The master plan was to have a full-day warm-up hike on Kearsarge North, followed by a two day hut overnight which included North and South Twin Mountain, as well as Galehead Mountain (all 4000-footers), and that was to be followed with a half-day recovery hike on Mt Willard — yet another 52-With-A-View peak. That’s what this post is about; our two guests crushed it completing their adventure as planned, this blog post covering that last day. Leading this final phase was again Redline Guide Tim Jones. His summary and photos to follow…
Every athlete needs a ‘recovery workout’ after major exertion. Following their full-day warm-up hike up Mt Kearsarge and two-day adventure our two triathletes from New Jersey wanted a half-day ‘wind down hike’ before they started their long journey south.
They specified something ‘not too long, not too steep, and with a great view.’ While there are many hikes in the area that fit that description, Mount Willard seemed the perfect choice as it put them almost an hour to the goods on their drive home.
We had a perfect day: blue skies, low humidity, refreshing breeze , and it was wonderful to watch these two fellows with relatively little previous hiking experience in NH almost float up and down the trail. The view, as always, didn’t disappoint.
If I sensed any regret from the two after their four consecutive days of hiking up Kearsarge North, North Twin, South Twin, Galehead, and, now, Willard it was only that they didn’t have more days on the trail and more summits to go before heading home. —Tim
