Overnight Stay on Mount Washington

To finish up our week in New Hampshire we had planned a hike to Mount Washington via the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trial (ascent) and the Jewel Trial (descent).  This involved spending a night at the lake of the Clouds hut operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC).

We left at about 10am and hiked up the steadily steepening trail next to a series of waterfalls.  We made good time and arrived at the hut at lunchtime and enjoyed a light meal with a fine view.  After lunch we hiked up to the summit of Mt Washington which was clear and quite calm.  We also took a short diversion to the summit of Mount Munroe to bag another peak.   In the evening we enjoyed a home-cooked meal in the hut and a wonderful sunset over the nearby peaks.

The next day we traversed around the summit, crossed the cog-railway line, and enjoyed fine views from the summit of Mt Clay.  Our long descent down the Jewel trail then started, and after several hours of hiking we were back at the car at around 4pm.

On the way up..still looking fresh

Steep trails!

 Sheri in her element

At the top!

Fine views in all directions

Dinner in the hut

Watching the sunset

 On the way down

Canopy Tour

We spent the first week of August in the White Mountains and we finally managed to complete one of the activities that we have been looking at for a while.  That was the canopy tour at Bretton Woods ski area near the Mount Washington hotel.

The canopy tour involves a series of zip-lines, rope bridges, and rappels between wooden platforms positioned in some very large trees.  After taking a chair lift to the top of the mountain the tour started off gently with some basic instruction.  It ended up with a 750-ft zip line about 100-ft in the air.  According tour guides we should have reached about 30-mph top speed!  We had great fun and before we knew it we were back at the bottom of the mountain.

Getting geared up!

On the chair lift ride to the top

Starting off gently

Just a few steps away...

Hanging out in the trees

The view of Mt Washington from the tree tops

Big smiles!

Das Barbeque and a Jigsaw

We have often enjoyed trips to the theatre with our friends Eric and Jo, so during our recent vacation in New Hampshire we decided to go to the Barnstormers summer theatre in Tamworth. We had a lovely pre-play dinner at Hobbs brew-pub and then enjoyed a mad-cap play called Das Barbeque. The play is an adaptation of Wagner's ring cycle set in Texas and staged by just five actors.  There was plenty of hi-jinx and lots of very quick costume changes!

Another tradition that we have when the four of us get together is games and puzzles. You can see below that we successfully completed a 1000-piece jig saw as part of our vacation.

Mount Hale

What to do on a cloudy day with showers in the forecast?  Perhaps, hike up an easy 4000' peak that doesn't have any views from the top. That would be Mount Hale, near to the Zealand Hut. 

Overall this was a fun loop hike with lots to see on the way (even though the distant views were not spectacular).  Good company and abundant wildlife made the time pass quickly, and we even met a few interesting folks (and dogs) along the trail. A very pleasant way to spend a day with friends in the great outdoors. 

At the summit

On the way down the Lend-A-Hand trail.

Iron Mountain & Potash Mountain

Last week our friends Eric and Jo visited us at our chalet in New Hamsphire for a week of exploring and fun activities.  To start the week we hiked to two of the summits on the "52 with a view" list.  We enjoyed clear skies and warm weather, and we loosened up our muscles for some longer hikes later in the week.

Iron Mountain view

From the summit of Potash Mountain