A summer of hiking

Looking West from Mt. Abraham towards Saddleback

Another successful hike last Saturday, this time to the summit of Mt. Abraham (Maine) [4037'] with a total of 2950' gain in elevation and about 9 miles round trip.  The majority of the elevation gain was accomplished in the last mile and a quarter of the fire warden's trail so the climb was pretty steep.  See EveryTrail for more details on the climb (with profile).  This time, we only took Puga and Cindy as the "junior" dogs were not really up to it.

We began our training this year with Mt. Wachusett in late April, I think.  That was about 900' elevation gain and only about 3 miles round trip.  We've successively done harder and harder climbs since then (although we gave our legs a rest a couple of weeks ago with Mt. Kearsage South).  I've missed a couple of hikes, but Kim has been on every one.

These days as I'm struggling up the trails to such lofty peaks, I marvel at my sheer insanity seven years ago when I volunteered to go on a two day hike in the Presidential range.  Our plan was to start up the Caps Ridge trail (2720' elevation gain), summit Mt. Jefferson (5716') then go on to bag Mt. Adams before staying overnight at the Madison Springs Hut.  Then on up Mt. Madison the following day.  It was a long time (forever?) since I had done such a demanding hike and, although I had trained assiduously on the stairmaster ahead of time, I had done very little real hiking in preparation.  I must have been mad!

The ascent of Mt. Jefferson, while quite scary at times, went without a hitch.  But by the time we had struggled over to the foot of Mt. Adams, my legs were done.  And I mean done.  So, Kim and I skipped Mt. Adams (sorry!) and made sure we got to the hut in time for dinner.  After dinner, we went on a nature walk and took in the unadulterated night sky.  The following day, we climbed Mt. Madison and had the most unbelievable views.  While the descent might might have seemed easier, my knees could hardly move for the next couple of weeks.

Fast forward to 2011.  Our plan is to conquer Mt. Katahdin later this summer.  It stands at 5268' but with approximately 4000' (ugh!) of elevation gain.  It's one tough mountain by all accounts.

Until this last hike of Mt. Abraham, I was seriously doubting if I could do it.  But now, I know I can and am determined to make all the training worthwhile.  I just hope that the weather is good because I hate hiking on slippery rocks.

Looking North to Sugarloaf and the Bigelow Range beyond