Summer Vacation

 Got an hour?  Sit back and enjoy my reflections and photos of our summer vacation.  Or save yourself some time and skip the narration to just look at the pictures.  We traveled to Maine, New Hampshire and swung south on the way back to the Hudson Valley.  Sorry, no pics from the last part so I won't say much about it other than it was great to see our friends, Ann and Don.

Summer Vacation

  Normally Gail and I would take a long vacation in August, but what's normal anymore?  This year we already spent a week on Cayuga Lake, but when a friend invited a bunch of us to his wife's family vacation home in eastern Maine we decided to make the trip.  Besides being something different, it put us in the vicinity of Baxter State Park and Mount Katahdin.  Gail has climbed it before, but I haven't, and along with Hamlin in the same range, they are on the list of 25 highest mountains in the northeast that I am trying to complete.  Bill scored a parking reservation (required and not easy to do) so we thought if the weather was cooperative, we just might give it a shot.

  This was a trip of changing plans on the fly, even leaving was moved up a day when our neighbors insisted we turn Nina over to their care before our planned Saturday departure.  That was great because it meant we could split up the drive to Maine by spending a night in a hotel along the MA Turnpike.

  The first picture of the trip.  It's possible I overfilled the radiator reservoir and didn't screw the cap on the radiator quite right.  OK, I did both of those things.  45 minutes into the trip enough pressure built up to blow the fluid out of the radiator.  Thankfully, a very nice family with much knowledge of cars pulled up right away, went back to their house and got a gallon of fluid.  It set us back 20 minutes and cost us a jar of homemade salsa.  Not bad for something that could have been a trip-ending catastrophe.

 

Summer Vacation

 Once we finally got to Maine (a twelve-hour, 20-minute drive), we had a fine time hanging out with some of the guys I have winter camped with over the years.  Gail camped this year with Glenn and Roy as well, and has gotten to know some of them from various gatherings.  The house belongs to Bill's in-laws and is on Grand Lake, it was a fine place for swimming, kayaking and just enjoying each others' company.

Just look at the joy on those faces! 

While Gail was doing a 3-mile swim a bald eagle flew over and landed in a tree to keep watch.  Later, two more flew over.  She avoided crashing on the rocks and becoming an eagle snack.

We did a short walk up to the fire tower on Peek-a-Boo Mountain for a view of the many lakes and even a hazy look at Katahdin from about 80-miles away.  So close, but it just wasn't to be on this trip and we had to leave a day earlier than intended and missed a chance to climb it.  Guess we'll be going back to Maine again someday.

Always the rule-breaker.

A few of us went to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls, some of the guys even went to an actual course the next day and played nine holes.

I skipped the golfing outing and went paddling again.  More bald eagles and another encounter with a river otter family that I saw a couple times.  Canada was across the lake, I went under the bridge that crosses the outlet and had a short chat with a very bored customs agent.  I may have even gone to the Canadian side in a hidden cove to break the law by touching land, but I'm not sure.

Summer Vacation

 From eastern Maine we intended to camp Wednesday through Saturday at Rangeley Lakes in western Maine: one night in a campground and two at a campsite we would kayak to.  Since we left Grand Lake on Tuesday, we went directly to Jefferson, NH, figuring we'd backtrack to Maine for the camping.  Except the weather was perfect in NH for hiking, and we didn't really want to pack up and go to the campground for a night, the kayaking part was what we looked forward to.  Except the forecast was miserable for kayaking and camping, so we stayed in NH for nine days instead of the planned five.  Not a hardship at all.

Upon arrival, we did something Gail had never done in all her years of hiking and living in and near the White Mountains:  hike in Randolph, north of Rt. 2.  It is near the lodge we stayed at (the same one we stayed in in 2019 that is owned by Ithaca friends).  Crescent Mountain turned out to be a nice opening hike, and we would return to Randolph for two more hikes during the trip.  

The next day dawned clear and cool, and Gail had a plan:  She would drop me off at the south end of the Carter Range and I could get a peak on my list, traverse the whole range (four Carters, Hight and Moriah), then meet her on Moriah, which she would get to by hiking the five miles from Rt. 2 on the north.  Since she'd done the Carter Range back-in-the-day the way I was doing it, and then rode her bike back to her car after the 18-mile hike, she was happy with this arrangement.  She didn't have quite enough time to add Shelburne  Moriah which has exposed ridges, but nothing wrong with a 10-mile hike, and the views of the northern Presidentials from Moriah are spectacular.  Plus, while waiting for me, she had enough time to pick a bag of wild blueberries that I devoured when I met her.

Early in my hike, looking north to what I'd be covering.

And looking back from Carter Dome at Carter Lake and Wildcat Mountain.  She did suggest I start by going over that.  I think I did enough for one day and don't regret skipping it.

Since we hadn't taken the kayaks off the car yet, the following day we did a paddle on the Moore Reservoir of the Connecticut River.  Despite the perfection of the day, we only saw one other person while we were on the water.  It was a good way to rest our weary legs.

 

Summer Vacation

Scenes from in and near the lodge.

The view from the roof.

Sunset on Jefferson and Washington from the road.

If you ever do the .7 mile trail up Boy (Bois) Mountain, don't miss this trail marker or you're going to turn it into a mile-long trail.

Picking blueberries in the rain.

The view of Cherry Mountain (peaks are named Martha and Owls Head) from the back porch.

A bear dropped by on our first night to either welcome us or express displeasure for having someone there for the first time since May.  After this it showed more respect and went in the road.

Summer Vacation

 Friday had quite a bit of rain on and off all day, so after waiting around the lodge for a propane delivery we did a relatively flat hike to Pond of Safety.  It got its name when some soldiers from the Revolutionary War were accused of desertion and went there to hide out.  It must have been a lovely place to spend a few years to avoid the firing squad.  As for us, it was a lovely place to eat lunch in a downpour and head back.  Despite its name, I cut my finger when I got my lunch out of my backpack.

Gail wanted to get back there for a swim, and there's a rough road that goes all the way to it, but we didn't want to test our low-clearance car more than we already were and we didn't have a bike with us.  Next time.

Summer Vacation

 This was another day of changed plans.  We were going to hike with friends, but they got too busy so we decided to meet for dinner.  Under the new plan, I hiked solo in the morning while Gail went for a swim at a state park, then in the afternoon we would do a short hike on the way to dinner.

Encouraged by the weather forecast for the higher summits, I wanted to take the trailhead nearest the lodge and get up above treeline.  Gail dropped me off a little after 5 am with plans to pick me up at 11:30.  

 I went up the Castle Ravine Trail until I got to what I thought was above treeline.  The weather wasn't too bad, certainly nothing like what was predicted, but I was glad I had on long underwear, a hat and gloves.  These rocks were extremely slippery, and being alone I decided I'd gone far enough.  It was pretty tempting to continue just a little farther to see what the Roof Rock labeled on the map was.  I don't think I was above 4000', not above treeline, just on a jumble of exposed rocks.

Turns out this is what Roof Rock is.  On my way up I'd gone left at a tricky spot and that was just enough to miss the actual trail that goes through this cave.  It reminded me of the time Mary Ellen didn't see the UPS truck we were walking past: I'm pretty sure I don't have a brain tumor though.

On the way down, I misread the map and instead of descending to a ridge (?), I climbed a vertical wall for about a half-mile.  At least there was a nice view from the top of where I'd hiked.  When I was almost done, I had my second near-catastrophe of the trip when I made a misstep on these two boulders and landed on my chest to the right of them.  It just knocked the wind out of me so I sat on one of them to regain my composer before continuing.  I finished more than an hour early for my meet-up with Gail so I thought I'd see how "post"-pandemic hitchhiking would go.  It didn't go well.  But when I got to the Jefferson View Motel I stood by the driveway where even the people going 70 mph on Rt. 2 could have a chance to pull off.  No one did.  Fortunately for me, the owner was heading out and going my way so he took me all the way to the turnoff for the lodge.  If you're ever looking for a place to stay in northern NH, don't hesitate to call them.  Private cabins and snowmobiles available, and cheaper if you book directly through them instead of using an online app.

Summer Vacation

 Reunited, we returned to Owls Head, the one in our view from the lodge.  Why this summit gets no respect is beyond me, it has what must be one of the best views to be had from the west of the Presidentials.  It's not included in the 52 with a View or any other list that I've come across.  Maybe people don't like that you can only see seven of the eight peaks named for presidents.  I think we'll make it a point to visit every time we stay in Jefferson.

Summer Vacation

During the night we heard frequent rain showers battering the metal roof of the lodge, and when we woke up Gail declared she was exhausted and needed to take a day off.  That lasted until she got out of bed, saw that it had turned into a nice morning, and declared it was actually a perfect day to hike Ice Gulch.  Here's how the White Mountain Guide describes the trail:

Caution: The trip through the gulch itself is one of the most difficult and strenuous trail segments in the White Mountains, involving nearly constant scrambling over wet, slippery rocks, with deep holes between them, and it may take much more time than the standard formula allows.  There is no way to exit from the ravine in the mile between Fairy Spring and the Vestibule: hikers must either retrace their steps to the end they started from or continue to the other end....The trail is emphatically not suitable for dogs.

 At least we didn't have a dog with us.  We did see a bear on our way to the gulch, but it turned and went the other direction as fast as we did.

Looking good at Fairy Spring.

It gets your attention right away, and no, we did not try to exit the gulch here.

Scrambling and straining.

Ice.  It was August 2.  I'm not sure what formula we were following, but it took just over two hours to cover the .9 mile.  Of course, that included a stop for a bite to eat along the way.

Summer Vacation

   The next day, Gail did get around to taking the day off, at least from hiking.  She got a nice swim in the "pool" in Gorham which is actually a pond.  She was willing to drop me off at the trailhead that goes into King Ravine.  I thought about a long trek to get four more 4000-footers, but chose King Ravine because the forecast indicated it would be a decent day after the morning showers cleared, and for my money King Ravine is worth as much time as you have, especially if you have an opportunity to see it from multiple perspectives.

Here's the view of King Ravine from where we parked for the Ice Gulch hike.  I'd explored it a little in 2019 and wanted to go back to try the Subway Trail, see some more ice in the caves, then go up the ridge on the right, across the headwall and down the ridge on the left.

Boulders that create the Subway Trail.  I stole this pic from the internet because the people on the right provide some scale.

I did most of what I had planned, but not in the weather I expected and without the views.  The Subway was just too tough to get through on wet rocks, one slip and I could have been at the bottom of a 30' hole, and after I got back on the King Ravine Trail to get to the ice caves it really started raining so the krumholz immediately soaked me through-and-through.  I'd seen ice the day before anyway and sat under a boulder for shelter from the rain and ate lunch.  I then headed over to the west ridge on the mesmerizing lower part of the King Ravine Trail to do the real climbing of the day.  

It was still a great hike even without views; I especially liked the Spur Trail that went past the Randolph Mountain Crag Hut.  From there to Thunderstorm Junction the fog was so thick I sometimes couldn't see the next cairn that marked the trail, which made me a little nervous.  When panic started creeping in I thought I saw some ghosts standing completely still with their backs to me up ahead in the fog.  They surely couldn't be people, I hadn't seen anyone since Gail dropped me off.

When they started moving I realized they were a crew placing rocks to improve the trail.  They were as surprised to see me as I was them.  Once I convinced them (and myself) I knew where I was, they got back to work in a robotic fashion.  Looking at pictures from 2019, it seems I never actually saw Thunderstorm Junction: there's a massive pile of rocks marking it and I think it's somewhere beyond the one they've assembled for their work.  I thanked them for working in rain and 30 mph wind and got the hell off that mountain.

Standing above the headwall of King Ravine in 2019.  That small patch of boulders the arrow points to contains the Subway.  This year I was unable to stand like that as the wind funneling through the ravine and over the wall was blowing me off balance every few steps.

 The top of King Ravine Trail.  Visibility was really increasing by the time I got there.

Summer Vacation

 We had a plan to avoid the crowds during a climb of Mt. Jefferson with some NH friends on a weekend evening, and then come down guided by flashlights.  Geoff is part of a mountain rescue team so if he was willing to take his kids on such an adventure, we were up for it.  Due to another change of plans, we did it in the daytime on our own, and at no time during the hike did I think, "Yeah, I wish I were doing this in the dark."

We went up the Caps Ridge Trail, which has the highest trailhead in the Whites other than a couple along the Mt. Washington Road.  That makes it a short trail, but it goes up and over a set of rock outcrops (caps). After the second or third one, Gail decided she'd had enough of going up slabs that she wasn't looking forward to coming down, so she said she'd wait for me to summit and return.  After all, I was the one chasing a list of peaks, and she'd already been up there before.  It was a beautiful day to be on the mountain wherever you were.

Nice view of the Lakes of the Clouds Hut where we spent a night in 2015 after climbing Mt. Washington.

Gail had a nice rock outcrop to hang out and assess others heading up.  We encountered some people that day who made us wonder how the rest of their day went.  I suggested to a couple groups to take a route that was a bit longer to get to the summit on a more gradual grade.  I had done that for a different reason: I wanted to see more scenery, but when I came down the direct route on the Caps Ridge Trail, I was thankful I hadn't gone up it.

On the summit, my last in New Hampshire of the highest 25 in the northeast.  This is looking over at Mt. Adams and Madison, numbers 2 and 4 on the list.  Jefferson is #3.

A cool section of trail: don't go on the wrong side of the cairn.

Summer Vacation

 The last hike might have been the biggest treat, and surprise.  A couple good friends from Vermont, Tii and Dottie, came up for the day to join us for a climb up Garfield, another 4000' mountain with an open summit.  Dottie hadn't hiked much this summer so she planned to stay with us as long as able and then wait for our return.  Surprisingly, Tii had never climbed it before.  Looking at the map, it looked like a tough climb as there are a few switchbacks which normally indicate a steep trail, but in this case it indicates a former road to a fire tower that has been removed.  It was a steady, but gentle ascent for 4.8 miles, then a not-too-steep .2 mile.

What a view!

Looking over to Franconia Ridge, where Gail introduced me to the Whites back in 2003.  That first hike scared me some, and made me less of a macho-hippie-bullshitter.  Glad it didn't keep me away from the mountains permanently.

Look at that- Dottie made it, and only a few minutes behind the rest of us.

While I might not be after all the 4000-footers, I had considered heading over to Galehead, but that would have added over five miles of rough up and down so decided against it.  I did go down a quarter-mile to the Garfield Ridge Campsite to check out the modern plumbing they installed so campers have easy access to water.  Lot of nice stone steps along the way too: a great way to end a wonderful trip.

  I'm sorry we didn't get any souvenirs for any of you reading this, but we didn't have cash, or credit cards, just a post-dated, third-party check.  And they don't accept that for payment.

So glad we went.

Poppy Season

 It's my favorite time for the garden other than the winter when it's dormant:  Poppy Time. 

So enticing the monarchs can't stay away.

Some years we don't get any honey bees until the poppies bloom, but once they do, the bees come en mass.