Grand Monadnock, 2018-04-17
Some of the pictures took themselves. Some needed a little help in post. There’s no substitute for seeing things first hand, but I think these are faithful to what I experienced.
Below treeline, there was a lot of slipping and sliding on mushy slush. Above, the situation improved, in terms of being able to walk more naturally on ice; my crampons made easier and faster travel. That’s not to say it was like running up the mountain in trail runners on a summer morning, but it was a lot better than the slush.
We had some overnight rains in the past few days, and they left their halo on branches everywhere. If the sun was out, the place would have been on fire, but alas, it was not to be. Still lovely to walk amongst all of it.
This was the hairiest part of the way back. Any other day, I’d have made quick work of this bit, but the ice was unconsolidated, and going down a rocky slab on crampons isn’t as nice as going up. Knowing this, I’ll be taking other trails down in the future.
This guy was doing his thing just a few feet away, seemingly unperturbed that I was around. I love the woodpeckers’ plumage. Very striking.
