Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Reality Check

Tuesday, July 10, 2012:

Yes, the White Mountains are going to be a challenge.  Today's hiking was not over any big-name mountains and yet the going was slow and tough.

I did a big chunk of the Kinsman Ridge Trail between Kinsman Notch and the incredibly remote little body of water called Harrington Pond.  The only significant mountain I went over was Mt. Wolf at 3478 feet.  Despite the lack of big climbs, there were constant ups and downs ranging from 50 to 500 feet, many of which were steep, gnarly rock scrambles.

Besides that general sobering sense of the task before me, what I come away with as memories from today are three.  First, the view of coming attractions - Franconia Ridge as seen from the Mt. Wolf lookout point:


Then there's this inviting hot-day scene from Eliza Brook, which the trail closely followed for 3/4 mile:


And finally there's the seemingly brand new (Oct. 2011) Eliza Brook Shelter which was built in a shop and airlifted to the site.


Well, it was a long tough day of hiking.  I wasn't back to the parking lot in Kinsman Notch until after 7PM - 13 hours of hiking.  So with plenty of bigger mountains ahead, I chose to delay writing my daily blog for today in favor of getting a good night's sleep.  But since I delay publishing for a week anyhow, I guess the readers won't notice  ... anyhow, it's Z-time.  G'night.

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Here are the plots of today's hike on a map and an elevation profile:






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