Welcome to another episode in the goal to reach 100,000k. This week there was new excitement in the weekly drama... SNOW!!!!! But before we get to the hiking drama, let me tell you about the doggy drama! I took the day off on Friday and did a whole lotta shopping. My last trip was to Kittery Trading Post and because I was spending so much money, I decided to buy Nate and I a piece of fudge. I finished shopping, drove home and left the fudge in the car. Then I packed, Nate got home, and we took off to go see the new Warren Miller movie at the Attitash resort. We decided to leave the dogs in the car (because we are fabulous dog parents) because they don't sleep when they are alone in the car and they are so much easier to deal with when they don't sleep... especially when we go up north! They don't sleep well when we go up north and they typically pace all night and keep us up. Thus, tired dogs = good dogs!! We see the movie and we come back out to the car. Oakley is sitting in the front seat of my car... no big deal... I push her to the back and go to sit in my car when I look down at the floor. There was torn up pieces of paper all over the floor. I turn on the lights and see that the torn up pieces of paper are shreds of fudge box!! OH NO!!! Oakley ate all the fudge. Most of me was so mad at her because she ate my fudge, and a little part of me was worried because one of those pieces of fudge was chocolate. So, we drive home. I took the dogs for a little walk so that they would tire out a little more and then when we got back I fed them. So far, so good. Oakley wasn't being her crazy super silly self, but she wasn't acting all that bad. Then we go to get ready for bed, and Oakley started pacing. She laid down next to me and started whining. Nate was still up so I asked him to let her out. She went out, did her thing, and then came back in. Again, no big deal. She lays down next to me again, whines a little, stands up and projectile vomits all over the rug!!!!! No heaving! No little motions like something bad is about to happen, just stands up and vomits! Awesome!!! So another night of excitement at the house!! So, needless to say, we didn't get to bed until late and it was one of those weeks where we got to bed late and we don't sleep in much so... we didn't get out of the house until after 10am. Hike requirement, short and sweet!
I was studying the maps and one of the hikes that looked short and sweet was a hike up to the top of Mount Willey. It's 1.6 on the Ethan Pond Trail to the Willey Range Trail and then 1.1 miles to the top of Mount Willey. From the looks of the map, we didn't quite hit the summit, but the trail started going down hill and I'm guessing the summit was in trees because that's what the top looked like. It was the boringest summit yet... but here's a little description of the hike via pictures...
We drove up 302 and came upon... that's right... SNOW!!!!! And it was coming down good!! Thankfully, we had our gaiters and all of our snow gear (which we didn't use) so we were all set.
We got through the first 1.6 miles and met up to the Willey Range trail without a problem. It was somewhat easy. We climbed a little less than 1300ft in that 1.6 miles. We then had to go 1.1 miles to reach the summit and it was going to be 1600ft. I have complained in the past about how the stairs are so freaking hard... Yeah, this hike, actually did have stairs!!
and ladders!!!
and more ladders!!!
and more places that I had to grab onto a tree, put a hand down and pull myself over a rock!! It was a nice scramble!! :)
As we were approaching the top, I looked around and saw that we were sorta socked in by the cloud/fog/snow...
and we got to the top and we were completely socked in by the cloud/fog/snow!
Nater and I at the top of the mountain. I got a new coat earlier this month and it was super handy!! It was really frigid at the top!! and in our self portrait, it covers my squinty eyes!!!
And as we went down the mountain, the cloud/fog/snow started lifting and we were able to catch some views!! It was really awesome with all the snow all around!!
Nate was giving me grief about going down the ladders. Something about how I wasn't leaning back as I was walking down. Thus, he got a picture of me sitting on my bum coming down the ladders!!
Oh, look at that, JP can walk down a ladder... Just fine!!! :)
All in all, it was a very uneventful short quick hike!! Our elevation gain was 2,976ft. We were at 85,096. Thus we have 82,120 feet to go!! Almost under 80k... The top of Mount Washington, Adams and Monroe appear to be completely snow covered so it's almost time to start playing in the fun stuff instead of the lame walking down stuff... :) Oh, and I forgot to mention, another 4000 footer bagged...
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