Future.

There is alot more in store folks, Tough Mudder in may, Seak the Peak in July (Help support me, visit SeakThePeak.org support a hiker Derek Bell) and the rest of the 48 peaks of NH. Hopefully Flags in sept, and so many more adventures, thank you for sticking around to read and feel free to add any constructive advice.
Doot
aka
Derek Bell.
There are still so many trails to walk..

Whislter Blackcomb British Col. Oh Canada!

Feb 9 to the 15th 2014 AE Ski Club Trip
Words will not describe this trip properly, this is a must for all ski fans. Whistler Blackcomb is the place to go, with my new england style skinny skies, great friends by my side, and a good attitude .
Whistler was a dream come true, I saved all year long for this, and it was worth every penny.
To start off, not one but to of the most amazing mountains in the world. My plan for the trip was to reach at least one of the summits and go down it.  Arrived sunday evening fairly late, had a fast dinner, prepped my gear and off to bed.
Day one for me consisted of Greens and Kimmy helping me work on my form, spent half the day listening to great advice, trying to learn how to cut on my edges better and stop sking flat. Spent the majority of the day on Blackcomb lots of long winding greens that you can cut, only did i find at the very end was Ice on any trail and that was very bare min.

Wide open greens, I have no idea who that is in front of me.

 

 

We met at mid day, shared some stories, and had lunch, back to the mountain, rocked that out till around 4. Day one for sking was over, I was worn out but no body hurt at all. I would love to go into more detail but put it this way, there isn't one bad trail on Blackcomb, all of them kept me on the toes from mid mountain down, where is what I stayed on day one.
Day Two : Started off on Blackcomb again, took myself far left, where there was a couple good blue's i wanted to try. Neil joined me this day, and saw what i was doing wrong. Took some time explaining, instead of leaning back on my heels to lean forward on my toes. Instant carve. Did I do something right, no more greens today for me, Rocked out every blue with confidence. Yeah I still fell once but I felt really in charge and aggressive.  I still stuck mostly mid mountain this day but i found myself drifting off both sides because they had some decent rides that took most of the day, probelly got in 10 runs but i was pumped.

It snowed pretty much every day.

We ended the night at the Dublin, over some really great food, some cold beer, and lovely ladies in skirts. This was Kimmy's Birthday needless to say, I don't recall most of the night, all of us had alot of fun in the bars.
Day Three : Started late, a bit hung over, but ready to ride, solo day today for me. Started on Whistler, went mid there, got one run in before slowing down to merge on a trail, giving those above the right away, got creamed by a snowboarder. Took both of my legs right out from under me. Had that urge it was around noon, to just call it an early day. Wanted to be fresh for the last two days we had so I packed up and headed back to the hotel. Did some walking around, some laundry, sat in the hot tub for maybe 10 mins and then took a nap. Whistler has alot to do even for non-mountain folks , the village is always busy, and everyone I met the entire trip super friendly.

Plus Fire Moths (Yes, I was in love haha)

Thursday day four :  Another day with Neil, did a mixture of both mountains, Blue's and Greens, as well as the Peak to Peak. Neil was hurting from falling the earlier day on some of the stuff out of my level, and I was recovering from being hit, we went around the entire mid on both if i recall correctly, lots of fun, worked more on my carving, I totally felt great, confidence, yuppers. Plus having someone alot better than you, helps alot. I want to say we met everyone on mid mountain for lunch, and the second half of the day, I think around 1ish, I called it a day knowing friday was a full day from 6 am to 4:30. But I got some amazing pictures from the Peak to Peak.

This is 3 times the height of the statue of liberty.

There were little kids ripping through these.

Day Five Friday :  Up very early for Fresh Tracks, breakfest, then the first people on the trails.  This is a must to do if you go. 100 percent must. Our little band met up, took the ride up to the middle, had a giant breakfest. I decided to stick to Emerald area to start with, while the rest of the group headed up to the higher/harder trails. (Note to readers, my friends wanted me to come up with them to the harder stuff, I had snuck out before they all left) I started on what looked like a hard trail rated Blue, to find the Cats coming up to groom it, and the trail itself should have been rated less than a green, it was flat, and I mean like highway flat, not a blue at all. So back up the Emerald lift, as fast as I could, to the middle green Bowl, why a bowl, why not, I don't know why it said it was a bowl, I saw one jump but i did it anyways. Back up Emerald again to the far right side, where there were alot harder Blues, and I went down them like a champion, the snow throwing up in the air, I was having the time of my life. I can't exactly recall how many I did but I know around 1, we met up for lunch. So, my merry group of friends (Another note, I am blessed to have all of them on this trip, each and everyone of them made this the best trip of my lifetime, no joke) I was told, i was heading to the peak of Blackcomb with everyone 7th heaven. Knowing this was getting late in the day, I was excited. On the way up, Ian and Kimmy said they would ride with me the last run of the day. I mirrored Kim's turns as best as I could and let me tell you, that girl can rip. With her in front of me, I went down some of the steepest drops I have ever done but watching where she turned and how fast she did, butter this stuff was easy. We finally reached the top after riding one more lift and Ian said to everyone to go on there way he was gonna get to ride one last trail with me since they all pretty much had the week to each other. We dropped down 7th, I followed Kim as fast as I could, until they got ahead of me, I took a fall coming down, not because I was doing anything wrong, by the time I got down the first trail they had all vanished but Ian and he was like cut across, sadly New England ski's and deep snow don't mix but i sure as hell tried.

Fearless Blogger, 7th Heaven (Picture by Ian)

Taking our time rocking out the last run, we went down this winding blue from the top, till we ran into the long green, to say I felt amazing, understatement. I had learned so much from my friends this week how to better myself ski, how to have more confidence on harder trails, I had a blast. We ended up on the bottom shortly after last lift but total amazing. Again, This is the place you want/need to go in your lifetime for ski trips. I look forward to next years AE Ski club trip, and the friends that where there.
So thank you Ian, Kim, Neil, Chloe, Erin, Andrew , Michelle for making this the best trip ever, I am glad to have such amazing people to help me become a better skier, don't worry soon I'll catch up and keep up.!

Can't wait till next year.

Feb 2nd Ragged Mountain NH

Andover NH, A nice little mountain, myself and my friend Dan decided to hit up a day trip. First experience here, and to say the least, I really enjoyed myself. About an hour and a half from where I live, so the trip wasn't bad at all, woke up early and headed out. The weather conditions were not ideal from the cape but when we got there there was plenty of snow to go around.

Not a bad snow day for NH.

 

 

 

 First trail of the day, right smack in the middle blue, went down it, and fell on my arse the entire trail, brand new ski's my friend Jake gave to me, along with boots. I thought maybe it was learning error from the new equipment. Dan met up with me shortly after and said Man that middle trail was complete ice. Never second guess myself again, I ripped the entire rest of the day. I found the rest of the entire place, really comfortable, the blue's and the one black I did, really not challenging but alot of fun. Ragged is semi out of the way, no lines, the trails were wide open, and some of the glades I didn't do looked like straight forward. Next trip I swear.

Dan strapping in, top of the peak.

 

 

Ragged has some really small neat lifts, i totally say try them all, even the kiddie one went over some cool bridges, and small rivers. I would say If you are new to sking, or just want to get away from the crowds, well worth the ticket price. Worth the drive for me, maybe after a good powder day this place could be killer.

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.