New Hampshire 2011:Day hikes

When I arrived in Sandwich August 3, I was coming off two very eventful hiking days in Vermont’s Green Mountains. Still, I wasn’t about to take a day off. I began my hiking day by heading over to East Rattlesnake, which, to my surprise (and due to a poor memory), tests you with a very steep, dirt trail. It was a pretty grueling, sweat-inducing workout to start the day. And upon reaching the open, rocky summit, I sat down for 20 minutes and relaxed.

In the afternoon, I decided to try a new hike that wouldn’t be too challenging, driving to North Conway to hike Peaked and Middle mountains — a pair of sub-2,000-footers. That doesn’t mean they were easy ascents, however.

In fact, for the third consecutive day, I did do not one, but TWO ascents. First, I headed up a dirt path to summit Peaked Mountain. After roughly a mile and a half, I started climbing up steep slabs of rock. And with them came blueberries, and tons of them!

I found myself frequently stopping to eat blueberries. Handfuls of them. I couldn’t stop — eating, at least.

A large patch of blueberries — the one thing that can slow me down!

The top of Peaked was rocky and offered nice views to the south and west toward the Moat Mountains. I stayed there for a few minutes, relaxing on another beautiful, cloudy and picturesque day. Then I headed down the mountain to the south only to begin another ascent up Middle Mountains.

For more blueberries. And more great views.

Was the hike spectacular? Not compared to many other ones in the White Mountains. Still, it was a nice 6-mile loop, or so, and was well worth the effort. On the drive back, I stopped at the Pothole to cool off and then went to the Sandwich Creamery. Stunningly, not a single flavor of ice cream didn’t contain corn syrup. There would be no ice cream for me. Still, I bought a couple pints for the rest of the family.

On Thursday, I figured I would keep my streak of hikes alive. Why not? There are so many spectacular mountains and trails around this region, it doesn’t make sense to waste days. A plan quickly developed that had me hiking up and over South and Middle Moat mountains, then down the Red Ridge trail and up to meet the parents, Sal and Vicky on top of Cathedral Ledge (which I had visited briefly the previous day by car).

The hike was amazing, phenomenal, just inspiring.

The Moats are just under 3,000 feet, and while it was steep, it didn’t take too long to come to an open, flat rocky slab that offered close-up views of Mt. Chocorua to the south. I rested for a minute and then continued up the steep but fairly easy trail to the summit.

The going was slow, mostly because, of course, there were more blueberries!!! I couldn’t keep myself from continuously stopping and grabbing handfuls. I was also beginning to feel a bit guilty for not picking berries for the rest of the family.

Then I reached the summit, dropped my pack and looked around. Never does a tremendous mountaintop view cease to amaze me. There were views in all directions, and an array of stormy-looking clouds (minus the rain) made the hundreds of peaks in the distance all the more interesting. There were dozens of flat rocks to choose from as a sitting spot, and I found the perfect place to bask in the narrow ray of sunlight and enjoy myself.

Unfortunately, I had a 5 p.m. meet-up time with the folks and time was flying. Also, there was the blueberry factor. I simply couldn’t ignore the droves and droves of blueberries patches lining both sides of the trail.

Small blueberries. Plump blueberries. You name it. All wild. All delicious.

Finally, I devised a way I could pick them for the folks, who, I joked to later, wouldn’t have allowed me in the car without a supply, by placing my sandwich bag inside of the cracker box that had outside holes in it.

Genius.

Then I sat down and starting picking. Maybe 20-some minutes later, the box was almost full. I was also way behind schedule.

The ridge to Middle Moat Mountain was mostly in the open, making moving fast al the mort difficult. The summit was also exposed with the same great views, only closer to the taller and more imposing North Moat, which I had hiked a year earlier, with the Presidentials, their tops dwarfed by clouds, in the distance.

Knowing I still had more than 4 miles to go, I picked up the pace as the trail dropped below the tree line, pushing myself through dense pines and bushes that clipped my arms and the bill of my cap. It was quite the contrast, I thought, from the ridge hiking on top of the mountains.

Finally, I reached familiar territory at the cutoff to the Red Rige Trail, which I had done a year earlier as part of my North Moat loop, and took the trail down over rocky slabs, and more rocky slabs, to the northeast.

The trail was even longer than I remembered, and my left knee had started to ache a bit — a very disturbing development for me, considering I’ve never had knee problems — and I didn’t reach the cutoff for White Horse and Cathedral ledges until 5. I was going to be about an hour late.

The link trail took me steeply, but also quickly, up to White Horse Ledge, which wasn’t populated by anyone and offered a few fine views overlooking the town of Conway and the mountains I had climbed a day earlier to the east.

Then I went back down AND up to Cathedral Ledge, the touristy spot that folks drive up to. It offers plenty of fine outlooks to both the east and south — and, kind of, to the north — which are marred, a little bit, by the occasional beer bottle or empty cigarettes case in the bushes.

Some people simply don’t respect nature.

At that point, it started to rain, which kept me from visiting my favorite, unfenced ledges. Instead, I sat on a rock by the road and waited for the folks to return with ice cream.

An appropriate reward for a 9-mile tramp as the rain started to pour.

I probably shouldn’t have, but I had made plans to hike up Osceola and East Osceola with J-bo and Pudds (to bag the 4,000-footers) and Shanda (to train for the upcoming three-day hike) on Friday. My knee wasn’t hurting at all, but it had a bit on the descents toward the end of my Thursday hike. It probably needed rest.

But it’s not easy for me to say no to a hike, and I had to take Charlie off the visiting-Vermont parents, so we headed to Waterville Valley to tackle the pair of 4,000-footers. As with the first time I hiked Osceola, it was a pleasant, fairly easy ascent. We went at a slow pace, as Shanda was going up a 4,000-footer for the first time, and I enjoyed the relaxed pace (it was quite the difference from the previous three days).

Charlie was phenomenal. The little Pomeranian, hiking his biggest mountain, scampered up and over flat, rocky slabs, never panicking whenever he slipped and always recovering. There was only one spot where we needed to assist Charlie, boosting him over a bunch of tangled roots.

He didn’t even drink much water. He wasn’t interested in treats. He just wanted to continue hiking.

The summit offers a pair of ledges with tremendous views of the Tripyramids and Sandwich Dome, not to mention many mountains to the east and north.

We left Charlie and Shanda and made the 1-mile trek, down and up, to bag East Osceola’s wooded peak. I was glad we didn’t bring Charlie, despite his enthusiasm. The descent down Osceola, and then up it on the way back, was extremely rocky and would have been treacherous for him.

On the descent, Charlie led the entire way by at least 50 feet. He showed no signs of fatigue.

The dog is a hiker!

Sadly, my left knee was not so enthusiastic on the way down. It wasn’t unbearable pain, but as I stepped down rock after rock, I could feel the soreness, could feel the aches. This was a huge concern.