September 27 Whiteface & Passaconaway

Doug did a solo hike on Friday September 27. He did a clockwise loop of Whiteface and Passaconaway, using the Blueberry Ledge, Rollins and Dicey's Mill trails. The weather was excellent and provided views of Washington and some of the southern Presidentials, Carrigain, the Hancocks, Garfield, Lafayette, Liberty, Flume, the Kinsmans, Moosilauke, Tecumseh, the Tripyramids and Chocorua. The Osceolas were probably visible but I didn't record them.

There was an encounter with a 4 legged animal. Doug tried to give him an OTHH card as he was near the summit of Passaconaway and probably could do other 4000 footers.

Note to T.S.  I did not yell "moose"!!

Turtle Hike Bald Knob Tuesday Sept 24

Fourteen Turtles ventured up to Bald Knob on Tuesday, September 24.  We enjoyed some nice views from the lookout part way up the Cut-Off Trail.  Bill stepped in as our narrator and educator explaining the process of columnar jointing as we viewed several hexagonal columns strewn across the ground.  We proceeded upwards to the rocky Bald Knob out-cropping for lunch and photos.  The lone gentleman hiker (whose solitude we must have disturbed) kindly offered to be our photographer.  After lunch, six Turtles added a second peak (Turtleback Mountain), before descending.  Once again, the Ossipees didn’t disappoint.  The Turtles will be back!

Sept 25th, A & B hike to Mt. Chocourra

Lovely hike, views and company today! On this hike: Karen, Alison, Ginger, Karen and Marie.

About two and a half hours to the top on the Champney Falls trail, just under 8 miles.

Sept 19th, B group hikes Mt. Tremont

What a spectacular late summer / early fall day.  As we woke to fog, some areas frost, and cool temps, we packed accordingly... fleece, gloves, hat, etc.  What a surprise the sun, and 68 degree day was.  It couldn't have been more perfect.  The hike was challenging, 2.8 miles up, with a 2,500' elevation gain.  But the views were amazing!  Sights of the ski area, ponds, and fall colors all as we looked out to the horizon.  I / we probably could have stayed at the summit longer, perhaps even taken a nap, but we didn't.  We enjoyed lunch, and were back to our car finishing the hike in 5 hours and 20 minutes including our lounging and lunch at the top.  A beautiful day.  The kind you want again and again.   PS- We never did see the logging road that is described in some online sites. 

Jack, Edna, Alison, Ginger, Deb, Tracy, Nancy, Tom

Turtles hike to Zealand Hut, Sept 17, 2019

Mt Paugus - Sept 17, 2019

Five of the A group hiked in to Mt Paugus (on the 52WAV list) on a cool, dry day. Actually, the trail goes by the summit, but not actually to it, as there is no view up there, we're told. But the views of Chocorua to the east, the Ossipees to the SW, and Whiteface/Passaconaway to the west were great. On the way in, via the Big Rock Cave Trail, the group posed at the cave, "keeping it from collapsing." Below are Frank, Pam, John, and Ann. Pic by Dick.

Sept 10th, Turtles Hike Mt. Roberts

Below is a couple of photos from Tuesday Sept 10’s hike to Mt. Roberts.

Friday (the 13th) Walkers

The Friday Walkers at Cathedral Ledge, Diana's Bath, and Madison Boulder.  

Madison Boulder

Diana's Bath

Cathedral Ledge

Sept 12th, 2019; A & B group hikes Moosilauke

10 hikers of both the A & B group enjoyed all seasons in one day as we hiked up Moosilauke.

We had 60 degrees and rain at the start, then we had heat and humidity, and lots of sweat as we climbed to the summit (while sporting tank tops and short sleeved t-shirts!), then, while at the summit we layered in fleece, gortex, hats and yes, even gloves!  It was an all season kind of day, even including blue skies as we hiked down.  Crazy New England that's for sure!

and, to reference a song from the years past, "CRAZY HIKERS!!"

From left to right: Doug, Griff, Pat, Frank, Tom, Alison, Larry, Pam, Tracy and Bob

Mt Isolation, September 9, 2019 - a 48-4K Triple Play

On a great weather September day, six of the A group hiked in to Mt Isolation from rte 16 low on Pinkham Notch. The 14-mile hike had been bumped from an earlier scheduled date, as doing a hike like that in very warm, humid weather would have been asking for trouble. This hike marked the end of Jim's first round of the NH 48 4-thousand footers, Dick's fifth round, and John's "Over 75" round (not any official "goal," but something John figured he might as well finish). Pictured below are Doug (here ya go, little fella), John, Jim, Larry, and Pam (pic by Dick). But for a lingering cloud, Mt Washington would appear between John and Jim. Then, with everyone ready, is the same shot, sans bird. Mt Monroe appears between Doug and John.

The Meredith News, September 5th, 2019

The Meredith News did a wonderful article by Erin Plumber, on September 5th, 2019.

Friday Walkers, at Quincy Bog

It was a beautiful walk with many labeled plants and ferns.

From back to front:

Robin, Linda, Judy, Nancy, and Lea.  Photographer, Barbara Hawkins.  

Sept 5th, B group hike the Caribou Trail

Tom Sweeny lead his first hike with the OTHH, and did a fabulous job!  He even ended the hike with cookies!  What's not to love about that!  (Thank you Tom!)

The trail offers some wonderful views at the summit.  It was a long 6 mile trail, and if you ask any of our GPS devices they would agree.  None of them would match, but they all agreed, it was longer than 6 miles.  No complaints though, we all enjoyed ourselves and it was a blue bird day!

Turtles hike the Flume Gorge, September 3rd, 2019

A tradition... Turtles set off to the Franconia Gorge, followed with a visit to Polly's Pancake Parlor!  A celebration of the end of the tourist season.  (not really, but it is planned to immediately follow Labor Day.  I don't think that is a coincidence, smile...)

Barbara & Mark Brash, Bruce Roberts & Susan Merrifield, Carl & Milan McNall, Peter Olsen, Nancy McDonough, Robin Dustin, Betsy Loughran, Linda Marshall, Ricky Banderob, Leatrice Bane.  Photographer:  John Banderob

Sue Speers (middle), Pat Venuti, and Jorge Dominguez.

Baldfaces - September 3, 2019

Four of the A group did the Baldface Circle Trail, a  loop hike up in Evans Notch, on a mostly sunny and dry day, just right for shorts and T-shirts. North and South Baldface are on  the OTHH "52-With A View" list, justifiably so. The whole loop is 9.8 miles and close to 3500 ft of total elevation gain. We went counterclockwise, going up to the ridge and snacking near Eagle Crag. The trail took us 1.2 miles over and up North Baldface, where another hiker took the picture below of Frank, Denise, Dick, and John. In the background to the left of Frank is the Wildcat ridge and Mt. Washington.

Then it was another 1.2 miles down and then back up to South Baldface. Since the rocks had dried after the previous day's rain, we opted to go continue on the Baldface Circle Trail, rather than the easier but wetter and mile longer Slippery Brook Trail. It may have been easier to take the latter, as going down the ledges was extremely slow, not recommended for either direction in wet weather. Below is a shot of what the "trail" looked like for a half mile.

At 1.2 miles down from South Baldface (it seemed weird that so many of the distances between points on this trail were 1.2 miles), we came to the Baldface shelter. After that, the trail off the mountain was relatively easy walking.

Turtles hike Red Hill, Aug 27th