Lonesome Lake Hut Trip

Last week we spent the weekend backpacking in the White Mountains near Lonesome Lake with our friends Paul and Anne.  We stayed Friday and Saturday nights at the AMC hut of the same name.  We enjoyed great views, clear skies, phenomenal star gazing, and excellent company.

On Saturday we hiked up the Kinsman Ridge via the Fishin' Jimmy trail and we reached the >4000' peaks of both North and South Kinsman.  The trail was quite icy and we were glad that we brought along our micro-spikes, ice axes and also crampons for the steep sections.

The hut was very well equipped and provided all that we needed.  The unheated bunk-rooms were a good test of our new winter sleeping bags. Fortunately it was warmer that our last winter hut trip when we experienced record lows at the Zealand Hut (in 2015).

On Sunday we hiked up to the summit of Cannon Mountain via the Hi-Cannon trail.  This was steeper than the trails of the previous day and even had wooden ladders up some of the steepest parts.  Needless to say this was great fun in the snow and ice.  We were back home to our chalet on Sunday in time for tea and a hot shower.

At the trailhead on Friday afternoon.

Approaching the hut before sunset on Friday

 Starting off on Saturday's hike

 Paul on the trail

Time for a short break

Glad we came well equipped for winter conditions

The sun comes out after lunch

 Sheri & Anne near the summit of North Kinsman

At the summit of South Kinsman

Great views in all directions

 Back at the hut for Saturday night

Very comfy accomodations

Chocolate cake baked at the hut!

 Ready for another day of hiking

 Sheri shows us how it is done

 On the hike back to the car

Fun on Skis and Snowboards

Winter has been elusive in New England this year with very limited snow fall, especially in the mountains of northern New England.  We did have a few fantastic days on snowboards and XC skis.

We picked a quiet Saturday  in February to ride at Bretton Woods.   Considering the amount of natural snow that has fallen, the conditions were great! On this day, Mt Washington was covered in snow, which was not the case for most of January!  The day started with mostly cloudy skies but by the end of the day skies were clear and we caught Mt Washington aglow our way back south to the Chalet on Dundee Road.

The Sunday following our trip to Bretton Woods we traveled to the East side of Mount Washington to take a ski lesson at Wildcat Mountain. We hired Jeff Lea who teaches backcountry skiing (mostly on tele skis), mountaineering and climbing skills in the White Mountains.  We wanted to learn how to make turns in the backcountry on our free-heel backcountry XC skis.  Jeff was a great instructor and although a bit skeptical to begin with, we spent the day on the lower mountain learning different techniques for negotiating turns on downhill sections of backcountry trails.  Now we just  need practice applying these skills to the much more narrow trails in the backcountry!

Best Christmas Cards of 2015

It has become a tradition here at Hangman Hill Road to run an informal poll of the "best cards of the year" as we take down our Christmas decorations.  This year the competition was fierce, and we had a hard time choosing a top five.

So, here are our favorites from this year's cards (in no particular order).  Did yours make it into the top rated cards?

Time to brew

Today's project is to scale down my beer making process and recipes to the 1- gallon scale, so that I can make some more unusual types of beer and do it more frequently. I just don't drink enough to get through 5-gallons of barley wine!

The first trial batch will be an Irish stout and so far everything went according to plan. I needed a smaller bucket for primary fermentation and I ended up with exactly 1-gallon of wort at the end of the process. Now all we need to do is clean up and wait patiently!

Boxing Day Hike to Mt Pierce

Warm temperatures and crystal clear skies afforded the opportunity to hike one of the 4000 footers. We took a familiar and favorite drive to Crawford Notch to hike Mt Pierce (4311 ft). The temperatures were in the high 50's when we left the parking lot just opposite the AMC Highland Center. We followed Crawford Path to the summit of Mt Pierce.  Crawford Path is the oldest continually maintained hiking path in the US and is popular approach to many of the Presidential Sumits. The summit of Mt Pierce offered amazing views and we enjoyed the company of a few fellow hikers.  We returned to the car via the Mizpah hut which is closed in the winter but offered an open sheltered spot for lunch.  We rejoined Crawford Path for an easy return to the car.  While we hoped to be skiing, a 4000 footer in September-like weather is not a bad way to spend our Christmas vacation!

Crawford Path: Approaching ridgeline to the summit of Mt Pierce

Just below the summit of Mt Pierce with views to Mt Washington

Summit of Mt Pierce

Lunch at Mizpah hut

Kokee taking a cleansing swim before heading to the car.

Christmas in New Hampshire

Merry Christmas!  We celebrated a quiet Christmas in New Hampshire with record breaking temperatures and clear skies.  

Fueled by pastries from the Vintage Baking Co we traveled to Gorham NH to hike Pine Mountain. The description of the short loop hike goes something like "incredible 360 views with very little effort". Indeed it was a great little hike, and a perfect return to hiking in the White Mountains following seven weeks of recuperation for Sheri.   We had incredible views to Mt Washington and to Mt Moriah.

We spent Christmas afternoon opening gifts from friends, family and each other while drinking mulled wine.  We had a simple dinner of salad, Christmas quiche (new tradition?), and Christmas cake (Sheri's first attempt at an old tradition). Many thanks to our families for the thoughtful, creative and useful gifts and best wishes to all. We hope you are enjoying some special time with friends and family and doing what you enjoy.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We have had unseasonably warm temperatures in the Northeast with high temperatures in the 50-60's for most of December.  While it is tempting to start planing seeds in the garden, we have been making preparations for the holidays.  Warm weather has made outside decorating a breeze, so Santa and the flamingos keeping the neighbors amused. Sheri is making a tradition English Christmas cake which involves lots of sherry, fruit, marzipan and royal icing.  Even the cactus seems to know Christmas is coming.  The only thing lacking is a little of the white stuff.  

Santa and his team of flamingos

Adding a little sherry to the Christmas Cake 

 The Christmas cactus flowers for Christmas