After earning a patch for hiking all of the Belknap Range, I started looking for other patches I could earn. I used to make fun of people who have to always be training for something- people who like to run but don't feel complete if they aren't running marathons or doing mud or zombie races, but now that I'm in the middle of trying to earn 3 different hiking patches, I think I get it. It's nice to have a goal. And years later, to be able to look back and say that I did something I set out to do- it's pretty cool.
Someone actually commented on my Belknap post with the link to earn the Castle in the Clouds patch (info here). So, I decided I would do everything they asked while reaching the top of all the main summits outlined here, and that way I could earn the patch by hiking all the specific trails Castle in the Clouds asks for, while feeling that I could confidently say I owned the whole Ossipee Range (since CITC only requires you to hit 5 summits).
I decided to start with one of the smallest with good views and a really terrible name: Bald Knob. The entrance is right on Route 171 in Moultonborough, only a few miles from the Castle in the Clouds entrance. I'd never been on 171 before. I've been there a lot now.
where you park
You walk a ways into the woods on a boring fire road, then you can see where you're going right away. I love when you can see where you're going.
The trail got steeper and was incredibly rocky right away.
Here's some people who passed me:
After awhile of hiking through some pretty rocky and surprisingly steep stuff, you come out to a lookout, which I felt made the hike worth it already.
I had to stop a lot on the way up- it was very humid, and this was steeper than I was ready for. I was a sweat machine. The trail loops back into the woods from that lookout, then starts to get real ugly:
But then it was over. The internet says it's 1,116 of vertical gain in 1.1 miles, which is the steepness of a lot of the bigger hikes I've done, so while this was short, it was certainly a work out. Rather than going straight to the lookout, I went to a higher section that I felt should be the summit, but there was no marker. The view was pretty rad:
But walking towards the viewpoint, I knew I already loved this mountain:
I saw a gigantic Turkey Vulture flying around too. I tried to get better pics, but even though it came super close, this was the best I could do:
Quite the nice view up there. I bet you can't tell which pictures are edited HDRs and which came from my normal camera:
Winnipesaukee and the Belknaps in the distance
I walked way down the rocks and all around for different views. All were damn fine. I especially liked this road, with a view of Castle in the Clouds in the distance:
This was taken from that road. Awesome.
I had places to be though, so I started heading down. The entire way down, I went though scenarios in my head for how my 5 interviews the next day at Hubspot (the job I didn't get) were gonna go. I just completely zoned out the entire way down the mountain, worried about everything but excited at the concept of having income again at what could be a very cool job. I was quite the mix of emotions, and actually (and sadly) essentially practiced interview questions the entire way down the mountain. What a loser.
I drove as fast as I could to get to Albee Beach for what could possibly be the last Swim Thursday of the year for me (it wasn't even close to the last). When we got there, it was looking a lot like rain. And there was a weird sand babe made in the sand:
Very cool.
We threw the B while it started raining on us. After awhile of freezing to death and getting rained on harder than we wanted, a command decision was made, and we packed up and headed to Brewster Beach too. I have no pictures of this expedition, but it turned out to be probably my favorite Swim Thursday of the year. Crap weather, just the 3 of us, and the annoyance of getting dry, getting right back in soaking wet clothes, only to then try to dry off with a soaked towel again after- none of it mattered, because we had an absolute blast. The lines were set up for the Brewster High School swim team, so we practiced swimmer dives and made a thousand jokes about how we were on the team, just training for our next match.
We did flips in the water over the lines, we threw the B hard, and we had a blast. At one point, we swam to someone's giant float that was anchored in front of their house next to the swimming area. I thought this was a bad idea and didn't think we'd ever be able to get on, but we all managed, and couldn't stop laughing at the concept of us thinking we were all incognito in this person's giant float, but the reality of them very possibly just standing in their living room watching 3 fat guys climb into their float and lie there as obviously as possible, thinking nobody would see them. The float couldn't have moved more for the 10 minutes we were hanging onto it, but we thought we were sneaky.
It was finally time to leave, and I was absolutely exhausted. I don't remember what we did for dinner, but I went to bed super late after trimming up my beard and hair, laying out interview clothes, finalizing my resume, etc. I drove to Tobin's the next day to get dressed (so I wouldn't get my clothes all wrinkled) and make my hair look nice, then sweat through everything on the 2 block walk to the interview I barely made it in time to since it was 90 out. I was there for 3+ hours, going through 5 half hour interviews and being made to wait for another 20 minutes just to have the main recruiter guy walk me out. I met up with Shaun and Natalie for a celebratory dinner because I was so certain I would get the job, but also out of relief of such an exhausting day. I didn't get the job, but in hindsight, I'm very happy about that.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's pretend it's still AUGUST.
So yea, Bald Knob is steeper than you'd think, but totally worth the effort and generally a pretty short hike for awesome views. And the Ossipee patch hunt begins!
currently listening to: The Mars Volta- B-Sides
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