Mount Potash

I'm an idiot. 

Last October, on one of my favorite weekends of the year, I randomly found out about Mount Potash at night, then decided to hike it the next day using 1 trail guide. To be fair, it was the only one I could find at the time, but I followed it like a true idiot. It recommended ignoring the "UNH trails trailhead" and walking up a gated off fire road instead. It said it was shortly after Bear Notch Road. SO, being an idiot, I found Bear Notch Road (off the Kancamagus Highway), then drove back and forth for like 2 miles looking for this famed fire road. Never once did I consider that maybe whoever put together the guide had a different definition of "shortly" and that maybe it's more like 2-3 miles. I also had never heard of the "UNH trails" (UNH is in Durham, not the White Mountains), so I guess I thought it was slang or something? I don't know. There really is no excuse. I'm just one of the stupidest people alive. The trailhead couldn't be more obvious:

IT EVEN SAYS THE MOUNTAIN ON THE SIGN

and the fire road shortly after was just as obvious too. 

to be fair, the hike guide had a picture of pretty much just the gate, and it looked almost exactly like what I walked up. But still. I suck.

So I had a miserable time, cursed the internet and hated everything, all because I'm dumb. Truthfully, in hindsight, I'm kind of happy I didn't hike it back then though, since it poured all over us, and if we had actually been hiking the mountain and not just some road in the woods, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy what is truly an awesome hike. 

After laughing at my stupidity, I parked and got ready. There's a lot of parking.

Immediately to the right (behind the sign) is a sweet little pond with a billion frogs.

And immediately to the left is a very helpful sign.

I went straight up a very boring road for a bit,

then turned right onto the very obvious Mount Potash trail.

And then I hit the almighty brook crossing that online guides recommended I avoid. 

It was NOTHING! To be fair, I could imagine it getting a lot worse after a lot of rain. And I ran into an older couple here too, who had given up and decided to not try to hike Mount Potash afterall, since they didn't know how to cross the river. I grew up on a lake and ran and jumped across rocks through my whole childhood, so I already know that I feel much more confident and balanced doing this than a lot of people, but still. This wasn't bad at all. And you can always take your shoes off if necessary. Don't bother with the avoid-the-brook-way. Just hike the regular trail. It's way better.

the other side

The trail then started climbing a bit (it had basically been flat so far).

and after seeing a dog and a young woman (I was certain I'd see nobody on this hike and I was already at 3 people and a dog), I eventually came to where the boring fire road meets up with the trail. I'd rather hike almost any trail than walk up this:

The turn onto the trail was very obvious:

And although not that steep, the climbing continued.

I loved the amount of roots and leaves showing. I am a huge fan of hiking lesser-known mountains, and the messiness of the trail added to the remote feeling. Although, soon, it started to turn more into an exposed rock climb with a billion roots. 

This was a great hike so far. It started very flat, gradually built up, had a few switchbacks, and then just climbed in a straight line, which normally I hate, but because the surrounding woods were so awesome, it was actually pretty cool. 

I then came out to a view that's better than a lot of summits I've been on:

You get to walk along an exposed ridge with Passaconaway Mountain and Whiteface staring down at you. It's an awesome spot that I hung out at for awhile. Looking the opposite direction, you can even see Chocorua in the distance.

But this wasn't the summit, and although I was tired, I wanted to get there. Online guides had said there were views, but they didn't talk much about them, so I assumed this would be the best view I'd get- I just didn't want to hike half a mountain. Immediately I was back in the woods and climbing again.

This trail was great though- after a steep section, it turned left and gradually climbed over a lot of big rocks and roots. Slow going yes, but much more interesting and friendly than straight up. It then went along a ridge a bit, and came out to exposed rock. Things got steep.

I was starting to really feel like I was getting some good elevation. Turning around, Passaconaway watched. I began to feel afraid of this mountain.

After some solid climbing and exhaustion, I was at the top.

And it was glorious. This immediately became one of my favorite hikes I've done and an instant addition to the "I will absolutely hike this again" department. Here are a bunch of ridiculous HDR shots.

The sharp ones are the Tripyramids.

Passaconaway from the summit

I love this one. Any time I can take a picture where it looks like the trail takes you off a cliff, I'll take that picture. 

I attempted to get some sort of panorama using iphone apps, but they never work. So I just took a bunch of pictures with my actual camera and did the best I could in photoshop to connect them. This isn't perfect but it came out way better than it should have. I absolutely loved the view- tons of mountains to the East (left), a valley of flatness, and then monsters in the distant north (right). Click the picture, it's huge.

I spent a long time up there and took way too many pictures. The black flies were out in full force, and I tried my best to not let them ruin my time. But they worked HARD. Eventually, I forced myself to leave to get away from them and to stop taking HDR pictures I'd have to put together and edit later on. I still had like 30 pictures though. Ughk.

Going back down the open rock face was awesome, but further made me terrified to attempt to hike Passaconaway. It's a monster. Once back in the woods, the rock trail going downhill was extremely interesting.

I stopped and hung out on the ridge again, and took some terrible pictures.

sweet apple shirt!

The hike down was uneventful but not bad. I never got too dead, and going with my theme this summer of not hiking down mountains in the dark, I was happy to finish in daylight. What a great hike.

On the way home, I decided I didn't have enough pictures and pulled over on the side of the road to catch some early sunset pictures. I wish I had found this valley somewhere and it was some great secret, but nope. This is just the beauty of the Kanc (with HDR)

From there, I took the mandatory "it's sunset, go take pictures" stop at Chocorua Lake and wow was I happy I did. It was like this guy knew I'd be there. Or he just really gets life and spends every sunset fishing with this view. If I lived on this lake, I certainly would.

Man, what a great hike. The pictures I took on the way home helped, but even without them, I couldn't be happier with Mount Potash. Based on online guides, most people parked at this trailhead hike the UNH trails to Mount Hedgehog. I don't know why Potash isn't insanely popular. It's a very reasonable mountain for elevation gain and footing, and has an amazing ridge and near 360 degree gorgeous views from a mostly exposed summit. I loved it and couldn't recommend it more. 

Directions: Heading west from Conway on the Kancamagus Highway, look for the trailhead on the left, a few miles after Bear Notch Road and some visitor's center (which has bathrooms). The trail has signs everywhere you need them. 

Summit: 2,680 feet

Mileage Round Trip: 4.4 miles

Elevation gain: about 1,500 feet

$3 to park unless you're a jerk

currently listening to: Jimmy Eat World- "Damage"

The Belknaps part 2: Piper Mountain from Whiteface trail

Waaaaay back, I hiked Whiteface Mountain. (Click here if you want directions.) It was a pretty blah hike with a pretty blah view, but at an intersection, there were signs for Piper, another mountain I hiked last year (along with Belknap and Gunstock). I wanted to see what that trail was like, so I decided to (I think for the first time in my hiking career) hike a mountain from an opposite side to see if it's a better route. It was.

I started at the same trailhead for Whiteface, got barked at by a dog, felt awkward as I walked into the woods between 2 houses, began the ascent, and visited the old destroyed house again. It looked about the same, but perhaps a little more destroyed.

I was feeling good and happy, knowing that the intersection wasn't far away, so I just listened to my music and enjoyed being in the woods.

I got to the intersection pretty quickly. It's quite obvious.

I took a break here, then headed up. The trail started out almost at the width of a fireroad, and was also much steeper than I was expecting- not bad at all, but still- I started to feel exhausted and out of energy, and it was only getting steeper. After a short while, it did something I wasn't expecting at all, and opened up into open rock face which was pretty awesome. 

At this time, the black flies started to annoy me to the point where I was visibly crazy from them. I don't understand these bugs. They never bite me. They barely even land on me. They just fly around me and get in my face for NO REASON. I eventually just shut my eyes and sprayed bug spray in my face. It helped, sort of.

Look at this sweet bug!

As I climbed, the mountain started to open up, and turning around, I saw how awesome of a hike this had now become.

This was a very unique view of Whiteface and the flatter land in between the Belknaps and Winnipesaukee, and it was quite pretty. The trail was too. I'm not a big fan of open rock face climbing- often they're way too steep with bad grips, and I basically just spend the entire climb waiting to slip. But this one was great- not very steep, tons of grip, and lots of trees, rock pileups and cairns everywhere. This is a good hike.

I saw a sign I didn't notice last time I was up here. Man, I love trail signs and stuff like this. 

And then I was at the summit.

It's no grand 4000 footer view, but for an hour drive and an easy to medium hike, it's pretty solid.

I spent awhile on those rocks, thinking of how cool it would be to have a concert up there. That rock formation could absolutely be a stage, and the fans would have the band with a sunset behind them, while the band got to look out over the mountains. I played air guitar to this song, and imagined how awesome something like that would be, then spent the next 20 minutes hiking wondering if something like that would even be possible. The logistics alone are absurd, and I'm sure it's illegal. Maybe something acoustic? I'm putting it in the idea hat.

On the way back down, I noticed another sign, and wondered what South Piper and Swett Mountains were. 

I took the trail and either I'm terrible at following trails, or it pretty much stopped after a very short while. It came out to a sort of clearing that could actually be South Piper/Swett, but I'm not sure. I was happy I took it though, because there were some great spots for pictures in there. 

Like this skeleton arm tree coming out of the ground. If it had been dark when I was up here, this might have been a problem.

There was also a small puddle pond that, after some editing, became absolutely glorious. What a pretty spot.

But the highlight of the hike for me was this view. On the way back down, you come out of the woods and there is a skijump-esque ledge to tree tops. I sat there for awhile and really took it all in. 

Seriously, backcountry ski bums need to make a jump out of this. 

I decided to be that guy and take a picture of me staring out at the great beyond. It worked with surprising results. 

King of the Belknaps

I really loved this hike. It was harder than I was expecting though. I can't find mileage, but I'm guessing it's 3-4 miles roundtrip with around 1200 feet of elevation gain- certainly not hard by hiker standards, but I was thinking it would be smaller. I was very surprised at how much of a hike was left when I reached the split, and I thought of the random dude we hiked with when we did Piper, Belknap and Gunstock, who, while we sat and chilled at the top of Piper, claimed to have hiked down to Whiteface and back, and still caught up with us halfway up Belknap. The guy was either an absolute monster of a hiker (which he did seem to be), or he didn't go all the way to Whiteface (as I think it would have added like 3 miles to the trip). I'll probably never know. I'm going to choose to believe that he was a monster.

Anyway, yea, this was a beautiful hike with unique perspectives, a sweet ledge/skijump with an amazing view, a great long trip across fairly flat rock face, and an awesome view from the top. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a hike in the Belknaps who doesn't want to hike Major- this, along with West Quarry and Major are probably my favorites. It didn't hurt that I didn't see a single person the entire time either. Love those Belknaps!

currently listening to: Dorena- "Nuet"

The Belknaps part 2: West Quarry Mountain

After hiking Blue Job for probably the 10th time, then Agamenticus for the 4th, I decided the next logical step in my get-leg-muscles-working-again-after-not-moving-for-4-months hiking progression was to hit up something in my treasured Belknap Range. Since I got no view the last time I hiked West Quarry Mountain, I decided to get the view I had already earned. 

This time, where the trail splits (left is "easier" but no ledges and advised when it's raining, right is ledges and "steeper" (I put both in quotations cuz I'm pretty sure they're equally both quite steep)), I went right to the ledges. If there was a view on this mountain, this is where it would be. 

turn right for ledge views

The hike turned quite steep instantly, just as I had been warned. It looked sweet though.

And sure enough, there were some damn fine views (for a smaller mountain) along the ledges. 

I took an HDR directly into the sun, looking at what I'm pretty sure is Rand Mountain. I'm pretty happy with the results.

I was instantly happy that I had revisited West Quarry. The trail was just as overgrown and remote as before, possibly even more so. It's just a solid smaller hike with a cool trail (once you get off the boring fire road) and finally, some awesome views. 

still don't understand why every mountain doesn't have a summit sign...

I decided that it was early enough and I felt good enough that I would follow the trail for a bit past the summit, in the direction of East Quarry Mountain, one that isn't part of the group you have to hike for a patch, but still in the range. 

From on top of a huge rock, I could see water below, which someday, I may bushwack my way down to. It looked pretty awesome even though I could barely get a picture.

At this point, I decided I would see if I could get to East Quarry, and continued on, losing a lot of elevation gain right away (ughk). The woods opened up into a weird field of crushed grass and a very clear path. 

Do UFOs land here?

The trail was pretty awesome the whole way- just as remote and solitary as the rest of West Quarry. Eventually, it came out to a clearing where trucks had been years ago, probably for clear cutting based on the ugliness and randomness of it. It did allow for a pretty awesome view of Winnipesaukee though, one that I absolutely wasn't expecting to find:

I almost missed where the trail went from here, but there was a small cairn to mark it. 

I continued on for awhile, until I came to a steep drop, and realized a mountain was staring me in the face. It was a steep drop into a steep climb, all to a mountain I've heard there are no views from. Someday I will climb East Quarry, but at this point, it was starting to get late and I was determined to not hike down any mountains in the dark this year, so I decided to save my legs and start walking back. 

Other than a pretty awesome view of the beginnings of sunset the entire walk back (which was hard to capture),

and the awesome trees-are-on-fire effect it created on the tops of trees,

the way down was pretty uneventful. It was a solid hike though- exactly what my legs and lungs needed to prepare for bigger mountains, views I didn't get the last time I was up here, and some exploration. 

And of course, on the way home, I had to stop at Alton Bay to spend some time with the gorgeous sunset. 

currently listening to: The Used- "In Love And Death"

HEY!

Remember when I updated this blog?

2 years and 5 weeks ago, I quit my job of 5 years, moved out of the basement I was living in, and tried out living in NH with 2 of my best friends. This blog started as a way to document me taking the plunge into vacation-life. It was a way to show my friends at Apple what I was doing (and make them jealous)- that I wasn't just hanging out and sleeping all day. And it was a way to keep track of my life in a way I could fully control and explore. And perhaps most importantly, it was a way of reminding myself to do my best to be more awesome than I was.

Initially, nearly everything I did deserved a blog post. Some posts were "I went swimming today, here are pictures." I very quickly realized that this blog was basically a collection of pictures I took when I did things, whether they were things worth writing about or not.

Over time, it became more of a replacement for facebook. Does a party really warrant a "I changed my life for the better" post on a blog called "A life more awesome?" Probably not. But it was easier and more fun to post the pictures in blog format instead of a facebook photo album. As time has gone on, I've clearly updated this less and less. In fact, regular readers will agree here- it's basically become a mixture between hiking recaps/guides and facebook photo albums.

Some of that has to do with people reading it less, and the excitement wearing off. Not working has become my regular day to day life, and people don't necessarily care about everything I do. Last fall, I entertained the idea of having a separate blog for essays- stuff I wanted to rant or rave about that didn't necessarily fit the theme of this blog. But I never did it. I was stuck in a weird "does anyone care? Do I even care?" funk.

And sadly, I fell into the same depressed, "I don't want to do anything" lazy hole I fall into every winter, and I just stopped updating it all together. I didn't even pretend. I've listed out albums of the year for the next year, I've done a bunch of art that I was saving for a post and still haven't posted, and I'm now up to like 7 hikes that I took pictures of and kept note of key things to write about. But I just haven't. I wasn't excited about the blog. I felt that unless I got comments on here or at least likes on facebook, nobody was reading it. And if nobody was reading it, what was the point of continuing to update it? The fact that it should be for me- the fact that keeping a blog like this is a way of having everything important to me documented forever- the idea of looking back on my life and reminiscing as well as seeing growth towards becoming more of an awesome person- that was all lost on me. I just got lazy, bored, and started to think of the blog in all the wrong ways.

This babble entry is to say that I'm officially going to start writing in this blog again. You may not care. Honestly, most of the posts will be about hikes. I have a weird love/hate relationship with hiking, and somehow in the last 2 years, hiking has become a real passion to me. I'm still planning on hiking all the 4000 footers in NH, and am still unhappy with a lot of the online guides I've found for hikes in the area. I want to use this blog to help anyone who may find it by giving good guides and recaps for the other people like me who research the shit out of hikes they're about to go on.

I'm also going to try very hard to have more art and more music stuff on here. I'm debating trying to sell some of my art, and have been working (not enough) since November on a solo album where I play every instrument. Part of the reason for the blog was to have it help to keep me focused on stuff like that. It hasn't done that for awhile, but rather than give up on it, I'm going to simply try again. I got into the mindset that unless it was a huge accomplishment or a big party that would ensure a lot of views, it wasn't important. But fear not, those who care- it will still document the big weekends and parties that I attend- because they're important.

I guess not much has really changed, I just wanted to write again and say to the few people who really paid attention to this thing: just as lives change and have ups and downs, so do blogs. And I'm ready to start this up again.

It also makes a lot of sense to start blogging again now that my never-ending summer of awesome is officially coming to an end. Money is very low and I just spent several hours doing something I haven't really done in 7 years- writing a resume. I hope to have a job by August (if I don't, I'm in trouble), and the only way to keep the blog alive and keep reminding myself of not just mine, but everyone's ability to make things more awesome and live on the positive side of things is to keep blogging through the process of what became normal over the last 2 years dying.

But that's just the point- it's not going to die. I have something awesome planned for the next 2 months of weekends, and a lot of 4000 footers left to conquer. So, my life is about to change a lot and the content of this blog probably will too, but I'm going to try my damned hardest to keep living a life more awesome. Sometimes just typing this stuff out really brings the feelings home- I absolutely feel like a different person after these last 2 years, and there's no reason I have to go back to being a miserable, overly sarcastic prick who does nothing but go to work and play on the internet. I struggle to not be that person every day, and I think it's taken me writing this out to realize just how much writing this blog helps.

Blog round 2, begin.

Best Albums of 1997

Soooooo......

It's been awhile.

What the hell have I been doing? Not much.

Went to a few parties, saw a bunch of shows (including George Thorogood with my parents), went to a local wrestling match, finally got my car inspected (after not for 16 months), played indoor golf, won my third casino night, and basically hung out and relaxed a lot. Some of these things may have gotten posts last year, but I'm trying to only post big events or things I take a lot of pictures at.

Irwin had emergency surgery to correct herniated discs in his spine, and we (but mostly Josh) have been dealing with that. That meant a giant fund raiser at Grim North tattoo in Portsmouth (which I won a 50 dollar gift certificate too in the raffle) too. It's been sad and interesting watching him try to walk, but he's making progress every day, and it rules how many people care about him.

I finished going through all my VHSes. After selling 400+ to Bull Moose last year, I had about 60 I had recorded various stuff on that I wanted to go through to see if there was anything worth keeping on them. I digitized some found gold (that I'll eventually post), and can now throw them all away, which was actually a goal of this vacation when I started nearly 2 years ago. I also cleaned up my entire iphoto library- organizing and deleting stuff as far back as 2004. I had to also go through the last year of photos, which consisted of endless amounts of garbage I just took off my phone and ignored. I went from about 1700 to about 9500. That's A LOT of deleted pictures. I also completely cleaned up and organized everything else on my computer. SO, I did a lot of boring stuff, but this is stuff that I have been putting off for years and were goals of my time off, so yay me.

I also went through some weird anxiety about some upcoming stuff you'll hear about soon and some stupid winter depression, which I'm happy to say I'm starting to come out of with more sun.

Basically, I hibernated as I often do, and am now extremely excited for summer, even though it will be my last jobless summer. Time to go out with a bang!

Oh, I also have been working surprisingly a lot more than anyone probably expected on the songs for my album I'll be trying to record in April. A lot of it sounds very good and I'm pumped to get them done.

That's about it.

I also decided to FINALLY get back to doing my best albums for every year list. I think the original goal was to get caught up by last December. Oops. Oh well. Maybe THIS December.

Anyway, I'll hopefully update this a bunch when I'm recording in April, but I wouldn't expect much until it warms up and I can start hiking and doing awesome stuff without getting sick.

Until then, I present to you my favorite albums of 1997, with endless babbling straddling the line of personal experience and music journalism. Click the ridiculous picture to go to the page and read on.