Mt. Greylock in Adams, MA

Up Bellows Pipe Trail/Down Thunderbolt Trail

Hikers:  Jerry, Dave W., Dave F., Jean, Steve, Michael, Jill

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrsox/tags/20110226greylock/show/

https://picasaweb.google.com/dwaldburger/Jerry#

https://picasaweb.google.com/dwaldburger/MtGreylockFeb2011#

Mt Everett in Washington, MA

Hikers:  Agatha, Dave W., Jerry, Steve, Michael, Jill

Jill Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61298689@N00/sets/72157625979141213/show/

Dave W’s Pics:  https://picasaweb.google.com/dwaldburger/RaceBrookFallsToMtEverett2011#slideshow/5575934003189334402

Alander Mountain Hike in NY/MA

Hikers:  Randell, Steve, Mary, Jill

Pics:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/61298689@N00/sets/72157625954475067/show/

The trailhead for this hike was a haul from my house (2.5hrs) so I downloaded an audio book and zoned out on the way to NY.  As I got closer I saw a temperature of 13 degrees on the local bank.  Ouch, where was the sun that the forecast promised???  My gps crapped out so I had to use my phone for navigation which drained the battery then I realized that I forgot my trekking poles.  Oops, I guess I would survive.  Mary, Randell, and Steve showed up a few minutes later and we gathered our stuff and headed up the Robert Brook Trail which we would follow to the Alander Loop Trail and then return on the Alander Brook Trail.  Last year we hiked to Alander from the opposite direction and it was quite a haul at almost 8 miles and 5 hours of hiking with a large group.  Steve estimated this hike at 5 miles.  We immediately started ascending and had to stop to shed layers.  The ascent was pretty steep and Mary and Steve were setting a fast pace.  I was about 50 feet behind them and Randell was about 50 feet behind me.  There was quite a bit of mountain laurel overhanging the trail so you had to leave plenty of space between each person or you would get whipped by a branch.  I think Randell got hit a couple times by my branch backlash so left a good sized space between us.  On the final stretch of elevation when we knew we were close to the top the mountain laurel was like a jungle grabbing at our sleeves, hats, and packs.  We had to carefully pick, scoot, and sometimes crawl around the branches.  I was relieved to get to open space again to get out of the mountain laurel but of course without the shelter of the laurel the wind started whipping and we all hurried to add some extra layers.  After a quick sandwich break we approached the shelter then climbed up to some seriously magnificent views.  You could actually see the Catskills, my camera did not do the view justice at all.  This is where Dave W.’s camera could have worked its magic!  Next time…  We didn’t hang out too much as the wind was brutal and we were frozen in minutes.  The trail looked like it ended at the edge of the cliff but as we got closer we saw how it wrapped around then we were quickly below treeline and out of the wind again.  The hike down was much easier; it wasn’t as steep as the hike up although we did do a bit of butt sliding which is a little awkward with snowshoes on.  I was following Mary when she said she thought she saw a hawk and pointed.  I looked and just caught a glimpse of something large and thought to myself – that hawk has a huge belly.  We found where the bird landed and realized it was an owl.  I was absolutely in awe!  It was gorgeous, I couldn’t leave the spot where we stood.  The owl was gazing down at us stoically.  I got my camera out and started taking pictures and really, really wished Dave W. was here with his camera.  The owl stayed there watching us the whole time and we reluctantly started hiking again.  The car was only a few minutes away at this point.  We finished up in 3 hours, much less than what I had anticipated for this hike but we moved along pretty quickly as it was fairly cold out and moving kept us warm.  Nice hike, thanks you guys (and gal)! – Jill

Monadnock

Hikers:  Michael and Jill

Pics:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/61298689@N00/sets/72157625867421971/show/

Hike number 2!  Finally Michael and I were able to get out for a hike.  He’s had to work every weekend since I finished school so we haven’t had a chance to do much of anything together for months.  We were supposed to meet up with Agatha and Steve at Monadnock on Saturday but we cancelled due to the weather, we were supposed to get some mixture of rain, snow, and/or ice.  On Sunday Michael and I decided to head up to NH as the sun was out and the forecast was calling for sunny skies and moderate temps.  After chatting with the ranger we agreed that it was a good call to cancel Saturday’s hike.  The ranger said they were hit with an ice storm and as you can see from the pictures the summit was entirely encased with ice.  We decided to head up Cascade link to Red Spot to Pumpelly to the summit.  Originally we started out with microspikes but switched to snowshoes because even though someone had come through with snowshoes before us it looked like it was only one person and at some points I was sinking in up over my knees.  The snowshoes ended up being perfect as it was not icy but mostly just thick layers of snow.  There was an ominous dark cloud when I looked at the summit but for most of the way up the sky was blue and the sun peaked out a handful of times illuminating the ice on the trees making it look like the trees were sparkling with diamonds.  Once we connected with the Pumpelly trail visibility was reduced to about 20 feet and everything was gray, no sky or sun to be seen anywhere.  The cairns were all covered in ice and looked like little ice gremlins.  It’s a good thing we had tracks to follow as I think we would have been wandering around (at least I would have…) trying to find the trail under cover of all the snow and ice.  Everything looked magnificent and I took quite a few pictures.  Michael said I was “cambushing” him (translation – getting ambushed by the camera) and as you can see in most of the pictures he is hiding so it took us quite a while to get up the mountain because he stopped and hid every time I turned around with the camera.  There were quite a few people at the summit and I asked them whether to use microspikes or crampons on the way down and they recommended crampons.  So I put on my crampons, Michael used his microspikes and we made our way down.  Did I mention the wind was howling and it was frigid at the top????  Anyway as soon as we got below tree line I had to shed layers as the wind ceased and it was totally still.  I kept my crampons on but once we got to the White Cross trail it was just thick snow unlike the last few winter hikes where it has been one continuous piece of ice.  I would have probably been fine bare-booting from there but was too impatient to get down the mountain so I left the crampons on.  I would have actually preferred to scoot down on my butt but I did that at Greylock last year and it ended up being not so comfortable… Despite the lack of view at the top this hike was really fun.  Conditions are stunningly different at Monadnock every time we hike here so you never quite know what to expect.  I forgot to mention the man pushing his bike up the snowy road that leads to the base of Monadnock.  Michael and I talked to him the last time we hiked Monadnock but didn’t ask him how far he rode his bike to get there.  He stows his bike on the rangers porch, hikes the mountain, then rides back home.  We saw him again as we were heading down from the summit toward the white cross trail.  I’m guessing he has to push his bike most of the way up the access road so he must be pretty motivated to both ride his bike to the mountain and hike the mountain.  I wonder if he does this every weekend or every day year round… I will definitely ask him next time I see him! –Jill