Mount Waumbek for # 40

Mount Waumbek for # 40

I was very happy to have someone new join me in my hiking quest. Last summer Natasha chose me to be her clinical instructor for her Physical Therapy clinical affiliation.  We have stayed in touch since her time in our clinic.  She had a bit of time off prior to her next and final clinical experience and agreed to join me for a quick jaunt up Mt Waumbek on August 27th, 2019.  I am excited to see where her career path takes her.  She has taught me a lot about both physical therapy, patient care and how to have the confidence to take risks.  It was a great day!

The sun is always in my eyes 

Middle Carter, South Carter and Carter Dome for #37, 38 & 39

Middle Carter, South Carter and Carter Dome for #37, 38 & 39 

This was an amazing hike on a beautiful day - this is definitely a hike I will do again many times.

I made the decision to continue my journey climbing the 48 4000 footers with another solo hike on Sunday August 25th, 2019.  This has been a difficult month for me with my health and work and felt I needed the solitude of a solo hike.  I began the hike with a small road walk from the 19 Mile Brook Trail parking to the start of the Imp Trail at Camp Dodge.  I was regretting forgetting my bear bell as I did not see anyone on the trail until summiting.  The trail was peaceful with beautiful changing forest.  I just whistled and sang a bit to let the bears know I was coming.  Initially there were clouds that eventually were burned off by the sun making for beautiful views

Imp trail 

Clearing views of the Presidential Range

Then there was Mt Hight....

Carter Notch

I descended into Carter Notch on the Carter Moriah trail to pick up the 19 Mile Brook Trail - after a steep descent I was rewarded with this....

The pictures never capture the full beauty - but this hike was AWESOME

Wildcats for #35 & #36

So Angus agreed to do another hike with me on August 20th 2019.  It looked to be a beautiful day so I mapped the route to hike the Carters along with Mt Hight with a bit of a road walk back to the car.  The evening before I realized that I had an appointment in the afternoon and was concerned we would not be back in time for the appointment.  Angus suggested a shorter hike.  I thought of the Wildcats and mapped an out and back route that would not include a road walk.  I made a bit of a mistake though - realizing when I calculated the mileage Gaia only had the miles to the peaks not the return.  The hike was actually about as long and more difficult than the Carters would have been.  We realized this half way into the hike.  We decided to modify our return route to a loop down the Wildcat Ski slopes with a bit of a road walk.  We did this hike in 4 hours and 22 minutes...Angus made me run on the road....the skis could not have been clearer.  It was  an awesome day..Thanks Angus - so nice to spend some time with you even if you make me run

Of note...I saw my first black bear while hiking.  Well actually we saw it running across route 16 in North Conway on our way to the trailhead.

Sun was in our eyes but wanted to get the Presidential range in the background....

The Tripyramids #33 and #34

The weather report is not always right - on August 13th, 2019 a bit more rainy than expected.  I probably would not have planned the hike up the North Slide had I expected rain but it was not terrible as the rain had stopped.  We did not see another hiker on our route up the North Slide and down the South slide.  I picked up Angus at Kabeyun at 7:30 and we headed to the mountain....I always love when one of my kids agrees to hike with me.

This makes it look like I was ahead of Angus...we will just go with that.  I am definitely slower on the steep sections with my health issues but times spent in the Whites is such healing for me.  Angus was patience with me 

The sky did clear for us on the return trip......

OWLS HEAD # 32....

2019 has been a wet spring and a busy summer so I didn't really get a lot of hiking in until August.  Richard and I did hike in the Charlevoix Region of Quebec which was beautiful!  On August 10th I returned to the 4000 footer list with a hike of Owls Head with my hiking partners Christine and Gio...fun was had by all although we all had our moments of wondering what we signed up for .....

The second half of this summer has been tough for me due to some health issues ......time in the forest with caring friends who bitch a little and laugh a lot is appreciated more than you will ever know!

Would you mind coming with me, Piglet, in case they turn out to be Hostile Animals?

A.A. Milne

The road walk at the end was LONGGGGGGG........a mental challenge!