Meader, Meader Ridge and Eagle Crag

It's been a while since I got in a good hike, so I decided to take today off and hit the trails. I've been wanting to do Meader and Eagle Crag, which are the mountains next to the Baldfaces, since I did the Baldfaces. So, that was the plan for the day! An added bonus was that I was able to make the hike a loop with just a short road walk, and park by the Baldface trailhead. Which allowed me to hit the Emerald Pool for a little dip.

Wednesday was the first day back at work in person after a whole summer working at home. Re-entry is so hard. I decided that I would drive up to NH after work, camp at the Co-Ho hostel (but this time with the indoor access) and then leave from there to hike. There was a lot of traffic after work, and I thought about just going home, but I'm so glad I stuck it out. I got there a little after 8, set up my tent, used the bathroom and the kitchen, and then headed out to sleep. For August it was cold out! Fortunately I had my smart wool long underware, jams, wool socks and a sweatshirt, plus my down sleeping bag. I had to go all the way in the sleeping bag and pull the part around my face tight so only my nose was sticking out. Once my body heat warmed up the bag it was OK, though still a little chilly.

I set my alarm for 6:15, only hit the snooze once, and was on the road before 7. It's funny how it's so hard to get up at that hour for work, but so easy when it's for hiking. Anyhow, with driving and organizing and such I hit the trail a little before 8. I could have done the same if I'd left home at 5 am, but I actually slept pretty well in my cocoon, and was more rested than usual at the start of the hike. 

Because I did a loop, I started with a .6 mile road walk that was very easy - it was a little downhill and so I was able to get it done fast. Then the trail started on what looked like an old dirt road, with two lanes for tires, and that part was fast too. In fact the first 2.5 miles were pretty chill, a slow uphill, but not that tiring. When I got to the real climb I was psyched because there were switchbacks, and so that was fine as well. I was starting to get hungry - it was about 10:30 ish, and I thought I would sit once I got to the top of Meader and have a snack. There was an amazing view of the area from close to the top, but the actual top was viewless. It was also really nice, with pine trees and moss - it smelled amazing. But I decided to head on to the ridgeline before snacking because I thought there would be a view, and there was. I sat on a nice little rock with an obstructed but still amazing view and ate some not very delicious rice cakes. But I still ate the whole bag, so I guess they weren't horrible.

I continued on the ridgeline, which was viewless but still really enjoyable. There were some amazing mossy parts, with several different types of moss. There was a bit of up and down, but not too intense, and then I hit the top of Eagle Crag, which has an amazing view! I admired the Baldfaces, feeling impressed with myself that I'd hiked them, and looked around for somewhere to eat. There was a big boulder that looked so tempting - I was pretty sure it was a bad idea to climb on it because I could fall, and it might be hard to get down from. But of course then I climbed it, and it was fine. It was pretty sticky rock, so there were all kinds of holds to grab and my boots stuck pretty well as I went up and down. I had two bagels with cheese, and I ate 1.5 of them while I sat and admired the view - from my spot I could see the Carters, Wildcats, and a tiny bit of Mt Washington. And in the other direction I could see a lot of Maine. It was such a perfect weather day - there were some small fluffy clouds that were so close to me at the top of the mountain - I could actually see the top of the clouds from my perch. I thought about how ephemeral hiking is - I worked so hard to get up to the alpine zone, and I was just going to eat a bagel and then go down. 

As I started down I realized there was a hole in the butt of my pants, which I thought about worrying about, but honestly I had only seen 3 people all day - 2 hiking together on the ridgeline and one trail runner coming through when I was eating, that I decided that no one would see it. And I was right. The trail down started with a huge amount of descent at the top - I did some butt scootching, thinking how I was going to make my pants worse. The trail soon became more manageable and I was able to move reasonably fast for me, sometimes doing some rock hopping but mostly the trail was just a little root-y and soil with pine needles. 

I was so excited to reach the Emerald Pool, it seemed like it was faster than expected, but also my feet were killing me and my legs were tired, so it seemed like it took forever. Anyhow, I was psyched that no one else was there and stripped down to my undies and hopped in. Even though there is a drought and the water in the streams was low, the pool was full. It was so nice swimming around there - water temp was 57 according to my watch, and my feet throbbed in the cold. Just as I was getting ready to get out a guy who looked like he was in his 20 arrived to take a swim. Figures, three people all day and as I'm swimming around in my underware someone comes. But then he was like "sorry, sorry!!" and practically ran away, even though I was like "It's OK, I've got clothes on!" I thought maybe he was waiting for me to get out to come down, but I think he just left. Since he was gone, I changed into clean underware, a top and shorts, and sat with my feet in the water to eat my last half a sandwich. It was so good!

I finished up and reluctantly packed up my things, put my boots and socks back on and headed off for the last .7 mile, which went really fast. The last time I finished the hike I used a tree to pee instead of the smelly outhouses and some guy came biking buy just as I was midway through my business. Having already kind of flashed someone, I decided to use the outhouse. I got settled in my car and drove a bit to this country store that I'd seen on my way there that turned out to have ice cream! It was the best ice cream - I had a raspberry chocolate chip in a waffle cone, and got an apple cider. I got in my car and drove home - even though labor day weekend is coming the drive back was totally fine, and I got home without any problems. 

Interestingly, the all trails map I planned from said the hike would be 8.93 miles with 2779 feet of elevation gain. I did follow a short path that claimed to have a view (but didn't) but I'm 100% sure that wasn't over 1.25 miles. Curious. Anyhow, really good hike, two thumbs up, would definitely do again.

  

Denmark and Sweden

This year for my big vacation I went to Sweden and Denmark - Sweden for a couple days and then this creative movement event in Denmark called the international gathering. It was my first time to Scandinavia, and there were a lot of highlights. 

I went with a friend from parkour, which I was a little nervous about because, although I have always liked her, we have never traveled together, but it worked out really well. Another friend was supposed to go, but tore a tendon and couldn't come.  I also met a lot of really great people at the gathering, though after 5 days it became to people-y and I had to spend some time alone introverting. But, that's normal.

My brother was in Lund, Sweden for a conference - weird coincidence, so we met for dinner the first night. The food was so good - I had this fish dish that was amazing, along with some delicious apps and a couple drinks. We walked around town and I resisted getting a ton of souvenirs. 

We stayed in Malmo, Sweden, mostly because it was less expensive, but it turned out that Malmo was amazing. My friend actually decided to stay there after her trip, rather than in Copenhagen. We stayed at this old hotel that had a free breakfast buffet, and didn't seem to care if you made sandwiches for lunch - everyone was doing it. So we only had to buy food for dinner.

For the first full day we went to Copenhagen and rented bikes to go to all the mandatory touristy stuff = little mermaid statue, saw the royal guards, went to Nyhavn and Christiania. The best part, though, was we went to this restaurant in the meat packing district for dinner. They were full, except two seats at the bar by the chefs, so we sat there and got to watch them preparing the food. It was so cool watching them cook - we especially saw the raw fish chef, who was from England. We started chatting and he noticed our interest and wound up giving us a tour of the kitchen, which was really interesting. He said that they get two fish deliveries a day, but they vary based on what's caught, so people in that kitchen had to be flexible. Also, they were so busy that everyone was always moving - the chef said it was a rush working there because you never stopped. I noticed that he was really kind to everyone - always saying thank you and correcting gently, and he said that was part of the culture of the restaurant and why he worked there.

We were going to go to Copenhagen again, but my friend wasn't feeling well and honestly I was happy to stay in Malmo. I walked around town to the ocean, dropped my credit card in the park by accident and someone gave it back to me, and went to a couple museums. After, my friend was feeling better and so we went to the Swedish baths (I feel like one should do that in Sweden) and that was another highlight. The baths had three saunas and were built on the sea. They were separated by gender, and everyone just went around naked. At first it was weird, but then it was pretty freeing, and I even went swimming on the non-enclosed side of the building. If I lived there I would absolutely have a membership and go all the time. The water in the sea was about 68, so not too cold, but in the winter it would be amazing. For dinner the second day we went to another amazing restaurant and had pizza.

Our last touristy day we went to the Museum of Disgusting food where I sampled all the things. First you walk around and read about foods from different cultures, then you get to the tasting bar and can sample. They give you a little taste of things, and if you taste all of them you get to spin the wheel for a prize. I wasn't going to try everything, but the woman behind the counter was persuasive. It started with bugs - crickets, ant and mealworms, which tasted like sesame seeds, sour patch kids and rice puffs. Then there was durian, a century egg, some drinks and cheeses. Then stink bugs, surstrumming, hakarl and sauerkraut juice. After eating all that, I was all in, which meant eating four different hot sauces, one that was so hot they made you sign a waiver. After, I got a tshirt that said I ate everything at a 10% discount - apparently you can only buy it if you do eat everything. Then I went back to the hotel and had some diarrhea, ew. The taste woman said that the surstrumming is so smelly that they take the cans outside and sit under a bridge to open them - I can't imagine what the factory must smell like.

After, it was off to Denmark and the Gathering, which is a creative movement workshop week. I did the dance track - there was also parkour, crossfit and beach volleyball. It was a lot of fun! I was kind of nervous because I hadn't really done dance since high school, but there were other beginners there as well and no one cared what I looked like, including me. 

The first night of the event we had a Danish Games session, that included rock-paper-scissors. I was losing all the time, but then I noticed that everyone was doing scissors first and decided I should do rock followed by paper if there was a tie. So, when the championship came along, that's what I did, and I won! The way it worked, if you beat someone they had to become a train after you and shout your name to support you. So, but the time we got to the end everyone was shouting my name. It was really fun - it's so rare that I win at "athletics" that it was a refreshing change.

The dance sessions were really good - the teachers were amazing and I was happy with my ability to keep up with the pace of the classes. In terms of my abilities, I for sure wasn't the best dancer in the room, but it didn't matter. No one cared, not even me. We did contemporary dance every morning, followed by street dancing in the afternoon - there was house dance, an African dance style, hip hop, groove... Some of them we choreographed a dance, but others were more free form. 

There were some elective sessions as well, and I did beach volleyball for an hour and a half, went to the North Sea and jumped off a 4 meter high pier, did partner yoga (including the dirty dancing move) and did a strength training thing that I actually didn't love. They fed us delicious bread three times a day. There were a lot of beans, though, so so many beans. By Thursday I had to eat chicken because my stomach couldn't take the beans anymore. Friday they had this super intense conditioning class that had people pushing cars around, sticking their heads in water and then doing somersaults, and all sorts of other weird things. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling that great - I had a migraine, so I went to a yoga class, and couldn't even finish that. By Saturday I was pretty much ready to leave - my stomach was sad and I was peopled out, but still I'm glad I went.