[Andrew]

I convinced my girlfriend to come with me up to the mountains this weekend and try one of the 48 4ks. I don't want to overwhelm her with a stone face climb on her first hike in the whites. Is there an easy(ish) one we can do?

Any help would be great! I want it to go well so we can get fired up about the others.

Thanks in advance!

[dudley]

Andrew
Mt. Moosilauke (4800+)
The Gorge Brook trail from the Ravine Lodge (off rt 118) is so well mantained it's as if it was paved.
It's also suprisingly quick considering the altitude
I believe the book time is something just over 2 hours.
It's even easy for someone like me
A loop is possible if you take the Carriage Road down to the Snapper Ski Trail , then back to Gorge Brook
The bald open summit has very impressive views of the Franconia range and beyond

Franconia Range


Easy choice IMO


Not a 4000' , but still a good choice would be Chocorua
There's a good reason why that moutain is so popular

[Andrew]

That is awesome info Dudley! I will look into that hike this weekend. It may be raining so I'm not sure I'll get up there. I don't mind hiking in the rain, but she may.

Thanks! I'll try and get some pictures if I go.

[Paugus]

Andrew,where are the pics from our Wilderness Trail hike? Have you gotten them developed yet? Looking forward to the suspension bridge pics! We should have done the Franconia Ridge Trail today! I took Tessa fishing today at the Parker river in Byfield where she caught her first rainbow trout on her new Dale Earnhardt Jr. fishing pole! Fish was 17" long and had beautiful colors,daddy caught a few himself including 2 on the flyrod using my favorite,the muddler minnow! You should do Greeley Ponds with the woman if your going up this weekend!

[Darwin]

I agree with dudley on moosilauke and chocorua, they both offer up epic views for a realativly modest effort. But on a rainy day I would have to say it makes more sense to do a treed in summit like tecumseh or tom and save the gems for blue bird days. Oh and Hale is a nice hike too if the Zealand Rd. is open.


--Shawn

[Andrew]

Well folks, we did Moosilauke. Sort of...

My original plan was to go on Sunday, and thinking we had plenty of time to recover we invited some friends over for drinks last night. Of course by "drinks" I mean way too many beers, grilling, and a bonfire until late into the night. Needless to say, I woke up in tough shape; I'm too old for this...

I popped on the TV this morning while I downed as much water as I could and noticed the forecast; rain on Sunday. The headache I had must have somehow affected my judgment becasue something in my head twitched and I said "Hey, lets do it now!"

We left way too late and did not even get to the mountain until after 1:00pm. The lodge is not open yet, nor is the road to it, so we hiked up the access road until we came to the trailhead. Again, in my best judgment I take on the "No problem, I can get us up there" attitude and quickly guide us off... up the wrong trail.

Long story short, we hiked for hours. The trail was so beautiful! Green, wet, and deep woodsy - I loved it, and clearly marked it the best trail I've done in a very long time. I'm not sure of the trail name, but it followed an active stream through the woods for a while until it came to little bridge and began a more aggressive climb up. Surrounded by smells, sounds, and more moose prints than I have ever seen in one place, I was in heaven.

We got to what I estimate was about 4/5's the way up when we stumbled across one little problem - snow. There was enough snow on the ground to sink me up to my shins when my foot broke through, which at that point was every step. We had NO snow gear at all. What we did have were cold wet feet. I know, unprepared.

It was getting late and we decided to call it a good hike, but no peak bagged. We headed out.

Man, I can't say enough how nice it was. On the way out we saw a moose wandering around and took some pictures. We also met a hiker named Nathan who recently moved here from Canada. He shared some good reviews on other peaks he's done and the hiking in Canada. He seemed into it. Good stuff. By the way, Nathan got to the peak today without complaints - on the trail I was supposed to take.

Good hike, awesome trails, wildlife, no peak bagged. I'd give it a solid 7.5

This season is going to be killer!

[Darwin]

Sounds like a nice trip. Sorry about the non peak bag, but it will be there for another day. One thing I have learned about hiking is DON'T GO TO GEORGES THE NIGHT BEFORE A HIKE and I mean that. I saw the fire and almost followed the light and then thought better of it because I had to work today.



--Shawn

[bobelle]

Yeah, we are starting to realize that more and more....

BTW: I am Satch's girlfriend!

Meet Myrtle....we met her on the way out...explains all the fresh tracks and the noises....

P.S. Better pictures from the digital camera are coming...this was with a camera phone so it's not real clear

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[intrepidtravler]

Funny story....

Me and my g/f did Moosilauke last Labor Day weekend. The day was beautiful, the hike up (same trail, same stream, but no mooses) was pleasant. It was overcast and chilly on the peak, but another peak bagged. We took the Carriage Rd>Snapper trail loop back. Overall good hike.

When we parked at the end of the access road before our journey began, we saw signs stating that the lodge was closed for the weekend. No big deal for us since we came for the mountain. But it was on the way down that we started hearing unusual noises coming thru the woods. We were close to finishing our hike around 3'ish (about a 4-1/2 hr round-trip hike this day) and I swear to God the trees were talking to me. All of a sudden I blurt out:

"Is that Michael Jackson?"

At first I thought that some kids had a boombox down at the nearby swimming hole. But as we got closer to the lodge I could only think that was no boombox. I could see where the trail ended and the lodge in the distance and was bewildered as I saw a DJ on the second floor of the lodge boogeying to the mildly annoying early 80's disco/pop he was spinning. But what really made my head spin was when I came to the open field behind the lodge: there I saw about 150 kids attired in some of the most outrageous costumes also boogeying down the said disco/pop music. My g/f and I could only stand frozen in place, just soaking up this totally unexpected scene. One girl was dressed like a cow. Some had whity-tighties on the outside of their pants. Weirdly shaven heads. Tutu's. And on and on. And all of them being instructed in some weird tribal dance.

Well, as it turns out, these fine young specimens in said field were actually incoming Freshmen to Dartmouth College. Seems there's a hiking club at the college who maintain the trails on Moosilauke and in return they get use of the lodge every Labor Day weekend for the traditional freshmen hazing rituals. I found this out by wandering near the lodge and were immediately picked out as "non-students" by one of the Upperclassmen Hazing Supervisors. He was nice enough to explain this odd situation and we casually moved on our merry way.

So, if you ever want to try Moosilauke again and want to catch this unique experience take a little hike on Labor Day. Oh yeah, and bring a camera.

[Andrew]

Quote

Some had whity-tighties on the outside of their pants. Weirdly shaven heads. Tutu's.

[intrepidtravler]

oh....i'm sorry. were we talking about hiking??

did I mention there was a girl dressed like a cow?

[nkeliher]

Hey Andrew and all,

This is the aforementioned Nathan, whom Andrew met on Moosilauke. I'm actually looking to hike in NH on Saturday (tomorrow) and am wondering if anyone had plans that I could join in on. Not that I don't like hiking solo, but having some company is nice and defitnitely safer.

I'll be checking back throughout the summer and will try to give a few reports of the hikes I do.

Take care,

Nathan

[Andrew]

Hello,

Actually, did some damage to my back and went to the ER yesterday. I'm on pain meds and muscle relaxers for a week or so. I'll have to live precariously through you.

[dudley]

Andrew, on Jun 23 2006, 10:48 AM, said:

. I'm on pain meds and muscle relaxers for a week or so.

:cuke: :banana: :cuke: :banana: :cuke: :banana:

[bobelle]

HEY NATHAN!