I’ve been in Maine for the past 9 weeks teaching outdoor education at the Ferry Beach Ecology School. Its been wonderful up here, though its gotten quite cold rather quickly. On weekends I have been hiking up in the White Mountains getting some great photography shots. Unfortunately, none of the computers I work with have a firewire card I can use my scanner with. But new photos will hopefully be up before the month’s end.
My White Mountain adventures have been strenuous, but fun. It started Labor Day weekend with Mount Lafayette, the 5200 foot giant at Franconia Notch. The elevation gain in 4 miles was a little under 4000 feet and the whole hike took 7.5 hours. But the views up there were worth every ache and pain. Two weeks later I did Mount Chcorua, a smaller mountain to the south, but its bald, rocky summit gives way to great views of the mountains. Next was Kearsarge North, 200 feet smaller than Chocorua, but with an observation tower on top. Kearsarge is located just beyond North Conway, NH and looks up the Mount Washington Valley right at the 6300 foot giant itself. On Columbus Day weekend, I did an overnight on Mount Adams, the second highest peak at 5800 and part of the Presidentials chain. I spent the second night lower down at Mountain Lake and woke up to the sounds of loons crying and splashing in the water. I also finally saw my Moose. A couple weeks later, I went back up Mount Chocorua with some of my fellow naturalists from Ferry Beach for a 10-mile circuit.
Since then, it has gotten cold and snow has fallen in the higher elevations of the mountains. Time worked itself out so that I haven’t been back up there, but I may be back in December and so I shall hike some more peaks then. But in a week, I get to go to my new house in Virginia and do some more hiking around Mount Rogers.