From the top of Moosilauke

Today Jen, Nigel and I hiked up to the top of Mount Moosilauke.  We took the Gorge Brook Trail up to the top and the Moosilauke Carriage, Snapper, and Gorge Brook back for a loop hike.  It was beautifully windy (and a little chill) at the top.  There were some bugs on the hike back down - mostly annoying, not biting much.  The winds were bringing the Canadian fire haze, smoke and smell with them.  It was hazier than it should have been.

Jen and Nigel near the top:

From The 48 by 48 Blackberry Pictures

With the walk from the car, it looked like just over 8 miles with my GPS.  The book mileage says 7.5 miles.  It took us about 5.75 hours including all the stops.  It was approximately 2600 feet gained and lost for the trip.

Franconia Ridge from the top of Moosilauke:

From The 48 by 48 Blackberry Pictures

Click on picture to the right to see pics from this trip using Jen's camera:

training 2

I forgot to mention the strange knee pain.  It was the right inside tendon near kneecap and behind.  Was a lot better on Wednesday but now the left one hurts...  I feel like a broken pile of bones.  Did go running very slow mostly on trail with Lu for about 25 minutes.  At first the right achilles tendon hurt (which was what hurt last week and I took time off) but I went super slow and it went away.  Hopefully everything will be creaking smoothly for Sunday hike up Moosilauke.

training

Only did a short run and treadmill hills today because left hip was hurting yesterday after 45 minute walk. Well, left doesn't hurt tonight - the right one does...

urg...

Thoughts and connections

Went trail running with Lupe at the Attleboro Water supply area. This was 27 minutes of fun running with 13 additional minutes of walking. Put on a little less DEET than yesterday - there was a nice breeze going on - so no bugs really.

There are a few parallels of both Six Feet Under and Lost that I think make quite a statement about what we need/crave as mortal humans. Both shows were very successful and played a relatively long time (six years in both cases). They were shows about people and the connections between them, the interactions, with death as a background. Most importantly, both their endings (last episodes) were similar. At the end of life the white light, the flashing through our life, all the important beautiful moments that made us who we are. These are the experiences we had/have with people. Maybe even where we've been and what we've done with those people - the shared experiences, the "ahh" moments, like hiking up that mountain or across that ridge ... who knows.

I just read an article by Matt Samet about himself in Outside magazine. Wow - will need to get back to that.

Bugs and Deet

A bug got through all the Deet on me - I have one giant welt on my left forearm. I don't think it was a mosquito. It is like a horsefly bite but I didn't see any...

Went for a mini-hike with the Lu today at the Attleboro water supply. I forgot about those trails. They are pretty nice except that no one walks them and there are spider webs criss-crossing all over the place!

It was still fun - only 10 minutes from home. We only did a 2 mile/40 minute mini-hike, but it was nice out - sunny and a light breeze.

Trail "running" at Foxboro State forest

Went trail-running with Lu the Chihuahua today. I thought that there may be lots of bugs since it was so warm lately. Not sure if there were bugs or not since I deeted myself - which I think gives me a headache when sweating...

It was warm with some nice breezes. We ran for 20 minutes, walked for 2, ran for 14 more and then walked for 10. It was great - Lu is great on the trails.

My La Sportiva trail-runners are not as narrow as I had hoped or as reviewed by others. My forefoot has a lot of room to move around even with fairly thick running socks. They are great runners but I would call them an average width shoe.

Tecumseh

Hiked up Tecumseh with the 4 Seasons Group.  This was a great mix and good number of people.  Tecumseh isn't much on the scale of beautiful views but it still is a nice hike and mountain.  Pretty easy 5 miles.

We took the Tecumseh trail only on the East side from the ski parking lot. This trail can easily be done in trail runners - no need for hiking boots. Only a couple of places where the trail was damp or was a stream crossing.

Total mileage was about 5 miles and 2320 feet of elevation gain and loss.

From Other Camera 48 x 48

Winter wash

My plans to go winter hiking (aka expedition) didn't happen. I'm not exactly sure why except for mostly not planning well. See, for me to go hike one of the 48's (or anything on any list), it requires a 3-hour drive minimum. In the winter with about 2 minutes of daylight, that means being ready and leaving my house by 5 AM latest, sometimes earlier. This is kind of difficult since that means waking up by 3:30...Urgh!

Anyhow, I have done a lot of local hiking, running and trying to stay in shape - although that hasn't worked that well since I'm over what I should weigh by about 10 pounds.

I started trail running on the weekends! I used to trail run years ago with my dog Ripley. I couldn't even run in the street if you paid me because trail running was so awesome and wonderful! I also lived only 10 minutes away from some great trails. Now it requires at least a 25 minute drive. This is OK for weekends, but will only work for a few months while we have lots of light.

Well, I'm going to do a really easy one - Tecumseh - this Friday. I was hoping to try just trail running shoes but I suspect there still may be some snow or at least mostly muddy trails. So I will likely wear my H20-proof boots I got last year. This should be an easy 4-hour hike.

The following weekend I'm hoping for the rain-check hike with Jen and Nigel on Mt Moosilauke, an easy 5-hour hike.

Overall I've got to get ready for the BIG ones I'm doing July 9th - 11th.