a trail to self discovery...

" The only order in the universe is just a cycle of calm and chaos." Ricky Bobby and I set out around 5:45am to meet a friend for a hike. I texted him yesterday asking to hike Wildcat A. He is working on his first round of the 48 while if I have the chance I will be trying to knock off most of my winter peaks I have left. We both agreed on an early start. Starting time for 6:00am. Starting early is my preferred way to hike on a busy Saturday before a storm moves through that afternoon. I get to avoid busy parking lots, many people coming and going on trail, less noise, and much more solitude. I suggested this peak knowing it was a fun one to hike and one that could offer good views but if not it's still beautiful to witness these beautiful lakes in the midst of this notch and mountains towering all around it. We met int he parking lot just before 6:00am where we both gather our stuff together, put on our microspikes and hit the trail. We let both dogs ...

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; It is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." Laura and I planned a last minute long weekend get-away to the Adirondacks. We decided we needed this time away and we need to hike some more of the Adirondack 46 High Peaks. The original plan was to have her come sleep at my house after work Friday evening and we would hit the road early on Saturday morning to hike. However, weather patterns started to shift and there was a storm headed our way this weekend. As usual we waited until last minute, messaged each other and decided screw it, it had been a long week for the both of us and we needed to get out of dodge asap. We booked a last minute Airbnb for Friday night. We then decided to meet at a half way point for both of us where we would leave one car and carpool the rest of the time. We picked the Richmond, VT Park and Ride to meet. It was roughly 2.5 hours for both of us to travel. We both l...

"There’ll be two dates on your tombstone and all your friends will read ’em but all that’s gonna matter is that little dash between ’em." The plan was to meet Rob and Mike at 7:00am at Lincoln Woods, like always though we are early to arrive. It's 6:45am and it's still dark. We get our stuff together and decided no headlamps as daylight was right around the corner and snowshoes the entire way. We hit the trail around 7:00am for the 3.6 mile flat walk in to the Black Pond Junction. Here we stopped for a quick break and change up layers as needed before heading the next mile to Black Pond. This was the first time I had done Owlshead in the winter and used any of the bushwhacks to get there. When I completed my first round of the 48, I wanted to access the summits be the actual trails. For starters, I truly don't care to be whacked in the face my branches on the regular for miles on end, or posthole into spruce traps with snowshoes on. I knew that the trai...