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- Apr 20, 2013
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Took myself out for a little birthday hike up Mt. Major on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee Friday. It's not a super mountaineering sort of White Mountain expedition, but at my advanced age, it is enough. Some narrow rocky sections on the Boulder Loop going up (not the best for going down in the winter) and a less steep descent on the Brook Trail.
Mostly just an opportunity to get OUTSIDE and get the heart rate up for a few hours. There would have been some nice views from the top, but it was snowing all day - which made for a lot of solitude and silence in the woods. Not often you can walk 4½ miles and not see a soul....but it was nice.
The opening part of the loop is mostly flat, but branches off to the south close to the bottom and starts ascending:
Didn't take to long for the snowmobile track to disappear. Luckily, someone had been up recently, or I would have had to route find with a foot and a half of fresh snow on the ground. This comes into play later in the hike, as a lot of the trail markers on the Boulder Loop are painted on the rocks. Not so easy to see.....
There are a lot of "leaverites" - as in, "leave 'er right there" - or glacial erratics; it is pretty amazing that rivers of ice carved this area, picking up these huge rocks and transporting them for great distances before dropping them:
You can see the ice starting to form on my cap. I was sweating a little, plus it's nice to listen to the silence of the woods in snowfall without the hood on. Look closely and you can see the butt of my 12 peeking out.
Tree bark
Tree art:
Starting to enter the boulder part of the Boulder Loop:
Crampons and gaiters ruled the day; snowshoes would have been more than a little cumbersome on the ascent, and weren't worth carrying for possible use on the way down. I left them in the car. Next time I won't even take them.
Little bit of a squeeze.
You can see why they call this the Boulder Loop:
Here you can clearly see Lake Winni through the trees
The different conifers were weighed down with snow. Had to be careful not to bump them with my pack or I got a little avalanche dumped on my head.
Pretty sure these'll be blueberries in the warm weather.
Getting closer to the top.
Again, the lake is clearly visible....
There are the remains of a little hut at the top, which is protection from the wind but not the weather....you can see why I didn't linger. Right after taking this I took a pretty good face plant....crampons are a little tricky if you don't lift your feet up high enough - the snow was covering up all the variation in the terrain and went from a depth of 2'+ to bare rock - and it was hard to tell whether you were gonna post hole or touch rock just under the snow. I wish I had a video of that one. Maybe I can borrow a GoPro next time......
Next up: the descent......and some actual knife pics!
Mostly just an opportunity to get OUTSIDE and get the heart rate up for a few hours. There would have been some nice views from the top, but it was snowing all day - which made for a lot of solitude and silence in the woods. Not often you can walk 4½ miles and not see a soul....but it was nice.
The opening part of the loop is mostly flat, but branches off to the south close to the bottom and starts ascending:
Didn't take to long for the snowmobile track to disappear. Luckily, someone had been up recently, or I would have had to route find with a foot and a half of fresh snow on the ground. This comes into play later in the hike, as a lot of the trail markers on the Boulder Loop are painted on the rocks. Not so easy to see.....
There are a lot of "leaverites" - as in, "leave 'er right there" - or glacial erratics; it is pretty amazing that rivers of ice carved this area, picking up these huge rocks and transporting them for great distances before dropping them:
You can see the ice starting to form on my cap. I was sweating a little, plus it's nice to listen to the silence of the woods in snowfall without the hood on. Look closely and you can see the butt of my 12 peeking out.
Tree bark
Tree art:
Starting to enter the boulder part of the Boulder Loop:
Crampons and gaiters ruled the day; snowshoes would have been more than a little cumbersome on the ascent, and weren't worth carrying for possible use on the way down. I left them in the car. Next time I won't even take them.
Little bit of a squeeze.
You can see why they call this the Boulder Loop:
Here you can clearly see Lake Winni through the trees
The different conifers were weighed down with snow. Had to be careful not to bump them with my pack or I got a little avalanche dumped on my head.
Pretty sure these'll be blueberries in the warm weather.
Getting closer to the top.
Again, the lake is clearly visible....
There are the remains of a little hut at the top, which is protection from the wind but not the weather....you can see why I didn't linger. Right after taking this I took a pretty good face plant....crampons are a little tricky if you don't lift your feet up high enough - the snow was covering up all the variation in the terrain and went from a depth of 2'+ to bare rock - and it was hard to tell whether you were gonna post hole or touch rock just under the snow. I wish I had a video of that one. Maybe I can borrow a GoPro next time......
Next up: the descent......and some actual knife pics!
