a trail to self discovery...

Photo Credit: Denise It's been 4 days since I was last on Mount Jackson. However, a friend asked me if I would be around on Thursday to hike with her. I said yes and we agreed to hit Mount Jackson then Mount Pierce and down Crawford Path back to the car. Weather conditions were calling for some strong winds in the higher, and more exposed summits so we stuck with something a little smaller. I was pretty excited for this hike. I knew that I would not only knock off another winter 48 but I would also be red lining some trails I had never done before. If you haven't read my blog about my final finish of the 48 then you don't know I have no set goals in mind. I am not hiking anymore just to finish another "list". I am literally going out and hiking whatever path I end up on. If it works out to be that I am red-lining as well as knocking off winter peaks, or even gridding that's great! Someday, I am sure I will have every list done, but not on purpose. De...

CLIMB MOUNTAINS, HIKE FORWARD, PUSH YOURSELF. My life for the last 4 months has consisted of working incredibly long work days and work weeks. My schedule shifting from my typical Wednesday/Thursday's off to being a complete disaster in the month of January. Mostly due to leading a Winter Trip at the OBS. One of my favorite things to do in the winter time, so it was worth having a wacky schedule for a month. Trish and I have corresponded back and forth for quite some time, trying to figure out when it would be possible for our schedules to line up so we could all hike together again. My winter trip for the OBS was cancelled so it freed up my entire weekend, which meant I had Sunday to hike with Trish, Alex, and Sage. As always, we communicated early in the week discussing our options, checking in again mid-week, and then again the day before to figure out with weather conditions and any other activities what sort of hike we should plan for. Trish asked if I would be ok wi...

  Okay, so there was no completion of a summit peak in this afternoon. But there was a bit of excitement to be had in 70-90mph winds on Mount Washington. I somehow scored a partial day off with Josh, while Harper was in school. Per usual, I suggested a hike. Possibly another 4k for him. The forecast was calling for some pretty high winds, with gusts up to 95mph in the higher summits. Temperatures with a high of -4F ambient. I suggest Carter Dome, which was the least exposed.   Josh, he suggested Mount Washington. However, with forecast being as wild as it was we both decided to just hit Lion Head and then turn around. Neither of us cared to summit. He had never really be in high winds like that, let alone hiking in them. So, we packed up our gear. Mountaineering boots, crampons, and ice axe were ready to go. Since, I've started hiking "mountaineering" has always been my favorite thing to do. There is just so much to be learned in this style of hiking. But th...

In the last 3 months, I have spent roughly 45 hours a week at work, and working on my days off or coming in to do some work on my days off. This has been an interesting transition for me. Things have finally settled down for me and I had the opportunity to switch up my schedule and take a few extra days off here and there. It's been quite some time since I had been able to hike with my friend Rob. I let him know I would have Wednesday off and that I was up for hiking if he was. He was game, and we made plans originally to hike out to Isolation, because he last couple attempts failed. With a last minute change in the weather, a snow storm moved through Tuesday. Dropping almost a foot of fresh powder in the higher summits. Wednesday was going to be a beautiful day, with freshly coated trails and trees. We discussed what trail we should try and go for given the forecast was calling for high winds and very cold temperatures. Isolation was out. We eventually settled on the Fir...

Winter has finally arrived here in the north country. I had yet to hit the ground hiking for the winter season, so my thoughts were focused on getting that "first winter hike" of the season done. Hiking in the winter is such a different experience than in the summer, and sometimes requires way more planning and effort into packing  your bag the night before. Motivation was all I needed. When Josh and I have a day off together, it is never a full day. We have his daughter that we drive and pick up from school, which is about a half hour away from where we live. Our plans have to be very short and fast. So, taking a look at the map and debating on what would be the best plan for the 4 hours we had, we both settled on another 4k for him and a winter one for me. We chose to hit North Tripyramid, being that the trail head is only 20 minutes from home for us. We decided to take Pine Bend Brook Trail. I also wanted to get this trail to mark off some of my red lines. Bei...

For those of you who know me, you know I am a hiker. I am not a runner. Well, at least not anymore. When I was in High School and many years after that up until 5 years ago I was a runner. About 5 years ago I started developing shin splints and just enjoyed hiking way more. I am done with my 4000 Footers and now I need new personal goals, anything but a list. I need some time away from hiking another list for a while. Josh had no interest in hiking the 4k's but since he had already got a few on previous hikes with myself now he is pushing to finish. I am happy to do it with him, so we compromised. I know he enjoys trail running more than hiking so we decided to take our first trail run together. Overall, Josh is a much stronger runner than I am and I am a much stronger hiker than he is. The first one I thought of that we could try and do in the time frame we had to do it was the Hancock Loop. It's only 25 minutes from our house and fairly flat for a good portion of it. Not...