Great Blue Hill

Tomorrow I'm seeing a dermatologist for the itchiness on my skin (sorry to any non-Kit readers that may stumble by and read this - I know, TMI), and I felt like I needed to really be itchy.  So, I decided to go for a hike.  I was thinking about a big NH one, but to be honest I didn't feel like the drive, and I decided that the Blue Hills could work.  And it did.  So itchy right now, not sure if I will sleep!

Great Blue Hill is 640 feet, which is not a 4000 footer for sure :)  It's only like 500 feet of elevation gain!  To make it a good workout, I went down the back side, walked a little more, and then climbed it a second time.  Still only about 1000 feet of elevation gain on that hill, though there were a bunch of others on the trail.  Maybe the whole thing was about half the size of Monadnock in elevation?

The last few days were Passover (it still is, to be technical).  My sister cooked the first night, and once again I ate two matzo balls and regretted it.  When will I ever learn??

This Friday I'm giving a 15-20 minute talk at a dinner on What Women's Global Health Means To Me.  I guess that's what directors do.  Nervous.

Monadnock

Spring is finally here, it's Patriot's Day weekend!  I was supposed to go climbing outside yesterday, but it was raining. Boo.  Wound up inside.  But today I was determined to get some fresh air.  Also, we are having a step challenge at work, so I wanted to got in some steps.  And I did!  18423.  Not bad.

I'm going to a concert tonight (nothing too exciting, though, but they make their own wine).  So, I had to be back early.  Monadnock seemed like a good choice. I hadn't been there in a while, also.  I was going to be lame and do White Dot/White Cross, the two most trafficked trails, but my GPS was against this idea.  It took me to halfway house and white arrow trail, which I have to admit I was happy about.

I could not find my Monadnock map, which is stupid to go hiking without a map. But, I figured that since I was going up White Dot/White Cross I would get a new one.  Little flaw in the logic.  Fortunately there was a map at the bottom, and I took a picture.  I've hiked this trail before - there aren't a lot of turns.  You can either start by going up an access road, or going on a trail through the woods.  The nice thing is that most people take the road, and so the trail is empty.  I had a really nice walk in the woods.  Once you meet up with this house on the mountain (I have no idea how they got to build their house there), you get to a real trail.  There's a sign that the summit is one mile, but that's soo deceptive.  There was a ton of ice on the trail, and even though I had brought my spikes I was scared.  I wished I had my crampons.  In the end I went around some of it.  The top is rocky and always a little hard.  But the summit is so worth it, I had a peanut butter sandwich and an orange, and admired the view.

On the way down my knees were killing me for some reason, and the ice is so much worse.  It took me forever to get down.  I had dark trail thoughts, and was sure I must have torn my meniscus or something (now that I'm on the couch, I don't think it's that).  Ouch knees!

All and all, though, a very good use of a day :)

Tuckerman's Ravine and Butt Sled

I've been wanting to hike Tuckerman's Ravine and butt sled down the Sherbourne Path for ages, and today I finally did!  It was SO fun, I definitely want to do it again!  I went with a meet up group - I was kind of scared when I signed up for it because there were 67 people signed up for the hike!  But, today there were about 25 of us.  I didn't bring my hiking poles because I was worried about getting poked by them on the way down, which was a Huge Mistake.  My legs were killing me, and there were some steep parts where I was seriously off balance.  Although in Boston we only had like a foot of snow this year, there was a huge snow pack up there, it was my winter :)

The hike up was killer!  I think because I started out too fast, trying to keep up with the fast folks, and burned out.  After about an hour I decided Hike Your Own Hike, and slowed down to my pace, and it was much better.  There were people in the group who came after me, and I wasn't the slowest, but definitely not the fastest either.  It is early in hiking season...

There were a ton of people skiing up the trail.  It was so fun to be a part of this group of people headed up to this back country ski area!  There's a caretaker's cabin about .7 miles from the top (I was so glad to see it) and it was just full of people with ski equipment - so fun!  But, after that it got super misty, by the time I was close to the ravine, I could see about 20 feet.  So, after all that, I didn't even get to see the ravine.  Next time.

The best part, of course, was sledding down.  I was last up in my hiking group, but first down on the butt sled.  The trail was about 5 feet wide, the snow was perfect, there were only a few icy patches, and the steep parts were followed by flatter bits that you could see, so you could go fast.  People in my group kept stopping, and so I kind of ditched them :)  Towards the bottom, there was this group of skiers hanging at the side waiting, and they were all approving as I went past them really fast over the bumps.

Really great day, tiring, my legs are killing me.  When I do it again I'll bring my polls.  I have rubber tips that I can put on for the sled ride down, in case I fall off.