So a few of us mad hatters went hiking up in New Hampshire yesterday. We hiked Mt. Monadnock, allegedly the second most climbed mountain in the world, using snow shoes and other appropriate gear. It was a great mini-adventure, and has certainly convinced me to do this more often.
I left home just after 7am, having been to EMS already on Saturday, to buy gear. I met the others up in Nashua just before 8am, and he headed out to have breakfast before driving over to Jaffrey, New Hampshire, for the hike. We got to Monadnock at around 10:15, and took the red dot trail up to the summit. Tim brought some spare (old, but very useful nonetheless) snow shoes for me to try out (I’ll buy my own next time), which really made a difference. I was able to run up much of the trail, and also experimented with deep snow just for the fun of doing that too.
We could have gotten to the summit in under an hour, but took a little longer, stopping for the benefit of one of the group (oh how I love that not being me, the old me would never have been running up a mountain!), and to do silly things in the snow. Nonetheless, we were drinking hot chocolate and eating snacks by noon, from Tim’s never ceasing to amaze us backpack. There’s probably a pressure washer somewhere in that pack, although we didn’t need it. But joking aside, it’s also good that at least one of us had planned for all contingencies. I really was the novice hiker, glad for advice.
This was my first real winter mountain hiking experience. I lost a couple of pounds during the day, thoroughly enjoyed myself, and need to go again! Next time, I want to try something a little longer, more like 7-10 miles.
Jon.