Mount Hale 6-21-14

Mount Hale, is actually a bit of a ride for me, left the cape at 7am arriving at the beginning of the trail around 11, granted, I had several stops on the way to, almost a three and a half hour drive. Hale is right down the street from Brentton woods, so i kinda get easy directions, even if the GPS lied to me and got me lost once...or twice.
   Let us begin my friends...Hale Brook Trail, starts actually very mild, slow even. But it has alot of mini brooks running through it. The entire surrounding area is green, you feel like you are in a lush area. Lots of falling trees and brooks, most of the brooks have nothing to cross then, you are rock jumping or finding a falling tree. Which to me is fine, nothing like a natural trail. If i recall correctly there was only one or maybe two sets of wooden steps, for the first two miles.

Not a bad walk on a saturday.

What I did enjoy about this trail alot, no rooted trails, as most of my hiking friends will say, I trip on roots or rock, wet roots, wet rocks, makes Doot fall on his face. Sand, gravel, pretty much all the way up to the top. There are some rock switch backs here and there, this used to be an old donkey trail according to locals. Lots and lots of stuff to look at, falling trees, flowers, and brooks.

This it basically the make up of the entire trail.

The last 500ft, I will not lie, even last half mile, Brutal on those with bad knees like myself, the incline. Ouch, I have hiked much longer trails, but this was the first time I can honestly say I felt my knees shaking. It's very level until you reach this point then its direct up, no if's ands or buts. The person I had ran into was walking with, was in his 60's said, he has done all of the 48 this was his favorite just for this reason. "The last 500ft feet will feel like the longest thing you have ever done" He says to me.

Looking down on the trail.

When you finally get to the summit, there isn't a marker, just a set of stones in a wide opening. Under the hot sun, I laid down, to bask in its warmth. One of my favorite things to do on a peak. Just sit there in quiet and see how close I am to the sky. Over look the world below and let balance come back. I guess everything settles itself out at that point.  And then I head back to the world..

Hale Peak Summit.

Overhead..life is good.

Mount Tecumseh

6-14-2014
  A nice trip upwards to  Waterville valley area. The lowest of all the 48, but really not a bad hike. Lower area of the trail is alot of rock with mini falls like the majority of the trails I have been on, not a giant incline at all, but a nice pace along the water, these are no where near Sage's falls but they are small and enjoyable.

Lower region of Tecumseh.

And let there be stairs...

This is a fairly short distance hike, about 5 miles round trip from the parking lot of Waterville. The lower half is friendly to the knees, easily crossed and not stressful at all. We managed to cover 1.8 miles on this lower trail in about an hour. Around mid area of this trail, it becomes my least favorite thing in the world, rock stairs, and i mean lots and lots of stairs. Knee killers to me, I dislike them greatly not because they are hard to climb, but after the 500th lift up a stair i wanted to punch myself in the face haha. There is a nice cut through view around, you can walk out to the boneyard on waterville. A old snowboard park/trail area, a very nice view and a good break from the stairs.

The Boneyard.

From the little trail section "View" you keep on going up more stairs, and a decent incline, this is where I found it to get muggy and I break a decent sweat, but as soon as you do it levels out, and you are on the path to the summit. There is a loop around trail to and fro summit wise, one is fairly slower moving the other you can steam roll. We took the harder of the two there, and the easier back. Summit wise there isn't a marker like other mountains just a sign, and a couple of rocks to sit on. A good view of the entire valley.

Woodstock Inn 4000 Footer IPA/ Myself and Ryan G.

We decided to swing across a ridgeline and hit waterville valley  mountain on the way down, we thought it might have been on the list and wanted to make sure, but it is slightly under the 4k mark, still a good fun walk down there trails. I did notice, there are tons of giant holes in waterville like people fall inside holes, it was very strange to me, but i assume before Ski season opens someone will fix/fill them. Waterville is not steep/ challenging or hard, but it is a pain on the knees, you have to keep yourself from running or moving forward to fast.

What no snow during the summer..bah.

May 31st

Tough Mudder - A year in the works, I had everyone I love from CT with me for my first go on Mount Snow. I have hiked Mount Snow before several times, and the miles, I was not worried about what so ever. To me this was a 10 mile hike with family, and some mini events thrown in the mix. The weather was a touch on the cold, and grey skies at some points. Our 9:30 start time ended up at 10:20 due the massive amount of people running on saturday. I can't exactly remember the order of each obstacle, I know the ones that as a non swimmer were going to bother me were the Arctic Enema and Walk the Plank.  Both in this weather were brutal to me, but neither would make me feel I could not do it. Everyone i was with said the same simple thing, don't think just jump. And that's exactly what i did.

Holy Crap cold batman.

To be honest the only one I really felt I couldn't do was a simple climb a rope over a wall, it was mid way point, we had been waiting for 40 mins to get to the obstacle and in that cold I so lacked the upper body strenght and the desire to mark a trail over climb a wall was killing me ha. What I did enjoy about the entire event was the course went up down all around the mountain it was not one steady climb to the top, in fact it never reached the summit. The weather made the mountain extra muddy, over knee deep. It seriously was like walking in sludge, but super fun.

Keep on trucking.

Honestly this one was of the greatest experiences to date, and I plan on doing the one in Maine at the end of August as well. It pushes you to, dig deep, focus on each step, and climb over everything they throw in your way.With my family by myside out there, there was not even one hint of this is to tough, I will say after all was said and done, we got back to the hotel we all were staying at, I took a hot shower, and boom out like a light. Demanding on the body, and dehydration beat me, but I totally beat tough mudder, and will do so again. But this is what a year in the works, the legs were fine, the spirit was high, and I know i need to work on my upper body strenght.

Burns,Myk,Ian,Me,Bryan,Jessy,Tarik.

 

And the best tough mudder team out there to date..Looking forward to Mount Snow again next year, and Maine in a few months.
Keep on walking folks.