Mt Moosilauke #3 – 13 February 2023

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Mark McPeak

I tried to climb Moosilauke again in the winter, on 6 Feb 2023, but didn’t reach the summit. It wasn’t the winter conditions that got in the way, but I took a “herd path” on the way up and lost a lot of time wandering around; and, when I got near the top, the cloud was so thick and the wind so strong that I feared getting lost. So I turned around. Here’s what I saw just before turning around!

Not to be deterred, I went up again a week later, on a fantastic, clear, windless day. Here you can see what I did:

I’m using a new GPS app on my phone, so you can see my track (I went clockwise, basically the same trip as my first ascent in 2018, but backwards), and some statistics. I’ve marked a few places along the way with letters – “A”, “B”, etc. for reference later in this description.

As I began, the sky was clear and blue; the forecast had indicated that clouds would come in the afternoon, so I moved quickly at first. Near the trailhead I ran into two climbers coming down. It was only 10:15am, so I greeting them by saying “you got going early!” In fact, they had summited to see sunrise! One of them said that she had climbed Moosilauke nine times now, and today was the calmest up at the top. Here I am at point “A” in the map, above:

I reached the South Summit of Moosilauke (Point “B” on the map) at around noon. The view was great – that’s Mt Moosilauke in the center, with Mt Washington just on the right-hand side:

Here are a few views on the way up the main summit:

The view from the top (Point “C” in the map) was spectacular and, what’s more, it was completely calm. Very unusual in my experience on this particular mountain. I had it to myself for lunch.

I continued north on the Beaver Brook Trail:

Most hikers ahead of me had gone up, and down, the Gorge Brook Trail, so as I continued after the summit, the trail really deteriorated. At Point “D”, I had a nice view back to both summits, and I put on my snowshoes:

You can see some of the post-holing that must have made things very difficult for hikers during the weekend before my (Monday) ascent:

But I made my way down, seeing nobody the whole way. I got back to the trailhead at about 4:30pm, having taken (according to my GPS app) 6 hours and 26 minutes to do the loop.

What a fantastic day! One of the most memorable, spectacular summits of them all…

Here are links to my first climbs of New Hampshire’s 48 4000-foot mountains, which also include reflections about what it was like working in international relief and development during the Millenium Development Goals era.

Here are links to my first climbs of New Hampshire’s 52-With-A-View peaks. Each post contains descriptions of the climb, and short reflections on other topics.

Here are links to later climbs of both sets of mountains here in New Hampshire: the 48 4000-footers, and the “52-With-A-View.”

Finally, here are links to my climb up Everest Base Camp in late 2019, with four friends.

Climbing Black Mountain (Benton) Again

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Mark McPeak

March, 2023

I climbed Black Mountain (Benton) again on 20 March, 2023, a bit over 2 1/2 years since I first climbed it. This time it I climbed in late winter instead of full summer, and I came up from the north instead of from the west. And I climbed with Eric, instead of solo.

We were planning to climb both Black and Blueberry Mountains, as I had done back in August, 2020. But that didn’t work out…

We arrived around 10:30am, but immediately ran into trouble. The short drive from the road to the trailhead parking area was covered in snow, but Eric’s SUV got us there. But when we pulled off to park, the car got completely stuck. There was a thick layer of ice underneath about 8 inches of snow, and the car wouldn’t move:

It took us well over an hour to dig out, improvising with hiking poles and snowshoes and windshield-wiper fluid:

Here is the GPS track of our hike. Our hike started at “A” on the map, and we reached the summit at “B.” Back in August of 2020 I had started from the Chippewa Trailhead, indicated here with “C”:

We both brought snowshoes and micro-spikes, ready for a winter hike. As can be seen here, the trail was well-established, so even though I wore snowshoes for the first 30 minutes or so, spikes were better, so we both switched over and the snowshoes went for a ride:

It was a spectacular day, clear skies and cold temperatures. Near the top, we passed the junction with the Chippewa Trail:

There was a strong wind at the top, where we had a late lunch at about 2:30pm. The views there were as beautiful as I remembered. Here is Moosilauke:

And here are Moosilauke and Franconia Ridge:

Franconia Ridge from the top of Black Mountain:

Here is a panorama from the top, with Moosilauke and Franconia Ridge clearly visible:

The climbers at the top:

A nice climb, with a great view at the top, but very short considering the drive up from Durham. The climb from the other side is even shorter, but has nice ledges near the top which are interesting. The hike up either side is great.

Back in 2020 I had continued on to climb up Blueberry Mountain on the same day, and we had planned to do that this time; but since we had lost so much time digging the car out, and the winter day was short, we headed south.

Here are links to the other posts in the “52-With-A-View” series:

All posts in this “52 With A View” series will be collected here.

Check out my “Everest Base Camp” series: four friends and I hiked from Lukla to the Everest Base Camp in November, 2019. It was incredible, spectacular, and very challenging.

And don’t forget to visit my “New Hampshire 4000-Footer” series, for reflections on a career in international development and social justice, along with descriptions of climbing the 48 highest peaks in our state!

Mt Field #2 – 19 July 2018

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Mark McPeak

Between June, 2016 and June, 2018 I climbed all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4000-foot mountains. This is called “peak-bagging” by local climbers. Most of my climbs were solo, but sometimes I hiked with a friend or two.

During that time, I wrote a series of blog posts in which I described, chronologically, the ascent of each of these peaks in words, images and a few videos. Along with the climb, in each post I shared some reflections on my work in international development during the MDG era: what it was like in the sector as it boomed, and evolved, from the response to the Ethiopian crisis in the mid-1980’s through to the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

After finishing climbing all of the 48, with the ascent of Mt Jefferson on June 28, 2018, I have revisited these mountains – often in different seasons and using different trails. I’m writing up these later climbs separately.

My first climb of Mt Field (4006ft, 1221m) had been in August of 2017. My initial write-up of the hike included, along with a description of the climb, the most innovative, and difficult, aspect of ChildFund Australia’s “development effectiveness framework”: the notion of “power” – “building the power of poor people and poor children.”

I climbed Mt Field again on 19 July, 2018, after having completed all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4000-footers earlier that month.

I wondered how it would feel to start the cycle anew. It felt good! It had been a bit over 2 years since I had climbed Tom and Field, and some things had changed…

This time it was mid-summer instead of late spring, so no snow or ice on the ground. And, this time, I climbed Mt Field first, going around Avalon and A-Z trails clockwise instead of counter-clockwise as I had done in 2016.

It was a spectacular day, clear skies and cool temperatures. I drove up from Durham, leaving at 7am, arriving at the trail-head in Crawford Notch about 2 1/2 hours later. Since I had climbed Tom and Field last time, I had established a tradition of stopping for coffee and a Subway sandwich on the way north – which I did this time, too.

In my original article I briefly mentioned having fallen on ice and wrenching my shoulder. That was descending from Mt Field; this time, going up Mt Field, I came across that area and took a moment to reflect on having learned my lesson!

I left Crawford Station at 10am, and headed up the Avalon Trail:

Evidence of high winds, that I don’t remember having seen two years earlier:

After 40 minutes, I came to the junction with the A-Z Trail. Here I would continue on the Avalon Trail, left, to reach Mt Avalon and then Mt Field. In 2016 I had gone right here, up to Mt Tom first:

The trail became very steep. I took one wrong turn near here, in the middle of a big and recent tree blow-down, and had to double back. Lost 15 minutes or so, and some sweat!

At 11:15am I reached the top of Mt Avalon, with fantastic views towards the Presidential Range:

And down Crawford Notch:

And over to Mt Tom, which I would reach after first getting to the top of Mt Field:

Down off of Mt Avalon, I rejoined the Avalon Trail and continued another mile to Mt Field:

The top of Mt Field was crowded, and unremarkable. There were a couple of groups of parents and young hikers – good to see them up here, but I decided to have half of my lunch nearby rather than at the summit cairn. Which is surrounded by trees, anyway!

Near the summit there is one view north, towards the Mt Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods. It was just after noon, and there was another hiker enjoying her lunch:

I had half of my Subway sandwich here, and then got back onto the trail, now moving on the Willey Ridge Trail towards Mt Tom:

Climbing Mt Field again was great, especially because it was a glorious day. I was able to note where I had fallen last time, on the mid-May snow of 2016, wrenching my shoulder, but generally it was a very peaceful and happy day.

Here are links to all the posts in this series. There is one post for each of the 48 4000-footers, covering my first climb of that particular mountain and also reflecting on a career in international development. And there are several other posts covering subsequent, repeat climbs which are usually done on alternate routes in different seasons:

Mt Tom #2 – 19 July 2018

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Mark McPeak

I climbed Mt Tom again on 19 July, 2018, after having completed all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4000-footers earlier that month. I wondered how it would feel to start the cycle anew. It felt good! It had been a bit over 2 years since I had climbed Tom and Field, and some things had changed…

This time it was mid-summer instead of late spring, so no snow or ice on the ground. And, this time, I took the same route, but climbed Mt Field first, going around Avalon and A-Z trails clockwise instead of counter-clockwise.

I drove up from Durham, leaving at 7am, arriving at the trail-head in Crawford Notch about 2 1/2 hours later. Since I had climbed Tom and Field last time, I had established a tradition of stopping for coffee and a Subway sandwich on the way north – which I did this time, too.

It was a beautiful summer day, warm and clear, with great views from the tops. As I hiked up, I did notice many more tree-falls than I had remembered, perhaps due to the severe storms we had here in March 2018. And I am pretty sure I saw the place where I fell on ice two years ago, descending from Mt Field.

I had reached the top of Mt Field at noon, having left Crawford Notch at 10am. It was a very pleasant walk north from Field to Mt Tom.

Willey Range Trail, Between Mt Field And Mt Tom

No snow at the top of the Presidential Range this time!

The Presidential Range From The Summit Of Mt Tom

It was just after 1pm when I reached the Mt Tom summit cairn:

Mt Tom Summit Cairn – In Better Shape In 2018 Than In 2016

A Hint Of Angkor Wat Along The Avalon Trail

It was just after 3pm when I arrived back at the trailhead.

Here are two short videos I took along the Crawford Brook that day, on my second ascent of Mt Tom in this series:

I’m not planning on hiking all 48 of the 4000-footers again, but it might happen! But as I do hike them, my ambition is that the repeat climbs will be in different seasons, and afterwards I will revisit these articles and add photos from the subsequent climbs.

You will find links to my subsequent, repeat climbs of the 4000-footers, and the mountains on the “52-With-A-View” list , can be found here. My first climbs of the 4000-footers are described here.

Mark McPeak

"Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the ability to cope with conflict" – Gandhi

Monthly Archives: March 2023

Mt Moosilauke #3 – 13 February 2023

Climbing Black Mountain (Benton) Again

Mt Field #2 – 19 July 2018

Mt Tom #2 – 19 July 2018