NH - Tom (#18), Field (#19), Avalon, Jackson, Pierce, Eisenhower (#20)
Hiking Diaries - Sept 19th & 20th, 2020
Sat, Sept 19th - Woke up around 515am, packed up, finished things at home, picked up Kristabel by 615am. Drove up to the Whites, stopped at the Hookset Rest Stop for Kristabel to buy some snacks (Combos). The Whites are beautiful - leaves are starting to change!!! Got to the AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch (well, not really - we didn’t go to the lodge). SO MANY CARS/PEOPLE!! Stopped by the visitors center, started hiking up the Avalon Trail. Did Mt Tom, Mt Field. Was cold, so we didn’t sit for very long. Decided not to do Mt Willey because of the time crunch of trying to find a campsite that night. Called my mom on top of Mt Avalon (not a 4000-footer, but apparently part of 52 with a view??). Decided not to camp outside and get a hotel room instead. Hiked down to Crawford Notch - sat for a bit by a river and ate real food -Yum! Drove to Lincoln, went to the local thrift store/cafe called “Encore”, Got a hot chocolate, Kristabel bought me some books. Sat on the comfiest couch - Encore was kind of weird, but I loved it. Drove to the Travelodge - was dumpy. Checked in, guy had a raunchy tattoo. Checked for bed bugs, ate the rest of the salmon/quiona. Ate a lot of candy. Iced my knees Tried to read “The Lost City of Z”, but my brain wasn’t working. Kristabel read “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” for the first time - she loved it. I went on reddit and such. Bed around 9pm. Was super warm and comfy in the hotel.
Sun, Sept 20th - Woke up early, went out to get ice for my knees. Woke Kristabel up with a ton of light from the bathroom - whoops. Packed up all my stuff, checked out. Went to drive through Dunkin for Kristabel. Peppermint vs Mint Tea. Drove back to Crawford Notch - soooo many less people than yesterday. Hiked up the Webster/Jackson trail - played the Movie Categories game. Decided to hike up to Webster and not cut it off. Hiked over to Jackson - these were hard miles. Jackson gave me some people stomach anxiety. Hiked over to Pierce - stopped at the Mizpah Spring Hut on the way - it was closed and very disappointing to me. =/. Hiked to Pierce - decided to keep hiking to Eisenhower - such a beautiful hike, there were barely any people until we got to the summit area. Such a great great hike with insane views - could see Mt. Washington the whole time. Knees started hurting. Talked with two women who were just starting their 48-journey. Took their photo. Hiked back towards Pierce and down the Crawford Path to the car - we were OVER IT. Knees hurting, very sloppy hiking because we were tired. Easy hike down though. Loved using the Alltrails app to see how much farther we had to go. Got to the car, drove into Lincoln - i was SO EXHAUSTED. I was a bit tired and cranky, so I didn’t talk much. Kristabel stopped at the Price Chopper to grab something to eat. Drove to Burger King, got an impossible burger, drove to the Hookset Rest Stop. Drove back to Boston. Dropped of Kristabel.