Lincoln, Little Haystack and Lafayette

I'm officially 50! To celebrate I decided to literally go over the hill and do a hike!  I was a little nervous because it looked a little like rain earlier in the week, but by Friday the weather forecast was showing nice weather and today it couldn't have been nicer!  Which, sadly, meant that everyone on the planet was out on that mountain. Holy cow, it was like a highway!  Of course, after hiking it, I know why, this is one I would definitely do again, but on a week day.

Last night I went out with a friend to this participatory art thing on the greenway. It was fun, but then the best part was there was outdoor tango nearby, and that was so fun to watch. It was such a mixed crowd, some really good dancers, really awesome shoes, all ages, tangoing for hours. We got food from a food truck and watched for a while, and then went to this beer garden that was right across the street. The beer was fine. We were just hanging out an talking and then suddenly the street was full of naked people on bikes. It was Boston Naked Bike Ride, and there were about 200 people in various stages of dress riding by. I haven't seen that many naked men since the year I played hockey :)

Today I got up at 6 am and out the door at about 6:40. I got to the parking lot at 8:50 ish and started around 9:15. I was proud of myself for that one! The hike is 8.9 miles and there are two 5000 footers on it, so I wanted to leave a lot of time for hiking before dark. Plus, there are 3 peaks and a hut with bread and soup, so I wanted to be able to eat :)  I was really nervous in the parking lot, I think because Hale had been so hard, and it's so much easier a mountain. This has two massive mountains:

As I started the trail was crazy busy, it was annoying!  The hike itself was really pretty, with several waterfalls, some stream crossings and a slab of rock that I didn't go to because I was too lazy. I got to a point where I was a so hungry I needed to eat something, even though I wasn't at a view, so I stopped at the slab spot. There was this chick that I was chatting with eating trail mix. Soon these two total stoners came along and asked her if she wanted any of their "bud" trail mix. Wow. They were so stoned. Later I decided to stop to pee before I got above the tree line. I was waiting for them to go by so I could take care of business, and stoner #1 was all "what's she doing over there?" and stoner #2 was all "I don't know." Oh, kids!

It took me about 3 hours to get to the top of Little Haystack. It's three miles, so about a mile an hour. I was slowing down a lot to let noisy people pass me. And because it was so hard. Once I got above tree line on Little Haystack I was like "way better than Hale!" Awesome views in all directions! So nice. I ate a peanut butter and banana sandwich on homemade bread and sat for like a half hour. Then, there was a ridgeline!  It was an awesome ridgeline, the "knife's edge" of the whites, but not scary - could be if it was windy. The views on both sides were so good. While I was walking I say someone had one of those glider planes and was flying around. It was a serene hiking moment.

I was sitting on Lincoln (which is the official 4000+ footer that I bagged today, since I've already done Lafayette) eating, and this guy came and set his pack down near me. He's a through hiker. They're so impressive. He looked really clean for a through hiker, but in good shape. He's raising money for a homeless shelter in Maryland. He gave me his fundraising card and I'm totally going to donate. I was trying to take a selfie and he asked if I wanted him to take a pic for me, which he did:

I think this is going to be a new favorite of mine :)  

After I got to Lafayette and sat and enjoyed the view for like a half hour, I went down to the hut and had some bread, bad lemonade, and really delicious blondies. The blondies were so good I got a second one. After all that sugar, I had a lot more energy for the 3 miles down. I was headed down and this family of 3 super cute asian girls and their father came flying down. The dad was all "those blondies sure gave you girls a lot of energy."  Poor mom came rushing a little bit after. She was breathing hard going down.

The hike down from Lafayette was 4 miles from the top, 1.1 to the hut and then 2.9 from the hut down. To the hut it was basically a rock pile, but not too bad. From the hut the first mile was steep and a little hard. But after that it was quite civilized. It still took me 2.5 hours to get from the hut down, but I stopped to take the picture above, let some people pass me, and of course, I'm not that fast. By the end my feet and knees were killing me. I took my boots off at the river and stuck my feet in for as long as I could, but the water was so cold that that was a pretty short time. All and all, a very successful hike and birthday!