I figure I better write about this while it is fresh in my mind. I guess I will approach it as simply as just a recount of the hike…
I met up with Ken sometime around 7pm Friday night at the Oak Grove T stop. We drove back to his place and ate and talked. We sat down to a wonderful salad and some pasta and sauce. It was delicious! It wasn’t long before we were talking about gear and getting ready for the hike the following morning. We desperately tried to fit crampons on my Sorels but it just wasn’t going to happen because they are pontoons as my friend Steve says :).
I tested out a pair of Tubs snow shoes but the binding seemed a bit tight on the Sorels so we fitted me with a pair of MSR Denali’s + flotation tail. These worked great the bindings were solid and fit snug around my bit boots. This was my first attempt at snow shoeing so I took a couple of laps around Ken’s backyard-fun!
Back inside: Talking, checking, talking, moving, sorting, talking, checking, packing, removing, sorting, checking, talking.
Sleep time approaching and I opted for the Therma-Rest and closed cell pad. Bad move. I know why it is called a ThermaRest and not ThermaSleep :). It was fun but I had trouble getting to sleep and kept waking up throughout the night. I was really anxious and couldn’t wait to get to the mountain. Sleep eventually came and I partially blame the lack thereof on the cold I was just getting over.
Four AM finally came and we both got up and started the morning. We had everything done and were on the road prior to five AM.
Great conversation.
Bio-Break at an AMC toilet. Yay we are almost there! This is the moment before the moment we have been waiting for!
Finally we hit the parking lot and my heart is beating. I am so excited. I forgot about the lack of sleep I feel so alive. All my life preparation for the following moments. I know that sounds dramatic but when you think about it *every* moment is preparation for the next and in that of penultimate importance.
Contact in. Check! Snow Shoes! Check! Hike ON!
We started down 19 mile brook trail and it didn’t take long for me to get the hang of snow shoeing. My hands were extremely cold and I was a bit worried but it only took about thirty minutes of hiking before I was peeling off layers!
As we approached a somewhat steep section the camera’s came out and we immortalized a beautiful shot of the sun coming through the trees illuminating the snow.
We noticed tons of post-holes throughout the trail making the pack pretty unstable but totally fine for anyone with snowshoes.
An hour or so of hiking got us to our first encounter with another hiker. He had tried to hike Zeland but the trail being unbroken made it virtually impossible for one person. We talked about the person that had post-holed the trail. He let us know that he did make it to the hut tired and really sore.
A bit further we encountered the source of all of the post-holes! He and another hiker were on there way back down the trail. He told us that Wildcat-A was unbroken but 19 mile brook trail was broken all the way to the hut.
Ramble on…
We got the the junction of the Carter Notch hut and Wildcat A summit. We took some time to decide if we should go the .3mi to the hut and rest or just keep going. I voted to just keep going but was willing to go with whatever Ken suggested because I am inexperienced :). Ken suggested we go to the hut and I was totally down with that!
We got some great pics, rested, ate, got warm.
Back on the trail. Wildcat A would be ours it was just a matter of time! Breaking trail is a ball-buster it is like continuous squatting. I worked out a system in my mind when kicking steps and often said “Good.” when I had a good foot plant and if I didn’t I would wait until I did. You have to hurl your opposing leg two times the distance of your current leg and at the same time kick it in creating a step.
We got to a section of the trail that was steep and on a sharp incline. To the right it just sloped off of the mountain. Holy shit. I was totally scared and was like “I don’t know if I can do this.” Ken suggested we do it one at a time and I willingly acquiesced. All of the snow made it easy to get a good pack and there was no slippage. I just took one step at a time and didn’t look to the right at all just down and made dammed sure my crampon was secure on something and a bunch of snow was packed to my right so that I wouldn’t fall. Phew!
More climbing. Steep. Really Steep.
Summit! Hurr! We Rock!
Vista view and great pictures. Living in the clouds!
Our plan at this point was to walk along the ridge of A and connect to the trail at the ski-resort. This would mean passing by the B and C summits and if time provided we would summit D also. Ken had already done this but this was to get me started since we were already there.
Initial estimates were around two hours to complete the trail to the ski resort but it took somewhere around four hours! Steep descents followed by steep ascents. Ouch! When will it end. One foot in front of the other no point in worrying just take the next step.
Everything is frozen but I am still warm. The only way to maintain heat is by continuing to walk, drink, eat and so we do.
Water is gone, but Ken has some spare. I had been rationing for awhile but never felt dehydrated.
Need to leave right now but will finish up tomorrow….
We had been breaking some serious trail uphill and by now it was really dark. The headlamps had been out and on for awhile now and the looming question was “When are we going to get to the ski trail?” I took two more corners both of which yielded a steep uphill and that was where I got pretty pissed. I slipped on a rock twice and shouted out some expletives. I forced my way up and kept going. Once I got to a fairly straight section of the trail I stopped and caught my breath. I was looking around and was pretty spooked out. I had been seeing things run past me and just at that moment I heard a noise right above my head and jumped back! I fell right on my butt and then realized what it was: a branch had scraped along my hood! 🙂 I felt like an idiot but chalked it up to the fact that I was exhausted.
It was only a few more minutes before we had finally reached the ski patrol cabin and then the slope! Thank God. We were so tired but not tired enough to pack our snow shoes and break out our sleds! Now just to give you a bit of perspective…It was around 6pm at this point and totally pitch black. There were no lights and we had these sleds, which, when used send you downhill completely out of control! Talk about scary!
After a few runs on the sleds we decided to just walk and we eventually had to put our snow shoes back on and get to the bottom of the mountain (don’t forget we were descending from +4K feet!).
Another thirty or forty minutes later we were at the bottom but still three miles from the car! Thankfully someone stopped to give us a ride and we were on our way.
We ate at a place called North of the Border in North Conway. I was so completely beat and could barely keep my eyes open. At one point on the way back while I was sleeping I heard the rumble strip from the road and woke up yelling “Ken! Ken!” I thought we were going off the road but actually it was in the middle of the road. I was so darn tired I couldn’t even muster the strength to take a shower at the visitors center.
All in all I was so grateful for this experience. I am glad to finally be doing some really cool winter hiking!