It was kind of a challenging weekend ... we decided to join a New England Over 50 Hiking meetup hike for Saturday. Meeting time 10 AM; with a 2.5 hour drive that meant getting out early. Not a big deal on the face of it, but ... my last winter hike was last season, and my last hike of any kind was almost two months ago.
Equipment got moved during house and family projects; it took me until 11.30 Friday night to get organized enough to finally decide I could go to bed and pack up in the morning - if I got up early.
Didn't want to be late for our first meetup! So with 5.5 hrs sleep we were on the road to Conway.
Gallery / slide show
In my experience, it's highly unlikely that any hike will start exactly on schedule. So it was no surprise that there was a little milling around at trailhead while waiting for stragglers. But that was OK, it gave us all a little chance to get acquainted.
Finally we were off, the train moving thru the woods. Marc, the trip leader, was very good at keeping us informed of the route and the plan, with updates at trail junctions.
This is what the train looked like moving thru the woods ...
The trail was surprisingly clear of snow and ice - it *could* have been barebooted, but we used the alternating bare and snow patches as an excuse to practice putting our spikes on & taking them off ...
I've never done an exact accounting, but I'd estimate at least 80% of my hikes are solo. The remainder have never been with more than 4 other people ... so, hiking in a group of 15 was quite a change for me. It doesnt help that my style is sort of like the hare of tortoise & hare fame - I tend to hike fast between outlooks and dawdle at viewpoints. Doesnt mesh well with a big group. But that's just the way it is. The other folk in the group were pleasant to be with, and Marc as leader and Tim as sweeper did an excellent job making us - especially us noobies - feel welcome.
With a big train like this, we of course didnt expect to see much wildlife. But the incredibly mild weather did enable us to meet a couple mountain bikers ( on White Horse Ledge :O ! ).
The real treat was seeing some climbers come up over the lip of Cathedral Ledge, and chatting with them a bit. Most of us watching were a little nervous whenever one of the climbers stood and walked around ... but I guess if you're going to climb Cathedral, you have to be pretty comfortable being on the edge of the ledge. I was happy to stay on my side of the fence :)
So then, a steep descent down the Bryce Path; the footing is actually not bad, but the patchy snow and ice, with leaves covering a lot of footholds required some attention. But we all made it without mishap, and then were on the flat for the final leg back to the trailhead.
An excellent hike.
From trailhead it was off to camp and supper. That went well, and it was time to go to bed. It took some time to get to sleep, though. A mouse had found a place to bring in an acorn and merrily chewed on it, making a most annoying rattle. Up out of bed ... vacuum up the acorn and find some boards to block the hole. Back to bed .... zzz... rattle, rattle ... urg. Mouse found another acorn and was rattling on the other side of the boards. Up again. Mouse stops. Decide to make a bucket trap ... back to bed. Wake up with leg cramps. Deal with that. Back to bed. zzzz...plunk, scrape, plunk, scrape ... bucket trap worked, mouse was in bucket making a racket tryng to get out. Awwww ... poor little guy ... take bucket outside and let him go. Back to bed ... I did eventually get some sleep, but I could have used more :)
Sunday was a kind of lazy day, with a short walk and some trail work. And then, packed up and headed home ( I got a good nap on the way home. Excellent way to travel !! )
So .. a very nice weekend, despite cramps and the mouse. We had a nice hike and made some new friends. Maybe I won't solo quite so much in 2015 :)