Dad, making it look easy. Basically this is what the whole trail looked like on Giant Mountain. A wet, steep, and slippery six miles.
A little panorama movie taken about half way up Giant Mountain on my hike today.
Pro tip: If you read a trail description and it says, “There are some more difficult sections of the trail that require technical hiking.” that really means, “Yo dawg, you gonna have to bust out some mutherfuckin’ ninja moves to get up this mountain.”
I hiked up Giant Mountain today with my Dad.
It was only six miles round trip, but it was some TOUGH hiking. We did 3,000 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles. Going up 1,000 feet every mile? Yeah, no joke, that is steep. Every step I took was more a leap combined with a deep squat. The footing was also tricky because there are a lot of areas on the trail with sheer flat wet rock slabs. Hard to get up, even harder to come down.
I forgot how tricky mountain weather can be! You need to be prepared for anything. I knew it was going to be colder at the top, but it’s hard to guess how cold it’s really going to be. While packing my bag I was debating if I should bring my heavy north face fleece and a wool hat. I knew I had to bring an extra insulating layer and a hat, but the question was how warm did I want my insulating layer to be. I’m so glad I brought my heavy winter fleece and a wool hat. It was sunny and about 75 in the valley with no wind, but on the summit the sun ducked behind some clouds, the summit was above tree line so there was no shelter from wind, and we were in the clouds so the air was very wet. So, the valley was 75 degrees and sunny and the summit was 50 degrees, wet, and windy. That’s life in the mountains for you, I’m glad I was prepared for that!
I’m so beat right now, but today was really rewarding. It was so nice to get back into the mountains.
Going hiking on Sunday!!!
It’s only a day hike (no sleeping in a tent, waaah) but none the less I’m excited to be reunited with my precious Adirondack mountains.
I need need need to get out into the mountains. I think it will make me feel a lot better.
MOOSE! Digging through my photos and I found these two….on man good times. Running into that moose right by the side of the trail was so cool!
I love the White Mountains.
(I need to make a new blog called “Ladies Rocking Outdoor Research Gaiters” Who agrees with me?)
Take me back! #summer #mountains #camping #hiking
Remembering and missing.
White Mountains, New Hampshire. Pemigewasset Wilderness, summer 2012.
I’m so excited to go back to the Whites over our winter break! Skiing and snowshoeing!! Can’t wait.
Getting inspired for my next silkscreen print for my Adirondack book.
If you have never experienced camping by a lake and hearing loon calls reverberating through the forest at dusk while you sit around a campfire, it is quite breathtaking.
More maps.
I plugged my camera into the laptop and found a bunch of hiking photos that I had forgotten about. I miss the mountains so much.
Then and now.
I’m far too tired to write about what has occurred over the past five days, but here are some pictures.
Let’s just say I’m humbled and I feel very grounded.
Welcome to the Wilderness.
View from West Bond at 8:30am
On the to do list: Learn how to Telemark ski.
I grew up Alpine skiing (heel locked in binding) I wonder if making the transition to free feel skiing is hard.
