King Family Outdoors: Mt Moosilauke - July 6, 2010

During a week camping trip at Moosehillock Campground in Warren, NH for the week I decided to head up the road a bit and head up Mt. Moosilauke. This was the first real hike I had done in probably 10 years. And it turned out to be the catalyst for a greatly rejuvenated passion for hiking. But before I chronicle that trip, let me take a tangent on what got me into that situation.

I remember the last was with some Clarkson friends over in VT on a section of the Long Trail on a several day backpacking trip that included Mt Abraham. I was sucking wind big time, was holding up the entire party and at one point emptied my pack and distributed everything between the others. Then we reached a road and a lean-to on the slope up Abraham with one more night and day of hiking left. I decided to give up, stop there and have the others continue on and pick me up the next day. So that is what we did and that was the last real hike I went on. I couldn't keep up and could not hike to the level that I could just a few years prior. I suppose 50 lbs since High School will do that to you. And it only got worse from there, another 25 lbs and there was no chance.

But the last couple years I started taking Alex on short nature walks and working up to longer and longer hikes. We hiked to Big Rock Cave last year as well as Crotched Mountain and several trips to Purgatory FAlls and while I had no problems finishing those hikes I certainly felt the burn. I felt like I had just completed a 12 mile hike with a full pack, not a short 3 mile jaunt through the woods! If I was going to keep hiking with Alex and now Ethan and introduce them to hiking I had to lose some weight. So I did and am now back down to what I weighed in college. While still out of shape, losing 50 lbs certainly must still make the hiking easier.

So I pulled out my AMC White Mountain Guide and looked for the easiest trip up Moosilauke (even if I was not sure how to pronounce it!) Gorge Brook and Snapper loop seemed the most viable, with an optional spur to South Peak. So I grabbed what gear I happened to have at camp, had a small backpack although not one I would recommend as a day pack, made a quick first aid kit out of the camper kit, 2 litres of water, some extra clothes, made a lunch and a extra sandwich and snack and off I went having no idea how I would manage. Now hiking 8.2 miles and 2700 feet of elevation gain probably should not have been my first test. But I figured I would take it real easy, go extra slow and take more frequent breaks than what I actually felt I needed. Being July 6 there was plenty of daylight and the temps at the campground were in the mid 90s. My plan was to head up slowly and see how I felt and decide to turn back if I was getting really tired. But if I reached the summit, then I may as well come back down Snapper since the distance is the same as Gorge Brook and I always prefer loops if I can find them.

I parked my truck at 10am and explored the lodge for probably 15 minutes, made use of the facilities and headed up the trail in the hot hot heat. There was a good wind in the trees that was nice, but at the bottom the wind actually felt hot. Not a great sign - hiking in that heat was going to be a killer and I was wearing all cotton so not a good combination. However it did not take long to get high enough in elevation to cool off *a bit* and the wind turned from warm to cool. Stopped often and rested long at each break. Kept drinking water and eating snacks and testing my endurance. And before I knew it I came to a clearing and could see the Ravine Lodge way below me, first time you can really see how far you have come. And at that point, I had not even broken much of a sweat and felt great. Shortly after that the trees were getting shorter and shorter and I knew was nearing treeline and was going to make it. And it was just at the treeline before I saw any other hikers, a family coming down from the summit. I reached the summit in only 3 hours which was just about book time and felt great.

I hung around the summit taking shelter from the what seemed like a sustained 40mph winds in the stone remains of the inn that use to be up there. While it was rather hazy the views were still great. Ate a sandwich and chatted with another hiker who came by. After 20 minutes or so I headed to South Peak and saw the 3rd (and last) hiker of the day. Seeing as I felt great I took the short spur to South Peak and headed down Snapper. Reached my car at around 4pm for 6 hours of total time. Considering that included hanging around the ravine lodge before starting, and the summit for a while, as well as what I considered very frequent and very long rests along the way I was actually shocked I completed the hike that fast. And the best part, I felt I could have gone on for a few more miles with no issue. Guess it was that 50 pounds of my fat ass I wasn't lugging around the mountain that made the difference!

Total miles: 7.8
Elevation gain: 2700

All in all an absolute great day of hiking and I could not wait to get back out.


Start of hike, from lodge looking at summit


Ravine Lodge


Bridge across brook near start of hike

Trail junction, took Gorge Brook up and Snapper back down


View of trail

View part way up


Looking back down to Ravine Lodge in distance


Nearing summit, notice shorter trees and these flowers along trail edge - don't know what kind of flowers these are but they nice enough to line the path all the way up and show the way.


Ooops, I guess I was not near the summit

Very close to summit, not sure what this poured concrete foundation is doing up here.


Approaching summit, more of these little white flowers. They were like Munchkins that kept popping up out of the rocks showing me which way to follow the grey brick road to summit.