7/17/2011 - Sliding Around on Mt. Clough

Yesterday, two hikers from a local forum joined me to explore the Tunnel Brook Trail and some of the slides on Mt. Clough. Although one always wants to summit a peak such as Mt. Clough, our primary goal was just to escape to the woods on a trail less traveled and have fun in the woods. We accomplished everything except the summit.

The Tunnel Brook Trail runs through the deep valley between Mt. Moosilauke and Mt. Clough. The trek on this trail leads you along the shoreline of a long chain of beaver ponds in this valley. We had fun hiking at a slow pace along this quiet trail until just before we reached Mud Pond where we then began a bushwhack deep into the woods along a drainage that eventually took us up the slide shown in our pics. I would have liked to continue up the slide and eventually made it to the summit of Mt. Clough. However, I am still not in the best of shape for the type of bushwhack we would have had to do to reach the summit. This was also my first time hiking on a slide so I didn't want to push myself too much.

After a short siesta on the slide for lunch, and a power nap for Duane, we descended the slide and continued hiking on the trail towards Mud Pond. Reaching the final pond, we met up with the only people we would see for the day. Within minutes of arriving at the pond, we could hear two local yocals coming up the trail from the south. One was cussing up a storm, dropping the F-bomb every three words. Apparently, the two of them fish for trout frequently in Mud Pond. None of us found the level of vulgarity appealing and their dog started eating some of the fish they had just caught. We quickly left them to their fishing and began our trip back to the trailhead and Bill's car. My feet were getting really tired by the time we had met up with the locals anyhow so it was the right decision to keep our visit with them short.

We wrapped up the hike by inhaling some nachos and sliders back at the Woodstock Station. The rumor has it that some beer was also consumed but I plead the fifth on that one.

A very fun trip indeed. I definitely want to explore this area some more as I start to get back into better physical condition. I will probably go back in the fall when the temps are cooler and there is no bug activity. The black flies, some mosquitos, and quite a few horse flies were out in force today.

Bill and Duane, thanks for your company.. I had a blast. Next up, Cardigan in a few days.

Some more pics:

New Jeep Wrangler X

Today, I stopped in my local dealer and traded my Hyundai Elantra in on a Jeep Wrangler. Now I have no excuse for driving down fire roads to get to remote trail heads for hiking. It's used and a bone stock model but I am happy with it and was pleased to find a one-owner, completely stock, model at the dealer. It was definitely an impulse buy but you only live once, right?

7/13/2011 - Mt. Wachusett - Making Mountains out of Mole Hills

Yesterday, I teamed up with fellow blogger and forum member Maddy and Molly, her 9 month old Bernese Mountain Dog. Maddy is recovering from a knee injury, Molly is young and just getting started exploring woods and mountains with her mom, and, as we all know, I am trying to get back into proper hiking condition. Therefore, we set out to meet a realistic goal of hiking the 2006 foot talk peak of Mount Wachusett, a glaciated monadnock, in north-central Massachusetts.

We started our ascent around 9:15am via the dirt Administration Road for a short distance where we then headed into the woods on Lower Link Trail and the Jack Frost Trail. After a pleasant woods walk of approximately 0.6 miles, we began a steep climb up the side of a ridge where we would gain most our elevation in a short amount of time. We were both pleasantly amused by the grade of the trail in front of us. I hadn't looked at a topo map before the hike and Maddy, although she practically lived on the mountain in her younger years, didn't seem to remember the trail being quite as steep. However, we both amusingly agreed we needed this type of climb and none of us were really challenged to be honest. Once on top of the ridge, we made quick time along the ridge to the junction of the Mountain House Trail (one of the three major trails to the summit).

Once on the summit, we lounged by the summit pond for approximately 45 minutes. Molly played in the water while Maddy and I shared some of her homemade Tarahumara muffins while we discussed past and future adventures.

Unfortunately, I was not amused by all the construction activities taking place on the summit. Big excavators were working hard behind a large fenced off area at the very top. Who knows what kind of shenanigans were going on. Anyway, after taking some obligatory summit photos, we made our descent via the Mountain House and Jack Frost Trails where we finally picked up the High Meadow Trail to the shore of Echo Lake.

Echo Pond is probably a more accurate name for the body of water at the southern base of the mountain, it is quite small for a lake. However, Molly, the Bernese Mountain Puppy, didn't seem to really care as she quickly tried to find a way to go for a swim once we arrived at the bottom of the High Meadow Trail.

By this time, the toes of my right foot were becoming quite a bit tired and raw feeling in my new Vibrim FiveFinger shoes. I was probably at my mileage limit in the FiveFingers as this was only the second time I had worn them in the woods and the first time on mountain terrain. We had intended on taking the Echo Lake Trail back to our cars but, because of how my feet were feeling, we just decided to take the easy way back to the cars via the dirt roads. I also was unable to read the topo lines on the poor quality photocopied maps the park had supplied and wasn't sure what the Echo Link Trail was like.

We were back out our cars and loaded up at 2:15pm. Thanks to Maddy and Molly for joining me for five great hours in the woods. Next week, I think we will be heading north to tackle something a bit bigger. Stay tuned.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. It is my hope I will stick to this on a regular basis as I use this as a live journal while I try to get back in shape to hike and backpack the mountains of New England and New York.

I have been trying to return to some level of hardcore hiking since 2008 but my struggles with arthritis in my feet and right knee along with varying levels of bi-polar depression have made this a constant struggle. Although I went on several hikes in 2008, activity level dropped considerable in 2009 and I did no hiking in 2010. However, beginning in June 2011, I have newfound motivation to quit drinking, lose weight, and do some serious hiking. Since June 11th, I have lost 16 pounds and I have been sober since May 29th.

In the coming months, and hopefully years, I plan to share my adventures here. There may also be entries pertaining to weight loss and depression but I would like to keep these posts to a minimum and try to focus on hiking and backpacking.

Thanks in advance for following along.