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:

Cartwheels, rolls and bicycle polo

Today was a real "life in the city" day - it's been so long, it was amazing! Since I'm working from home I was able to meet a friend during lunch hour and we worked out in the school playground across the street. In class on Sunday we did cartwheels, and then cartwheels over things, and I could kind of do them. So I figured if I worked on it, I would really be able to do them, and they're a bit flashy. And I want some flash! My cartwheels are improving, mostly on one side. It's harder to do the over things bit - I can do them over the curb, but a tree stump or trunk is harder. The shorter distance down throws off my momentum. The best part was that after we worked out I had my one-on-one with my boss and my hair was a mess and I was in my sweats and I was like "sorry, just got outside over lunch" and she was like "that's awesome!"

After work I went to the evening parkour, the one with running. We had a shorter run today - according to map my run it was .56 mile and according to my watch we started at 5:43 and arrived at the park at 5:50. We did have to stop and wait at lights a couple times, and we also got caught on narrow Cambridge sidewalks. It was a lovely run, though, because it was downhill.

One of the coaches was with the last person in the class and they got way behind, and then took a wrong turn and thought they were going to another park. Anyhow, he was gone for ages and was pissed when he arrived. While we waited, we practiced front rolls in the park and I tried not to think about how many dogs had peed there. Once he got there, we practiced balance by walking on a fence that was waist high and about an inch and a half wide. For some reason everyone else was just strolling around, including two women who were taking their first class. I was nervous and jumped down several times (doing a roll though - totally aced the roll). As we were working on balancing, I noticed these guys on bikes with sticks riding around on the tennis court next to the park and I was like "what the heck are they doing?" and it turned out that they were playing bicycle polo! It was pretty cool to watch, and I got distracted for a while. The sun was setting over the park and Charles River, I was practicing walking on a fence, and there were bike polo players. And that was my city moment for the week. I love Boston!

After, a friend and I went for ice cream. I got peanut butter with oreo cookies (to cancel the workouts I guess) and we sat in one of the Harvard quads. It was freezing out, so we only sat for a bit and then walked back to my car and I drove him home.

New Ski Boots!

Now that it's the end of the season it seemed like time for ski boot sales! I got some really awesome K2's that fit me like a glove (well, a glove with a hard plastic shell). The new boots have so much more lining, and the tongue is covered in a nice soft fake fur. The guy at the store said that my toes should just touch the ends of the boots, which they do, and they are supposed to stretch and get more comfortable? 

Since I had the new boots I had to get one more ski trip in, and fortunately Wachusett was opened last weekend, so I went on Saturday night. My ticket was from 4-7, but I didn't wind up staying for the full time because the snow was so bad and my feet were killing me! But, I do love the new boots. My first run was very pathetic, there were no green trails opened and only two blues, and I could barely get down the blue. Each run got better and better, and towards the end I was feeling OK. The only thing was that my feet were killing me! Probably I have to work on modifying my stance, because my toes were hitting the end of the boots, but if I bent me knees more they didn't. Next year I start off with lessons. It was super fun and great skiing in April though I forgot my gloves because it was so warm out, and had to wear old gardening gloves I found in the trunk of my car :)

Today I went to the Wednesday parkour, which was really fun! Except the running. On the bright side, it was a class of 12 and I was up at the front of the pack! So exciting!! It was a pretty fun class, coach planned a route and we all did it, over and over. I got better at it over time. After class I went with a friend for really good sorbet in Harvard Square.

I had the cleaner come again - it's so nice! It's clean, but I didn't have to clean. When my cats saw the cleaners come in, they ran under the bed, poor things.