Hike For Fun - Sandwich Dome Loop

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 - I have recently been doing a lot of reading-hiking-blogs-on-line (Teton Crest Trail, Canadian Rockies). A lot of fun: they get me thinking about my future adventures out west. But then I read a really nice blog about Backpacking Sandwich Dome Loop. I had previously done Sandwich Dome a year-and-a-half ago (blog here) - it was a great day-hike, but the clouds were low, so no view:





Well, it turns out that there is ANOTHER LIST (why am I not surprised), called New Hampshire's 52 With a View, and Sandwich Dome is on that list [Christmas present, anyone?] Although it was raining on Wednesday, the weather promised to be sunny and clear on Thursday. And this Loop hike (in blue) looks like it would match wonderfully with my previous hikes:

IT DID!

I wound up hiking 13.7 miles in 6 hours 40 minutes:


I went in for my Thursday Men's Breakfast in Boston, then headed north. Going down dirt road (Bennett St) in North Sandwich, New Hampshire at 11:15

and at the trailhead only a couple of minutes later:


Pretty pretty up here in the woods:

This trail is Flat Mountain Pond Trail, and after about 1/2 mile you take a right onto Bennett Street Trail - um, this doesn't look like Massachusetts:


You go up alongside pretty Pond Brook:

It was tricky, losing the trail once in a while in the snow. But it just kept going up along the stream, so I kept finding the trail again. Got to Great Falls at 12:15


15 minutes later, after making a left uphill, Bennett Street Trail crosses Flat Mountain Pond Trail:

(Looking behind me back down Bennett Street Trail):


From there it was 1 hour 40 minutes of up up up (well, there were a few flat parts) until I reached the summit at 2:09



Beautiful day, with excellent visibility, and plenty to see:







This is the Algonquin Trail, which runs southwest from Sandwich Dome. It is a high-altitude ridge trail (I LOVE THESE!!), and I am following 2 people (guys? girls?) that are just a little shorter than me (I keep hitting branches with snow, which goes down my back [only a little]). I hope I can catch up to them:



There is a nice cleared area just before Algonquin Trail intersects Black Mountain Pond Trail:

which has a great view down to Black Pond:

and other areas east:

and west:


Um - it is 3 PM and I have a LONG WAY DOWN, so those are the last photos of the day. The hike/climb down to Black Pond is insane, and you get a little bashed up no matter how careful you are. I was fast up top, and I will be fast down below, but during this stretch I am just crawling along.

After I am done with the "hard part", I'm moving pretty well, following the footprints ahead of me. Not dark yet, but I am beginning to lose light a little. I Thank God for these wonderful adventures, and I Thank God for the hikers ahead of me (angels?), and ask Him to Bless me, and Bless the hikers ahead of me!

It is about 5 PM when I catch-up to the 2 hikers (guys), just before intersecting the Guinea Pond Trail running northeast back to the parking area. They were putting on headlamps, but I didn't need mine just yet. We never even noticed Guinea Pond as we went around it, but at 5:30 came smack-dab against a huge beaver pond. While they explored off to the left, I took the opportunity to put on my headlamp (first time! - worked great), and then followed them around to the left, jumping from log-to-log and eventually getting back on the main trail, which is an old railroad bed, so it is pretty obvious. I really don't like hiking in the dark - the Cold River was just off down to our right - we could hear it, but we couldn't see a thing:

At one point I could tell that there were steep drop-offs on either side of us, but we couldn't appreciate it. Back to the parking area at 6:09, quick shaking hands (and congratulations all around), and then I hit the road for home - Home at 9, then Bed Bath and Beyond (well, actually bath and then bed). WOW - Thank you God for this Great Spur-of-the-Moment Day!

Staying in one of my mp3 cds that I burned back in September 2000:

Jimmy Buffett - Beach House on the Moon, 1999


Bruce Springsteen - Before the Fame, 1997 double album, now out-of-print

Until right now, I didn't know this was a bootleg. His very early demos - I really like "Prodigal Son" and "Zero and Blind Terry (Version1)".

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo, 1968


The Eagles - Hotel California, 1976


Pat Metheny Group - Imaginary Day, 1997

It won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra (featuring John McLaughlin) - The Inner Mounting Flame, 1971 debut album

What a garbage album - perfect example of what was wrong with "jazz" in the late 60s and early 70s.

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II, 1969 second album


New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies, 1983 second album

great 80s band - I love the first song "Age of Consent"!

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about visiting Art Museums and National Parks (and hiking in the Rockies)
hyperlink: dixonheadingwest
http://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/

Adirondacks, Late Sept. 2019 - Day 2/2

Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 - Up to this weekend I have done 12 of the 46 mountains (4000 footers) in the Adirondacks:


Last Sunday Wendy asked me when I want to go back out here. After a bit of time I came up with the correct answer: "When would you like me to go/When would be a good time for you to have me go?" She said that this coming weekend would work best! I didn't want to be gone too long, so I only planned Thursday and Friday:

Phelps Mountain on Thursday, and Mt. Donaldson, Mt. Emmons, and Seward Mountain on Friday.

It worked - yesterday I did Phelps Mountain! Today = Mt. Donaldson, Mt. Emmons, and Seward Mountain:


I'll get rid of the suspense right now - I SUCCEEDED, and did 17.8 miles in 9 hours 40 minutes, but MapMyWalk broke, so here's my path:


Up and at 'em - left the hotel at 7:30. REALLY BEAUTIFUL out here:


I stopped at the Hannaford on my way out of Lake Placid, and the checkout girl said "Nice breakfast":




Really nice dirt road on the way to the trailhead:

41° as I drive in to the trailhead.

Got to the trailhead at 8:43

looks like space for two dozen cars:

Said Hi to 3 girls who pulled in next to me, then I signed the Register at 8:54


It was a nice easy trail for the first section (0.8 mile), and also for the second section (0.7 mile). And then you pop out onto Calkins Brook Truck Trail (heading south/southwest), which is an old logging road:


In looking at the map, I thought it was going to be 3.5 miles to get to a cairn, with Calkins Brook Trail going off to the left/east - but I misread it. The "3.5" applied to another trail intersection farther down! I was surprised when I had gone about (only) 2 miles and HERE WAS THE CAIRN:

I continued down the "regular trail" for a little bit, but then I was going DOWN with a Major Brook on my left, which I figured must be "Calkins Brook". So I backtracked to the cairn, and headed up into the mountains

Calkins Brook Trail is a very nice trail, even though it is narrower than the one I had just been on:


You hike with Calkins Brook on your right - very lovely. At some point, I just went down to the brook to take some pictures, and there was a cairn and the trail on the other side! (So this is where I crossed) The Brook is beautiful at 10:20


Hiking in my LLBean boots yesterday worked out GREAT - so I'm wearing them again today:

I haven't needed them yet today, but JUST YOU WAIT!!!!

Five minutes later - another beautiful random stream:


Fun "Tree-on-Moss-on-Rock" picture:


This Calkins Brook Trail is a long hike, but since I expect that (from reading blogs), I just keep going, and going up. It is interesting how I am aware that the forest "changes" to "high mountain woods", but unfortunately I get that feeling and I am still at least 20 minutes below the trail's-end. A little after noon, I broke out and saw Seward Mountain to the east/northeast:


I had been on Calkins Brook Trail for a little less than 2 hours. I have to say that these trails in the Adirondacks seem to have been traveled by a lot of people; that means that "official trails" can seem almost worn-out/worn-down (especially when you add in the amount of moisture out here), but it also means that these "herd paths"/"unofficial trails" are actually quite nice and respectable hiking trails. This is opposed to my experience with "herd paths" in Maine, which can be barely-discernible rabbit paths through the woods.

I headed south on the ridge trail, because Mount Donaldson was supposed to be "right there". Well, I walked right by it (THERE ARE NO TRAIL SIGNS UP HERE!), so I just kept heading for Mount Emmons:

(and is that "Long Lake" beyond it?)

Hey, pretty nice day up here on the top of the world!

After going through some insanely wet bogs/areas, I reached the summit just after 1 PM:

I backtracked, and found the Mount Donaldson turnoff 45 minutes later:


Super views from Donaldson:




Back at the Calkins Brook Trail intersection, people had left their backpacks to do just the -out-and-back:

Smart idea.

A nice long hike (50 minutes) up to Seward Mountain, with a nice view back at Donaldson and Emmons:

Going up to Seward I crossed paths with 2 guys who I had passed over by Emmons, and also a girl with her dog. I also crossed paths with the 3 girls who had parked next to me! They had come up the back-side of Seward (which I was planning on going down) and they said it was kind-of gnarlly. JUST YOU WAIT!


I went down the backside/north-side of Seward, and fairly soon LOST THE TRAIL! I bushwacked around, and found the trail, so I headed DOWN. When I say "headed DOWN", I mean the "trail" went right down Ward Brook (hence its name - the "Ward Brook Trail"). Got a great view of Ampersand Lake:

You keep going down, alternating "being in the brook" versus "being right next to the brook". Very muddy on the sides, and at one point I smashed my right foot. Nothing broken, but it hurt, and I still had at least one mile down plus five miles back to the car.

I finished at 6:30

I was worried about anybody after me (they would have to come out with headlamps), but I see that the 3 girls were actually in there for an overnight.


16 down - 30 to go. What an Adventure!

I sent Wendy my selfie, and my "Up and down, safe and sound." text, and got in the car to drive home - 6 hours. Which means home at 12:30. Plus 30 minutes for misc. = 1 AM.

I had had a lot of water, and a power bar, and a couple of Snickers bars, so I was doing ok. I was driving in the dark listening to some great music, and made my way over to I-87 South, when Wendy sent me a text: "Think you'll spend the night?"

Right then I got kind-of tired, so that seemed like a good idea. After filling up with gas I checked into the Home2 Suites by Hilton in Malta, NY:

Yes, that was a good idea. - Thank you God for this Great Day!

Staying in one of my mp3 cds that I burned back in June 2000:

the Michael Stanley Band - Stagepass, 1977 double live album

the opening cut - "Midwest Midnight" - is an Excellent way to start the day!

The Supremes: Greatest Hits, 1967 double album

Greatest Hits includes fifteen Supremes singles, 10 of which went to number-one.

Van Halen - 1984, 1984

back-to-back songs "Jump" and "Panama" make a GREAT pair!

The Waitresses - I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts, 1982 5-song EP

With "Christmas Wrapping" and "Square Pegs", pout-rock is alive and well

Yes - 90125, 1983


And then on my drive home Saturday morning:

Morning on the Mass Pike, I rolled up the windows and listened to "Zero History", cd 6:


Van Morrison - Astral Weeks, 1968


Van Morrison - His Band and the Street Choir, 1970


Jimmy Buffett - Barometer Soup, 1995