White Mountains NH weekend

[Jake D]

My friend and I needed Cabot and Waumbek for our NH 4k's so we did those Saturday. Doing a quick 3hr out and back to Waumbek (7mi) then driving to the Hatchery trailhead for Cabot and staying at Unknown pond campsite (7.5mi) We hiked out in the AM 3.3mi, grabbed breakfast and went to Appalachia trailhead. I hiked up Kings Ravine and descended Airline(8.3mi) solo b/c he decided his legs were fried and he had done it before.

Typical trail

Our only real view of the day Saturday from Mt Horn

LH solo. Osprey Exos58, went stoveless this trip.. 10.8lb baseweight

And still every year someone doesn't read.

Kings Ravine up the line of talus then along the cliffs

Some college guys i met on the way up.. tried to show the steepness

Looking down the upper section

Upper part of Air Line trail. good views in all directions from here

[Nick Gatel]

Nice, nice, nice.

I'm working on a Kitchen Pass so I can go play there.

[David Ure]

That typical trail looks a lot like the WCT on Vancouver Island. Thanks for sharing.

[Jake D]

Nick, I have plenty more I want to do so i'll find something for ya ;)

Cool Dave, though a few of us on the trail yesterday agreed that it was more like Costa Rica due to the humidity and heat :P A lot of the lower trails are muddy from a bunch of rain this spring/early summer. compared to the higher trails in the later pictures that are still rocky but more sand so they drain better.

Then sometimes you get the rare perfect trail flat, soft dirt, no mud. tends to be between peaks below treeline

[David Ure]

You can see the humidity with that pic!

[Jake D]

yea we were basically in a cloud.

oh and i scraped my knee climbing on top of a summit boulder. no superglue needed though ;)

[David Ure]

LOL

[jake.]

Looks like you guys had a fun time! Did you happen to find my Leatherman Skeletool knife in campsite 1 at Unkown Pond (: ? I'm hiking the Grafton Notch Loop in Maine this Friday and Saturday if you're interested..

[Jake D]

Didn't see a leatherman..

I'm going to watch my GF's Triathalon in CT this weekend. 20th weekend i'm doing eastern half of Pemi loop.. up Lincoln woods-Franconia brook to galehead and N. Twin then down Guyot and the Bonds. hopefully staying at Guyot campsite.. would be a long day but only going to 13 falls is a real short day and big 2nd day..

[jake.]

I will be busy next weekend.. I actually have a leisurely pemi loop planned for August 1-3.

I did that exact route a couple Decembers ago that you have planned for the eastern pemi. If you want to avoid the monotony of the Lincoln Woods trail and spice it up a bit I did a really cool variation this past October coming up the Gale River trail to Galehead Mt., South/North Twin Mt., dropped packs at the Guyot campsite spur then an out and back of the Bonds with a night at the Guyot campsite. Next day we left over Mt. Guyot to Zealand Mt. and over Mt. Hale. We spotted two cars but this could easily be done with a bike on one end as well.

If you're interested in the report, see below..

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?46761-2-Days-In-The-Pemi-8-4K-s-amp-A-Different-Strategy-10-26-10-27-12

[Ben C]

Looks like a great trip, Jake. I'm always amazed how the New England trails don't switchback k. They just go straight up. I did a week on the AT in Maine last summer and really liked it. I think the Whites are next on my list for New England. Thanks for sharing.

[Jake D]

Switchbacks just add extra miles ;)

Jake, i'm hoping to do a Pemi loop in a day sometime in august probably so other than Galehead, N twin and W. Bond i just need miles on my legs. As shown by the soreness of my legs today I'm not where I was at this point last year (200mi already vs 50ish this year). I've already done the pemi loop as a few day trip back in HS but i missed those 2 peaks. I'll be with a bunch of friends and a dog for this trip so even if we do LW trail it won't be too boring.

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