Lupines at the Trailhead

 

Crossing Bunnell Brook on Return Trip

 

Viewless Summit of Mt. Cabot

 

View Near Summit of Cabot

 

Old Fire Warden's Cabin

 

Conifers Growing on Bunnell Rock

 

From Bunnell Rock

 

Mt. Cabot June 25, 2006

It continues to rain but today promises to be a sunny day, at least in the northern Whites before the next storm system returns. It is a Sunday and Sundays are a good day for a hike. Mt. Cabot in the northern fringe of the Whites is a good choice. We select the abandoned Mt. Cabot trail for the climb. The trail although very wet and muddy in places is easy to follow and climbs at moderate grades. Given the wetness of some trails it is the moderate grades, along with its location (outside storm paths) that attracted to this hike today. The bugs were thick along with high humidity. But the moderate grades and good footing allowed us to make good time especially coming down the trail. The good footing was a treat after the roughness of the Mt. Madison hike and the slow going coming down. This was #33

Distance 7.8 ; Climb 2750 ft; Elevation 4170 ft.

Returning On Osgood

 

Back Down the Osgood Trail

 

From Madison's Summit

 

From Madison's Summit

 

Mt. Washington and Auto Road

 

Slopes on Wildcat

 

Just Outside the Madison Hut

 

Mt. Madison June 21, 2006

More days of rain since our first hike on Wildcat but today promised to be sunny with a 0% chance of storms. A 0% chance day is rare in the mountains and it is always a good day to climb a high peak; a climb on a peak with long above tree-line exposure can be life threatening in a storm. We also still needed a climb without difficult crossings due to the high water and although it was early in the season for a peak with a long vertical climb we choose one - Mt. Madison. The trail we took to the hut below Madison, Valley Way was never very steep but it was rocky (coming down the trail we felt every jolt). From the hut we took the Osgood trail to the summit – again not exceptionally steep but very rocky and not especially well marked. The views from Madison were not exceptional but were unique and enjoyable in their own way. Up and down Osgood, since it is on the rocky summit cone, views abound - many better than the summit. This was #32.

Distance 8.6; Climb 4100 ft; Elevation 5366 ft.

Quaker Ladies on the slopes

 

Tuckerman, Mt. Washington, & Huntington Ravine

 

Scampering ahead on the ski slope

 

From the summit tower on Wildcat D

 

Wildcat "D" June, 16, 2006

Our first hike of the summer. It had been a wet spring in NH and finding a peak without difficult brook crossings or without very rocky steep slabs that would be slippery when wet was going to be challenge. The Wildcats were still on our list and Wildcat D can be climbed via their ski slopes. A perfect first hike! We climbed up the intermediate slopes and down the beginner's slopes. The sun was hot and the bugs were thick. We were glad to get into the forest for the short step climb to the summit from the end of the slopes. Wildcat D was #31 on our climbs of the 48 peaks above 4000 feet in the Whites.

Distance 5.0 miles; Climb 2400 ft; Elevation 4062 ft.