Whitecap a little faster...

 

Ice and crust still caused a bit of havoc on Whitecap especially for the half mile above the Orange Trail switchbacks. Today, at 57 degrees with sun, we hiked what's usually a 1:56 hike in 2:21 whereas last week (and in the next post) we were deathly slow at about 2:45.  Tonight, we're paying a small price as my right knee is wrapped in ice and Bailey's out cold. 

Gearing up for the hike. 

Mt Abram

Off to the first granite slab

Detour for cooling ice. 

Old Speck on the AT

Cairns

Happy Pooch. 

Cooling 

Ice on some of the trails. 

Sunday River 

Ice on the trails and a rest in his future. 

Wicked slow...

We hiked Whitecap on March 31st. In the dry season, we hike up Yellow and down Orange in 1:56, give or take. Not the other day. It took us 2:40. The ups were fine, maneuvering the icy trails on the way down proved a pain. The Yellow Trail's granite slabs had some ice, but except for one spot on the way up, the ascent proved dry. We're heading out again today. It's in the 50's!  

At the first granite slab on Whitecap 

We made it. 

Trying to look cool. 

Ice on the trail

Traversing the granite 

Bailey's Cairn... we'll both have some ashes spread
beneath this marker. There's a good view of the
Mahoosucs, White Mountains, and Sunday River.  

Treacherous

Sunday River

He knows we're heading back to Treatland for.... 

Yup... a Peanut Butter Kong. 

Pond skimming @ Black Mountain

Last week, Black Mountain hosted their annual Family Fun Weekend. The last event on Sunday is Pond Skimming. Naturally, Azi and Bender jumped right in. Azi's first and Bender is second.

Azi's video is below...

 

Bender's video is below

The boys...

 

Stylin' for the Spring Dance

Azi and his pal Bender (Netherlands) suited up for the spring dance after a day on the slopes. They had the best time. 

On Sunday, April 3rd, Azi and Bender took their last-ever run at Black Mountain... in their underwear. They've had the best time skiing at the mountain. Bender played basketball but skied on the weekends. Azi skied for the team. This last couple of weeks have been the best for them. 

Last run: an underwear run @ 47 degrees. 

 

Not that I'm counting... Black Mountain 04-04-2022 #48

 

Coming down Allagash Trail 

We started out the new year on a good note hiking-wise, but fell a bit behind in February and March. We've hiked 48 mountains thus far, the majority on Whitecap and more recently on Mystery. 

Today, with the ski area closed for the year, we trucked up Black Mountain. I figured this may be difficult for Bailey since he's on medication for Anaplasmosis, "a tick-borne disease that infects red blood cells, causing fever and anemia."  But, I was the one lagging. He must have been a quarter mile ahead of me on the last steep section.    

On the way home form the mountain, Bailey fell asleep and was snoring the back seat. It's an 8-minute drive. Cracked me up. 

Bailey waaay ahead of me on Black Mt

Selfie to catch my breath. 

A week later...

 

After a week with the flu that turned into a cold and hangs on as a cough, we knocked off Whitecap twice. As I wrote on my report, "Yellow trail is ice, crust, soft snow, and dirt. We headed up over the first two steep sections to the second ledge to take pictures wearing microspikes The ice is mostly gone on the ledges, though we did not go to the third ledge that traverses the mountain to the Orange Trail. On the way down we stayed to the snowmobile trail from the saddle on down. The streams are running are and I'm guessing the snow will be gone from the trails in the next 7-10 days (emphasis: guessing)."

Love the layered look of these mountains in the Mahoosucs

Love those cairns

Mt Abram

Must be treat time. 

Overflow of water and melting snow in sunshine. 

Leading the way up Yellow to the ledge

1500 feet elevation about 3.4 miles roundtrip. 

  

Powder on Whitecap Mountain, and Anne at 10,804 feet

On Rumford's Whitecap Mountain... add 2-4" of powder to a hiking trail and you've got a workout. Both of us sucked wind hiking Iles' Orange trail and paid the price in the evening.  I ordered out.  Even though we're hit every other day with snow, I smell spring coming. Whitecap's trail always surprises me when winter moves to spring--in a just a few days of sunshine the trail turns to dirt with 2-3' in the woods for Bailey. 

Old Speck where the AT gets tough

Sunday River's White Heat with
NH's Presidential Range in the distance. 

The path to Bailey's Cairn

Sunday River's White Heat

15 degrees with the wind. 

On the summit awaiting treat and dreaming of his Kong

"Take me to my Kong."

This just can't be good for him. 

I traded texts and photos with brother Rob on my Whitecap hike. He and Anne were at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles while Anne received injections to combat her ALS. On my little four-and-a-half miler, I thought of Anne's big-mountain treks out west, including San Jacinto Peak at 10,804'. I hope she has good memories of those climbs.  I laughed thinking about Rob joining her for a hike of Mt. Baldy just above Upland, Claremont, and Pomona, my old stomping grounds during graduate school at Claremont. From his texts, I could tell, as the bumper sticker proclaims: I'd rather be golfing.    

Anne Kent, San Jacinto Peak at 10,804'

                                                         

San Jacinto Peak