To kick off our 2013 hiking, we decided to trek back up a familiar peak- Mount Moosilauke- in order to get ourselves back into shape for hiking our 4,000 Footer list.
(We had big plans to work on our Winter List this year, but let's face it- life gets in the way sometimes! For our plain 'ol 4,000 Footer list we have a lot of the big peaks and treks left- the Bonds, Isolation, etc., so we may be hiking peaks we've already hiked in order to prep.)
Memorial Day weekend gave us four days in a row to hike and we were so pumped! Until we saw the weather reports that is... Turns out Memorial Day weekend was basically a wash up here in New Hampshire. We had serious rain paired with winds and unseasonable cold temps. So we had only one day to really get a hike in and that was on Memorial Day itself.
The conditions were manageable, but extremely poor. You basically saw all your typical spring thaw conditions-- mud, mud and more mud. And did I mention snow? That too.
The lower end of the trail was extremely wet and muddy, making the trail slippery and slow going. As we climbed higher the trail became snowy and muddy and the trees began to melt away the snow stuck to their branches so it was almost raining on us.
Above treeline the snow was much deeper- maybe drifts of close to a foot. It would have been helpful with traction, but it wasn't necessary. Wind speeds were amazing on our hike! At the top sustained speeds had us hunched over and gusts knocked us around.
(I know- we are totally a Marmot commercial!)
The good news is as we hiked down the snow appeared to be melting quickly! So there may not be as much snow on Moosilauke for those who head out next weekend.
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