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!
