Screaming Knees

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SEPTEMBER 2017 – There are not many things that I’ll wake up (mostly willingly for) at 4:55am to do, scaling a mountain however is one of them! For the last two years I’ve been trying to convince someone to hike up Mt. Washington with me. Answers to this proposition typically go something like this “Nope”, “Wellllll, no”, “No thanks”, “Don’t you know people die hiking that?”. Imagine my surprise when this season, I rolled out the invitation red carpet to one of my buddies and he actually said, “yeah sure”, I was pretty floored.

He being from New Hampshire, I’d say he really earned his state stripes with this climb. Forecast was mixed for the day we were planning on heading up there, thankfully it worked out beautifully, and by the time we hit the mountain trail at 8:30am it was sunny and the temperatures were in the 60s and climbing right along with us. We followed a route recommended in some travel guides of hiking up the Tuckerman’s Ravine Trail and then coming down the Lion’s Head Trail along the ridge line to get back. Gorgeous scenery awaited us all along the 4 plus mile trail up the mountain (believe that is the correct ballpark figure) and once you clear the tree line the views become absolutely spectacular. Here is the view about one third of the way up the ascent.

Mt. Washington

We reached the summit in around three hours and twenty minutes. Which coincided with some clouds rolling in and time for lunch, haha. Definite accomplishment for the month as the trail was grueling at times and quite demanding, but so worth it for the scenic vistas and pure challenge it provided. We both could have been a bit more seasoned and prepared for the climb, still, the experience will be lasting and left me wanting to hike more. After spending about a week waiting for my knees to stop screaming at me, haha.

Notable read from this month was ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by James Joyce. One of those books by a classic author that has been sitting on my shelf for years waiting to be read. Became my evening read and is a book of a style I have read few others like it. The writing is rich in its wording and breaks into stream of consciousness type prose that while not being my sort of material, I can appreciate it for what it presents to the right audience. Pendulum is now swinging back to contemporary fiction, which should be fun.

Crisp autumn days are at my doorstep, pass the strawberry/rhubarb pie please!

– CS

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