Wildcat D (but not A)

The plan for today was the Wildcats. I was going to get up super early, drive to NH, climb the Wildcats, and stay with my friends in North Conway. Well, I did drive to NH and summit one of the Wildcats, so part of my day went correctly.  But, also there was weather and black flies. And the hike up Wildcat D was a killer!  Oh, and I left at 6:30 am instead of earlier, like I hoped...

I did some research on the Wildcats, and learned that the hike up is super steep (it is). Which I think in some ways is harder for going down.  I learned that you can hike down the ski slope on a trail there, and it's less steep, so that's what I decided to do!  Taking that route made it a longer hike - it's supposed to be 8.4 miles out and back to Wildcat (you get to Wildcat D on the way), but with the ski route you have to walk 1.75 miles from the ski resort to the trail up, and the trail down is .7 miles longer.  I thought it would be worth it, and I was right!

I parked at the ski resort because #1 I wanted to make sure I could hike down, since the trail isn't on maps and #2 I had to walk .75 mile on the road, and then 1 mile on a pretty flat trail, and I thought that would be awful at the end of the hike (absolutely correct. The walk at the start was fine. I would have cried at the end.)  The trail up was just steep!  At one point, there were actually wood steps attached to the rocks so you could get up:

Some of the hike was pretty rock climb-y, which was fun, but then some was just exhausting.  And, there are still black flies out! Why? (Global warming? Probably...) So, it was hard to sit and breathe for a few minutes in the times when I really wanted to.  I was doing pretty well, taking my time and taking it slow, but after about an hour, I could feel my energy starting to drain.  I wound up taking some breaks, eating, and looking at the view.  Fortunately it was windy out, so any exposed area was not bad with the flies.  The views were amazing!

That's the road that I walked down!  And, in the other direction there are more mountains!

Anyhow, it was also (I later learned) 97% humidity (think Sea World): I was sucking down water!  I was pretty happy when I saw the top of the ski resort gondola - that's between peaks D and E.  I sat and at pretty much an entire container of pringles and a power bar, and then climbed to the top of D.  There's a lookout at the top, and of course there were other people up there (even though I'd seen about 10 people all day). It turned out that the other hikers were thru hiking the AT, going south!  Cool. We chatted for a few and the went on their way.

I'd decided that I would make a final decision about hiking the 4 miles (2 out, 2 back) to wildcat A when I got to D, but I was so tired, I knew I should go down.  I also had gone through over 1.5 liters of water.  It was a bummer, because I'd done the hard part already, but I know it was the right choice. I hiked down the trail on the ski slope (which I was happy was dirt, so hopefully no ticks like in grass), got into my car, and drove to the Joe Dodge Lodge where I drank a gatorade and took a shower.  My friends wound up not coming up for the weekend, and I decided to just drive home, even though it's 3 hours. I'm glad I did, I'm on the couch with my cats now!

I think for Wildcat A I will go from the other direction, stay at the Carter Hut, and that will hopefully be nice - and I won't have to do that first uphill!

Osceola and East Osceola

It was a beautiful day today, perfect for hiking!  I slept until 8:30 because I was tired from yesterday's climbing, bit of a mistake.  I got to the mountain at about 11:30 ish, I had to park kind of far away from the trail head (I didn't realize how far until I finished and was so scared that my car was gone, but no - I just had to keep walking. I had it worked out in my head that I was going to cry if that happened.)  Anyhow, it's 3.2 miles to the top of Osceola, and there are switchbacks! So, it's a pretty OK hike, not too hard, though of course it's a 4000 footer (I think the trail starts pretty high up).

I need to do more aerobic exercise, because I was pretty tired hiking up, and needed to stop several times and breath and listen to my heart get slower.  But, I left at 11:45 and got to the top at 2:01!  Which is not bad!  My plan was to stop and rest, eat a sandwich, and then go over to East Osceola.  Which I wasn't excited about doing, but it was what I went there for... It's a mile to East Osceola, but the hardest mile of the hike. The only cool think about it is there's this part called "The Chimney" that's pretty much rock climbing. You can go down a more gradual way, but then I climbed up. Super fun! I would say about a 5.4 or so, maybe outside 5.2-5.3. Not hard, but no rope and it was pretty high.  And I enjoyed that!  East Osceola itself, though, not so much.  It's a pile of rocks with no view. There were so many bugs today, I looked at it, was like, "yup, made it," peed in the woods, and then left.  I had planned to save it for last, so I could end where I started - I'm so glad I didn't!

I got back to Osceola and had the place to myself!  I'm sure that never happens, there were like 30 people up there when I was there the first time.  I was so tired, and there were all these bugs (probably why it was empty) that I just lay on my back, spread eagle, on the ledge for a minute, waving my hands around my head to keep the mosquitos away.  Next thing I know, a red cross helicopter is flying towards the ledge and I was like "that can't be good."  I got up to let them land, and they came close, and then waved, and then I realized they were coming to rescue me.  I almost wished they had, but then I couldn't count it.  Maybe it was practice, because they were there for a while.

The way down was both nice, and torture. It's a really nice trail, and I would totally do Osceola again. Like I said, switchbacks. There's some nice granite slab, and I practiced trusting my feet. I was low on water, and had to stop to filter more.  As I got lower, there were more and more bugs, until they were everywhere, even though I was wearing DEET. It became so miserable. Because I can almost ignore sore feet, but the bugs!  At one point I thought I was close to the parking lot, but then I realized I was at the last switchback, which took me a half hour to hike up to.  I was so sad. But, I just kept reminding myself I would be blogging about it before I knew it.  After, I stopped at a convenience store and bought a pint of gatorade and drank it all.  I was sweating so much!

So, tough one - Osceola would definitely do again.  East Osceola, not so much. No more hiking until the black flies are gone. But, more aerobics.

Red Rocks

Third outdoor climbing of the season - I've gone a couple times behind the Chestnut Hill mall after work, but this was the first full day.  I went with a friend to Red Rocks in Ipswich, which was a new place for us.  As will all new crags, there were a few disasters, such as we had the wrong address and went to the wrong place, there was a lot of looking the place - it was frustrating.  Then, we got there and went to set up our rope and this RUDE Russian dude, I think his name was Alex, but we will call him Boris, set up his stuff on our route.  He was all "I have static rope. Quick. Easy to set up." Climbing mansplaining. Then he and his friends climbed it first and after, one of his friends had to go, and he "graciously" left his stuff up, on our rope.  His friend was like "you're such a good guy."  HA! My friend and I laughed really hard. 

I did 6 climbs, and I only freaked out a little on the last one. They have bolts there, which is nice. It's really easy to set up, though some of the bolts were really close to the edge (scary).  There was one part that was kind of hard, but we had to go up it 3 times, and I got it clean the last time :)  The last route, the rope got so tangled, and then it got caught in a crack, and I had to rappel down and untangle it. And that sketched me out a little.

Always with climbing, you do 6 climbs and it takes the entire day. WTF?

Tomorrow the goal is to hike the Osceolas.

Crossfit again!

I've been missing crossfit a little. Weird. So, I finally decided to suck it up and go. There is one - one nation - that has a "beginner WOD," which I thought would be a good reentry.  And, it has three locations, two of which are pretty accessible for me.  So, I went!

Of course, it was not a beginner WOD, and it wasn't a good reentry.  It was so hard, there was no lifting, and I had to run a mile.  And I am even slower than I used to be.  I mean, I think soon I will be running backwards.

It was nice to be back - it all seemed familiar.  And full of things I couldn't do.  The WOD included handstand push-ups (can't do), strict pull ups (can't do) and running (previously mentioned).  I can't find an online posting of their WOD anywhere.  And yet, when I finished I felt like I had a good workout, and I would be sore tomorrow.

We started with some running - 100 meters, 100 meters and then 200 meters. Yup, I was last every time.

WOD: 21-15-9
Handstand Push-ups (I lifted two 12 pound dumbbells)
run 400 meters
strict pull-ups (I used bands and only did 15 the first round)

My time 15:40.

After we had two tabata rounds:
Alternate with your partner: plank/bandy triceps (8 rounds of each)
Alternate with your partner: side plank/bandy forearms (4 rounds of each)

After, as I was driving home, I was so tired and hungry that I think I may have gone the wrong way down a one-way street.  Oops.

I think I will try for once a week/3 times a month and see how it goes.

Deck-ish

I broke my no spending ban on the first day, so that wouldn't count as a success I guess.  But, there's this spot that I've been wanting to make a little deck for a while, so I can go sit outside and drink coffee and read a book, and today I was like, fuck it, I'm doing it.  So, I bought cinder blocks, sand, etc and leveled out an area and kind of made a deck.  It's a little wobbly, I'm not going to lie.  But I think it will be OK.  I'll take a picture tomorrow after it rains.  I'm so tired and my entire body hurts.

Mt. Watatic again

I was going to do Pack Monadnock and North Pack today, but I woke up at 5 am with a headache which I think was a mini migraine.  I took some drugs and went back to bed, but knew a big hike wasn't a good idea.  Tomorrow I'm going climbing (I tried to get my friend to change days, but she had plans for today, so no dice).  Then, I saw a hike for this evening at Mt Watatic, for 5 pm, and I thought "perfect!"  And it was! (except the bugs.)

There were 19 of us, which is a pretty big group.  We had our starting pow wow, and one guy arrived in jeans and another was like "this is my first hike since my heart attack."  I have nitroglycerin around my neck.  We were all like "ummmmm...." So, I thought it was going to be a slow one, but nope.  We pretty much jogged up the mountain, sat on top for an hour, and then jogged back down.  I get so competitive with the big groups, it's funny, I want to be up front if possible, so I was puffing along on the way up. We left the parking lot at like 5, and got up to the top around 6, with several pauses to let people catch up.

I brought a peanut butter and nutella sandwich, an orange, and cashews, and they were delicious. One guy in the group made brownies with things like beans.  They weren't bad.  He said he had a sweet potato brownie recipe, I'm going to have to do some googling.  And then after a while we jogged down, which took about 45 minutes.  There were so many bugs, I got down and was like "thanks for the hike. Bye."

On Saturday morning I did this new workout that was rowing and weights.  I kind of liked it!  I didn't think that it was so hard, but then my entire body hurts now, so I think it was a pretty good workout!  This guy on the hiking trip today called when you work out too much and are sore an "exercise hangover," which is what I think I might have had.  I like the term! And the studio. I will definitely do again!  It's closer to the last rowing studio - Arlington.

I've decided to do a shopping freeze for the summer, Memorial Day to Labor Day.  I've realized that I've been spending money kind of carelessly.  I have so much stuff, I'm not really sure why I keep feeling like I need more.  So, I'm going to try to take the summer off superfluous spending.  I can still buy food - including fresh fruits and veggies, but less Whole Foods and more Trader Joes/Market Basket/Wegmans. No more clothes, especially expensive work out clothes. No more expensive slices of pizza or Kumbacha that I don't finish.  We will see how it goes.

Carter Dome

I just did the most miserable hike to Carter Dome.  Least favorite so far, and that includes Owl's Head.  Two thumbs down. Did not like.  The sad thing is that it should have been a nice hike, but SNOW.  The first 3.6 miles were actually quite lovely, it was like the mountain was lulling me into complacency. But once I got up to the Zeta Pass, it all went downhill (not literally, of course).

I had planned this a couple months ago, making two critical mistakes.  First, I didn't realize that it was Mother's Day weekend, and I would need to get to Canton for 2:30 lunch today.  Second, I ignored trail reports online that said that the hiking was awful due to the snow melting but not being gone above 3000 feet.  I should have stayed at home on the couch, even though I payed for the hut.  I would have spent the same amount of money not being miserable.

Anyhow, the first 1.9 miles was just lovely, a gentle slope uphill.  I came to an intersection where I could go left and have the option to do South Carter as well as Carter Dome, or I could go right, and stop at the hut and leave the unnecessary things in my backpack before going to the top.  I was seduced by the lovely path, and went left, hoping to bag two peeks.  For the next 1.7 miles, I was quite happy with my choice.  Carter Dome trail has switchbacks! Something you never see in NH; usually you just hike straight up the mountain. I got to the snow line and there were these two women who tried to talk me into going down - they said they'd been hiking since 7 am that morning and were worried about making it down by dark - that the hike was awful and basically that I was going to die out there.  They were pretty persistent, but then I was like "I'm staying at the hut" and they chilled out and I kept going.

Then I got to the pass.  There were two guys there eating salami, about to head down.  They were both exhausted; they also said that the ridge line was so horrible and they had post holed up to their waists several times each.  I gave the South Carter plan and decided to head for the Dome and the Hut. Everyone was right, it was awful.  I thought about turning back and just heading down a couple times, it was so bad.  One time I post holed to my waist and almost lost my boot in the hole!  That would have been a disaster!  It was really sketchy; I was by myself, probably no one else would be coming through that day, and it wasn't that safe.  I pushed on, carefully, tapping the snow with my hiking pole before stepping, or stepping in other people's tracks.  Even then, I still post holed a lot.  It took me over an hour to go .8 mile.  At one point, I saw another hiker, and she was like "you're almost at Carter Dome!" But I wasn't.  It was another .4 mile, which took about a half hour.  By the time I got to the top, I was soo exhausted, I looked at the view for like 30 seconds - I was like "I bet there's rock under where I'm standing and if it was summer I would sit right here and eat." But, I didn't dare go off the trail to sit down because I think the snow was like 6 feet deep.  So I kept walking. When I finally saw the cairn at the top I was so happy!

Even though there was no view, I still sat and ate on the cairn.  I rested for a little bit, but then I had to get going because it was like 5:30, I had 1.2 miles to the hut, and I wanted to be there before dark.   I walked for about a half hour, when I got to a ledge and could see the hut!  I was sooo happy, but at the same time it was so far away, and so far down.  The trail after that was really downhill.  There was more snow and some places it was so steep, I butt slid down.  Then, there was dirt!  I almost wanted to be like the Pope and kiss it.  Still, it was so far down. At one point the snow came back, and I post holed and almost thought I would break my ankle.  But finally, I got down.  I was so happy to be in that hut! It was only me, the caretaker, and a couple there for the night.  I ate an entire tin of pringles, some noodle soup, and went to bed.

The next day, I got up at 6:45 am, ate breakfast, packed up, and hit the trail by 7:30 (it's all so slow in the woods).  The first mile was mud, snow, crappy hiking.  Then, suddenly it stopped and it was all lovely again!  I was so excited!  But my legs were killing me, and I had to rush down to get to my mother's.  When I saw my car, I wanted to cry a little.  I was 10 minutes late for lunch, which wasn't that bad.

PS Additional info - when I was close to the top there was a sign for the junction of Mt Hite and Carter trail and it was so covered in snow that only the actual sign showed.

Things that  I did well:
brought baggies that I was able to wear in my boots when they got wet
didn't try for the extra mountain
bought a protein bar for when I felt especially exhausted

Things that I didn't do well:
changed my plan on the trail
didn't charge the batteries in my headlamp
started too late (7 am)
didn't listed to trail reports

I think I have to get back to lifting heavy weights.  These little weights for multiple reps suck, and I don't think it's as good as doing squats.  Plus, then I will have something else to blog about.