The Lazy Cretins: 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!