One of our many accomplished hikers takes his 80th lap around the sun this week, so we couldn't resist a reason to celebrate him.
Happy 80th birthday, Dick Russell! We all thank you for your leadership, encouragement and support throughout the countless peaks and trails we've all had the privilege of sharing with you. Your knowledge of the mountains, and all things really, help us to feel safe and comfortable in each adventure we are able to share with you. Cheers to you, Dick, and many more hikes together.
From all your friends and fellow hikers with the Over the Hill Hikers community.
An unusually warm day for the end of October... in the 70's!!! We'll take it! Table mountain is a lovely hike, with the trail along side the stream, a simple waterfall, and easier elevation gain and great views at the top. A wonderful hike to enjoy fall scenery.
Above: From left: Michelle, Tracy W. , Deb, Doug, Steve V., Jane, Patsy, Steve J., Tracy R., Paul and Richard. Missing from photo Karen and John Yeigh.
What a beautiful day to hike Mt. Eisenhower! One challenging water crossing but well worth the terrific views of the mountains covered with newly fallen snow!
Steve VanSeters prepared an amazing video of our hiking over the past year (Oct 2022-Oct 2023). The intention was to debut the video at our end of year celebration, which was cancelled due to concern of the recent rise in Covid for our area. The video is just wonderful to watch... A lovely reflection of so many trails, vistas and good times with friends and fellow Over the Hill Hikers.
Many thanks to Steve for this video, and to all who help keep the OTHH going strong. To each of you who led a hike, a walk, or hosted a soup and snowshoe, THANK YOU! To all of you that drove us to trailheads and returned us safely to our parked cars afterwards, Thank you! And of course, to each of you who keep the A, B's, Turtles, Walkers, Snowshoers, Blog, Cookies, Cakes, and bubbly going, a very special thanks. It certainly takes a village... and we have a great one that we continue to celebrate since 1979.
This year, we said goodbye to some hiking friends. I take a moment to think of Doug Butler, David Stuntz and Charlie Kuehn, as well as their families. And I also remember the young woman, Emily Sotelo who died just before turning 20 while attempting a winter traverse chasing her goals.
I think back to our spring gathering when we kicked off the season with our guest speaker "Bailey", from the US Forest Service sharing some excellent tips on how to be better trail stewards. It made me mindful throughout the year, and when I was coming down Lafayette this past August, I was especially impressed with the amount of trail work happening. I made a point to say thanks to each trail worker I saw on my way down. Next spring, I've arranged to have a presenter for trail side First Aid, a date will be established after the New Year, and announced as we get closer. More to follow...
We had a lot of amazing accomplishments throughout the year. In the A group, Dick Russell completed his 7th round of hiking the 48 4,000 footers (Dick will turn 80 in December), Pam Alexander completed her 7th round of the 48 4,000 footers, and Bernie Monbouquettecompleted his round of the 48 4,000 peaks. This summer Pam and Larry both finished their 52 With A View on Mt. Success. In September, 6 others from the B group finished their 52 With a View on North Percy; Deb and Andy Wiacek, Jane Smits, Tracy Ripkey, Leanne Tigert, and Steve VanSeters.
The Turtles continue to organize and plan hikes and walks, challenging themselves with more demanding trails.
In the next month, Cathy Crooker will be organizing the upcoming Soup and Snowshoe season. If you would like to offer hosting a date at your house, or co-hosting / organizing a snowshoe, please feel free to reach out to Cathy at: CatherineCrooker@gmail.com.
And Lastly, I also want to express a special thanks to Jane Smits for all she did to get the gathering started. We both agreed that while canceling was a difficult decision, it did feel right. Jane, thank you again for all your hard work, and great spirit. I hope that next year we can party on like rock stars!
In closing, Happy Fall. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and I send my best to you and your family. May peace, health and love surround you. Thanks for a great hiking season!
Sincerely,
Tracy Ripkey
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
On Oct. 17, a group of Turtle hikers climbed North and Middle Sugarloaf. They had a great time and saw some nice color between the clouds and the interesting boulders.
Lin, Deb, Ritva, John, Paul, Jane, Nancy, Mary, Karen, Patsy
Karen, John, Nancy, Paul, Deb, Jane, Mary, Ritva, Patsy, with Lin in front
Saturday, October 14, 2023
On Oct. 13, the Friday Walkers walked at Castle in the Clouds -- mostly the Settlement Trail.
Beginning of Cold Spring Road with the pumpkins set-up for the evening Pumpkin Walk
On the left, LtoR: Hetty, Lea, Kathy, Cheryl
On the right, LtoR: Ricky, Anne, Jorge, John, Mary, Peter, Susan
It was a cool but mostly cloudy fall day for a hike up the Blueberry Ledge Trail to Mt Whiteface. We went the 0.3 mile extra past the open ledge spot "up top" (which many have mistaken as the summit) to the very small summit cairn of Whiteface. There Dick and Katherine had a quick lunch, surrounded by trees (no view at the actual summit), then retraced back to the viewpoint and on down. Meanwhile, Pam and Laura, who had gone on ahead, finished the trip over the Rollins Trail to Dicey's Mill Trail, up to Passaconaway, and down DM to the cars (and beat Dick & Katherine there!).
Below is an interesting shot looking out from one of the open ledge areas below the "top" one. The Ossipee Range can be seen in the distance poking up above the clouds.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
On Oct. 10, a group of Turtle hikers climbed Mt. Shaw. It was chilly at the top, but nevertheless everybody had a good time.
As you know, the Over the Hill Hikers was established in Sandwich, NH in 1979. Many of the local friends and neighbors of the time started marching in the Sandwich Fair Parade each year. It became tradition, and not only is winning a prize for best in our category (walking adults group) fun, the crowd loves us and cheers for us as we march behind the band doing a stick routine with our hiking poles.
Many years have passed since 1979, and we are the second and third (when the grandchildren are in town) generation of Over the Hill Hikers. Our footprint now has expanded outside Sandwich, to include our neighboring communities of Moultonborough, Center Harbor, Meredith, etc. Our routine is still entertaining, and our spirit and enthusiasm is going strong. It's a fun tradition, just like the comfort of fried dough and Italian sausage rolls.
Ten of us made the trek to Brenton to hike the beautiful Black Mtn. Scenic views of Vermont, Moosilauke Mountain, and as far over to Cannon, Lincoln and Lafayette. The fall colors were gorgeous, and a peaceful stop to see the Kilns added to the trip.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
A large group of Turtle hikers returned to Hamlin-Eames-Smyth conservation area in Meredith. This time, we again hiked the yellow trail to Crockett's Ledge, but we then continued on the red trail, making a loop that included walking along the shore of Lake Wicwas.
Seven of the OTHH made the long hike in to the aptly named Mt Isolation on a beautiful, clear, but somewhat warm October day. A good part of the Rocky Branch Trail is quite wet, making for a prolonged rock-hop with water running down between. Two short bushwhacks let us skip the first four of the river crossings, but higher up we encountered a lot more wet trail. But after five hours of this we got to the clear, dry summit, with wonderful views all around, particularly to the north to Mt Washington and the southern presidential and NE to the Carters. Below, at the summit, are Larry, Marie, Dick, Pat, Pam, and Deb (pic by Andy). In the background, above Pat's white hat, is Mt Washington, with Mt Monroe to the left of Larry.
Then it was time to follow the same route back out. By the time we were back at the cars, we had covered perhaps 13 miles, over ten hours, and all of us were more than ready to get off our sore feet and on the road home.
6 hikers- Katy, Katherine, Mel, Lenna, and Dave had a nice hike up North Kearsarge. We started at 9, and hand a great lunch time on the summit and went inside the fire tower. The views were limited by haze , but there were still beautiful outlines of ridges and summits. Great day on the trail!
A bonus hike on Sep 26th to Mt. Stairs and Resolution, a 10 mile hike on a beautiful day. Minimal bugs, mud, and other hikers on the trail. A great day!
Jane, Pam, and Dick went for a nice fall hike up to North and South Hancock, under cool and sunny skies. One nice thing about this hike is the fairly easy two miles or so of very easy grade to start out. That steep climb up to the north peak makes up for that, though. There is a nice outlook a few yards off the summit for viewing southwestward, looking over at the north sides of the Osceolas and Tripyramids, After that break, it was a fairly fast 1.4 miles over to the south peak, with its own lookout just off the summit. We had lunch there, looking out at the SE side of Carrigain, further over at Kearsarge North above North Conway, then Chocorua and Paugus. Below are Pam at Jane after lunch, as we were about to head down.
What a big day! 7 hikers celebrated finishing their 52 With a View, (we missed Larry who finished earlier on Mt. Success), and we also celebrated 2 people finishing their 7th round of the 48 4,000 footers, making 5 people who were there who have completed both the 52 and 48, for 100 of the best hikes in NH... It was a fabulous day... blue skies, great views, wonderful company... and CAKE!!!
A great representation of the Over the Hill Hikers
Back row, L to R: Patsy, Dick, Andy, Steve V. Tracy, Cathy, Katy, Leanne, Pam
Front row: Nathaniel, Deb, Jane, Michele
Pam and Dick, both completed their 7th round of the 48 4,000 footers last week (Sep 15th) doing a Zealand to Bonds traverse.
The View from heading up the ledges of North Percy.
Below, the finishers of the 52 With a View.
Cathy is presenting patches to Andy, Deb, Leanne, Jane, Steve V., Tracy and Pam.
*Larry finished earlier on Mt. Success and was not able to attend the celebration.
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