Date: 2018-04-22
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Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

There's no better place to get accustomed to hiking than in NH and I have hiked this state for years. I love it! I'm amazed and the availability of easy to get to backcountry camping we have here in this gorgeous state. Often times the most difficult challenge is deciding where to go. My niece Laura and I planned to do a 13 mile 1 night shake down on the Squam Range Traverse which uses the Crawford Ridge Pole trail, among others and traverses several peaks. We left Saturday morning around 9 very excited and took 2 vehicles up to Holderness so that we could drop one at the end and drive to where we would start our hike near Beede Falls. When we arrived at the trailhead for Mt Cotton the lot was open but there was a large "Trails Closed" sign there. We decided we would drive a few miles up the road to about the middle of our route and see what the trailhead for Mounts Percival and Morgan offered. Upon arrival we saw that the lots were closed, as was Rattlesnake across the street and we knew we would need a change of plans. We decided we would both drive further north to Lincoln, stop at the ranger station and see what trails were open that we could get out into the backcountry on and take our overnight there. The ranger at Lincoln was super kind and helpful, a very nice woman. After chatting for a few minutes with her we took her suggestion of making our way to the Lincoln Woods parking area and hiking 3 miles out on the East Side trail to Franconia tent sites. It was a gorgeous and sunny day, lots of people in the lot there but most were taking the Lincoln Woods trail across the suspension bridge to the other side of the river. It's beautiful out in the Pemigewasset Wilderness and if you haven't been its a place a beauty not to be missed. While it was a much shorter hike than we had planned for and there was no elevation, the several feet of existing snow pack that had partially melted from the warm sun made it an excellent workout. It was like walking 3 miles on the beach...in soft sand. If we didn't stay on the center of the path which was compacted we would end up post-holing and sometimes thigh deep. It was much colder out in the Pemi Wilderness and with deeper snow pack than we were wishing for. My legs are bruised and Laura's calves were burning the next morning. We arrived at the tent sites to find and open privy (bonus!) and a bear box where unfortunately hikers had left behind their trash. This disturbs me. It's not that difficult to follow leave no trace principles and to hike out your own trash. When the staff arrives out there this spring they will be tasked with having to clean up after careless hikers. The only good part of this is that its in a bear box and the wildlife won't be impacted. There are 18 sites out here but not one was reachable due to the depth of the snow. We tried. We made our way over toward the river and hugged the treeline, found a decent level spot and trampled an area to compact for our camp spot. We set up camp on a compacted base layer that was still a few feet deep. Because it was difficult to make way to the river (post-holing) we opted to filter the water from melting snow that had pooled at the base of a tree. Perfect! I mastered the PCT bear bag hanging and hope this skill carries over to the AT so as to not embarrass myself should any other hikers be watching. We made dinner and had an early night getting layered up and crawling into out bags to stay warm. I have a EE 20 degree quilt that I LOVE. With my layers I was warm most of the night which was cold and clear, slightly breezy in the mid 20's. I tested the new neo air pad it I'm happy with that too. Not my finest nights sleep but certainly more than I got on an overnight flight back from Hawaii in March! The most annoying thing was that my wool beanie falls off when I sleep. I'm a side sleeper and I turn a lot. I feel like I need a bonnet with a chin strap. However does one deal with that annoyance? I've never heard another hiker complain about that, except Laura who was equally irritated by it. The night was quiet, beautifully so. Around 3am I left the tent and looked up at the sky. No light pollution. Just millions of beautiful stars. Amazing actually. The sound of the river and the magnificence of all those stars and a brightly lit moon. It was a perfect night despite the cold. We woke just before sunrise and Laura made it out of the tent in time to walk on the now thoroughly frozen snow to a bend in the river where she caught site of the sun as it rose thru the trees. It provided a gloriously shimmering and twinkling show on the snow as if someone has sprinkled it overnight with the glitter from a Hallmark card. (we've all been glitter bombed by one of those) It's etched in my mind. I would totally do that again and I'm glad things went the way they did. It was a quicker walk back the 3 miles to the lot since the trail was now frozen and easier to walk. We enjoyed a bagel down the street before making our way back home. I am truly blessed to have Laura in my life. She could have been in her warm bed but she chose to support me and brave this crazy spring/still winter overnight with me. I'm extremely grateful for her!