Gunstock & Belknap

 Today Vanessa and I did a lollipop hike over Gunstock and Belknap so I could pick up a couple more trails for my redlining patch. Up the Gunstock Mountain Trail utilizing the Winter Shortcut. Wore spikes, thin snow cover, icy in several spots. Glad to have the spikes on. Bluebird day atop the summit. Quiet on the slopes due to it being a week/school day. Headed down Brook Trail towards Belknap. Made the mistake of following cross country ski markings which was nicely packed and ended up off trail for a few tenths before realizing the blazes had disappeared! Whoops! Backtracked and got back on course. Snow became a little deeper once on the Blue Trail heading up Belknap, however spikes were still sufficient. Another perfect view atop the Fire Tower. No ice on the tower at all. Red trail down, a little less packed but easily navigable. Carriage Road back down to gate and the car. Great hike.

Strava Activity

Mt Oscar - Bretton Woods Snowshoe Expedition

I took a snowshoe expedition with a Bretton Woods Guide (Heath Brewer). It was an awesome day. We took the chairlift up the Bethlehem Express and then snowshoed over to the Mt Oscar summit via the snowshoe trails. Took some pictures then snowshoed back down to the base via Avalon and Crawford Ridge ski trails. 

Strava Activity

Caverly Mountain

 I took Vanessa over to Caverly Mountain today as she had not been there before. Parked on Kings Mountain without blocking the trail and started down the snowmobile corridor. This time at the first intersection we stayed straight to loop around from the backside on Caverly Mountain Trail. We were first tracks up the mountain on this side. We were able to get away with just microspikes even though there was a couple of inches of snow/crust on the ground. Overcast skies, which just added to the drama of the pretty views over Merrymeeting and Winnipesaukee Lakes. Perfect first hike for 2016. 

Strava Activity