said that farting was not a big issue between guys.
Ha! In-tere-sting.
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| Ladder |
2nd day's climb was tough. 2000 feet in 0.8 mile. Grrr. It is like Mount Shasta.
Some portion has 8 sets of ladder.
As we climbed, the scenery got fall from winter. Above 3500 feet is covered with snow and ice.
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| Winter |
We didn't know that trails are already such icy and snowy, so we didn't bring microspikes. We will do need them for sure at next hike.
From viewpoint Mount Washington was visible. It was snow covered. It was pretty.
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| Snow Covered Mountain |
Then we finished the hike. All is good.
Our priority for the weekend activity is backpacking. If Saturday and Sunday are both sunny, we go backpacking. If only one of them is sunny, we go day hiking or kayaking. We mostly go hiking, but it is also nice to go kayaking. Variety is good.
A weekend in September, we went kayaking on North Conway Lake in New Hampshire. It is in the town of Conway and the lake is very close to Maine actually.
First 2 miles only I paddled. Even though our kayak is for 2-person one, I like to paddle by myself for a little. For my solo part I like to record the activity with app called Runkeeper. It records where and how the activity goes with GPS.
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| My activity log |
Since I paddle at the front of 2-person kayak, it is difficult to go straight. It is hard to keep straight from front. Kayak or canoe, direction control is mostly done by a rear person. For that reason, my kayaking record path is very wavy. It is very funny.
As you can see in the left picture, my line of paddling is left-right-left-right.....due to this I paddled 2.5 miles, but maybe less than 2 miles of actual contribution of the whole trip. Importantly, however, I didn't paddle on the ground as indicated by red line. I think that GPS was not accurate or shape of lake is not correct on the map. By rain it is easily bigger on the day of kayaking. Or the size of lake gets different as time goes by.
After I paddled 2.5 miles, Mr.N took over and now he paddled for a while by himself. I ate sandwiches, and drank water and chilled. It was a princess time. Mr.N paddled 2 or 3 miles, then suddenly got cloudy and very windy. Due to that we decided to go back. Unfortunately winds were against us to go back to the starting point. It was better to go back as soon as possible, so we took the straight line: meaning paddled in the middle of the lake. Usually it is better to paddle along the shore as you can see in the GPS log above, but sometimes it needs to be flexible.
Winds made a lot of waves on the lake, so our kayak bounced a lot. We got wet, but paddled together as strongly as possible. After an hour of hard paddling, we safely arrived at the parking lot. Wow. What an adventure!
９月のとある週末、ニューハンプシャー州にあるコンウェイ湖へカヤックへ出かけた。
MrNと私の週末のプランは、もし土日とも天気が良ければバックパッキング、もし片方だけ天気が良ければその日にデイハイクかカヤック。デイハイクに行くことの方が多いが今回はカヤックすることにした。バラエティに富んだアクティビティが我々は好きなのだ。
我々のカヤックは２人用なのだが、最初は私一人で漕ぐことにしている。筆者は記録が好きでランキーパーというアップでアクテビティを記録している。やはり自分の記録となるので一人で漕がないと自分の記録にならない！ということで最初の２、５マイル（４キロ）は私一人でのカヤック。上の写真がGPSでの記録。ぎゃー。酔った人の歩いた記録みたい。。。GPSが悪い。。。のではなく、GPSは正常かつ正確。２人用のカヤックを一人で、しかもフロントの席で漕いでいるとなかなか真っ直ぐ進むのが難しい。通常カヤックは後ろの席の人が方向をコントロールしているのでこういう結果になった（笑
そして４キロ漕いだ後はMrNにバトンタッチ。ここから私はしばしリラックスタイム！至福の時だ。まず、ランチに持ってきたサーモンサンドイッチをカヤック上で、しかも湖上で食した。美味しい。贅沢な時間だ。
そしてMrNが４−５キロ漕いだので写真でも撮るかなーと思っていると、なんだか急に雲が出てきて一気に風が出てきた。しかも風は逆風。逆風に向かってスタート地点に引き返さなければならない事態に。天気が悪いのですぐに戻った方がいい。ということで湖の岸沿いに漕ぐのではなく最短距離の湖の真ん中を突っ切ってスタート地点に引き返すことに。
風が強いので湖の波も大きくカヤックも揺れまくった。２人がかりで筋肉痛になるまで１時間一生懸命漕いでようやく元の場所に戻ることができた。ついた時は身体中濡れていた。ぎゃー。予期せずすごいアドベンチャーとなったが。。。楽しかった。
Whoa. Luxury car camping!
Why luxury? There is Wifi at this campground in Camden State Park, Maine. This was my first time having Wifi at campground in the U.S. It was a suprise, although I don't really need Wifi, and in fact camping is the best way to be away from devices. However it is exciting to know that a campground with Wifi exists in the U.S.
Not only Wifi, there is hot shower in the rest room. It is individual small room, no coins are needed to get hot water without time limit. Wow. What a campground.
The only thing it could be challenging in this campground is first-come, first-served. For us living in Boston, going to Maine in early morning is hard. We can't beat local Maine residents. Luckily we got a one second to the last available site around 11 a.m. Yay.
We set up a tent and went for hiking. It was a short hike starting from campground. Just a quick climb, we were able to see nice Maine coast along the ocean. My ocean is always Pacific (I am from an island on the Pacific), but Atlantic is pretty too. In fact all oceans are connected.
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| Maine Coast |
The line of Maine coast is pretty. It is soft and worm. The line is not sharp, so it gives me the impression of sweetness and relaxed pace.
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| Rocky coast |
East coast is known for rocky coast, but this side of ocean is not really rocky. After we came back to the campground, we went to the different side of coast. Now this one was very rocky. We sat on rocks and enjoyed looking at ocean for a while.
Then we went back to our campsite and started campfire. Campfire is a must, especially during car camping. Even if car camping, I love to forage. A bunch of firewood were sold at the entrance. I dislike to buy those. I LOVE to forage. Each bunch was $7! There are so many trees everywhere, and tons of dead logs are just on the ground on the campground. Why not foraging?
Forage-lover is not only me. Mr.N's uncle, Mr.B2 is a foraging junkie.
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| BBQ |
Over the fire, we had BBQ. Chicken and corns were delicious. Then we continued fire. While we were having cups of tea, neighboring campers came and gave us some firewoods for us. He said that his truck has a full of woods and wanted to get rid of some. I think that he was just nice, not really need to get rid of woods. Probably he is a local Maine person and he can bring woods back home. It was very nice of him.
Next morning, I started a morning fire (yah, I LOVE fire SOOOOOO MUCH. Because I used all the logs I gathered the previous night, I started collecting some woods on the ground between our site and next site. A couple was camping at the next site (probably local people in their 50 or 60's). The female saw me foraging and said to us, "Do you guys need woods? We are done and there are some here". Mr.N and I said, "Oh thank you." Then we visited their site.
Mr.N said, "Are you sure you don't want to bring back home?"
The woman said, "No, we are done, and we just go home now."
The guy also said, "Take as much as you want :)"
Wow Maine people are so nice!
Two neighbors gave us firewoods! Maybe they all saw us foraging and it was weird for them, because Maine people should have firewoods at home for winter. Anyway after getting woods gift both Saturday and Sunday, I was happy and love Maine people.
On Sunday we had a plan to kayak on the nearby lake. We arrived at the lake and got concerned, because it was very windy. Probably due to the strong winds, nobody was kayaking there. It is always better safe than sorry. So we decided to go hiking to the trail nearby instead. This trail goes up to the lake we had planned to kayak.
I didn't have a high expectation, but the view was fantastic. Many small islands were floating on the lake. Blue sky reflects the lake and the contrast with green was pretty. From the hills, I could tell how windy by seeing waves on the lake. It was a good choice to hike up this time. Next time it would be nice to kayak on a calm day. The lake looks very good for kayaking.
While we were enjoying the view, we saw a man and woman in their 60's hiking together. Their dog was adorable. He came to me and enjoyed being pet. The each eye color is different (blue and green, I don't remember clearly though). After I pet for a while, I started walking, but the dog followed me instead of staying with his owner. The owner laughed. Soooooo cute. I wish he could follow me more!
The guy and a female were talking while we pet the dog. Actually only the woman talked how he broke up her ex-husband and the guy was just listening. Obviously she was interested in the guy, but since the guy didn't say a word, I was not sure he was interested in her as well. He was only laughed when the doggie started following me. In-te-resting.
I really liked the lake and glad we went there.
October is the best season for fall color backpacking in New Hampshire. First weekend of October, it was luckily sunny both Saturday and Sunday. So we went backpacking in Northern part of White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. Because fall colors start in north then go south, the northern part of Whites is good to check out in early October.
According to the book of New England backpacking, the area we went this weekend, Killkenny loop, is the first portion in the Whites to get fall colors.
First we parked at the Berlin fish hatchery. Then we walked to the another parking lot where we would finish the loop. There were two options: road walk at the beginning or the end. This time we did at the beginning, because it is kind of tiring to do at the end. We had done several times finishing backpacking by road walking. It was tiring to walk on asphalt after long walk. This one was not bad, because it was unpaved road in the forest.
Besides, there was a pond along the road and already we saw fall colors, which was a plus. Especially fall colors along the shore was very pretty. After 2 miles of road walking, we started hiking on a trail. The forest is in yellow. It was really pleasant to be in the cheerful color.
Soon four backpackers passed as. They had a cute excited dog.
They asked where we were going to stay. We said Unknown pond (this is the real name. Not meaning I don't know the name!) or Rogers Ledge campground. They were going to stay at the cabin near the Mount Cabot. The cabin is free and there are some bunks. Nothing is fancy, but small pad is attached on the bunks. There is no need to bring a tent if you stay there, and of course it is protected by rain or snow. They asked where we would stay, probably because they were concerned if they could get bunks, since there is no reservation system but first-come first-served. It was only 4 miles from the trailhead, but they started early enough to get there by 2 p.m. The cabin looked nice and it would be good to stay there in the winter for snowshoeing hike trips.
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| View from the Horn |
After we chatted with them we continued to the viewpoint just before the summit of Mount Cabot. The view from there was really nice. At the viewpoint, we saw a nice guy who lived down the Mount Cabot. Wow. It should be nice to live near mountains. He said going down after view point without going to the top. Soon we knew the reason. The summit is in the forest with zero view. The guy recommend going to the Horn. A 0.3 mile side trip on the way to Unknown pond. The Horn was.....nice, but the view was blocked by trees. There were two side trips and this one is "recommended" in the hiking book, the other is "highly recommended". So I hoped to see a better view the other one.
We passed a group who was going to camp at Unknown campsite. They seemed surprised when we said we were going to the next campsite which was 2 mile more walk.
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| Campsite |
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| Campfire |
We deserved! The next campsite was exclusively ours! There are four official tent site in the Rogers Ledge campsite, but nobody was there. There is a square portion to pitch a tent (see the picture). The campsite is surrounded by yellow and red trees. It was completely silent. It was lucky to be only us.
There is only one fire ring to share, but all for us. I was so excited about having fire. Tons of trees were on the ground, so it was easy to forage for the fire. To start the fire, paper birch is excellent, because it burns super good. Birch trees were everywhere in the region, so fire was easily started.
Mountains in NH in October is really cold. This Saturday night, it was below freezing point. At that cold night the warm fire was quite nice.
The next morning, we did another short side trip to Rogers ledge. The view was marvelous. Red, yellow, orange were all down there! It looked like really someone painted one by one with paint brushes. We are lucky to go hiking in the right time to see fall colors.
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| Rogers Ledge |
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| fish |
After we hiked out we came back to the fish hatchery where we parked. We checked out fish there. They expand trout. Wow. Each section had small, medium, and large trout. It was impressive. However, I don't and will never understand why the plural form of trout is trout!!
The weekend was nice.
One weekend in August we went car camping in Vermont. This time we invited Mr.C and Ms.M2. They have camped a couple of times before, but not backpacked. So this time we did car camping.
Mr.N suggested leaving Boston 8 a.m. on Saturday, but Ms.M2 suggested 9 a.m. since she is a night owl.
Mr.N and me in one car, Mr.C and Ms.M2 in another car, we separately headed for the Moosalamoo campground, even though we live only a couple of miles apart. The reason? There is no reason. It looks like Mr.M2 doesn't like to carpool.
A little before noon, we arrived at the campground and ate lunch at the picnic table. The site was very spacious. There was a plenty of space for setting up tents, a set of picnic table, and a big fire pit.
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| Viewpoint |
After lunch we went out for hiking. The trail starts in the campground, which is convenient and nice. We hiked up to the Mt.Moosalamoo. It was gentle and easy climb and we didn't take long to the viewpoint. Ms.M2 said that it was not difficult. So we decided not to go back from the viewpoint, but continue to another viewpoint and make a loop to go back to the campground. It was an easy hike of 8 miles.
At night we had BBQ. Mr.M2 and Mr.C brought skewers of meat and veges. We grilled over the fire. We also grilled corns. It was really tasty!
After dinner we chatted around fire. Ms.M2 got freaked out several times due to spiders.
As night went by, we got sleepy. Now time to go into sleeping bag. Because Mr.C and Ms.M2 didn't bring light source, I loaned my headlamp to Ms.M2. Mr.C and Ms.M2 went to the outhouse with the headlamp.
Mr.N and I were near the tent and ready to go to sleep once they came back and return my headlamp.
They came back but at the tent I heard a lot of curse words. There were spiders in their tent. Mr.N and I laughed and waited the spider drama will be gone. Then they went into the tent. Hmmmm. My head lamp... after a while there was no hint of it coming back.
I sent Mr.N to get my head lamp back, because I am shy to ask to return stuff. I needed it in case I want to search something in the tent and to go to the restroom in the middle of the night, which happens once in a while.
OK. We went to bed.
Zzzzzz....
I woke up with voices of Ms.M2 in the middle of the night. I heard some F words.
I thought, "OK. They had spiders again"
I tried to go back to sleep, but their cursing and noise didn't stop.
Mr.N asked from our tent, "Are you okay?"
Ms.M2 screamed, "No!"
What's going on?
After a while, Mr.N went outside and asked if they needed help.
I stayed in the tent, but from the noise I figured out that Ms.M2 vomited in the tent.
OMG. We loaned the tent, and sleeping pads.
Mr.C went to the toilet and got toilet paper and wiped inside. After the mess for an hour at 4 a.m., Mr.M2 went into the car and lay down until 7 a.m. Mr.C slept back in the tent.
After such scene, I couldn't sleep deep. It was getting light soon after, so body didn't seem to want to go back to deep sleep. Due to that I had a headache in the morning.
We planned to kayak Sunday morning, but Mr.C and Ms.M2 went home straight in the morning, because Ms.M2 was still feeling sick.
What was the cause? Most likely meat. However, only 1 person got food poisoning. Maybe one specific piece she ate was bad?
Ms.M2 said, "I don't know, but anything could happen after such exhausting hike." At this point, Mr.N and I noticed that Saturday's short hike was too much for her. A lot of times when Mr.N plans hiking for a hiking club, some people who participate in them hate him, because hikes are much tougher than the statement Mr.N describes. He say, "moderate", but for some people it is "extremely challenging and exhausting".
Mr.C and Mr.M2 returned the tent and sleeping pads with X!@#S.
We paid for the campsite and We washed the tent and sleeping pad at home.
In the late September, we went backpacking in Bigelow range in Maine.
The previous backpacking on the labor day weekend was extremely hard (2.5 days with +/- 12,000 feet), so this time we decided to do an easy one. The distance was 12 miles, and the elevation change was only 3,500 feet. Another factor we chose this one in Maine was that the internet said that fall colors was happening in the region.
Hiking in New England. One of the most famous things in the area is fall colors. New England has clear four seasons. Then, there are many trees in the mountain. So, New England is the great place to see fall colors.
This fall is my second autumn since I moved to Boston. With taking advantage that I can go hiking in New England every weekend, I plan to see fall colors from beginning to the end. This backpacking is the start of fall colors.
Saturday early morning we headed for the trailhead of Bigelow. It was 4 hours from Boston. Maine is not very close to Boston, but I like Maine. Compared to New Hampshire where mountains with trees are dominant, Maine has more variety: mountains, meadows, lakes, coast line, peninsula on the Atlantic ocean.
In fact, the hike started in the lake along the meadow, then went into the forest.
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| Lake |
Near the lake, there were several campsites. I am not sure these are called backpacking campsites or just campsites, because it was only 0.5 mile from the parking lot. It is free and fire rings were already there. A lot of logs are all over the place. That means an endless campfire can be had! My favorite thing during backpacking is fire in the mountains with logs by foraging (read: free).
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| Forest |
After passing the lake, the trail went into the forest. The left picture is the first portion of forest. It's nice green. Humm? The internet fall color site said it is fall color peak in this area. OK. Green. Well, it is still nice to be in the pretty place.
Then uphill started. Some portions were really steep. There were a lot of steps made by rocks. The hikers on downhill said to us, "This is the fun part." Me in mind, "On downhill."
After a while, we reached the junction. From the junction we hiked on Appalachian trail. We saw a couple of AT hikers hiking with sandals. After seeing more than 10 AT hikers wearing sandals, I am considering to try hiking with sandals. I am curious.
Actually I got blisters during the trips in the Grand Teton. Because my feet's shapes are quite unique, it is difficult for me to find shoes that fit well. This problem leads to blisters. Maybe sandals prevent me from getting blisters.
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| From West Peak |
0.3 mile after joining AT, we saw a nice view, AND some fall colors. It is pretty.
There was a dog on the peak. He tried to catch a bee. The owner laughed and said, "Aw, stop catching a bee!" The dog still tried to catch it. He was adorable!
After only a couple of miles, we reached our destination, a pond. The pond has no name. There are designated backpacker's campsite. It is interesting system. There are many flat dirt spots for tent campers. Probably I saw 12-15 sites. Then, there are 2 lean-to. For those who don't know lean-to, it is a flat space made by woods with roof. One side is completely open (no wall). If it rains, it is great to avoid getting wet, but with winds, you will get wet. The two lean-to are very large, probably 10 people can sleep in one lean-to. However, everyone was on the dirt site with their own tent, and nobody was in the lean-to. Surprisingly there was only 2 tent site open and others were all occupied. We arrived there around 5 p.m., not too late. It seems that people like to do relaxed backpacking there. We usually arrive at campsite after 6, so it was nice to have long chilling evening at the campsite even though fire was prohibited.
There was a chatty AT hiker in the campground. She and her partner had been hiking AT for 6 months. She is from GA, and she said, "Hiking in New England is amazing, love it." It sounded like hiking in GA is not great. Also I wondered if she had ever hiked in the West. Mr.N told me that a lot of people on the East coast have never been to West. Whoa. I am sometimes surprised by the fact Americans don't travel much. I heard that many people don't have passports, and even don't go to other side of their own country. Although I know many people travel a lot here in the U.S., it seems people's activity patterns are really divided.
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| Pretty red |
Sunday was a short hike with only downhill. We saw more fall colors here and there. The left picture is some red leaves. It was nice with sun.
I am looking forward to seeing upcoming fall colors in this season.
