Adventure with Alex

We pulled into the parking lot a few minutes after 10AM. There were still plenty of parking spots open but as I glanced at the growing flipflop crowd already coating themselves in DEET (it was 64 degrees, breezy, with no bugs) I wondered why I was bringing us to such a heavily used trail for our first hike with our new puppy, Echo. I carried an empty kid carrier and with Echo on a leash and Alex by my side we left the parking lot and dipped into the woods.

This would be a bit of a training hike for Echo. Just a few minutes up the trail I was able to let Echo off leash and start “releasing” him and calling him back with my stash of smoked turkey treats. Alex already had the hand signals down to accompany “sit”, “stay”, “go play”, and enjoyed helping Echo learn.

Almost to the falls

As we approached the falls I put Echo back on leash due to the amount of people and a few other leashed dogs in the area. We made our way over to a sunny spot on the rocks to watch the swollen water from last nights epic storms.

Snack & Water Break

When I mentioned leaving so we could meet up with Mommy for lunch Alex was adamant we do some exploring. I brought us a bit further up the trail away from the crowds so I could let Echo off his leash. Alex wanted to go off trail to explore a muddy little stream. My first reaction was to reel him in so he wouldn’t get muddy from the assured trips and face plants off trail travel would bring this 34 month old, but then I started thinking about this excellent piece by Emma Marris, “Let Kids Run Free in the Woods”, which I found through the Expect Adventure blog.

I wanted Alex to love hiking. If I always keep him from running, scrambling, exploring, and jumping in every puddle would he really want to keep doing it as he gets older? So I let Alex off the proverbial leash and off he went into the woods.

Bushwacking

I was proud to see face height vegetation didn’t creep him out like it did this Spring when we were hiking at Tin Mountain Conservation Center. He scrambled over mossy boulders, found some ankle deep mud to jump in, and explored for almost 30 minutes. At one point he told me to stop following him, so I pulled back to about 40 feet from him. He wandered in circles for another 10 minutes humming and playing. This independent nature play was so great to watch. After almost an hour he looked up and when he didn’t see me right away he said “Daddy”?

“Yes, Alex?” as I stepped into view.

“I like hiking” he said.

“Me too, buddy. Want to hike back to the car so we can have some lunch with Mommy?”

This tree is BIG daddy!

Alex decided it would be fun to run back, and he pretty much ran the entire .6 miles back to the car. He would run for a minute or two, take a quick breather, then run again. He especially loved when Echo would run right next to him. We passed quite a few families with kids on their way in. I saw a few parents who were constantly telling their kids (much older than Alex) to stop running, stay on the trail, slow down, put that stick down… I could see some of these kids look at Alex with some envy as he blasted down the trail laughing and giggling all the way back to the car.

It feels good to be off leash.

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Today was Alex’s biggest adventure to date! Today, at 22 months of age, Alex summited Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast.

It started during last weekends Mount Washington Observatory’s “Seek The Peak” event. Last year Alex was only 10 months old during the annual fundraiser, billed as “The Nation’s Premier Hiking Event”, but I wasn’t ready to bring him above tree-line. I had planned a long solo hike of the Great Gulf and at the last minute discovered I was without a babysitter, so instead we enjoyed a short loop hike below tree-line on the low shoulders of Mount Washington. That trip report can be found here.

This year, after having enjoyed close to 200 miles with Alex on the trail, I felt summitting with Alex was possible if weather conditions were favorable. Plans were made for the scheduled Saturday hike with friends & family. Then, due to forecasted strong winds, large hail, and heavy rain, the MWOBS encouraged hikers to reschedule their summit bid for Sunday. So this past Sunday we started up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail with our friend Lara and some visiting family from MA and NJ. Due to a variety of reasons we intended to only take Alex so far, and turned around after Gem Pool. It was a bittersweet day as I later realized continuing on would have been feasible. We decided not to dwell on the hiking day that could of been, and instead looked forward to the next good weather window to which we could attempt a climb. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long as today’s forecast was stellar!

We returned to the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, the shortest trail from the west side of Mount Washington. Leaving the trail-head we made quick time and in just 40 minutes reached “Gem Pool”, where we took a quick 10 minute break for snacks.

Like father like son

Mommy and Alex enjoying some time out of the backpack

Here, the climb really begin’s as stone steps lead up 1,500 feet in elevation in one mile. After the steepest section views back to the east start to open up and multiple cascades and brook crossings make the trail more enjoyable.

One of many scenic falls

Gettin’ steepa’

Quick break 20 minutes from Lakes In The Clouds

Feeling good

Wait… more steps?

Whole family shot, can you tell who is starting to get sleepy?

Within 5 minutes of reaching the AMC Lakes in the Clouds Hut I heard Alex start to snore… a bit more than 2 hours into the hike and right on schedule!

I eat, he sleeps

After another 10 minute break we jumped onto the Crawford Path, the oldest hiking trail in the country BTW, to continue our ascent. Of course we stopped for the obligatory lake shot, which will be gracing this blog header soon.

Classic

As we neared the summit we braced ourselves for the enigma of Mount Washington. It is an amazing and confusing place. One minute you are hiking up one of the most rugged mountains in the country, and moments later you are being gawked at by hundreds of visitors clad in flip-flops and cotton who ascended the mountain by automobile or train. Before anyone thinks I’m about to complain, let me make it clear I LOVE this aspect of Mount Washington. It is a treasure of NH, and the east in general, and I am happy those who can’t hike (or shouldn’t hike) are able to see some of the beauty and raw nature that has had such a profound impact on my life. While some of my die-hard mountain friends may despise the “circus” up there, I feel it has its place here… and for the most part… come winter… the mountain is all mine again…

But I’m getting off the focal point here. Now’s a good spot I think to share our timeline:

9:20 – Left the trail-head at the Marshfield Station.

10:00- Arrived Gem Pool (2.1mi, 950ft gain)

10:10- Left Gem Pool to ascend to Lakes in the Clouds Hut

11:40- Arrived Lakes in the Clouds Hut (1mi, 1550ft gain)

11:55- Left Lakes for Summit

12:50- Arrived Summit, got in line to take picture at summit (1.5mi, 1,300ft gain)

TOTAL: 4.6mi, 3,800ft climb

1:10- Took summit photo (see below)

1:25- boarded Cog

1:30- started descent via Cog

2:15- arrived Marshfield Station

The line to get a summit photo

Alex woke up minutes from the summit

Alex’s 1st 4000 footer, and 6000 footer for that matter…

Some interesting statistics from our hike:

We spent 3 hours and 5 minutes actively hiking to the summit.

We spent 25 minutes “breaking” during 2 breaks, one at Gem Pool and one at Lakes Hut, for a total hike time of 3.5 hours. “Book” estimated time total is 4 hours 10 minutes, so we crushed that by 40 minutes.

Alex slept from just below Lakes to just before the summit (about 1 hour nap).

We spent 15 minutes in line to take out summit photo (no biggie).

Then, due to some serendipity, we were able to grab the last two seats on the Cog Railway train departing the summit right after our summit photo.

Alex LOVED the train ride down, but I need to make any readers aware of some potential issues relying on the train (or road) as a possible easy way off the mountain. First, it’s expensive. Like $45 per person one way. But financial cost is no where near as important as the other reasons to reconsider counting on the train for your descent. Priority is given to round-trip passengers, and most trains come up with a full boat, so you could be stuck for hours on the summit waiting for an open seat. 2nd, the train may cease service at any time due to inclement weather. 3rd, you may get into trouble trying to “push on” thinking the train (or auto-road) will safety get you down the mountain. Quite a few people have perished on the mountain pushing higher thinking of the illusion of nearby safety and the mirage that it is “just right over there”. Just last week a 30 year old from NY lost his life while hiking down a nearby mountain when he apparently succumbed to heat stroke.

DO NOT be lulled into relying on the summit facilities, Cog, or auto road, to provide any margin of safety during a climb of Mount Washington. If at any time in your hike you’re not confident that you could safely turn around and get back down under your own steam then turn around now! Pushing on gets people killed… If we didn’t get a seat on that departing train we had plenty of reserves, evidenced by our quick ascent time, to hike down the Jewell Trail to finish our day. Our only reason for using the train was Alex does not like to spend much more than 3 hours in the backpack. He would definitely get cranky during the descent. While I may be stressing this a bit strongly, I had multiple well intention-ed fathers ask me on the train how they could pull off such a great family hike, and it needs to be clear that everyone needs to Hike Safe, and be self-reliable in the White Mountains.

After getting back to Marshfield Station Alex enjoyed some time running around in the fields, picking flowers, and playing with a little German boy a year older than him.

This has been by far Alex’s greatest adventure to date, and I am thankful I was able to share it as a complete family. We are energized from this success to tick off what other White Mountain peaks we can this season with Alex before winter returns to the high peaks, so if you want to follow along, please follow the blog here or on our new Facebook page. Also “like” and “share” to your hearts content!

Happy trails!

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Last Thursday Alex and I had a couple hours to hike and I decided to head south through Madison to Purity Springs Resort. I’d driven by this resort a few times and had heard they had some nice hiking trails so I was excited to finally check some of them out. Particularly, I wanted to check out Bald Ledge, a cool looking bluff I had seen from further south on Route 153.

Around 9:30 we stopped into the “Millbrook” front office where the receptionist provided us with a couple maps of the grounds. Seeing I was carrying Alex the suggestion was made for some of the shorter flatter hikes but we planned to tick off the longer climb in the area, Bald Ledge, about 3 miles roundtrip with about 800ft of climbing.

A hand drawn map of the trails

A nice watercolor of the grounds

We took the Tower Trail, which was a gentle climb for the most part, and very well marked. Outside of a family friendly resort such as this one might find the amount of trail markings on such an obvious path a bit intrusive, with plastic arrow markers nailed to trees almost every 40 feet, but it didn’t impede on the geologic beauty of the area as we reached an interesting tower with restricted views to the southeast.

Plenty of signage on the lower trails

About 45 minutes into the hike we reached the Bill Sexton Shelter, which was perfect timing as Alex had been asking “eat?” for the last 10 minutes. We unloaded and took a nice 15 minute break to explore the rustic cabin, complete with wood stove and outdoor fire-ring, snack a little, and change a rare trail dirty diaper (2nd dirty diaper in about 175 trail miles).

Bill Sexton Shelter

A view towards Bald Ledge from the Bill Sexton Shelter

We continued on towards Bald Ledge at a quicker clip now that the angle had lessoned and views south towards Ossipee Lake started to appear. Open slabs with plenty of blueberry bushes (not in season) allowed a great pace.

Open slabs near Bald Ledge

Mandatory self portraits

Soon after this shot as I neared the end of the Bald Ledge trail I heard small snores from behind my head as Alex succumbed to the fresh air and rhythm of being carried… I caught his water bottle as he released it but unfortunately lost his ball cap at some point without noticing… I need to look for an attachment to keep a fallen cap with us.

The view from the end of the trail was decent, and I could see the section of Rt 153 I had slowed down on to eyeball these ledges a few months ago. I retraced my steps back to the shelter, and back to a small side trail, the “Panther” trail according to the map, in order to get a small loop in on our return. Alex slept for about 40 minutes, and as we got close to the tower he awoke quite happy. We shared a couple versus of “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” before reaching the resort.

Our Route

Almost 2 hours exactly round-trip, and just over 3 miles, with the 800 feet of climbing. We stopped back into the office to thank them for the maps and get some PR info. I’d like to revisit soon to explore the rest of their trail network and perhaps write a more substantial review of their resort. A quick stop over at their fitness center and pool was informative as Nancy gave me and Alex a short tour of  “The Mill” and a brief history of this 100+ year family resort which is currently run by a 5th generation owner! I’ll link back to that review here when it posts, but if you’re interested why not just follow the blog so you don’t miss it? My wife and want to check out their “Traditions” restaurant, and their outdoor summer lobster bakes, and I’ll definitely post that info up when it’s available.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a family friendly resort for an active family with small kids, this place looks awesome. Please check them out at http://www.purityspring.com/.

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We’re back! It’s been 5 months since this blog has seen any action. While I had intentions of having some winter adventures with Alex my winter guiding season left little free time to get outside with him. But Spring is here, and Adventure With Alex is going to see some revival. Expect lots of trip reports, gear reviews, and occasional musings. If that’s something you’re into, please subscribe. It only takes a second, and Alex likes seeing how many people follow his adventures!

For our first hike of the season I wanted something mellow and new. Skimming over the map I found a small loop hike off of Route 113a in nearby Tamworth, NH. Within the small Hemenway State Forest is Big Pines Natural Area, maintained by the Tamworth Conservation Commission. My AMC map showed only two trails here, the Betty Steele Loop Trail and the Peg King Spur Trail that climbs Great Hill (elev. 1300ft). I figured we could tick those two off in under two hours.

Back in the Saddle

As soon as we entered the forest we came across a mailbox labeled “maps”, which the TCC had stocked with trail maps and a single page nature guide with 12 natural sites to explore on the “Easy Walkers’ Nature Trail”. After a rock split by freeze thaw, some impressively huge Hemlocks and White Pines, we crossed the Swift River on a nice looking foot bridge.

Bridge crossing the Swift River

After a few minutes of gentle incline I almost missed a small brook crossing but corrected myself within 50 feet. A false path is worn where many have missed the blaze here but fades quickly. We reached the turn-off for the Peg King Spur Trail and started the moderate climb up to the tower.

Great Hill Fire Tower

Alex had been asking “down?” for the last few minutes so I was glad to see a great grassy spot he could hang out on under the tower.

The shirt says “Adventure”

We climbed up the 4 flights of stairs into the very well maintained fire tower. It was nice to see a minimum of graffiti in the top of the tower and the views in all directions were pretty good for such a low lying hill. Landmark plaques labeled nearby peaks and villages.

Looking South

A good view of Chocorua

After a quick snack we reversed direction and headed back to finish the other half of the Betty Steele Trail. It was a fast walk down and within 25 minutes we saw the Swift River through the trees. I stopped for two more pics by the water.

The footbridge over The Swift

So glad to be back on the back

The route

So the 2013 Alex season has officially begun. We had gotten out for a 12 mile bike ride last week, and I expect we’ll be spending a lot of time on the bikes this summer, and perhaps in the kayak. I also have a lot of products related to these sports to review and will get them posted over the next couple weeks, so please subscribe or leave comments if you enjoyed the read! See you on the trail.

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