Vacation Plan B (Part A)

 

 This may not look like a picture from a bike trip in Quebec, because it isn't.  Concerns about smoke from wildfires disrupting our itinerary made us reconsider our planned vacation.  We ended up going to the Adirondacks and White Mountains for some hiking, swimming (and biking).

We started with a visit to Mary Ann and Glenn at their house on Lake George.  Somehow, we managed to not take a picture of them, but I assure you, they exist and are lovely people.  They took us up to the Pinnacle for a sweet view of the lake and mountains on the other side.  Gail spent much of the first few days agonizing over leaving Roxy at home, but then she started getting pictures from the sitters and was able to get into the groove.

Next stop was a smart one: a hike up Smarts Mountain in NH with our friends, Kate and Bill.  Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the settings on my camera yet and had to turn the first picture I took with it into a black and white to salvage it.  Kate was days away from knee surgery but still managed to get up and down the mountain.  This is in their back yard, so to speak, and Bill used to climb Smarts once a month.

For the uninitiated (me), this is the spot where you think you're reaching the summit.  Hahaha.  That's the summit behind us.

 A fire tower on top offers views of central NH and VT, maybe a little of Maine.  We encountered lots of excited north-bound AT through hikers on the trail just reaching the Whites.

 Three varieties of steps in one spot: rebar, stone and wood.

 We made our way farther north to Jefferson, NH to stay in the lodge we've been fortunate to visit twice before.  It has been in the family of a friend from Ithaca since the 60's and they are generous enough to share it with us.  It is perfectly located for many mountain adventures.

I didn't just prepare for this trip by hiking: all the tree work I've been doing lately was also helpful for doing some tree cutting and pruning around the lodge.  They've wanted this dead spruce cut for several years.

 Down.  There were several more smaller ones, and lots of branches scraping the roof of the lodge that I removed too.

 

 

 Something new on this trip was having our bikes with us.  There is a rail trail near the lodge that allowed us to bike to our first hike which was up Cherry Mountain.  We hike it every time we're there since it's the mountain we look at from the back porch.

 We don't know for sure how the smoke was in Quebec, but there was a bit in northern NH the first day we hiked.  Not too bad (that's fog in the first picture, not smoke), but it really limited the view of the Presidentials from Owl's Head on Cherry Mountain.

This was our third trip up Cherry, but the first time we made it to the other summit, Martha.  What a coincidence that Gail's sister, Martha, called her while we were hiking.  An encounter with a trail maintainer at the end left us with a phrase that will become part of our lexicon from now on: Some people are handy to have around, and some aren't.

The next day, we drove to Crawford Notch for three new 4000' peaks for me, and a 3400' peak neither of us had been to, at least Gail couldn't remember being there.  Tom is on the right, Field is in the middle, and Willey on the left- all over 4000'.  The bump behind the cliffs is Avalon.

 It was a pretty overcast day, but the spiders were building webs in the morning so we were confident the rain had passed during the night again.

 Gail said we could get there by train, but it never showed so we hiked.

 Nice hiker, nice tree and nice stone.

 Gail saw no reason to climb Tom, a 4000' peak with no view (even on a clear day), but being so close, I added the .8-mile trip to claim another one.  Nice steps.

 Nice trail on Field.

 The higher summits were in the clouds when we were up there, but when we got down to Avalon, they were visible.  We also got a decent look at Webster Cliffs.

 The train never showed for the ride home either.

 We did make it home, and Gail braved the possibility of the oven exploding when she lit it to cook an incredible pizza and prep some vegetables for later in the week.

 In addition to tree work, I split some wood for our hosts.

 And I ate pizza.

The following morning dawned crystal clear: no smoke, no clouds.  Gail wanted a day off from hiking, but my obsession of doing as much as possible while in the mountains sent me for a return to Castle Ravine.  I was able to ride my bike to the trail head and I got this view of Cherry on the way.

When I tried this trail on our last trip to the Whites, my intention was just to get above the trees at the headwall.  There was no view that day, and it was raining and windy so I stopped when I got to these boulders.  No stopping this day until the top.

 At the top.

 The Castle Trail goes up/down Mount Jefferson on the left.  It looks like a fun one too.

 A view of where I started that morning.  The clearings on the lower left are above and below the lodge.

 One of the other destinations for the day was Edmands Col between Jefferson and Adams.  He is a legend in the Whites.

Two other legends are Ethan and Abel Crawford who laid out the Crawford Path, the oldest continuously used trail in the Whites (don't tell the Native Americans).  It is a cool trail that requires an incredible amount of maintenance to prevent damage to the fragile ecosystem.

 

 When I showed Gail my planned route, she said I should go up Mt. Adams since I would be so close.  I didn't rule it out, but there was enough on my plate already that I set a time restriction: If I got to Edmands Col by noon, I would consider it.  I got there before 11 am so what choice did I have?  It was a bit windy up there.

My route down was another repeat to see something I'd done on a foggy, rainy day in the past.  I took the Spur Trail along the west rim of King Ravine.  The day I came up it,  as I came to each cairn that marks the trail, I had trouble seeing the next one.  Not a problem on this day.

Above the headwall of King Ravine.  Mt. Madison in the distance, Mt. Quincy Adams in the middle and Adams right.

From Knights Castle.  Can you make out two of the three trails out of King Ravine?

From the porch of the RMC Crag Hut.  I think it would be cool to spend a couple nights there.

 Almost back to the bottom, a nice spot for a swim.

Thanks to this sign pointing the wrong way, and me not paying attention closely enough, the bottom was an extra 1.5 miles away after my swim.  I think someone who did the same thing as me smashed the sign in frustration.  I'd be more inclined to move it to the right side of the tree so it points correctly, but I didn't have a hammer or pry bar. 

I also didn't have my hiking poles for this hike and used these two sticks.  When the hike starts after an hour-long bike ride, you don't go back for something you forgot.

I went up that!?!?  Yep, and it was a blast.

 Google says 12.5 miles.

Gail spent the day exploring swimming holes and found plenty of refreshing water in addition to the "pool" in Gorham which is actually a diverted river that has swimming lanes.

Vacation Plan B (Part B)

 We've often met up with Vermont friends to hike while in the Whites, but this year we were able to convince Tii and Kyle to spend a night at the lodge with us and then hike.  Gail had dinner ready for them when they arrived after work, and I insisted they walk down to the road for the million dollar view of the Presidentials before dark.

The morning dawned crystal clear, again (we have great luck with this when we're in Jefferson).  I did my usual walk to try to spot a bear or moose, but as always, didn't see either, however, I got to the horse farm just as the beagles were getting breakfast.

We went back to Crawford Notch for our hike, this time to hike the east side to two 4000' summits in the Presidentials: Pierce and Jackson.  We went up the Crawford Path to Pierce first.

These aren't even from the summit!  But it was a fine spot for a snack and do some birding.  Kyle is an avid birder and has shared his passion with Tii.  She's a forester/botanist so hiking with the two of them was an added pleasure for identifying what we were seeing and hearing more than usual.

Crossing the top of Pierce on the way to Jackson.

 The final scramble to the summit of Jackson.

 

The larger white spot just down from the top of Pierce is the AMC Mizpah Hut.  We stopped there for lunch and were witnesses to a merlin chasing a swallow right in front of us. 

 Jackson might have been an asshole of a president, but he got a nice mountain named after him.  And those $20 bills come in handy sometimes.

 Some of the greenery along the way on that glorious day.

Just before getting down to Rt. 302, we stopped at this outcrop for another look at Willey, Tom and Field across the notch.

Google says 7.25 miles.

 What?  Just another cloudless morning.

Also another day to avoid driving.  We decided to try to bike Pond of Safety Rd. to visit said pond, and do a hike in the Randolph Mountains.  I was told by a local the road was too rough to ride but we thought we'd see how far we could go and then walk the rest.  They have replaced some bridges which has allowed more maintenance and we rode all the way to the pond before starting the hike.

 The overlook from Crescent Mountain.  I had a notion to hike that range (the lodge sits at the base of the mountain on the left), but a trail was closed a few years ago so instead of a bike ride of less than 10 miles to start, it would take a drive of over 30.  I'll be fine.

Randolph Mountain has two summits, and I was happy to stop at the closer one when I got to Lafayette View.  That's King Ravine in the bottom picture.  The Subway Trail is in the boulders at the bottom, the RMC Crag Hut is on the top right.  Three trails go up the headwall.

The Pond of Safety.  Back in the day, it was a safe place for Revolutionary War soldiers to hang out when they were falsely accused of desertion.  Today, it is a safe place for leeches to hang out.  No swimming.  Gail got there before me and encountered some folks who drove their car without the fob, so when they turned it off, they had no way to start it.  Someone came and rescued them.  When I was biking out, a NH state trooper drove in looking for them.  I wish I got a picture of a safety officer at Pond of Safety but didn't think of it in time and he drove away.

 An incredible view of Castle Ravine headwall from the road.

 Also on my ride home, I encountered a neighbor from just up the road who told me lots of local history and invited us up to his place to see the view of the whole Presidential Range (top) and I was able to get a close-up of Pierce/Jackson/Webster.  I was able to tell him about Lafayette View, something he never visited in his 50 years of hiking in the Whites.

At the lodge: Pond of Refreshment.

Fun banjo playing/pictures.

The view on our last morning.  It was getting cloudy with rain expected so we left after doing a few more chores around the lodge.  When we ask you to go with us next time, don't say you're too busy.

To break up the long drive home, we decided to visit Chips and Ann in Piseco.  Gail got there earlier this summer when Kristi, Harper and Dusty were visiting, but I hadn't been since a brief overnight stop last summer.  Chips and I thinned some trees along the driveway and we had breakfast on the beach.

Gail had a swim in Piseco when she got up.  I decided to depart by bike around the west side before the drive home and have her pick me up by Rt. 8.  I went past the airport just as someone was leaving the fly-in breakfast, and I stopped to admire the view of the hills on the east side of the lake from one of the state campground beaches.