NE 100 Highest - Peak Above The Nubble, New Hampshire

Friday, July 13, 2018 - A couple of months ago I asked Wendy if she would like to see The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan up at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Guilford, NH, or can I go alone? She said "No Thank you, but you can certainly go by yourself." So that got put on my calendar for TODAY (What Tail wagging What Dog??)


I figured that "Since I was going to be up in New Hampshire anyway, ...

I might as well "Bag Me A Peak!!!"

I still have South Weeks to do, but that is going to require a "real day Hike". The other remaing NH Peak is Peak Above The Nubble, which I was hesitant about because my initial readings said that it required a bushwack:


My initial hesitancy was further compounded by the fact that not only is there not a "Red Trail" on the map, THERE IS NOT EVEN A SUMMIT LISTED ON THE MAP!!:

Well, all my readings seemed to indicate (along with the photos) that it was totally "doable" ("within one's power; feasible"). Go up Haystack Road for 1.7 miles, park at (and go up) the path-on-the-right with 3 rocks. After the big sand dune on the left, cut into the woods at the small cairn (an old herd path). Follow it "as best as you can" to the top, then take a right and follow the path along the ridge to the Peak Above The Nubble. Distances ranged from 3-to-6 miles (bushwackers tend to stray around), and the time ranged from 4:30 all the way up to 7 hours. I figure I can leave home after breakfast with Wendy, be hiking by noon, finished by 5-or-6, and be at the concert by the time it starts at 7:30


At 11:32 I found the turn-out:

with the 3 boulders:


At 0.4 miles there was the big sand dune on the left:

4 minutes later, there was the small cairn on the ground:

with the herd path going up to the right:


1/2 mile up the herd path, I was in "the clearing area"

quite a lot more growth than in another blog back in the Fall of 2013:


And then I just followed the herd path uphill:


I certainly want to send out a big THANK YOU to the hundreds (?dozens?) of hikers who have come before me and made (almost all of) this relatively easy-to-follow.

A side-path:

to a great view:



After hiking for 1 hour 20 minutes I am still following the herd path:

and get to another viewpoint:

with its view to the south of the backside of North Twin (the "Check Mark" rockslide)

and my first look at the Peak Above The Nubble:


The herd path continues to wind through the moss-covered boulders:

and you have to go around the occasional blowdown:


After hiking for 1 hour 50 minutes, I hit THE SUMMIT:

(the height is 3813 feet)

More nice views nearby:




I made my way back down, finishing 5 miles in 3 hours:

which seems to match other hikes:


A blowup of the middle section shows how I delt with "the ledges". On my way up (no #), I stayed to the west, but coming down (#4) I lost the path and strayed to the east. MapMyWalk is great and I could see that I just needed to keep angling left (this is all off the iPhone's internal chip - no cell connection whatsoever):


That only leaves 13 100-Highest peaks: 2 in Vermont, 1 in New Hampshire, and 10 in Maine:


After the hike, I got to play in Gale River:




Made my way down-and-over to Guilford, and spent a lovely 1/2 hour lying on the lawn listening to a couple of guys doing great acoustic guitar versions of CSN, Eagles and Jethro Tull (yes, Jethro Tull):


Um, inside the concert area, my seat could have been better:

but it was great seeing The Doobie Brothers

and Steely Dan


Hey - after "The Marshall Tucker Band disappointment", I was a little worried. But the Doobies were GREAT - of course they miss Michael McDonald, and only perform one of "his" songs, but they actually have a very big "non-Michael-McDonald" catalog, and they did a super job. The crowd LOVED them!

And "Donald Fagen and the Steely Dan orchestra" also did an extra special good job! I'm seeing them in NYC (the Beacon Theatre) at the end of October, performing "The Nightfly" in entirety (Fagen's first solo album), and they only performed 2 songs from the album tonight - the rest were classic Steely Dan, and although Walter Becker is surely missed (he died last September), Jon Herington did an amazingly excellent job on lead guitar!!!

WOW - home VERY LATE (1:30 in bed), but what a GREAT DAY - THANK YOU GOD for these wonderful times!!

Today's driving music was the 4th group of the "G" songs from my big iPod. I made it through 99 songs (click here for the list of songs), beginning with:

Bruce Springsteen - "Gloria's Eyes" from the album Human Touch, 1992

(now that's an album I haven't heard in a while.)

and ending with:

Stevie Wonder - "Golden Lady" from the album Innervisions, 1973


highlights include:

Stephen Stills - "Go Back Home" from his 1st solo album Stephen Stills, 1970

It turns out the Eric Clapton does the electric guitar work on this song. Because Jimi Hendrix is on another cut ("Old Times Good Times"), and the album is dedicated to Jimi, I had always thought he was on "all the cuts with killer electric guitar" - I was wrong.

4 versions of "God Bless The Child" (the old Billie Holiday song) - the best is:

Richie Havens - from the album Résumé: The Best of Richie Havens, 1993

He was 52 in 1993 - a little early for a "Retrospective album" for such an active musician and performer.

Marvin Gaye - "God Is Love" from the album What's Going On, 1971


Counting Crows - "Goin' Down To New York Town" from the album Mr. Deeds soundtrack, 2002 soundtrack

this is one of a 1/2 dozen (more or less) Counting Crows songs that are scattered around on non-Counting Crows albums. Have fun tracking them all down! (I have!)

The Rolling Stones - "Goin' Home" from the album Aftermath [US], 1966

I remember listening to WABC (770 AM) in New York City, and they were having a special on The History of Rock and Roll (what - in 1967??); and they made a big announcment about now playing "the longest song the Rolling Stones EVER RECORDED." It was this song, which clocks in at 11 minutes 13 seconds - it still sounds GREAT! (with Mick moaning-and-groaning, moving-and-grooving)