Will Hike For Foliage

Three generations.

It’s that time of year. The leaves are changing. It’s crisp, cool, and… well, it’s raining. Thankfully our guests were okay with that. Hikers understand these things and the matriarch, Mary, from Colorado, was a bit of a hiker. As were her southern New Hampshire-based daughter and granddaughter, Molly and Caroline.

They were all accustomed to a little mountain weather and ready to make the most of their time with us. What Mary in particular wasn’t used to was our rugged, straight-up-the-mountain trails. Out west most trails switch back and are less erroded. Here not so much. That’s okay, though, while the trails may have slowed them down, it certainly didn’t stop them.

Embracing the Water

After a meeting and gear talk the night before with owner Mike at the lovely Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, NH, they met Redline Guide Jeffrey Shutak for their first day. Since it was raining Jeffrey decided a hike up Arethusa Falls would be a treat — at 140-feet it’s the second-highest fall in the state and pretty impressive when running full. Our guests were hoping to avoid crowds, but that’s one of the awesome things about the rain: it keeps the crowds at bay.

Beautiful foliage and running water.

Quite the sight.

Caroline getting to the root of the problem.

The AMC’s Highland Center proved itself as a refuge from the weather.

One Sweet Summit

With one rainy day under their belt, it was time for some better weather. And hopefully some views. Hopefully. This time Jeffrey decided to bring them to the Sugarloaves, with the 2539-foot Middle Sugarloaf being their primary target for the day. They could always opt-in for the second, north summit, if wanted or needed. Other options existed as well.

This way…. to the giant split “glacial erratic” boulder.

Fun for the whole family.

The Zealand River. Lovely.

Residual wetness creating this vivid scene.

On the summit, but with no views unfortunately. Still amazing, though. Caroline’s favorite part!

An entire community exists up there. See the little village?

No problem. Like the stairs back home…. right?

The skies did clear by the time they got down.

They visited Maggie’s Run on the way back to town.

The water significantly higher thanks to the rains.

Obligatory Section of the AT

Mary had a pretty simple request: She wanted to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail (AT) somewhere within New Hampshire. Due to the budget of time and doable distances, it was decided the perfect section would be the Lost Pond Trail from the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center to the Wilcat River Trail. A pretty fine section we think.