Ski Day 2

I promised myself that I could have a "Ski Vacation" this winter break, since I can't go anywhere and there isn't really much to do with the more transmissible covid going around. I really don't want covid to ruin my actual vacation in January, so I'm trying to keep it extra safe. Also, I've been hanging with the family, and they are definitely on the conservative side with covid restrictions, so I feel like I should be too. But, skiing is all outdoors, the lifts that I have been on are the open ones, so I think it's fair game.

I went to a new mountain today - Crotched Mountain. It's a kind of unfortunate name, but it was a nice mountain! They have one of the fast lifts, and they have two nice long green trails. Unfortunately, to get to the green trail from the fast lift, you have to go down a blue which was narrow, crowded, and really icy. It was so stressful! I did that trail 6 or 7 times, and then had to switch back to the slower lift one. I was really happy with my skiing - I feel like I'm getting a little bit more of a hang of how to point my skis downhill, bend at ankles, knees and hips - but starting from the ankles, and let my whole feet lead the edging, with knees being an aid. There were a few times when I got going down the hill and I could feel myself getting a good edge and just sailing down - it felt so free! I mean, there were still little kids passing me, but for the first time I actually passed people! 

Crotched Mountain is pretty far from the highway, and getting there took me on some smaller roads, which was fun but also I wasn't excited about driving back in the dark. Combining that with the fact that we did 250 squats in parkour yesterday, and I was done around 3. At that point all I'd had to eat that day was oatmeal and a banana, so I got a huge slice of pizza. mmmm. When I got to my car, my phone didn't get a signal - I was a little nervous because there was no way I would just find my way home. I started by following a car with MA plates and then fortunately the phone got a signal!

Totally Awesome Day of Skiing

First ski of the season today. and this time I decided to take a lesson, which was totally worth it. I went to pat's peak with my nephew who has skied a lot more than me - like, he's gone on ski vacations and does the black diamonds. We split up and met at the bottom when he did the blacks.

Anyhow, I decided that I should take a lesson this year to start off with and fix some of the little things that I was maybe doing wrong, and learn how to stop. Because when you can really stop, then you can also go faster. We got there a little before 10, so I could take the 10 am lesson - I was trying to decide if I should do a private or risk it with a group, and decided to do a group one. Which I'm so glad I did, because I was the only one in my group :) So, I got a private lesson for group rates. The teacher said that I was a "blue" or level 6+ ish - they only have 10 levels and 10 is freestyle. So, that bumped up my confidence a lot - she said I skied beautifully :)  What I learned:

1. She had me go from one edge back to the other edge, just back and forth. I think I'd been thinking of my knees as driving the turn, but really it's about getting from one edge to the other. Of course!
2. She said to use all four corners of my feet equally - skiing doesn't just come from the toes, or just the heals. It's the whole foot that's driving the shift between edges. 
3. To stop, the easiest thing is to do a J shaped turn and go slightly uphill.
4. To do a hockey stop, do a turn, straighten up a bit as you come into the turn, then bend, go to a 90 degree angle, and get the edges in. Important fact, I can actually do them!
5. When we ski, we lean forward, keep the body facing downhill and weight on the whole foot.

After, I did the green dot several times, then moved onto the blue squares, which I did several times. The green dot was feeling easy at the end! I think the new boots made a huge difference because they really mold to my feet and it was easier to get them to shift. We got there at 10 and left a little after 3 - I was freezing! I need to get some hand warmers.

It was so fun, and I liked going with my nephew! I hope this will be the year that I start thinking of myself as a blue square skier :)

30 Days of Yoga!

I actually did 30 Days of Yoga! Sometimes it wasn't easy and I didn't want to do my evening yoga, especially after a long day when I'd already worked out, but the nice thing about Adriene's workouts is that they aren't too long, so you can remind yourself that it's only 30 minutes or so. And I can do anything for 30 minutes.  The last week or so especially I've noticed that I've felt really good; not too creaky, a little less stressed and more zen. I'm going to try to keep it up and see how long I can go without breaking the streak.

Today I'm going to the hand doctor to see if they can drain my elbow lump. It's still about the size of a golf ball, and I'm always bumping it on things. I hope it's easy to drain, and the doctor isn't like "it's a little golf ball, why are you wasting my time?"

Hopefully tomorrow I'll go skiing! I was going to go today but it's raining and supposed to be a wintery mix at the mountain - I hope the skiing is OK after that. My goal is to take a lesson so that I can see if there are little changes that I can make that will make a big difference. Because I want to go skiing a little more this year, now that I have nice boots.

In the meantime, I haven't been hiking in NH since I do parkour on Saturdays and Sundays, but I have gone for my little walk in the fells most weekends. With the virus on an uptick, and my elbow, I haven't been climbing for a while. I'm trying to decide if I want to go back. Maybe... I am boosted. In the meantime at-home yoga, parkour and skiing seem like a better bet.

Update: the doctor was super nice and drained my lump. It turned out it was all blood. I'm icing and compressing it in the hopes that it doesn't swell up again.

Bursitis

I finally went to the urgent care to see what was up with my elbow. Nothing broken, the doctor said that I have olecranon bursitis and should use RICE. And she had the medical assistant wrap it with an ace bandage. She told me to see a hand specialist if it's not better in a week or two. By the time I got home my fingers were purple from my arm being wrapped and I felt a little like frankenstein. So, we will see if the swelling goes down. 

Today in parkour we each chose something that we wanted to work on and were our own coaches. I worked on doing a 360 turn on the low rail, which I can do about 20% of the time. I like to step backwards half way around and then spin around the other half of the way, going on the balls of my feet. After we practiced things, we had a chance to show each other, and explain what we learned. And, I had one of my times that I did it right in front of people, and finished with perfect balance :). It was pretty awesome. The secret is really bending the knees and keeping your core and hips over the bar. After class we went for lunch and had a fun time chatting about life and parkour and such. Parkour people are cool.

I got home and thought that maybe I could get back into running if I was just running a mile. I mean, it's just a mile, and I decided I could go as slow as I wanted. That didn't sound too hard. I was already in my workout clothes, so I ran up the street to the corner and back, which turned out to be .96 mile. My average pace was 11 minutes and 26 seconds, but some of the time when I looked at my watch I was running less than a 10 minute mile. Other times, I was running a 13 minute mile, so that balanced it out.

I did day 12 of yoga today - I feel like I can do the full month, and it's been really nice!

Day 8 of Yoga!

I'm pretty impressed with myself because I've actually kept doing the 30 day yoga challenge! The last time I did one I made it to day 5 I think - I just finished day 8 and I'm still enjoying it. 

Yesterday I helped my nephew move from Maine back to MA. I thought I was done with helping people move - that I was old enough that my people would just pay someone, but apparently there is no limit to helping people move age. He had the second and third floor of a house up there, but fortunately he didn't have a couch, and he wound up leaving the two beds and the dining room table (my parent's old kitchen table). The new people moving in didn't have beds, and they had a 5 year old, so it seemed like a nice use for the furniture - hopefully their family will enjoy them. We also left a bit of a mess, I have to say, but also lots of cleaning products and paper towels. According to my fitbit I climbed 109 floors. Today I climbed 6 - I didn't get home until almost midnight and I was pooped.

It sounds like I'm still going to have to go to work three days a week come spring, except for when I'm writing letters of recommendation. I have to either accept that this is now the new normal, or make some kind of change. 

Wow, just realized that this is post #600! I never would have expected that I would have this many postings.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

I'm still a bit stiff from the Big Fall, and I'm also a little cranky and blue because it's so dark out. November/December is such a tough time of year! So I decided to try to increase my zen with a 30 day yoga challenge. Of course, I'm using yoga with Adriene, since she has a ton of them, they are just the right tone and pace, and I feel like spending time with her every day for a month will cheer me up. She did one for the new year this year that was themed "breath," and that's the one that I decided to do because everything is better when you focus on breathing. Even if you spend the entire yoga class in child's pose. So far I've done days 1 & 2, which were very nice.

This year Thanksgiving will be in person again; something to be thankful for!  When I went vegetarian I decided that I was still allowed to eat turkey on thanksgiving, and I'm looking forward to my meat. It's been over a year. Hard to believe - sometimes I smell bacon and want some, but otherwise it's been easy. I'm making apple pie and squash, because I have like 10 squashes from my CSA. Fortunately I'm done with the CSA until spring - I need a little break from kale!

I went outside to play with my parkour friends both yesterday and today - it was so fun. We practiced our jumping, walking on rails, played "red light green light" and did some climbing. I purposely went on some high places so that I could challenge my fear of falling. I was still nervous and there were a few things that I didn't do, and for sure I didn't want to land on my butt. There were three kids playing in the park yesterday and they joined us in our parkour games - they were pretty good, too. There mom was like "I just take them to the park and let them run around. I have my health insurance card." 

First "Big" Parkour Accident

But fortunately I wasn't hurt too much! After class today I was doing this thing that I always do - climbing on top of a cement post that's about 5 feet tall. I had just gotten my foot on top when somehow my balance got off a little, perhaps I lost focus for a moment? Anyhow, suddenly I lost grip with my hands and was falling backwards off the pole and to the ground where I bumped my head. I feel like when ever you have an accident, time slows a bit as you fall, and this was no exception. When I hit, everything was a little blurry and I was kind of in shock. And then the inevitable circle of people formed around me which was a little embarrassing.  At first my hands felt disconnected from the rest of me, but then after a moment I realized that I was fine. I did tear the elbow of one of my new lululemon shirts, and I've probably worn it only a half dozen times or so, but it's still wearable. After I sat around on the ground for a bit it was clear that I was OK, and so a friend stayed with me to make sure that I remained OK. We went for coffee and I had avocado toast, which is good post-five-foot-fall comfort food. 

Last week I decided that it would be a good idea to get my first shingles and covid booster shots at the same time. It wasn't. I was sick all weekend long with a fever and aches and pains all over my body. Then, on Tuesday I had a pretty direct conversation with my boss, probably because I was feeling a bit run down still. We discussed some of the ways that I feel like my program doesn't really get much love, but I would have liked to have been more tactful than I was, and I got teary, which I would rather not have done. I also would have liked for her to listen more and talk less, but I guess that's not her way. We'll see if any change comes from it.

Parkour Musings

Happy Halloween, not always the best day for me, but today wasn't a bad one. I thought I would write down some of my fave parkour things I worked on this month to try again. 

I've been improving on my lazy vault, but not so much that I could vault over high things in class today, it just make me feel intimidated. But, in class on Wednesday one of the coaches showed us were you can lazy vault over a rail that has something next to it, like a building, so that you go between the two things - then you have two places to put your hands. Suddenly your lazy vault is two handed, but much easier. I could do it! I think a good way to practice would be to rely less and less on your second hand.

Today we were super mario and jumped off things. The thing that was cool was jumping down from railing on the side of the school, taking a couple steps, jumping up on the planter, then down. It was kind of boop boop boop. Definitely something to work on.

In class last week coach told me I should look more forward and less down while walking on rails. It turns out it does make a difference. I've been practicing.

I'm working on breathing more and being scared of things less, always a work in progress.

I can't believe it's already almost November!

Mt. Osceola

I took the day off today because I wanted a long weekend and I just didn't want to drive into work three days a week. I've become such a whiner about it, but I don't like having to commute anymore. So, instead of the commute, I drove up to New Hampshire for a hike! Yes, there's an irony there, but it's different when you decide to do it. I was thinking about Welch-Dickey because it's such a nice hike, but then I realized that I'd done it in April. So, I thought about Osceola since it's in the same geographic area, the road to it will close soon, and it's also a nice hike. Well, it was a nice hike, but maybe I shouldn't have gone for the 4000 footer - the top was in the clouds!

As I got to Waterville Valley I realized there wasn't going to be a view and thought about switching to Welch-Dickey since they have a number of viewpoints. But, then I realized I didn't know how to get to the trailhead for that one, and I don't get cell service in the mountains. Maybe the clouds would clear? I thought. They didn't. 

Anyhow, it's a nice hike, not too long, and there are switchbacks. I love switchbacks. The trail was covered in wet leaves, which made it a bit slippery for the way down, but it was really nice on the way up. About half way up I started to feel hungry - fortunately, with switchbacks you can walk and eat, which is what I did. As I got higher there were a few nice views, but then I could see I was getting into the clouds, and then it even snowed a bit (like, a half a dozen chunks of snow). At the top, the trail was really muddy, and I had fun rock hopping across. I brought a cheese sandwich on sourdough bread and found a nook out of the wind to eat it. Even out of the wind it was really cold - I was glad I had opted for my athleta long pants, my new lulu top, another top, and big puff, as well as gloves. I sat for 15 minutes and then headed down. 

On the way down, things weren't as good. My feet were killing me! I think it may actually have been knee and leg related, probably because I stopped doing the PT exercises. My knees have been bothering me, and so I was hiking more cautiously, which I think impacted my feet. Also, I went to take out my hiking poles and couldn't get them to open - that was a huge bummer. I carried them the whole way, for no purpose. I decided I need to start doing the exercises again before another hike. And to figure out how to open my hiking poles. There's no reason to be so tired at the end of a 6 mile hike (interestingly, all trails says it's 5.77 miles, but the maps say 6.2)

Because it was a foggy Monday I was able to park in the parking lot. I finished, actually got to change in an enclosed space instead of my car (there's an outhouse kind of deal there), cleaned up, and headed home. I looked at my watch when I left the parking lot and it was 10:30. I got to the top right at 12:30, so it was almost exactly 2 hours up. I guess I did stop to get out a snack, and briefly to chat with a few people. I think I was faster on the way up than down - I'm not that disappointed in my pace, to be honest. All and all, a better day than if I had gone to work!

 

Rock Circuit and Parkour

Today we did a really fun exercise in parkour - I keep thinking I need to write down the fun stuff so I can work on it after class - we did a lashee (which I don't know how to spell - it's French and means swing under something, or something like that). When I first started parkour I couldn't do them at all, but now my arms and core are stronger and I can do them a little better. There's one spot at the playground where you swing feet first through a rope net that I love doing. And then today coach showed us how to swing on one bar, over a slide-like thing, grab another bar and land. I have to get a video of that - it makes no sense to describe. But, I think it's something that if I work on, I could get better at. I also did a couple lazy vaults in my usual spot, and they were pretty good. On Wednesday I found a third place where I can do them :)

It was so nice out today that after class I went on a walk on the Rock Circuit Trail. I did my usual loop, only I did it backwards, which was equally nice. I think I like the part that I usually do at the start the best, so it was good to do it this way and have my favorite part at the end.

I took tomorrow off from work so I don't have to go to work, and because I wanted a few long weekends. I'm planning for a hike - I was going to do Welch-Dickey, but now I see I've already done it this year. I may do it again anyhow, but I'll have to do some planning. Hopefully more posts tomorrow.

Jennings Peak

I was going to do Sandwich Dome, which is 1.1 miles past Jennings Peak, but then on the way up I realized that the best view was from Jennings Peak and so there was no real reason to go all the way to Sandwich Dome. So, I didn't, and I was so glad I made that choice! Sandwich Dome is like 3992 feet - it it was 8 or 10 feet taller, the trail would be mobbed. As it was, I saw about 15 people all day.

Jennings Peak (and maybe Sandwich Dome) is definitely on my list of go-to hikes for the future. It was a super nice hike, some slabby parts, some really pretty woods, nothing too strenuous on the uphill - though the uphill part was all uphill without much break, and no crowds. It's a circle hike, which I did counter clockwise, and the way down was super steep at first, but then a really gradual and relaxing walk next to a pretty stream. 

I left home a little late, around 7:30, but it's only an hour and 45 minutes to get there. I had a new book to listen to, the trees are starting to change color so it's really nice out, and so the ride up flew by. I got to the trailhead and started out at 9:45. I thought I had started the GPS, but apparently I hadn't. I stopped after about an hour to see where I was (I was a little annoyed with myself for looking because I knew I had a ways to go, but then I was like "see me, good thing I looked"). Anyhow, I magically start my hike half way up the trail according to alltrails, but in real life I walked up there. 

It only took like 2 hours of walking to get to the top of Jennings - it's like 3.8 miles, so that seems reasonable. I stopped at a viewpoint and ate some grapes. At the top there was a nice dog, and 4 people, of course - until that point I had only seen 3 other people. While I was up there, 4 more people came along. It's always crowded at the summit. I had a bagel with cheese sandwich, an apple, and some pistachios. And then I took some pictures before heading down.

My feet were killing me on the way down. I spent a lot of time thinking about why my feet and legs hurt so much. In part I think because in parkour yesterday we did an endurance exercise where we alternated 5 squats on a rail with butt kickers one way across the basketball court (the short way, thankfully) and jogging back, for 10 minutes. Ouch. When I was almost back there was a stream crossing and my feet were killing me, so I took off my shoes to walk across it - so cold. And then I took my inserts out of the shoes, which helped. I think I need new orthotics

Anyhow, I got down and changed in the parking lot (couldn't do that at a 4000 footer) and then got in the car to go home. On the way back there was so much traffic, it took me forever (well, maybe 2 and a half hours). Fortunately I still had enough juice in my phone so I could listen to my book. At the rest stop where I used to get a hamburger I got a PB&J. I have to admit the bread was both stale and mushy, but it still tasted delicious! I got home and my legs were killing me so badly I took a hot bath and foam rolled. We'll see if it helps.

Definitely a hike I would do again. Not as superb as Welch-Dickey, but it can be a little more rigorous, and it's so much more peaceful. It wasn't the hardest hike for sure, though maybe giving that my last two hikes have been Washington and Isolation, I shouldn't judge. Good bang for the buck. Two thumbs up.

Rendezvous

This weekend was my first parkour rendezvous. It was exhausting, challenging and a great time! Usually rendezvous allows coaches and practitioners from around the world to get together and train. Of course, with COVID, there were only people from the US this year, so I guess it was smaller than normal; it seemed like a lot of people to me. The event was 3 days, Friday - Sunday. I only did Saturday and Sunday, and I'm glad I did, because I'm completely exhausted and my feet are killing me! They split us up into ability groups - 1-6 yesterday and 1-5 today - I was in group 2 both days. Each group was in a different area for each session. Some of the areas were a mile apart, and so of course we walked. It was a lot of walking! According to mapmyrun I walked about 6 miles yesterday, and 4 miles today, but all of that was on city streets in shoes that aren't really padded at all. Note to self if I'm reading this before planning my next rendezvous - wear better shoes. Of course, the real exercise was parkour, not all the walking!

There were like 5 sessions Saturday and 4 Sunday. We started Saturday with my least favorite, cat hangs and wall runs, which are hard for me to do because of my toes. I am making some progress on them - if I get my foot up high enough I can bounce off the walls OK. And sometimes I can hang on things. Anyhow, it was definitely my least favorite session of the weekend, glad to do it first. Then, we went to this sort of movement-based session that was kind of about falling right and kind of about the things you do between moves, or how to move your body when you are off balance. We did a lot of falling, and falling in different directions. We had a "murder party" where we mock stabbed each other and when you were stabbed you had to fall down, so the way you fell was less controlled by you. My favorite thing that we did from that session was a reverse gate vault, where you fell backwards off something, reached for the ground with your hand, scissored your legs, and brought them to the ground with control. It's a good core exercise and it just looks cool. Then we went back to the armory, which was the headquarters for the day, for lunch. I had brought sour dough bread and cheese sandwich and a whole avocado, and I was so hungry that I ate the entire avocado. And, I had some pistachios, and I ate so many of them. And then someone bought chips, and I ate a bunch of them.... 

After lunch we got to choose a section, and I was thinking about capture the flag, since I used to like it so much at summer camp, but it sounded like it was going to be a ton of running and chaos. So, I went to this circle talk where we shared about what parkour means to us, and how we manage our anxiety within it. It was really great because there were 20 of us, and 18 were guys. I definitely get in my head a lot about parkour (and Life), and sometimes I think it's just me, but it was cool to see that all these dudes had a softer side, and they had angst too. One guy said that he also envisions the worst, with him falling and breaking his spine and then there's the wheelchair, etc, and he divides his worries into rational and irrational, and asks himself more about the irrational. And some of the really good folks said they really worked up to challenges, and sometimes they couldn't do them, and had to come back and try again. So, it's not just me. 

Next, we did balance work, and practiced walking on these new rails at the high school. Which was fun. I could do about 6 steps before I started thinking, and fell. But I was pretty in control for that bit that I did. We also challenged our balance by going to this high point and looking over a wall - I was the only one in the group who could stand on the wall! Yay! This one woman even said "I got vertigo just looking at you." And then we made routes in this playground, and I did one that was really fun jumping back and fourth from a bench to the side of a sandbox. After, we went back to the armory for micro challenges, and we did one in the armory, but it was so crowded we wound up going to this playground that we hadn't been to that was super fun! We did this one challenge where you tried to get across these logs with your eyes closed that was hard, but I did get it the easier way. And we did this thing where we tried to go under as many logs as possible, that was harder than it looked. We finished at the armory, with an exercise where we had to compliment 5 people, and this like 20 year-old kid said he liked what I said at the circle thing :). And then we sat in groups and talked about our day, stretched, did some yoga, and then I walked home and was exhausted.

Today, one of my friends picked me up, because we weren't right around here, we were at another series of parks. We decided to park at the end point, which we were super glad we did at the end of the day when we were exhausted. We started with a warmup that was prep for a zombie apocalypse. The instructor was so funny - as we were starting like 5 hot guys with no shirts on came running by and she was like "clear the way everyone so they can get by!" Then she yelled at them "we'll catch up to you later. I'll bring you some shirts!" We did a little chasing each other. Then we broke up into groups. Our first activity was a little parkour vocab combined with doing activities by the mall - there was this wooden bench there that I really liked because the back of the bench was super easy to balance on, and I did my first parkour glides there. It was really fun because it was basically "do some stuff and tell us what it was." 

Then, we went under the bridge and jumped on some rocks. The exercise was to find a jump and do it in 4 different ways - first from 2 feet to 2 feet, then striding off the right foot, then off the left foot, then plio jump, which for me was the hard one. But, I did wind up getting a few jumps in the end that I initially couldn't do, which was exciting! Then lunch, which we went all the way back to the mall for - I kind of wanted to whine about it, because it meant like an extra mile of walking and my feet were killing me, but I sucked it up and went. 

Because yesterday's lunch was so good, I brought more of the same, except this time I also brought clementines and a banana. Then we had to walk 22 minutes back to the park, where we did coordination and reflex activities. The first one was really cool - one person held a stick between their hands and you held your hand over it. They would suddenly drop it, and you tried to catch it before it hit the ground. It was cool because at first I was just moving my hand over it, but then I realized that it was going to go down at the same speed, so I just had to move faster, and figure out the swoop. I caught it a couple times, which was really awesome.

The last activity we did was a storming the castle kind of thing where we had a bunch of challenges to complete. The first was you had to join with one other person and hop up this flight of stairs 10 times, which was exhausting. Then, you had to join to a group of 4 and all jump over something together 3 times. Then, you became a group of 6, and had to carry a squirming coach across the park, which is much harder than it sounds. Then, as a group of 8 you had to qm backwards across the park in a straight line. Then, as a group of 10, you had to get up the handicapped ramp using only the rail, and you had to always be in contact with the person next to you - either holding hands or touching their back or something. Then, as a group of 12 you had to balance on this stone bench and sing a silly song (and I hope no one had covid because we were waaay too close), then as a group of 14 you had to do 3 steps to get between 2 benches - which I didn't get to do because another group won. I was OK with not doing the last challenge because no one wants to be the one who brings it all down. And I wasn't sure I could do it.

Then we gave eachother massages, stretched, and chilled, and the event was over. And, we went for ice cream :) It was a really fun way to spend the weekend! I'm so glad that it's a long weekend because tomorrow my plan is to lie on the couch and read a book and maybe do laundry. I'm beat!

I Ran!

OK, it was only 1.87 miles, but I realized that my new fitbit would keep really good track of pace and distance for me, and I wanted to check out how it worked, so I had to run to see. And, it's pretty cool! When I was running I could actually look at my fitbit to see my current pace - there were some times when I was actually going below a ten minute mile (all of these occurred on a downhill) and there were some times when I was going like a 14 minute mile (hello big uphill). Most of the time I was in the 10's or 11's somewhere. My average was 11:34, with the first mile at 11:15 and the .87 at 11:56, which doesn't surprise me because there was way more downhill on the first mile, and because I was kind of sucking wind on the second mile. 

It didn't completely suck. Maybe I will try to get into running a little bit again? Like, maybe one time a week, plus the run on Wednesdays? I feel like if I did it just a little more then I might not dread it so much. And, the fitbit maps and graphs are pretty fun.

 

Mt Washington via Tuckerman's Ravine and Lion's Head

This was #48 that I've soloed - I don't think I've processed that yet, probably tomorrow when I recover a bit from the hike. It was no joke, but also I enjoyed it a lot, except the last mile up, which was so hard! I was considering staying up in NH the night before, but my friend who has a place had "adult" guests, and all the hotels and such were about $200 for the night, so I decided I would do it as a day trip.  I really wanted to go on this day, though, because weather was predicted to be good, with good views, low winds and no rain. So, when I woke up to pee at 5:15, I was ready! (ish, I left at 5:45 and was driving on auto pilot - I forgot to turn on rt 95, but fortunately you can take 495 instead. Oooops). Anyhow, I got to the mountain and was ready to go at 9:09, which I thought was pretty good!

Tuckerman's Ravine is 4.1 miles, 2 miles that's consistent uphill to the Hermit Lake Shelter. The trail is wide, rocky and uphill, but very doable here. I knew that this part was "the easy part" and I hauled myself up as fast as I could (for me) because the sun is going down around 7:30 these days, and I didn't want to have to worry about light. It was a good walk, I was really glad I did parkour since it really helped me on the rocks, and before I knew it I was at the shelter. I looked at it, went "nice" and kept going because I decided I wanted to stop and eat something at Lunch Rocks. I had hiked up almost to lunch rocks once before in the spring to watch the skiers, but that day was cloudy and I couldn't really see where I was. I did remember that after the shelter there was more significant elevation gain, and that lunch rocks was a bit away. It started to seem like a ton of elevation gain, and a lot of distance, and I realized I was really hungry. By that time it was almost 11, and all I had had to eat was oatmeal at like 6:30 am, so really no surprise. Anyhow, I pushed myself to make it to lunch rocks, and was so glad I did! It was so nice there, with a waterfall and pretty little mossy glades.

I sat for like 15 minutes and ate a cheese sandwich and peanut butter bar and enjoyed the view and the vibe. I had been debating if I should bring a cheese sandwich because there's a restaurant up top, but in the end I decided it wasn't that heavy, and I thanked prior me for packing it. It was delicious, and I really needed it. The hardest part of the hike came after lunch - there was about 1.7 miles - first up the headwall and then the dome of the mountain. I actually didn't think the headwall was that hard. Which fooled me into thinking the dome wouldn't be either. Wrong! The dome was brutal, and I wound up playing the 50 steps game, where you take 50 steps and stop and look around, check out the view, think about how far you've come since the last 50 steps, and maybe wonder why you are there. And then you take another 50 steps, and do it again. Sometimes I did 100 steps before stopping. And it seemed to take forever to do the last .8 mile. That was definitely the slowest part. 

As I knew would happen, the top is pavement; there's a line to take a photo at the summit, that was really long. I didn't need a photo, though, so I just snuck in between two people taking pictures, tapped the summit marker, and called it a day. I was so pooped, I didn't even know were to sit, so I tried a couple places, before deciding I needed salt, and going into the restaurant. They had some pretty delicious looking pizza, but I was pretty sure that if I ate it I would puke, so I settled for doritos, potato chips, diet coke, and this disgusting looking prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwich (all thinks that I would normally never eat). I went outside away from the crowds, ate all the chips and drank most of the diet coke, and between the salt and the syrup, I felt better and ready to head down!

It was a really nice day at the top! No wind, the clouds were really high up, so you didn't need to worry about sunscreen but there was a good view, and no rain. You could see really far - above is Lake of the Clouds and the Crawford Path, and I sat and thought about how I'd hiked all of that. I took Lion's Head down, which initially was on the same trail as Tuckerman's. It was slow going down, but much faster than up, that's for sure (thank's parkour!) I made sure to be supportive and encouraging to people hiking up who looked tired, because that does help me. Once I got on the Lion's head trail, it was pretty fun - I enjoyed the rocky path for the most part. The only part that wasn't fun was that there were these three really loud people behind me who were playing this bad music on tinny speakers. They were so annoying I finally decided to stop and let them pass. I rested for about 10 minutes, which was nice, actually.

There was a really nice ridgeline on Lion's Head that was rocky and so fun, perhaps my favorite part of the hike. At the end of the ridgeline was a really great view of Hermit Lake and the shelter there, it was right below us, but really far down, which gave you a sense of the descent. There was a mile or so that was just downhill all the way. Pretty steep. I was glad I hadn't gone up it. And again I was glad for parkour. The crazy thing was I passed people on the way down, and I actually lead a group of guys who were fine not passing me!! Crazy! It did seem to take a long time before we got to the trail junction with Tuckerman's Ravine trail. From there it was just a long, consistent downhill. I practiced using my parkour skills and going from rock to rock, and was really happy with how I did. My legs were killing me and I kind of needed to pee. I stopped on a bridge to eat a little bit of chocolate I had brought and look at my map. But otherwise, I kind of moved pretty fast to get out. I finished around 6, walked to my car which was in a second lot about 3 minutes away, drove back to the Joe Dodge Lodge, and took the best shower before driving home. On the way home I stopped and got a super doughy white bread bagel, cheese and pirates booty and scarfed it down in the car. It was so good! I got home at around 10 and foam rolled, took some advil and went to bed.

 

I just got new trail runners from la sportiva - the exact same shoes as my old ones, but the old ones the treads had worn off. I was a little nervous about not breaking them in before doing Mt Washington, but I remember the old ones being fine. These were great and I was so glad I had them given all the rocks! There was one spot that was a bit snaggly, and I have a little bruise this morning, but nothing serious. I also got a new water bladder which was less of a success - I'll have to check and see if there's some secret to it - the hose kept popping out at random times. At one point it came out and fell on the trail - if I hadn't seen it that would have been really bad because a water bladder isn't really helpful without a hose to drink from. I was so glad that I brought a sandwich, even though there was food up top - the food was pretty junky and I wouldn't have wanted to rely on it. I brought big puff and was glad I had it - even without any wind, I was cold up top since I had been sweating. I might try Washington again one day, via Huntington. But if I do I don't think it would be solo, and I would need to stay up in NH, to have a full day to hike, and a good night's sleep before.

When you look at my splits, you can see that I walked around for almost 3/4 mile up top! That was kind of silly of me on such a long day. Also, I did pretty well for me. Some of the hours that are on the "slower" side I did have stops to eat. That was a tough one, but good day!

Climbed a 5.11!

It wasn't pretty at all, many many falls, and a bit of an assist from the belayer, but I got up a 5.11 today at metro rock! I was pretty psyched!! It was a good day of climbing - I started with a 5.8 that was one of the hardest climbs of the night because it was pretty burley at the top, then moved to a 5.9 which I did clean, then I moved to 5.10's. In total, I did 5 5.10's! 2 clean - 1 on auto belay (it took me several tries, but when I got it, it was super fun, would definitely retry), and 1 that I've done before, and really like. I also did one in the chimney with 1 fall, which is cleaner than the other two times I tried it. One that was really over hung with a billion falls, and a belayer who, when I yelled "take" was like "don't worry, you're safe." Not the brightest bulb in the bunch. I did one other that was pretty overhung, but by that point I had a new belayer who was a woman, and got it on the whole taking thing. 

The 5.11 was on slab - there were some moves that had pretty crappy hand holds, but if you got it just right, you could almost get a grip and move yourself up, until the next fall. Some of the folks in the meet up that I was climbing with were like "the biggest and best hold is near the top" and when I got close, I saw that there was this hold that was literally the size of the tip of my thumb. I was just like "are they kidding?" but it was hung in a way that you were meant to pinch it with your thumb and the wall/corner/arete. In retrospect, kind of cool. Anyhow, there was a degree of arm to the climb, and I felt pretty good about the exercise of it and the whole night. When I got home I ate some bread and cheese, just to make sure I don't lose weight and make it easier to climb.

I'm pretty psyched with how the climbing thing is going, and I love climbing at Metrorock all the time again!

Last week, on Wednesday, we did parkour on the fiedler bridge, which was a longer run to get to, but super fun once we were there. We did some climbing on the sides of the bridge, and then coach was like, just walk on the side of the bridge, and I did! At first, I thought there was no way I could do that, but actually the cement edges were like a foot wide, which you can pretty reliably walk on something that wide without falling because, gravity. So, I made up this little song that went "I'm walking along and it's not scary 'cause I've got gravity on my side." and I sang it over and over again, and actually made it across the entire river!

This weekend we are supposed to have a hurricane on Sunday, so definitely a bad day for Washington. I was thinking about tomorrow, and hurrying back, but it looks like next weekend might actually be nice, so that's the current plan. And, to keep climbing Friday night!

Rock Circuit Trail

After my failed attempt at Washington, I was eager to go up there again and try to get the peak. Today looked like it was going to be good weather, no rain, low winds, a good view - perfect! So, I was thinking I would make a day trip of it. My car, sadly, had other plans. It's tax-free weekend, so of course I went to REI. When I got into my car after shopping (got a new fitbit because it seems I fried my old one with a new charger. Sad. But, it was over 4 years old, and the new ones have so many toys, I was excited to get one) this sensor that's been broken started dinging over and over and over and over. Sometimes it would go maybe 30 seconds without dinging, but sometimes it would just ding repeatedly. There was no way I could drive for 5 hours with it dinging like that. So, I had to let the perfect day go by :(. I've taken the car to be fixed 5 times for this sensor already, no joke, and they can't seem to fix it - I'm taking it to the dealer and just getting a new one tomorrow (sensor, not car). I was just going to leave it broken - it's a tire pressure sensor, which is fun, but I guess I've lived without one for my entire life and don't need it, but the dinging has to stop!

Anyhow, since I couldn't do Washington, I decided to try the entire loop of the Rock Circuit Trail in the Fells instead. Partly I decided to do this because I went to parkour this morning and we had a pretty chill class which we finished up by going for ice cream - I had the most delicious goat cheese and fig flavor - with actual chunks of goat cheese in it! So good! I got a small, but it was not small at all, and I ate the whole thing, so I needed a little exercise.

It was finally a beautiful day - the sun was out, no humidity, about 80, a perfect day for a walk in the woods. I wore my chacos, which may have been a mistake for a 4 mile walk/hike, my feet felt a little raw at the end. And, it was really fun wearing my new fitbit - I have one face that's a bitmoji of me - it changes depending on what I'm doing. It was running while I was exercising, and then it had a banana later. Now it's sleepy. Anyhow, it was a nice walk in the woods, I ran into a few people, but it wasn't too crowded, I was a little warm for a while, but nothing too bad. 

The rest of my staycation wound up being pretty chill, but very nice. There were a few rainy days that I spent on my couch watching the Olympic climbing (so amazing!) and I read a good book. It was hard going back to work, but what can you do? I'm going to be back in person in like 3 weeks, it's so hard to believe! It will be so strange going into work, but I bet soon it will feel strange that I worked from home for a year and a half. I'm going to try working 8:30-4:30 instead of 8-4 to see if I can get an extra half hour of sleep. Wednesdays I will go right to Harvard Square for parkour I think, and maybe I can find a yoga place near Wellesley? I think if it's 3 days a week that I am commuting, it will be different than when it was five, but we'll see...

 

Mt. Washington Fail

My one goal for my staycation was to solo Mt. Washington for #48 of my solo NH 4000 footers. Well, today the mountain won. It was not a good day for hiking Washington, though it was nice out everywhere else it seems. 

My goal was to hike up Tuckerman's Ravine to the top, then down Lion's Head. To make things easier, I stayed at my friend's place up in N. Conway - they've got wifi up there now, it's so on-the-grid. The forecast looked OK - rain overnight, clearing in the morning, sun coming out around 10 or 11. I decided with the rain that I would hike the other side of the mountain, doing the Ammonoosuc Trail up and Jewel down since they are less climbing-like, and I figured that the rocks would still be wet. Which they were, because it rained the whole time I was there!

I got up a little later, around 8:30, made coffee and had my oatmeal that I brought, and hit the road by 9:15. It's a 45 minute drive, and I got to the mountain around 10. It was a beautiful day in N Conway, but as I drove closer, I could see the clouds around Washington. They were thick. It didn't seem like they were going to clear off, but I went with hope, and started off on the hike. One thing that's nice about Washington is that there are real bathrooms at the foot of the trail, so I stopped at the visitor's center to pee before heading out. 

Although it's August 2, I wore long pants, one of my new long sleeve lulu shirts, my rain pants (the egg salad people would be so happy that I learned my lesson from Isolation) and my rain jacket. I was a little warm once I got going, but not too bad. The first mile is pretty chill, and I strolled along in the rain wondering if there really was any chance that the clouds would clear up. After a bit you get to a really pretty little pool with a waterfall going into it, and that's the start of the really uphill bit. I pulled out my hiking polls, and headed up. After about a half hour I ran into a park ranger who said that another front was moving in, and the winds were picking up above tree line, and it might be hypothermia weather up there. Which kind of silly to think of dying of hypothermia in the beginning of August, but it can happen. I started thinking about maybe just going to the hut instead, and tagging Monroe. 

As I hiked, I got warmer, and it kept raining. I was sweating, and so my pants and shirt were getting wet, even though I had rain gear on. As I got higher, the wind started to pick up. I came to a second water fall which was beautiful, and stopped to eat a power bar and my cheese sandwich on sourdough bread. And, I thought about how miserable Isolation had been. And then I was like "fuck it, I'm turning back." Because I didn't think I was going to be able to make it to the top, and I was probably going to have to go down the same trail, and it was steep and slabby and not fun and I didn't want to do another miserable hike like Isolation just because I had started it. So, that's what I did! 

I only wound up hiking for about 3 and a half hours, with a total of about 4 hours on the mountain. I didn't actually make bad time - the slow split in mile three was due to sandwich eating, photographing the waterfall and deciding about going back. I'm glad I made the choice I did. When I got home and looked at the current weather conditions on Washington it said winds were at 44 mph with gusts up to 52, temp was 42 with a wind chill of 30. In wet clothes, that would not have been a good idea. The mountain is always there for me to try again.

Parkour updates

Parkour's been going really well! Coach showed us this new way to balance between the basketball hoop pole and the wall behind it, and now we all hang out there after class and goof around. My latest effort is The Thinker. :)  My balances on the rails are so much better, I can walk the full rail and make the whole way more often than I fall! I've started doing some that are higher - like 3 feet up - and I can do them too! The only thing is that I need something to hold onto to start. I've also been pretty consistent with my lazy vaults in two spots. Just have to branch out at some point. 

New goal, handstand!

 

A few weeks ago we were practicing going between points on the side of the school, and I realized that I could climb up one of the trees there. It's pretty high to the bottom branch, like five feet, but if you stand on this nice flat wide cement railing it's not hard to reach over to it and get up. Once I got up, of course, I was like "wait, how do I get down? Maybe someone needs to call the fire department?" But then coach talked me through it, and it was totally easy; I could do it by myself!

On Tuesday I went climbing again at metrorock, which was awesome! I hadn't been in way too long, I had been planning to go with a meetup, but at the last minute just didn't have the energy. I actually climbed a 5.10c! With three rests on not a super tall wall, but whatever. It wasn't an easy one, but it also wasn't overhung, which really helped. I think the fact that I've lost almost 10 pounds (9 pounds to be specific, that last pound so that I can say 10 pounds is coming off soooo slowly) makes a difference, but also all the parkour is helping. I was hoping to lose at least 3 more pounds, but it's not happening fast. I guess at this point, even if I only lose a pound a month, that would be OK. 

We are headed back to work in person in six weeks. I only have to go in three days a week, which isn't so bad, but still I'm dreading the commute, wearing pants, packing a lunch, getting up at 6:30 am...

 

Isolation on a Rainy Day

To solo the 48 I had to do Isolation again. I wasn't excited about it, but I figured it would be more fun when I wasn't holding people up. I was only partly correct.

I decided to go up to NH for part of July 4 weekend. School was closed on Friday, which meant I could beat some of the traffic. I haven't slept away from home in ages, and I had sort of built it up in my mind to be something that neither I nor my cats could survive, which is just silly. I knew I had to do something. So, I stayed at the Joe Dodge Lodge for two whole nights! I really like the place, and with COVID I got my own bunk room, which I loved! Breakfast and dinner are included in the stay, I ate so many delicious carbs, but I felt like I needed to with all the hiking.

My plan was to get up for breakfast at 6:30, get to the mountain around 7, hike Glen Boulder in and out, and be back for dinner. It didn't totally work that way, but mostly. I did get up super early, got to breakfast at 6:30, hit the trailhead around 7 (it is only a mile away from the lodge) and started at 7:11. The thing about doing Isolation via Glen Boulder is that you hike above the mountain, and then downhill to get to it. So, even though it's the second shortest 4000 footer, you still get up to 5147 feet, a half mile from the summit of Boott Spur. The trail starts out relentlessly uphill for the first three miles; you gain about 3200 thousand feet in that little distance. Which is a lot! You finally get to the top, and then you're like "and now only 9 more miles to hike!" Brutal. 

It was raining and the peak was in the clouds, and while it wasn't super windy, there was enough breeze above treeline that I was pretty cold whenever I stopped moving, even with my big puff on. Add to that the fact that there were a bunch of slabs to climb (super fun, but wet, and therefore less fun to go down) and the steepness of descent, and I made the decision above treeline that I should take a different trail, Rocky Branch, back because then I wouldn't need to be above treeline again, would have a more gentle descent, and wouldn't have to go up over 1000 feet after hitting the summit. The big issue was that the two trailheads are about 10 miles apart, so I was going to have to figure out transportation. 

Anyhow, after I got to the top and started going down to Isolation, the hike became much more pleasant. Although there was no view, I do love a good ridgeline, and walking above treeline is just a bonus, even when I am wet and a bit cold. So, the miles from the highest point to Isolation went pretty fast. There were a few other crazy people out that day, and every now and then we passed each other, saying "hello" and "lovely weather" and all. And of course I reached the top at the same time as a bunch of other people. I basically tagged it, was like "uh huh" and then went and sat on the slightly protected rock I'd seen to eat my cheese sandwich on sour dough. Even though I had Big Puff, it was cold and I didn't linger for long before heading out.

I knew that Rocky Branch was longer than the way in, and I had done the trail before and remembered that #1 there were 5 stream crossings and #2 for a lot of the way the trail is basically rock hopping in a stream. I was so glad that I'd done it before, because otherwise I would have been really uncertain if I was going the right way, some of the tail could be mistaken for runoff, and there aren't any marking. But, every now and then you would see boot marks. And, really it's the only thing out there to walk on. The last time I did it, my friend had to coax me across one of the stream crossings; they were much easier this time! One of the crossings a rock shifted and my foot went in, but otherwise they were fine. 

Although I had my AllTrails, I hadn't downloaded the map before, so I didn't have any idea where I was. Big mistake. I did have my paper map. The way out had a part that was like 2.8 miles, one that was .9 miles, and one that was 2.4 miles. There was a campground at the 3.7 mile to go spot. At one point I came to a campground, and so I thought that I was down to 3.7 miles, but then about 45 minutes later I came to another campground, and realized that was the 3.7 mile spot. That was the worst moment of the hike. Because, I was cold and wet and hungry and still had 3.7 miles to go! I took a moment to eat something and got back too it, but I really had to talk myself down. It was the first time that I was really scared, because if I had stopped hiking I would definitely get hypothermia and there might not be another hiker until the next day. So, I made up a little song about my feet being wet, and needing to pee, and my pants falling down and sang to myself until I felt a little better.

I was so excited when the trail finally dried out. And then I heard traffic. And then finally, around 5:15 I got to the trailhead! There were no cars in the parking lot, which made me sad - I thought I had heard a couple hikers behind me. But no. So, I did something I have never done before, and hope to never do again - I hitchhiked! 

About a dozen cars passed me, and I was starting to worry that no one would want to pick up a drown rat, when a driver slowed down. I was so excited, even more so when I saw it was a family in the car (less likely to be ax murderers.) Mom, dad and two little girls from India - they let me squeeze into the back between the two girls, and the moment that I sat down one of them started screaming. The other told me that her sister was tired. I was like "I just need to go like 10 miles up the road." And they dropped me off by the trailhead. I love those people and hope they have a good vacation in the rain.

I was so happy to see my car, and that I only had to go a mile to get to the lodge. When I got back I took the best hot shower and had a delicious dinner, and then went to bed at 9.

I did some shopping on the way home today (way too much shopping, combined with way too much shopping on the way up). Everything I had been wearing was wet, so when I got home I put it all in the washing machine. When I came back upstairs I could not unlock my door! I was so sad, I just thought how expensive a locksmith would be on July 4, and how long it would take for one to come. But, I did have my car keys, and I had left my window opened, so I moved my car below my window, climbed on the roof, shimmied the screen up, and climbed in through the window! Thank you Parkour!! 

(But if you are reading this, please don't try it - I totally needed to stand on the roof my car to reach, and really there's nothing worth stealing. Given the gentrification around here, my neighbors are a much better bet, and you don't have to climb though such a high window.)

Parkour Goals

 I set two long term goals for parkour, and I've actually met them! The first was to walk along the low rail, the round one, at the parkour park. I thought for sure I would never be able to do that, but it turned out that all I had to do was to get new shoes and it wasn't so hard. I've done that at least a couple dozen times now. There were only three of us in class today and we stayed after and practiced for about a half hour until one of the guys was like "we should film this," so we did. After I regretted it a little, because I was much more graceful looking in my head. But, at least I made it all the way across when being video taped.

I need to get my shoulders out of my ears. Also, I've lost some weight since January, which has been HARD to do, and I've been feeling good about it. Which, is good. But looking at the video it's a reminder that I could still lose a few pounds. So, not to get too into myself about it :)

The other goal I had was to do a lazy vault over this cement wall that's a little below hip level. Everyone does them there and I've tried many many times, but I always hit the wall with my hip. Today I practiced enough and just put some trust into myself and I actually did it! The first time was almost an accident, as often happens. After that I did about a dozen more, a couple that felt really good, like was just popping right over. When you do them right, they are so easy and effortless. I'm definitely going to keep working on that one - I'd like to be able to do them better, and to do them in other places. 

Now I need to set some new goals.

I'm thinking about a hike in NH for tomorrow. The weather should be reasonable and I want to get my stamina up to a level where I can do the last two 4000 footers that I haven't soloed (Isolation and Washington, definitely not the easiest two).

Metrorock!

Today was my first day back to indoor climbing in 15 months, and it was awesome! I think I only went climbing two or three times in 2020, and my foot was healing from toe surgery, so it was not a lot of fun and I could barely drag myself up 5.8's. So, this was my first good day of indoor climbing in a year and a half. Wow.

My friend and I went to Metrorock over CRG because, even though it's a little less convenient for her, it's Metrorock. Just walking in, I was like "I have missed you" my friend and climbing. Also, I was like "are the walls taller than they used to be?" But once I was climbing, I was fine. We both started with a 5.8 and then moved to 5.9's. I did three 5.9's clean before moving to 5.10's. Maybe I should have tried 5.10's sooner because my arms were killing me. I successfully did a 5.10A and a 5.10B, both with about 3 rests for my arms and then I tried another 5.10A, but was on the wrong rope, and my arms were pumped. I did one more 5.9 that I thought would be slabby, but wasn't, and that was the evening. Eight climbs - not bad. I was really pleased with how I was climbing, that I was in good enough shape to flash the 5.9's and get up the 10's. I was also happy that my toe felt OK. 

It was so great to catch up with my climbing buddy after over a year also!

I had a not-so-great Memorial Day weekend. I was so tired after my hike. And Saturday I noticed that my cat was winking at me and had some big eye buggers. She's been acting like she felt uncomfortable for a couple days, and of course there's her general saltiness. So, I called the vet who said that she should be seen that day, but they didn't have any times. So, against my better judgement I took her to the animal urgent care. I had scheduled an appointment, but even so, they told me it would be an hour wait. I was so tired, and it was rainy and miserable out. I was sad.

But, across the street was a gas station, and I realized that my car needed to be inspected because the sticker was running out that day. And, I had been getting a low tire pressure reading, so I could put air in my tires. Since I had and hour that I was going to be unhappy, I figured I might as well do things I dislike. So, I got my car inspected. Then, I went to fill my tires. This is where things went wrong because somehow I pulled the sensor out of the tire and it slowly deflated as I stood there trying to put it back in. If I held the thing there it didn't deflate, but of course you can't drive a car like that, so eventually I had to let the tire go flat and go to the gas station to ask for help. 

So, there I was with my crying cat in her carrier, my car with a flat tire, standing in the rain begging the garage guys to please fix it. Happily they were able to put a thing in! And, the vet then messaged to say that they were ready for Tigger, who only had mild conjunctivitis. And, I went back today and got a new tire sensor. It was a lot of money to find out that Tigger was fine. I should have stayed on the couch, my first instinct. 

Tom, Field and Willey (and Avalon)

My list of 4000 footers that I haven't soloed was down to 5, and I'd been putting them off, thinking that they wouldn't be that much fun, but I finally decided to hit the three that can be done in a loop, and get them out of the way. I had done Tom, Field and Willey way back in 2014, my 2nd, 3rd and 4th 4000 footers as a part of a meet up backpacking trip, and remember the outing as a difficult and complicated couple of days. So, I wasn't eager to redo them. But, I do want to solo all of them, so I decided today was the day.

Completely different experience on my own! For one thing, since there are four mountains, there are a lot of built in spots for breaks. For another, there's a really long ridgeline to walk, and I love a good ridgeline! According to everything I read, it's best to do the hike clockwise, with Avalon first, because that's the steepest part. The one bad thing about that is that Avalon also has the best view. It turned out pretty well, though, because I got to the mountain at about 10, so by the time I got to the top of Avalon I was starving and needed to stop and eat! I had a delicious cheese sandwich on sourdough bread, an orange (that was actually kind of heavy), and some nuts and mini-pretzels. The view from Avalon was of the Presidentials - you could see Washington and Adams, and the mountains before and after - they are so huge, and I could feel good because I had hiked them all!

After a kind of long break, I headed up to the top of Field, which is the tallest of the mountains. The hike up to Field was not easy, and I didn't move super fast, but I was pleased with how I did on the hike. I felt good. I was breathing hard, and my legs were feeling it, but I didn't need to stop and catch my breath, and none of it felt impossible. When I got to the top of Field, I took a nice rest to eat some more nuts and pretzels and admire the Mt. Washington Hotel and relax for a bit. 

From the top of Field to Willey it's a 1.4 mile walk. It started with some pretty significant downhill, which messed with my head a little, because I knew I was going to have to go back up. Other than that, the walk to Willey wasn't so hard; it's shorter than Field, so there was elevation gain, but not too much getting there. There isn't a huge view on Willey, and I just sat for a few minutes before turning back. By this point it was after 2, and I was starting to worry about time. 

I shouldn't have worried about the hike back up to Field. It was definitely uphill, but that's what you get with a mountain! It wasn't that bad, not nearly as hard as what I had done, and before I knew it I was back on top of Field. I sat and admired the view again and ate a powerbar. There was a very demanding grayjay there, and I gave in and fed it, which was really awesome - it landed in my hand and took a nut! I tried offering it a seed, but it was like "I'm not perching on your hand for some silly seed!" Birds!

By that point I was a little more nervous about time, so I headed off for Tom, the last of the peaks. It's a .9 mile hike over, and then a .6 mile spur to the top, and 2.3 miles down. The hike from Field to Tom was my favorite part of the hike! I could see my parkour skills paying off - I was much better able to trust my feet and to use tic tok's in moving down from one rock to the next. The other thing that I did well was keep my knees bent while going down so that they wouldn't absorb all the impact. IDK if it was the trail or if it will be a permanent change - I hope it will be something that sticks. Anyhow, I got to the next sign and was like "I really enjoyed that" even though my feet and legs were starting to hurt.

Tom is one of those mountains that you just go up and tag. There's no view, but it's not too hard. I got to the top and heard noises around me, which was a little creepy. I stayed for about a minute, turned around and went back to the bottom of the spur. I still had the second half of my sandwich, and I sat on a log looking at the sign and ate it. It was really delicious!

The last 2.3 miles went really fast. I practiced trusting my feet, bending my knees, and using my parkour as I went down. I used my poles for the steepest part of the downward part, but then I put them away. There were four stream crossings, and even those felt easier! I was pretty tired by this point, and kind of ready to be done, so I did try to go a bit faster. I was really happy to hear the sounds of the road, I'm not going to lie! It was great having the GPS with me, I checked to see where I was about a half dozen times during the hike, and it definitely made me feel a lot better to know. Most of the times I checked I was almost at the next sign or turn, but once I was not even close, and that was good info to have.

I finished around 6:45. By the time I had cleaned up a little and gotten organized I left around 7. I definitely wanted to drive as much as possible in the light. I got as far as Concord before #1 it got dark, #2 I had to pee, and #3 I was hungry, so I stopped at the rest area and got some boom chick popcorn, which I guess isn't the healthiest thing, but that's what I did. It had started raining and there was a low fog covering the road, and very little light. The last hour of the drive home was so difficult because it was hard to even see the lines on the road to know that I was in a lane! The popcorn helped, but not really. Anyhow, I made it home, fed the cats, foam rolled, took a shower, and am ready for bed!

QQ!

It's been over a year since I've really climbed - I went climbing once last year, outside at quincy quarries. But it was one of those really hot days where it was hard to touch the rock, and we tried to climb things with spray paint, and it wasn't that fun, so I barely count it. So, I feel like today was my first climbing in a year - it was so nice!

I went with a meetup group - the nature girls. Always a nice group, though I feel like everyone was like 20 years younger than me at least. But, whatever. I was the one who knew how to set up the ropes, which was a little weird. I was really happy to see that my training in parkour this winter had really paid off; we set up two ropes on savage wall, each of which I climbed - one twice. The second time on the harder route I actually got in some good moves on harder crack, which was great fun. And, it was nice just sitting out by the quarry, chatting and enjoying warm weather.

On the way out, there were these two guys whose rope was stuck - they had dropped it when they were taking it down and it got caught on a little outcrop of rock. I couldn't leave them with a stuck rope, and so I offered to set up mine so someone could climb or rappel down and get the rope unstuck. One of the guys showed me a back way to get up to the top of the cliff - who knew there were still places to find at QQ?? After, we went to a golf club for beer, which was funny because there were all these women in fancy clothes and looking all nice, and I was covered in dirt from my day's climbing. Hey - that's how I roll. 

Now that I'm fully vaccinated I can actually go climbing in a gym again! 

Welch-Dickey

It's Patriot's Day, the second one with no marathon, no reenactment, and for sure no Paul Revere riding his horse down Broadway yelling that the British are coming. But, on the bright side, I still had the day off of work, and it's not a holiday in NH, so it seemed like a good day to kick off the hiking season. And, it was! I was trying to decide where to go that wouldn't be too long or hard a hike or too long a drive, and I thought of the Welch-Dickey Loop. It's such an awesome hike, I haven't done it in ages, and it's just a little over four miles. With all the light we have now (sunset after 7) knew I could sleep in a bit, relax over coffee, and still do the hike with plenty of time to drive back in the light. Also, it is a popular hike, so today was the perfect day for it.

When I looked at the weather report, it showed only a slight chance of rain in Waterville Valley, but as I was driving up I saw that my rain luck was not holding out. There were a ton of small, localized rain storms moving around the valley, with rain falling in patches and then stopping. The Egg Salad Sandwich People of yore would not approve, but I hadn't packed my raincoat or pants. But, I did have an umbrella, so I threw it into my pack.

What I love about Welch-Dickey is that after the first little bit through the woods (which is a nice little stroll with quick little stream jumps) much of the way up is slabby. You come to the first slabby bit maybe a mile in, and then there's a nice view area (where I stopped for a cheese sandwich on sourdough bread because it was after 1 and I was hungry). After that, the rest of the way up involves a lot of slab, some pretty steep, but always with good grip. Even though it had been fairly rainy, it was still fun to walk up. 

Welch is the first mountain when you take the traditional counter clockwise route, and it's a kind of funny shaped little lump with huge opened slabs all over it. In a couple places there are some climbing moves - not at all tricky but very fun. I love going through them! 

It took me about an hour and 20 minutes of walking to get to the top of Welch, not including my sandwich break, which was certainly not breaking any speed records, but in my defense I wasn't trying to :) When I got to the top there were a bunch of people there, but they happily all decided to leave just as I arrived. So I could sit and eat a yogurt and power bar in quiet. Of course, just as I started to eat it began raining again - I was so happy I had my umbrella. I know it looked a little silly, but I pulled it out and sat under it until the storm passed, and thought smug thoughts about the Egg Salad Sandwich People, who I am sure under no circumstances would be caught dead on the top of a mountain with an umbrella. But, I was dry and it was quite nice listening to the rain.

There's a big downhill between Welch and Dickey, and then you go up more slab to the top of Dickey, which is actually the higher mountain, but I never really sit around for the view. There was still some snow on the top of Dickey, but nothing you would need microspikes for (which I had read on three people's trail reviews the day before, so I hadn't brought them). I lost the trail and had to search for it a couple times on the way down, which I always do on that trail. 

As I was really getting down the mountain, these two trail runners went flying past me. I have no idea how anyone can go that fast and not sprain an ankle. I think they were racing each other, they weren't together, one was clearly in front. I bet they did the entire loop in like an hour. Or less. On the way down I practiced trusting my feet, bending my legs so my knees don't hurt (they still hurt unfortunately) and doing parkour steps with minimal success. I was really glad for all the PT exercise I've done - I can tell my legs are stronger! It felt pretty good, actually, though I was glad that I started with just a four mile hike this year. All and all a good day on the mountain - I'm excited for this year's hiking. Hopefully I'll be able to hit Tom, Field and Willey, Washington and Isolation solo and complete my 48 solo. And, I will do some of the 4000+ hikes that "don't count" on the lists because they are subpeaks, like Mt. Hight and Boot Spur. I'm also thinking about trying to do the Lafayette Loop again, though I would probably need to camp up there - parking is so difficult now. It's such a good hike! 

Although these aren't tall mountains, they start in the valley, so there is elevation gain. I know it's not super speedy, but I feel fine about this: