Hiking | Raam Dev

Posts Tagged: Hiking

Mt. Jackson & Mt. Webster

This past Monday I hiked Mt. Jackson, checking off another 4k footer from the list of 48 in NH. The trailhead was located off RT302, right next to Crawford Notch in the heart of the White Mountain National Forest. At the base, the temperature was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so I expected much colder temps at the summit and prepared accordingly.

It was a steady climb up; there were only a few places where I didn’t feel like I was climbing stairs. Since I was constantly moving, my body warmed up and I ended up storing most of the warm clothing in my bag during the hike. Most of the landscape was lush — even tropical (it’s hard to imagine for New England, but there are rain forests here!).

Somewhere around 3,500′, I looked up and the tops of the trees were covered in something white. I realized it was ice! At the same time, I noticed the wind was blowing incredibly strong just 15′ above me; the clouds, so close I felt like I could reach out and touch them, were whipping by as if on a racetrack. From that point onward, things just got colder.

When I reached the summit, everything was frozen. It was incredible. The wind was gusting so strongly that I struggled to maintain my balance. I took off one of my gloves to take pictures and within thirty seconds I couldn’t feel my fingers! There were 360-degree views of the surrounding Presidentials — absolutely stunning.

I decided to take the Mt. Webster loop back instead of going the same way I came. It was an extra 1.6 miles, but I was in no rush. But before I left the summit, I heard a bird whistling to me. I looked over and there he was, perched ten feet in front of me on a frozen pine branch. Realizing I was on part of the Appalachian Trail, I suspected he might be accustom to being fed by passing hikers. I opened a food bar and sure enough, he ate right out of my hand!

The hike from the summit of Mt. Jackson to the summit of Mt. Webster was mostly easy-going terrain. There were lots of slippery log walkways winding through swampy areas that were overgrown with green moss. It was also still cold (the trees were still under 15′, and I was still exposed to the strong winds).

Overall, it was an incredible hike. The four and a half hours felt more like eight and the changing landscape, high winds, and friendly wildlife made the trip exhilarating. I didn’t pass a single person on the entire hike, probably due to the fact that it was Monday. :)

Date of Hike
2009/11/16

Hiking Time
Total Time (including breaks): 4 hours
Book Time: 4-5 hours

Hiking Distance
Round Trip: 5.73 miles

Total Climb
2,232′

Mt. Tecumseh

On Labor Day, I hiked Mt. Tecumseh, the lowest of the official 48 four thousand footers in NH. The trail starts just below the Waterville Valley ski area base camp (slightly back down the road on the right side, if you’re facing the base camp). The first two miles of the trail were beautiful and well maintained. In some parts, the forest was so lush it felt tropical. After the first lookout (where the above picture was taken), the trail becomes a lot more unforgiving and you’re basically doing stair climbers on rocks for a mile and a half (my thighs ached for days afterwards).

The summit area was extremely lush and the peak offered a nice view. I took a nap at the summit, snapped some pictures of a beautiful sky, watched a mouse scramble out from underneath a rock looking for scraps, and eventually ended back down.

Instead of going back the same way I came, I took the Sosman Trail over to the top of the ski trails. The panoramic view was indescribably stunning, but unfortunately by this time my camera had run out of battery. (I was, however, able to snap two pictures half way down.) Having an unobstructed view from the top all the way down to the base lodge was incredible and being on such a grassy hillside definitely made me feel like I wasn’t in New England anymore. I switched between jogging, walking, and limping down the ski trails. My feet were in a lot of pain from the previous day’s hike and from all the down-angled terrain, but at the same time I wanted to get down faster so the pain would cease.

Date of Hike
2008/09/07

Hiking Time
Total Time (including breaks): 4 hours
Book Time: 3.5 hours

Hiking Distance
Round Trip: 9.6 miles

Total Climb
2,328′

Mt. Tripyramid (North & South Peak)

On Labor Day weekend, I hiked Mt. Tripyramid, one of the official 48 four thousand footers in NH. The trail starts out with a relatively easy 3 mile walk along Livermore Rd. I went past the South Peak trail and took the North Peak trail instead. This trail went up the very steep North Slide (which is where the above picture was taken from); the rock face was very bare in some spots, requiring me to find cracks in the rock to hold myself down as I climbed. The panoramic view from the North Slide was awesome. The Waterville Valley ski area and Mt. Tecumseh, the mountain I climbed the following day, was clearly visible. There were times on the North Slide where I had no idea where the trail was (stay to the right on the slide!) but it eventually lead to a very dense forest.

Once inside the forest, the trail almost disappeared. There was a spot where I thought the trail branched off to the right, but after getting confused and exploring it, I determined it lead nowhere. The trail continues straight up and off to the left (the maps don’t show this at all) through very dense bushes (you can’t even see the ground while going through them). There was one spot on a rock in the dense bushes where the view opened up to the South.

There weren’t many views from the North Peak. The trail continued along the ridge through thick forest to Middle and finally South Peak. I took the South Slide back down, which had a lot more loose rock, but felt much safer than the very steep North Slide.

After the South Slide, the trail continued through the forest and eventually lead back to Livermore Rd. From there, I had the long 3 mile walk back to the parking lot.

I used a new app on my iPhone called RunKeeper to track my hike using the built-in GPS. You can see elevation, speed, and the route:

Date of Hike
2009/09/06

Hiking Time
Total Time: 5 hours 42 minutes
Book Time: 7 hours

Hiking Distance
Round Trip: 10.5 miles

Total Climb
3,289′

Fourth April Camping Trip

The weather was beautiful this weekend (temperatures in the 80′s during the day, and the upper 50′s at night) and I spent most of the day on Saturday lifting logs, running, and working out around the camping area (yes, that’s my idea of relaxing!). In my previous post I mentioned there would be bugs, ticks, and mosquito’s in a few weeks and that it was nice camping without them. Well I was wrong; they’re already there! Within a few minutes of arriving, I found ticks crawling on me around the area where I camped last weekend, so I decided to just pick a random spot in the forest near the stream.

The night was so warm that I didn’t even need a fire for heat, but I built one anyway (a camping ritual, or something). I pulled stones from the stream to build a small fire pit and used birch bark to start the fire. During the night I heard something moving around the leaves outside the tent and I kept getting up to look around with the flashlight. Finally I discovered a tiny frog was periodically jumping through the leaves making all the noise.

The weather didn’t call for rain and the sky was clear when I went to sleep, so I assumed I wouldn’t have to worry about rain. Stupid me. I’ve lived in New England long enough not to assume that. I woke up around 7AM to the sound of rain drops. The front of my tent was open, and a small puddle of water had already formed inside the tent. My pack, which also wasn’t covered, got wet too. Oh well, it was still warm (50 degrees) so the water wasn’t that uncomfortable. While it drizzled on and off, I started a fire just to see how difficult it would be while everything was soaked — it was easy (birch bark is amazing, even in the rain!). After eating a breakfast of oatmeal, dried pineapple, a banana, and peppermint tea, I packed up and headed home.

I didn’t take many pictures this time, but here are a few anyway.

Third April Camping Trip

This camping trip took place last weekend so this post is about a week late, but I wanted to stick with writing a post for each camping trip in April, so here goes (from memory). I took a better camera with me (an Olympus 770SW) and the pictures from the trip can be found here.

I decided not to camp down by the river this time, but instead camp in a clearing about 1/4 mile from the river. The wind blowing off the water made the previous two trips very, very cold and it made keeping the fire going difficult. This trip was much warmer than the previous two, at least during the day. The temperatures reached the upper 60′s on both Saturday and Sunday, but the thermometer I brought with me measured a low of 24.4 degrees Fahrenheit during the evening, and it definitely felt it.

On Saturday afternoon I hiked down to the river to see how much ice had melted. I found what looked to be a wolf print (although on second thought, it looks more like a large raccoon print), and after taking a few pictures and walking around, I returned to camp to spend the evening practicing various knots, keeping the fire going, and reading Ender’s Game.

I awoke around 3AM Sunday morning with freezing cold feet and needing to pee. There was no way I was getting up and losing the small amount of heat that remained inside my sleeping bag, so I toughed it out. It’s amazingly difficult to fall asleep when your feet are cold and your bowls are telling you to get the hell up.

I finally got up around 6AM to relieve myself and decided that dealing with the early morning cold and getting the fire started was, in the long run, a better idea than trying to go back to sleep and generate my own heat. There were still some hot coals in the fire from the night before and I managed to use them to get the fire started again.

I watched the sun rise and waited desperately for it to come up over the trees to heat the surrounding air. When it finally did, I spent some time exercising and and laying in the clearing relaxing in the sun. It’s early enough in the season that there are almost no bugs. A few more weeks and the mosquito’s, ticks, black flies, ants, and all the other bugs will be out in full-force.

Posts Tagged: Hiking

Mt. Jackson & Mt. Webster

Mt. Tecumseh

Mt. Tripyramid (North & South Peak)

Fourth April Camping Trip

Third April Camping Trip

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