I had never been up Foss Mountain before, but it wasn't that I didn't try. I attempted to take our Dodge Sprinter van up there in 2011. It reaches a point where it says "4-wheel drive only", and the van was rear-wheel drive. I hit a steep hill, and the back wheels started just spinning. The van stopped moving forward 3/4 of the way up the hill, so I ended up having to back all the way down the road to a parking area. John was only 5 at the time, so there was no way I was making him walk up from there, so we ended up walking an overgrown, pretty much no longer existing trail for Somebody "Haney". There were still trail signs, but the trail was pretty much gone. And that was my only experience and attempt at Foss Mt.
Fast forward to 2015, and I have a much better car. Wait. What? Maybe not, but at least it has front-wheel drive, and as luck would have it, the completely bald tires are on the back this time! I was golden as long as I floored it just before the big hill. I think I hit that thing at 40mph and then flew over the huge bump at the top. I love my freakin' Kia Soul. Ha ha. Huge relief to see the parking lot and to know I had made it.
Roger and I walked up to the top. Spectacular day! A little bit windy for the Dragonfly, though, so Roger knew he wouldn't be able to get the close up shots he had originally planned. At least it could fly, though! The last time we attempted it with one of the bigger flying thing-a-majigs, Kevin Tilton, Roger and I walked all the way up Hurricane Mountain Rd and then had to bag the whole thing. Today's wind just meant he had to fly higher up, but it was still a go. Once Roger got it all set up, I ran down from the summit and then back up and across. I found a very narrow, almost nonexistant trail that went over to the other side. I had trouble following it, but tried my best to make it look like a smooth run across. I came across the motherload of blueberries over there, too. Once the trail seemed to really end, I turned around and ran back. That was pretty much it for the video other than a short part in the woods on the way back down that Roger filmed. We had to do that one twice because I wouldn't shut up and I kept smiling. Ha ha. How does one not smile for a camera? I'll never know!
Here's a link to the finished video:
Roger with his Dragonfly Aerials stuff (King Pine Ski Area in the background) |
Roger landing one of the flying thingies |
Carrying the flying thingy back down. I think I look like a guy in this picture. LOL. |
Frame grab |
I went right home after that so I could take Spot on a short walk in the Albany Town Forest before John came home. I have to admit that it felt nice to walk on a completely flat trail. John was home by the time I got there. He showed me a new game he had gotten for his PC called Gray Goo and then he went over to his friend's house for awhile. I showered then took all 3 dogs on another walk up Heavenly Hill. The deer flies were atrocious, something I don't remember having at all in our woods last summer. They weren't horrible at the viewpoint so I was able to stay awhile.
Glimpse of Mt Chocorua from Heavenly Hill |
First, I decided to get my boring neighborhood run in, so I ran 6 loops around the circle to make 5.4 miles. 7:44/mi pace. (Still slow!). I came back to the house, changed into trail shoes and then ran the 3 dogs up and down Heavenly Hill to add on another 1.3 miles to make 6.7 for the day. I would have run more, but I wanted to get out of the door to hike.
We stopped off at Behr Farm, and I was surprised that Karl Behr actually recognizes me now. This is my third summer buying chicken from him, so it shouldn't surprise me, but he has a huge list of people he sells to. I brought a cooler with ice to put the chicken in, and then John and I drove on to Castle in the Clouds. I really wanted to go to the Tamworth Farmer's Market, but there was nothing that I actually needed and didn't want to spend money on something I didn't need, so I refrained.
Once at Castle in the Clouds, we parked and then headed right out. I love this place so much and was really excited to finally bring John up one of the mountains. It was slow going at John's pace, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Once up on the first open ledge, we started to spot the blueberries. It literally took us 2 hours to get from this point up to the summit. We could not stop picking blueberries!! They kept getting better and better as we went up the trail. John did not want to move on. I didn't mind it one bit because I was picking so many myself.
John picking blueberries |
View of Lake Winnipesaukee |
First. Let me take a selfie. |
Still picking blueberries |
Us |
Finally made it to the summit! |
I did finally get John moving along at one point, but then we hit RASPBERRY bushes. ha ha!! Had to stop and pick those, too! By the time we made it to the summit, we had been hiking for over 3 hours, and my stomach was full. I had planned to loop back to the parking lot via the High Ridge Trail and the Faraway Mountain Trail, but we just didn't have the time to do that at John's pace, so we just turned around and went back down the the Mt Roberts Trail. I told John we had to keep moving this time. And he did, but we had to do military role playing the entire 2.5 miles down. :) I think I was "killed" by John, the trained assassin, at least 30 times on the way down. I never win these battles he comes up with. Even if I do "kill" him, he all of a sudden has regenerating powers. Ha ha ha. Sometimes, he even gives me a dialog I have to follow for the role playing. I was his enemy, his teammate and a zombie during this hike down. It's so funny but very creative at the same time. We made it down right at the 5 hour mark for our 5.5 mile hike. Long time, but John really had a good day. It was his kind of hike, and he loved it. I'm always happy when he's happy, so it was a great day.
We were starving by this point and decided to go to the Pizza Barn in Ossipee. I really had to get to get spring water, so I decided to fill up at the spring that just happened to be about 2 miles up the road directly across from the Pizza Barn. Convenient. I ended up driving right past the spring and up almost to the snowmobile trail crossing, so I turned around and found it. I filled up my jugs then we went back down to the Pizza Barn. The place was packed, but we got seated right away right next to the jukebox. I pretty much took it over for the rest of the time we were there. I had Bon Jovi going first. Why was I the only one jamming along in that entire place?! I have no idea!! Who were these people. John even joined me in the sing-a-long. The cds in the jukebox were kind of old and out of order with the signs, I learned. It played Alison Krauss instead of the Grateful Dead. Not too bad, but it was a downer song. Then, the worst. Jimmy Buffet played instead of something else I picked!! OMG. This jukebox was trying to make me look bad. I finished it off with 3 Bon Jovi songs in a row, and that's when the woman next to us jumped up and took over control of the jukebox. Hey, I liked her picks and sang right along with Meatloaf. Ha ha. It took awhile to get our food, which was mediocre, and my beer glass sat empty for over 10 minutes. Not the best food or service, but I liked the atmosphere. I might go back, but it's really more of a tourist trap.
John at the Pizza Barn |
I decided to just hit the trail off Hemlock Lane, starting on Corridor 19 to the MTB trails then back over to Corridor 19. The temps were a little on the warm side, so the dogs got hot pretty quickly and the entire run meant stopping at every water we came across for them to cool off and get a drink. I didn't mind, though. It was nice to run with all 3 of them again. From Corridor 19, we ran up the Mason Brook Trail with plans to run a big loop back, but about halfway up, I realized I had run out of time and had to turn around. We stayed on Corridor 19 for the way back. My little dog stayed right with me, but the big dogs were dragging for the last 2 miles. We made it back to the car in time. 9 miles. 8:58/mi pace with 1,157 ft of gain. Not bad. Just what I needed. I picked John up from his party and then spent the late afternoon at Conway Lake. I did a little swimming but mostly just lounged on the beach. John played the whole time.
I had a great week of running. 6 days. 63.6 miles. 11,177 ft of elevation gain. Not bad at all. My road runs were definitely lacking in speed, though, but I guess I'm really not doing much fast stuff, and the mountain runs are slow and leaving my legs pretty tired. I have to take advantage of the mountains and trails while I can. I'll have plenty of time to rebuild on the roads for Boston. I will need to up things a bit before Lone Gull, but I have some time.
No comments:
Post a Comment