Smarts Mountain fail

The plan for today was to hike Smarts mountain, one of the 52 with a view. Unfortunately it just wasn't my day, and I didn't get the hike done. Sometimes it happens, but it's OK - the mountain will be there next time. I left home a little later than I wanted to and got to the mountain at like 10:15. Google took me there by all these dirt roads, and the start of the trail was on a dirt road as well. Google tried to send me up an old logging road, but I realized that wasn't going to work - fortunately I'd driven past a parking lot and figured it might be the trailhead, which it was. The lot wasn't huge, but it was fine for a Friday in November. 

I started out on the AT heading up, and right from the beginning things didn't feel great. There were a ton of leaves on the ground, so it was slippery going and I was a little concerned about how hard it would be to get down the mountain. I'd also read that the other trail wasn't as well marked, and it was pretty hard to find the AT. I was nervous about getting down the mountain and having to drive back in the dark, with no cell signal (I'd written down directions, old school, but the dirt roads didn't all have street signs.) Anyhow, the worry just kept building. I tried to hike through it, but it just wasn't happening, and finally I decided that I had given it an attempt and could call it a day. As soon as I made the decision I felt immediately better and sat down to have my sandwich a little off the trail. 

Heading down it was slow on the steeper parts, but I did make it back to my car in reasonable time. In total I hiked 1.5 miles with 700 feet of elevation gain in an hour and ten minutes. Which is respectable exercise for the day. 

I've been feeling envious of some of my friend's smart watches, especially this feature that tells you the temperature of the water when you are swimming on the apple 10. I decided that since I was in NH where there's no sales tax, I might as well hit the apple store and see if I wanted to get one. (Spoiler alert, I did get one and I'm pretty happy with it - it was a little more than the garmin I was eyeing, but so so many more features. And the super cute rose gold color!)

Since I had no signal I just put my map up on my phone and drove in the direction of the highway - fortunately I'd downloaded the route the night before, so this worked. It turned out that you didn't need to take the dirt roads, of course, though I guess they may have been a few minutes faster. Anyhow, as I was headed into the town of lyme, what I can only describe as a suicidal deer came flying in front of me. Fortunately I wasn't going that fast and there was no one behind me, because I slammed on the breaks and somehow didn't hit it! I mean, WTF deer? There was no one behind me - it was like some boston driver or something. I drove on but then pulled over in a bit to breathe. That didn't help with the whole anxiety thing of the day, that's for sure.

When I got back to the boston area I decided to take a quick dip in the lake to shake out some of the angst. It was super choppy and the sailboats were out, but I jumped in anyhow, and paddled around for 5 minutes and felt a lot better when I got out. Anyhow, not a perfect day, but I am happy with my new watch, and I suppose the money I saved paid for the gas. Next time I try Smarts I may go before the leaves are down, and will make sure I have a little more time. The part I did was pretty nice, so I'd like to do the hike in full.

Half Mile at 50 degrees

I took a long weekend this weekend, with Thursday and Friday off because I just really wanted to - I've been in a bit of a funk since the election and felt like I needed a little bit of a break to do some nice things for me. Today I slept in a little, then got up and sat on the couch with my cats for a while. I met some friends for an informal parkour jam at Harvard, and then went to the lake for a swim. After the swim I did my laundry and then went to this ski movie that was really good. And, I won a year of outside magazine, which was awesome! 

The swim was really nice - it was sunny and not windy out, which always helps. I met my one friend who's also really hard core about the cold swimming, and we decided to swim out to the point and back. It was pretty cold at first and I didn't want to put my face in, but then I just started counting and saying "breathe through it" to myself when I came up for air. It took about 25 strokes on each side before my face acclimatized, and then swimming was fine. I wore gloves for the swim (and I'm glad I did because I still had a spot on one of my fingers that was a little numb afterward, though it's fine now), which I actually think act a little bit like paddles. The swim felt pretty fast and before I knew it we were back to the beach. To the point and back is about .4 mile, which is so close to a half mile that we decide to swim a couple more laps to finish the half mile. After, I wasn't even that cold, though I did have a couple shivers. We sat and drank tea and admired the lake for a bit before heading out. 

Numb

Welp, we did it again. How stupid were we to think that a bi-racial woman could beat a felon? This time I'm just not going to engage with the drama. I haven't been on the news or social media, and I'm planning to take at least a week off. There were some teary folks at work today, but mostly everyone was resigned. We did get free lunch, so that was something. 

I met a friend at the climbing gym after work. We went to metrorock in littleton, which actually isn't my favorite because it's very overhung, but it's close to my friend and she's a member. She did get me in for free, so there's that. I did mostly 5.8's and I could not get over a single overhang. I need to do more lifting!

I got home and discovered my cat had thrown up all over the couch. Yup, that about sums it up, Tigger.

Welch Dickey and a quick dip

I've been wanting to hike Welch-Dickey for the past few weekends, but I keep oversleeping or not sleeping, etc. But, today we "fall back," and so I had an extra hour in the day, perfect for sleeping in and taking a hike. It was a good one!

I got up at like 8, ate breakfast and thought that I would just bail and go climbing, but as I was eating I started feeling more energetic, and by the end of my coffee I was all in. I made sweet potato tofu veggie burgers yesterday, and packed one, in a bun, for lunch. On the drive up I stopped at a rest area, and snagged some condiments for it :).  Anyhow, even though I left a little later, I knew it would be OK because it's just a little less than 2 hours drive, and a 4.4 mile hike.

The parking area now has a credit card machine to pay for parking - crazy! It took forever for it to verify my card, though. Not a lot of signal I would guess. Anyhow, I paid and got all geared up and headed out. I wore my North Face hiking pants, my Smart Wool long sleeve top and a tshirt, and I carried Big Puff and an extra pair of pants. As I started hiking I got pretty warm, and actually pushed up the sleeves of my shirt - it was sunny and a beautiful day out! It took about an hour and a half to get to the top of Welch - as always it was a really pretty climb, and kind of intense at the top, but with really nice slab. I had to stop and breathe and listen to my heart a fair amount close to the top. One I got up, I admired the view and ate a snack. There was actually no one up there with me, and I admired the view and the sound of the wind. It was cold, and I put on big puff. 

I remembered that the steepest downhill was right after the top of Welch - it was pretty steep, but less so than I remembered. I think the last time I went it had rained a bit, which would have made a huge difference in the slipperiness. Dickey is so pretty, with these pine trees and moss, and then more slab and really nice downhills that are slabby. For some reason, though, they were a little stingy with the trail marks, I kept wondering if I was on the right path, and eventually finding a blaze, but there were a few times I wasn't sure I was on track. 

There's a really nice ledge where I like to stop on Dickey - I sat and admired how far I had come, even though it's not really a big hike. I ate my veggie burger with mustard, ketchup and relish, and enjoyed listening to the wind and watching the view. After that it was just a mile down.

I was planning to go to a nearby lake for a dip after, but right at the start I saw a couple pools in the stream that goes close to the trailhead, and decided that I could probably take my dip right there, and not have to drive out of the way, or walk far. I changed in the parking lot and headed into the woods. The pool I chose was about two feet deep and probably big enough to fit 2-3 people. The water was really cold! I brought my fish-momiter, and it said the water was about 45. I kind of crouched/sat for 5 minutes, and felt pretty good about that. My hands were really cold, but the rest of me felt fine, chilly but fine. I put on my dry robe and got changed at my car. 

I looked at my time for the last time I did Welch-Dickey and it was pretty much exactly the same as this time! All and all a successful hike. I'm glad I got off my lazy butt and went. Tuesday is election day - I've been avoiding the news, but it's going to be an intense week coming up. Might need a hike next weekend too.

A mile-ish at 56

Today I met a couple friends at the beach for a swim. It's been really warm out recently, and so the water is warmer than last year, it's still 56 in the lake. A couple of us decided that we were going to try for a longer swim to really start acclimating for the colder weather, and maybe another slush mile. We started by heading to the point to see how it goes. Because the last time I went swimming for 30 minutes I got a little claw hand and numbness, I wore gloves, which made such a difference!

It was really cold to put my face in the water, but by the time I got to the point I was completely fine, and so was my friend. We decided to do a little loop swim that we like, that takes us to the other side of the lake and then back to the beach. My goggles were totally fogged up, so I took a little detour because I couldn't tell where I was at all. I finally stopped and was pretty far off track, so I had to do some turning. We got back to the beach in a little less than 30 minutes, and were like, "think you could do a mile?" and we both thought we could, so we did. The triangle is about .6 mile - we decided to swim back and forth at the beach for the rest of if because we didn't want to get too far away and then get cold. In total it wound up being about 45 minutes, with a few short stops. I'm suspicious that it wasn't a full mile, but it was pretty close. 

After, we put our feet in hot water and drank tea, and had a little bit of an after drop, but not too much. It felt really good! I'm excited to try another slush mile soon.

56/57 Degrees

Winter is coming again! I was going to do a hike today, but last night my pre-hike insomnia got worse than it's ever been, and I didn't fall asleep until like 4 am, which is just silly. Especially because the plan was Welch-Dickey, which is no joke, but is also not a killer hike. I woke up late and decided to wait for next weekend to hike. Which left me time for a nice dip at the lake!

Today was the first day of the fall that I was really cold. It was really windy and the water was choppy, so I wasn't super excited about swimming swimming (also because I'm feeling a little low energy), so another friend and I just hung out and chatted for about 30 minutes. Towards the end I could feel my left pinky getting a little claw hand from the cold. When we got out it was pretty hard to get my hands to work, and took a little longer to get my swim suit off and clothes on. Fortunately I'd brought my heated gloves, so they did warm up. But, it was a reminder that it's cold out! Two people measured the temp at 56, though I think my thermometer said 57. But also I think we should go with 56 :)

There's a new guy in the group who brings hot cocoa that's made with cacao, ghost peppers, stevia, and some other things. It's really good, and really warming! Definitely a good addition to the group.

I'm thinking I might wear gloves for long swims this winter, and just keep no gloves for days when I'm doing a 10 minute or so dip. 

Bought a 10 pack at the climbing gym

Yesterday I went back to my fav climbing gym, metrorock in everett and climbed with a swim friend and his son. I did two 5.7's, two 5.8's, two 5.9's and a 5.10. Most of them not completely clean, but I did get up all of them. It was so nice to be in the climbing gym again, I really would like to be more into climbing. I'm gonna keep working at this one - we'll see how it goes!