Mount Willey Nov 3

First Solo hike for me for the 4000 club. It was a very cool saturday morning, and the weather was calling for storms. I parked off 302 the Ethan Pond Trail head, geared up, and started out. The trail map isn't very clear at all when it comes to the start, it shows Ripley falls off to the left of the trail but honestly you head up this trail to Mount Willey. I had prepared very well for this even had the trail map in my hand, extra clothes, and found myself sweating after the first mile. The entire trail from start to finish is a giant incline it never lets up, no balance out for a little, its climb climb climb.

Ripley Falls trail to Mount Willey.

 I found the entire climb to the top very hard on the knees, but not for endurance at all, infact I did not find myself tired one bit. The knees and thighs were a hurting from the constantly incline, and some of the section completely washed out. You find yourself on muddy inclines trying to climb rock, you slide because there isn't alot of foot hold to get steady with. Another common thing you will notice because of all the little creeks, you are basically walking the first half up in 2 inches of water. While it never really seeped into my shoes, this would be a nightmare if the temp dropped just a little. Unless you were in spikes or ice skates heh. About mid way you hit the AT trail until you get to the Willey trail head, its a nice small section but always makes me feel prouder of myself being on it. I don't have an real reason in my head, I think its because the AT is the hike, I'm sure some of you understand.

Another small part of the AT down.

Willey Summit climb, I saw seven people total on this hike, all of them said the same thing to me, this part of the climb, just brutal. The incline with the soaking wet rocks till you get to the ladder section is scary, you feel like you could slip at any moment, and alot of the mud before the each section has eroded away, you feel the slide you grab a tree branch or dig your poles in. On the other hand, you felt like you were earning this hike (Another feeling in my head alot of you share). Ladder section, scary going up, coming down felt amazing. Going up felt scary because the boards were wet and old and I was leaning forward to jump from one section to the next. This going down, not an issue in fact going down ruled, the ladders were great. Might just be perception.

Climbing fool!

After the ladders, is a small section of straight rock, you pretty much are going up sideways on the rock, I met a couple of hut to hut hikers we traded passing each other on this section, cracked a few jokes, I exhaled after they passed me on the final rock because I was like I don't want anyone to see me go holy crap this was tough part haha. From here its a straight 100 feet to the summit, the summit itself is pretty much all small tree you can't see anything unless you cross to the outlook section where it looks cut down over the rock. The view, killer, I mean I was stunned looking over, met a person named Eric who was a local this was his third attempt up willey and he finally made it. Said the weather for the last couple weekends made climbing passed the Avalon trail impossible, I felt like i lucked out.

This sets my soul at peace.

I had started at 11 got to the top at 2, I was impressed the mountain itself pushed me to take so long, but also I was impressed with myself for being alone hiking. Around 2:30ish, I had finished lunch, I started to hear the booms, looked up, and the storm was coming in, thunder and lightening, oh so very frighting. Look its Doot on the top of the summit with metal poles, I decided to make haste down the mountain as fast as I could, and I did an impressive hour and half down, granted it was all literally down hill, and I did not faceplant once, but you cruise going down. Between the ladders and the slope you just keep chugging along. If you go, I will say give youself enough time, i wanted to get all three but unless you are starting very early, you won't Willey's trail is a time consumer, plus lots of creeks to enjoy. But at the end you can look over and say, wow. This was great, and a 7 mile round trip just willey's.

That's Rt 302, and it seems small.

Mount Bear Oct 19 (Return of the Doot)

A last minute invite from friends brought me back to Mount Bear, with some of my favorite people in the world. 12 miles hike planned. We started much like before, up the AT which would lead us to Bear Summit.
I was way overdressed in the start, having double layers and a hoodie on, and we moved at a fairly fast speed (Yet still slow enough to enjoy our surroundings) The mud and muck from the spring was completely gone mostly was fallen leaves and a nice hard surface. From trail start to the first AT sign I remember last time being covered in sweat and feeling it. This time not so much. We stopped at log bench one, I got out of my layers and moved forward to the actual AT marker point, and took our first break. We had several hut hikers pass us and had a fast snack. This sunday we saw alot of people on the trail compared to last time.

AT Trail to Bear Tarik and Ian discuss how big my muscles are.

From the sign, we really moved fairly fast up the paths to the rocks, again other than the mini falls, zero water or mud on the trails. In fact I think this sped up our movement as we had little to avoid. I make a note here to say when we got to the summit it felt like we were there super fast, and I had no tiredness or even fatigue. Plus when I'm with these three, I enjoy the adventure more and more, I laugh more, hear silly stories and feel comfortable enough to say whatever stupid things in the world that pop into my head. I know I've said it a million times but the right people make this even more enjoyable than normal (Thanks Ian,Tarik and Jessy love you guys) Ok, Back to the trails, the summit was full of lots of people, so we found a small nitch off to it, had our lunch and Ian showed us some really cool places about CT/MA hut crossings. Learning new things every trip, one day I will share it with others who are out there. We decided to add on two extra miles and do Sage's Ravine which is the crossing from CT into MA. So we headed down the steep slope towards Sage's. This is the only part of Bear I ever worry about not cause its hard but cause its alot of loose rock. But again, no trouble, no mud, no water, we cruised right through.
 Sage's Ravine, please if you are out on Bear go down this trail, you will thank me for it. This creek starts out tiny and crystal clear, and grows. Side small creeks feed into it, and it becomes some really amazing water falls. We moved passed alot of amazing rock formations, where you could easily hide bears, wendigo's and ninja's, small little caves, hollow ground and other neat things. Yes, I could show you all sorts of pictures but for this section you need to experience yourself. You will thank me for it.

Jessy and Tarik crossing logs over the river.

As you move further down the ravine, you will notice all sorts of dual and tri staged water falls, some with rushing water, some that trickle over the side. For the most part you can climb onto rock and look over them, look down into the ravines and see how the water has rounded the rocks into various shapes. Water will change the surface of anything as well as its size. There are alot of amazing pools that you can see are smooth as marble. This section will lead you to the CT/Ma border. We moved onwards passed the campgrounds heading to mass. About a mile into it, you will reach the border, you will cross a small rock section and see two signs.

One side of AT CT

Across the River in Mass AT

We had a small snack break here, signed into the AT trail box, shared a good laugh, and a drink. I think at this point all of us agreed, wish we could be out here more and more, and less and less work. We packed up, and headed out of Ma, back into CT to make our last 3 mile descent. I had noticed the bog on the right side of the trail had gone down alot, and the frogs last time were tadpoles, giant now. We were moving fairly good and spirits were high, as we made our way back the last 1/4 mile or so we decided to run/hike fast, we all crossed the ending together like a team. And amazing sunday to say the least.

Bear Summit, to the left are the huts on Mass side.

Sage's Ravine falls

Mount Eisenhower Oct 13th

A late start leaving the cape at 7 am, we got lost a bit on the way, ended up asking the AMC shop better directions, found the right road and down we went. Edmand's Path is the trail we decided to take early this week since it had a direct loop to Eisenhower and Pierce. Edmands, is really nice and easy, alot of things to look at. This first entire section is mostly gravel and leaves with several plank bridges over small creeks. Not a giant incline but a nice relaxing pace, of course I lagged behind to take lots of picture well my fellow hikers waited up on me several times.

Most of the entire lower part is like this.

 

 

 

 

 

As you begin to get higher, you start to get more rock trails, found on most of the White Mountains, nothing very stressful on the knees. I did notice these rocks were not as slippery as previous hikes I have done before, even if they were covered in water. I really enjoyed this climb as I walked with two girls who were from florida, they had done the Notch the day before, we traded stories as we walked, they were intrested in my Black Diamond poles, really nice people. As we got to the higher mid section were the water fall was, they waved farewall and headed back towards the bottom. They were tired from the day before. After catching up with my fellow cape hikers, we passed many different people all so friendly "A hello, amazing day out, enjoy the summit." And people wonder why I fell in love with hiking, this type of vibe is exactly what I need. Mid way you can start to see over all of NH, and some amazing views of the surrounding peaks.

About mid way up, hanging off a tree.

From the mini water fall to the summit base is about a mile left, its a nice rock climb, where the mountain lets out everything built up, surprisingly these were not slippery either, and you can see the end of the trees getting shorter and shorter. This trail goes around a bend to the bottom base. You can take a left to Pierce, or a right up to Eisenhower peak. We took the Peak trail  here, and on the bottom we met some really nice ladies who were repairing the trail, I stopped to talk to them for a few, they had adopted this section of the trail. I asked to take a picture of them, thanked them for helping keeping the very trails I was walking on safe for all the people who use them. Super friendly I wish I got there names to thank them better in this blog.

AMC fixing up the trails. Thank you.

Finally the last stretch to the peak, not bad, lots of wooden stairs, and what really feels like walking on beach sand. On the top is a rare red moss, and the summit peak has no markings, just a carine up to show, yes you were here. We sat down had a nice lunch, shared a victory beer, and enjoyed the amazing view. This being so late in the day we walked to the bottom where the path to Pierce is, discussed time, and not having a real trail map, said we can come back another day for Pierce. Overall the views on the top are so worth going, and the company I had made the day. I would say if you get the chance this is a nice one day hike 7 miles, take it if you get the chance.

Summit looking down, countless miles.

                                      And the crew for this hike all from the Cape area.

Paul-AJ-Dan-Andy-Me-Brinny with Chloe on four paws.

Mount Moosilauke

Sept 29,2013
We left Cape Cod early at 6 and headed our ways out for White Mountain adventure, new people for me to hike with this week. My comrades would be Dan, Paul and AJ, all local cape people, two who had never hiked before. We parked at Beaver Brook, which I had hiked the opposite side trail before.
We were without an offical trail map, mostly because I had looked over the trail several times and felt comfortable enough to make this trip. Beaver Brook to the AT link, this section I personally could have stayed on, taken a million pictures and never left.

Beaver Brook, Lower falls.

 

 

 

The trail is then marked with a caution sign, extremely challenging, can be slippery with water and ice. This did not deter the two new hikers, nor myself. I would say this could be very dangerous in the right condition, the rocks this sunday were wet but not slippery and the climb was not to overly stressful on the body. Plus climbing up rock that has stairs in the majority of it isn't much of hiking its more of walking up a hill. Including with rails on most of the parts, this I think is a great idea, seeing how in the rain or snow, this would be one giant slip and slide. The river drops down for about a half a mile full falls, so worth just enjoying it, we took our first break about mid way through got some great pictures.

Over a mile of falls, nature claims trees.

 

 

Onward, you pass Beaver Brook shelter, my comrades had passed on way ahead so I still have not got to seen one of these magical places, but next time. This small section is part of the AT, and not really of a giant incline, again more rock than root but alot of trees covered in moss, and if you look closely you can see how the water has washed away alot of the lesser plants, lots of birds sing here, I think its from stealing food from hikers. A decent rock formations stand on each side if you go slow enough and look. You have several turns on this trail that bring you to the opposite side of the mountain and off the AT. This small area is made for the slower moving want to see natures finest you get a mid line view of all your surrounding mountains.
 Junction to Summit climb, several winding paths, more rock, zero root on this section, the dirt is barely visable under the mud, moss has taken over most of this section on the lower. The rocks here are larger more stable for your step, I personally had alot of confidence here and breezed through this section, there wasn't alot of jump out at you area, its a dirt winding path through mud and surrounded by small trees and mud, not a giant view but I did find in this section the only one red flower. It caught my eye and i had to stop and take a picture.

Even the smallest refused to quit.

Peak to Summit, thing old fashioned hey-style grass, with the carines, I loved the peak, I loved the summit, my words for the view, couldn't even touch what you see. From my heart I will tell you the view is to live for, you have Mount Washington on one side, Vermont on the other, and lower NH. If you get the chance this peak is worth spending some time, just basking in how small you are compared to the sky. We had a mild lunch, shared a drink, I poked around, talked to some locals just trying to meet more like minded people. Well worth it, overall 10 mile up and back. Look forward to more. Hope to meet you all out on the trails, be great, keep smiling!
        

Third of 4000 club down.

48 Flags on the Summit Mount Hancock

Mount Hancock is a set of twin peak mountains, North/South Peaks. We arrived early in the morning for the 48 Flags on the Summit event. The fog rose from the forest hiding the summits surrounding us. We met the second group, whom were very nice and friendly and prepared ourselves for the 10 mile lollipop hike. Starting out, the trail to North peak is flat, gravel rocky, white mostly with a river running to the left side of the trail. About a mile in is your first of five crossings, some very easy some not so much.

Tarik, Jessy and Ian crossing section one. You couldn't ask for better people to be with.

 

 

After another two crossings several where you have to be careful of loose rock, slippery rock (more on that in a bit) and just plain no place to go but leap of faith. The second crossing demanded a sacrifice, and took my sunglasses, my leap of faith wasn't high enough, and took a one footer into the river. Not so much a big deal just squishy toes for the rest of the trip. After another crossing you meet were root and rock take form, this begins the north ascent and were I learned I'm not where as fast as my comrades in arms. I lagged behind, taking pictures here and there, exploring the moss covered forest but still pushing myself as fast as I personally could. This trail was something you have to enjoy, mini falls, rocks covered in moss, and fallen trees. You can see the elements of nature fighting for survival. Impressive is an understatement.
  North Peak trail .07 miles, doesn't even sound like much, except its directly up, its very loose rock, it makes you watch your step, and your poles get stuck into the ground. This challenged me, this slowed me down, and this made me frustrated not because the trail was hard, because I felt I should have been doing better. I fell far behind, Ian would wait up every five or so minutes and keep pushing me, driving me on, this helped alot, and I always sugguest having great friends with you.
North Peak Summit, we arrived early for our noon time for the flag raising, it felt good, i was beat from the climb and it showed. We found some amazing birds that would eat from your hand, head (Don't ask) and very friendly, I found a spot on the rocks, to lay and hope the fog would rise, sadly it never did. We could hear the helicopters, but we couldn't see them, everywhere was surrounded in grey. This was the cool down, getting cold, not moving, till 2, and my body started to give me the I'm shaking. Make a note be prepared, if it wasn't for Ian again, I would have been without a coat, and freezing, from my previous hikes I was never close to a 4000 footer, its really cold when you have down time.

Jessy(left)Ian(Top-left)Tarik(right)(Your fearless blogger middle)

Ridge Trail from North Peak to South Peak, we got moving again, warming the body up, this trail itself wasn't bad, infact it was a welcome break a slight incline coming up to South Peak but really straight forward, roots not rocks, keep moving forward feeling. I would love to include detail more but think dense woods with moss, you really couldn't see much else but fog around us. Steven King's the Mist, yup perfectly fit in the mood. Plus Yeti's.
  South Peak 4000 #2, South peak didn't seem bad at the top, we got a breather, and this would be our descent down path, the four of us decided at this point sitting and resting would just make us cold again, and we would move forward.Once again I was at my pace, and fell behind, even trying to push myself, I was ahead of group two, but couldn't keep up, plus King the Siberan Husky I think was taunting me the entire time as he had no issues moving down the mountain. Great dog, full of heart.
Crossing the river, this time was my downfall, I made it across the first go, the second go, I lost my footing, slipped and went down pretty bad. I felt the knee hit the rock and my elbow hit harder. Frustration set in, I was careless, and angry and trying to move fast , losing my footing, losing my poles. I believe the mountains wanted Blood and it demanded it from me. The second group had caught up to me and saw me fall. Good people wanting me to sit down to try to bandage myself. I wasn't dead, I wasn't done. After taking a breather, making sure nothing was broken, there was only one choice I would make get up, and keep going. By then the news that I had fell caught up with everyone else and they were worried. I wasn't ready to give up not when we were so close to finshing, we pushed forward, through the last couple miles, and it was good to finish with my friends. We headed back to our camp for the night, to cheer the mountains, ourselves and to friendship. I look forward to taking on the other 46 with them.
I learned alot about myself,my friends, and how people on a trail are there to help each other. I couldn't imagine being out there without them, thank you for inviting me, thank you for coming, thank you for being you. I am blessed to have you all, and love each one of you for these memories, more I hope in the future ~~Derek

48 Flags (9-11) Hike to remember.

Pawtuckaway State Park Nottingham NH

Early to rise on a perfect sunday morning in New Hampshire, after leaving Derry NH, headed up with a crayon made map from my amazing friends the Boulanger's. Off on my way, the trip which was about an hour from derry was direct straight forward, and following the swiggly lines I got there in a jiff.

Rt 156 Really easy to find.

  

 

            

The visitor center is about a mile down to the trails, I do suggest you drive down to the trail since you can and park right in front. The first trail I chose started on Mountain Trail that leads to Fire Tower trail, it's a non stressful, direct line from the first to the second, very mild slope but plenty to see. Including the beware of Black Bears sign, its an inside joke. You pass several different small ponds which have great view points. Lots of rocks and roots, so you do have to watch your step but not a lot of steep incline. 
                        

The first entire section is open trail.

This trail is marked very clearly with a white square and you can follow it down, passed natural small waterways, several small waterfalls. I personally love small waterfalls and take my time to appericate them. You can see giant rocks that liter the forest, I don't know if this used to be a quarry or something but they seem to be random and kinda out of place. 
      Fire Tower trail, the best section of this hike, its steep, has alot of rock inclines, and you keep a steady upward feeling to you. A couple of the trails leading up are closed, there was a logging cut back trying to save some of the older trees, which according to the signs is working. I really enjoyed this part, you can see in the distance the firetower but mostly its shadow till you get to the top. 

More incline, more of a work out.

Finally at the summit/Firetower top, you get one hell of view, after a short three mile from start to top, its really not a bad walk. A decent work out if you are in the area, well worth the five dollars to park inside the park. When you get views like this, you appericate them more. Glad I decided to take this walk.

Good morning friends.

The walk back I decided to ignore the map, just go with it, if you get the chance do the same, the off beaten non marked trails, have more of an steep, and lot more rock to climb over. Overall, a good trail, not to much beat up on my shoes or hiking poles. I barely drank a quart of water, so you can keep that in mind if you decide to visit, you can drop down to nothing if you chose.  Get out there friends!

Mount Monadnock NH June 23 2013

Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, one of my favorite climbs to date. This was my first Doot lead the way up with my friend Tom. This was his first time hiking and he did a really good job, with no complaints. We chose to go the hardest way up, all rock, steep, and don't you dare slip. Granted my New Balance hiking shoes, not the best choice for this path, but we did it anyways.

Tom heading up, as people look on.

This is the trail i would personally take everytime I go up, its a work out. Every peak leads to another peak to climb, with a view to kill for. We did this in the middle of the hottest week in New England not the smartest choice, but was helping Tom prepare for Mudder, not that he needed it, he wanted to do it. I know his Team will be doing it again in 2014, and I know they will do just as great as they did. Back to the trails though, up top, how do I explain, you can see several miles, just you, the sky and this day about seventy five people. I think they all had the same idea. It was to nice of a day to pass up.

Half-way there.

One oddity that still bothered me, when you get to summit, there are little small pounds, or puddles rather, with countless frogs. How did they get there, to this date it still boggles my mind. I don't mean one or two, I mean hundreds, I got a good chuckle out of it. We at this point really didn't have one trail to go down, we had several. If i recall correctly we started down one, and mid way decided to shimmy across the top to another trail Everything is very well marked, but i wanted to see as much as possible before we ran out of time.

You won't find this sitting at home.

 

Early Spring Bear Mountain, CT
Nine miles, to me at the time sounded like torture, I mean I was out of shape, not really understanding what it means to get up and go. But this is where the itch got scratched, and really changed my outlook. My good friend Ian who has walked this before was my guide, and showed me the ups and downs of hiking, yes that was a corny joke but I laughed to myself.

The cool part of this hike is its part of the Appalachian Trail, I'm fairly sure you know it runs from down south in Georgia to the upmost of Maine.  It was my first section and made me feel really good about myself. When people say the first mile, you feel it, this is what made me experience that. About one mile in it starts to get very steep, and you feel the burn in your legs. When you hit the second wind, it all goes away. Bear has some very rocky, go slow, watch your step trails, as well as go at your own pace not so hard. I believe we took the harder path, which in life thats what I want to do.

Your fearless Blogger.

 

 

 

On the top of Bear is a giant rock pile, where we met an AMC guide who was counting people as they hiked, really cool guy, shared a bite to eat with him, talked trails. This is where I learned people hiking are honestly the nicest people on earth. We are all out there for different reasons, together we all love what we do. We had a decent lunch and decided to take the circle path back, going down, the rocks where very steep, and you had to put one pole in front of you. This made me appericate, the s turn, you know when you walk going left to right so you don't break your bones. Finally crossed the swamp back, which was a little bit rocky and wet. Back to the starting point, 9 miles, honestly didn't feel like it till the next day.

Sleeping Giant Hamden, CT August 23 2013

This was a new set of trails to me, and luckily I had a good guide who knew her stuff. We touched base on every trail we could. The overall level of hiking wasn't very stressful on the knees but had some great views. I really did enjoy the trails and company, they had some nice cliff over hangs that let you look down and over the rise.

Looking down the Giant is broken down into many sections head, arm, legs, torso each with trails going over and under these body parts, while I have a decent imagination, I really couldn't see them. There are alot of unmarked trails that if you are talking and not paying attention you can walk right down, and off your direction. Several times we did this but so many trails intercross you really find your way fast. The rock outbreaks on the lower half , really look neat, and to me remind me of old bear caves, dark forbidden and in the right time of the day you could scare the daylights out of someone.

Overall this is a nice enjoyable hike, you could spend several hours there and not cover all the grounds, and if you have the time, there are hidden pirate trails, no not really but the markings up top for the polo field really look like pirate swords and caused me lots of amusement. So I would say if you are in the area, well worth the hike.

Mount Snow 2013:
This is where it will start, and where I will need to be ready for Tough Mudder 2014, but before we get to that. Let's talk about me, who am I exactly and what this is all about. My name is Derek Bell, I'm 36, from wonderful Cape Cod Mass.  I have not been an avid fan of the outdoors, I was never a get up and go type. One day in 2012, dear friends of mine took me out sking for the first time. Needless to say it was the start. Then a trail called Bear in CT, just a taste, now I can't stop. If it's sunny out, and I have the day off, I'm trying to find where to go. Not just for the love of the hike, for the peace, the nature that I missed. There are places I have walked, that you won't ever see behind a desk. There are views from the top, I wouldn't trade the world for. And this is my journey, I know with good friends at my side, and the world under my feet, I hope to share my stories with you.