Bear! On Hedgehog

I went to NH for the weekend and stayed with my friends at their cabin. On Saturday we went climbing on white horse ledge. Today, I hiked Mt. Hedgehog where I saw a bear!

My friend and I did beginner route on whitehorse. She led and I had two ropes, and didn't freak out at all, even though we did 5 pitches! Largely because it was a 5.3, and so it actually wasn't really difficult, even for me and I haven't been climbing very much over the past two years. It was pretty cool to do 5 pitches - that's pretty high, although one was a little tiny pitch. One of the pitches had a really nice crack in it - I usually don't love crack, but even I have to say that this was a awesome one!

At the end of pitch 5 we had to leave, and we repelled down one pitch, and then my friend thought there was a trail in the woods. Nope. We bush wacked out, me sliding on my butt. Super fun, and good way to do a little high climbing without terror.

Today I decided I wanted to get in a hike - I was trying to decide which one, and finally settled on Hedgehog because I would never just drive all the way up there for a 5 mile hike. Looking at the map, most of the uphill was in the first 2 miles, and then it was a gradual stroll down. I have to say, all trails let me down this time, though I guess it was my own fault. I got to the top and didn't realize it was the top, and barely caught the view. There was another spot that looked like the top of the mountain, but I think it was actually one of the tripyramids. I was so scared I would have to go up it, I didn't pay close attention.

But, to make up for not really taking in the view, I did see my first bear while hiking! I was getting close to the bottom of the mountain, and I heard this loud >crash< in the woods. I was thinking it must be some kind of big animal, when I saw the bear in the woods. It was pretty big, and bear shaped. I tried to get my camera to take a picture, but then realized it was coming towards me. It was just sauntering along, bear-like, and I thought "oh shit, that bear is close" and I said "hey there, bear." It looked up and saw me, and I think it though "oh shit, that human is close" and it took off running away from me. I was pretty relieved, and just to make sure it really went away, I yelled "run away bear, run away!" And then I skedaddled on down the trail. It was actually pretty close to the end, but clearly shy about people. After, it was pretty awesome. 

There's a new(ish) restaurant on the Kanc called "Cheese Louise" and they have artisanal grilled cheese sandwiches. I got one with two cheese and tomato soup. It accidentally had bacon on it, and I ate it anyhow! (it would have just been thrown away if I didn't eat it and that would be sad for the poor pig). It was delicious and I think I need to make Cheese Louise a regular part of my trips in that area.