January 21, 2008
We've got a small group today. I met Dave at Hannaford's Supermarket, so we could carpool. We also met Sarah Heck there as well. Dave had one remaining 'ride credit' with me, so we piled our gear in my Saturn and headed off to Lincoln, NH. After stopping in Lincoln to 'boot up', we met Bruce at the trailhead. Our group of four began the hike a little before 9:00 am. Here's today's track. As usual, the GPS track doesn't always fall on the trail. The track is accurate, it's the trail on the map that is off.
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From the parking lot looking up to one of the subpeaks of Moosilauke.
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We began the hike at blistering Dave Langley pace.
Over a bridge
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Now the going is about to get tough. After a nice warm-up, we slowed to a more realistic pace.
Beaver Brook Trail is also the Appalachian Trail.
The couple of times that I've hiked Moosilauke, I couldn't help but remember part of Runtrails' 2005 Appalachian Trail journal regarding this mountain.
Jim: "You're in better shape than I am, you know."
Sue: "Then how come you're going faster up this mountain than I am?"
I've currently completed just under 80% of the Appalachian Trail, and this is definitely one of the steepest sections.
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Sarah on perhaps the trickiest part of the trail.
I've hiked with Sarah once before. She runs ultramarathons like my friends Jim and Sue who I mentioned above. Sarah finished her first 100 mile race last year in the Vermont 100. Congratulations Sarah! What an accomplishment.
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These medal rungs were helpful.
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Come on Dave! Look at the camera.
Congratulations to Dave and Audrey who just got married. Audrey joked to Dave that he doesn't deserve her, but he is getting her anyway. Hmmm. I guess you could take that any number of ways.
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We're starting to get up there.
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Winter Wonderland
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Exactly halfway
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Look how blue the sky was!
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There's the summit of Moosilauke.
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Every tiny branch on this tree was coated with ice.
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We're almost there.
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Just before treeline we bundled up. Bruce had a thermometer that read 5° when we started. It has since bottomed out at -20°. To make matters worse we were about to step out into high winds. The plan more or less at this point was to make a run for it. We would cover the next .3 miles as quick as possible, tag the top, and return. Despite the extreme conditions, I managed to take a couple photos. Here's our small group on the 4802' summit. We stayed for a total of about 3 seconds.
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This was Sarah's first time on Moosilauke. It was the first time Bruce and I were here in winter, and it was Dave, the Grid-Master's, first time in January. This was my 15th White Mountain 4000 footer winter summit.
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Dave estimated the winds between 30-40. It was extremely tough to walk! Communicating with each other was impossible. We just made our way back to safety as quick as possible.
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Now it was time for a bonus peak, Mount Blue.
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The trail comes close to the summit, but doesn't quite get there. A short bushwhack would do it. Dave has great navigational skills and got us through the dense spruce trees fairly easily. After about 10 minutes of bushwhacking we found the bottle tied to a tree on the 4529' summit.
"We're here," said Dave.
"And this is significant why???" asked Sarah.
We got a good laugh and then Dave explained that it was a trailwrights peak. The official 4000 foot mountains of the Whites must have a minimum of 200 feet of prominence. Trailwright peaks only need a minimum of 100. This takes the list from 48 up to 72 for those who are so motivated. I haven't committed myself to this extended list yet, but if one is on the way, I might as well bag it. Here's the GPS track of the short bushwhack.
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We returned over the same route with the exception that I stopped to get a picture of the Beaver Brook Shelter.
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We finished the hike a little after 3:00 pm. After the long drive back to Maine, we reached Hannaford's parking lot. Since we were already there, both Sarah and I decided to get a few groceries. I came out to find her car gone. Not only can that woman run and hike faster than me, she can shop faster than me too.
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