Fri, Jun 27 2008, Sat, Jun 28 2008, Sun, Jun 29 2008, Mon, Jun 30 2008, Tue, Jul 1 2008 - White Mountain National Forest Hiking Trip (View Original Event Details)
|  |
| An amazing road trip to the Presidential Range of New Hampshire's White Mountains. We had incredible luck with the weather, experiencing rain only at the condo or while driving to a trailhead. Over three days, under overcast skies and with comfortable temperatures, we climbed Mt. Washington (Saturday), Mt. Jefferson (Sunday), and then on Monday either went over the top to bag Mts. Pierce, Eisenhower, Franklin and Monroe, or hiked along the Saco River and then did some serious shopping in North Conway's outlet stores. While some of the group were seriously challenged by the difficulty of the hikes - all paths around the area either lead straight up or straight down, as far as we can tell, and vertical exposed rock doesn't show up much on hiking trails in Ontario - all 11 hikers came back in one piece (a few minor bumps and scrapes don't count) only slightly the worse for wear, mainly from the black fly and mosquitoes. We rented a condo in North Conway, and made that our base. There were comfortable beds for everyone, no-one had to sleep on the bunk-bed, Chuck was a real trooper about not having his own room, and amazingly, no-one snored! Everyone pitched in with the cooking and we had a couple of really great meals - Darrel's Penne with Chicken and Broccoli in Alfredo Sauce is to die for! Individual high and low points of the trip: |
||
| Alex | High: | 1. Having the fog clear up after climbing Mt. Jefferson and getting a good view of the mountains 2. Seeing a fox up close later that day |
| Low: | Seeing the crowd of people come up to Mt. Washington peak via the railway | |
| Alison | High: | 1. Accounting for all 11 hikers on Monday evening 2. Seeing a bear, 2 foxes, a herd of deer and a porcupine out in the wild 3. Completing the Saco River Trail (those that were there know why -AKM) |
| Low: | Travelling through Montreal and on Autoroute 10 on a Friday afternoon/evening | |
| Chuck | High: | 1. Made it up to the the windiest place in North America (try in the WORLD! -AKM) 2. Paid $US18.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle of Bacardi Rum |
| Low: | Waiting for Jen at EMS for 1.5 hrs and not knowing where she was... (I think that was a low point for many of us -AKM) | |
| Darrel | High: | 1. Meeting so many like minded people who can handle challenging terrain 2. Evading the crappy weather for most of the trip |
| Low: | Getting lost in the dark on Sunday night (after our walk) and having it be my fault (overconfidence), then being ignored by the man in the window when I finally sacrificed my pride and tried to ask for directions ;) | |
| David | High: | 3rd day ridge walk through 4 peaks with great weather and 5 good hikers; it was an ambitious hike, we did it fast, stuck close together and we all had a great time - it was a pleasure having so many keen hikers in the group; in other clubs I usually feel lucky to get one other person to join me on really long hikes |
| Low: | Top of Mount Washington with fog, poor visibility and no view, realizing that weather report predicted same weather for next 2 hiking days; even that day was a lot of fun but could have been so much more with good weather | |
| Jenn O | High: | 1. Seeing the sky finally clear up as we reached the top of Mt. Jefferson and learning that we could take an easier route down the mountain 2. Matt actually following through on his plan to moon the train on Mt. Washington despite the fact that the train just inched along and the (cheering) passengers had a close-up view for at least a full minute or more |
| Low: | Finding out that that people thought I was lost/had disappeared and were inconvenienced as a result | |
| Matt | High: | 1. Pacing Darrel, and being paced by Darrel 2. Blazing past the tourists and then mooning the Cog Railway train 3. Being under a blanket of fog at the summit of Jefferson, and being there while it lifted. 4. Favorite summit: Monroe. Excellent challenging terrain everywhere |
| Low: | My aching legs after the final long descent | |
| Natalie | High: | Getting out to a paved road everyday |
| Low: | When Ron threatened all passengers in Chuck's car with an ultimatum that he would relieve himself using an empty can if we had not stopped the car in the next 5 minutes | |
| Pia | High: | Making it to the top of Mt. Washington |
| Low: | Falling and hitting my head (bet you had a good bruise afterwards -AKM) | |
| Ron | High: | 1. Climbing up the highest mountain and passing by tiny waterfalls and streams 2. Finding Jenn again (see Low point -AKM) |
| Low: | Losing Jenn at EMS | |
| Teresa | High: | Fulfilling a wish to visit Mt Washington |
| Low: | Not being able to reach the summit of Washington this time (Don`t worry, you will next time -AKM) | |
| A big 'Thank you!' to the gang for being so cooperative, both with me and each other; I couldn't have had an easier going group of people to coordinate. Bravo to all of you!! | ||
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.