Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on January 10, 2009 - Over Mt Starr King to Waumbek, then back
Conditions: Weather.com showed Jefferson, NH at -10 degrees F with clear skies as we packed up and left the house on Saturday morning. We were headed to Mt Waumbek for a couple reasons.
1.) With the cold that was predicted, Valerie was too nervous to take a trip out onto a ridge. Our expectation was that the wind would be strong to go with these ridiculously cold temps. (This turned out to be false. There was barely a breath of wind all day.)
2.) With too much holiday cheer over the last two months, we were feeling a bit out of shape. We figured we should start on something moderate. This is the only remaining winter peak on our checklist of less than 9.5 miles.
So, on to Mt Waumbek we went.
As we turned onto Rt 115A, we could see our destination. The car's outdoor temperature sensor gives you an idea of the weather as we got to the trailhead. Yes, that's NEGATIVE nine degrees.
At the trailhead, we met a group of 16 people who were also headed up. We started out leapfrogging each other for awhile. We would take a break and they would pass us, then they would take a break and we would pass. Valerie wasn't comfortable having them all right behind us, so at one point we just let them pass and then stayed behind. We had started the day in bare boots but carrying our snowshoes on our packs. We quickly switched into them to get more traction on the well-trodden trail. Valerie also made one major mistake with her water bladder... she let the tube freeze early in the trip. We wrestled with it for awhile, but couldn't get it "unstuck". (VAL: in my defense, it's an *insulated* water bladder! I didn't know it would freeze up so quickly!!) We still had Gatorade and soup and Tim's water, so we were not in danger.
The lower portions of the trail ran through deciduous forests. The snow and ice were quite beautiful as the sun started to rise.
We passed into the pine forest as we reached higher elevations. It was still bitterly cold out, but just so beautiful.
Finally, we reached the summit of Mt Starr King. This is an intermediate summit that we need to go over in order to get to Mt Waumbek. Here, we met up with the large group who had headed out with us, and a member of the group was nice enough to take our picture together. Once they left this summit, we took some pictures, changed our clothes and ate some lunch.
View to the northwest
Us on Mt Starr King
Remnants of an old building on the summit of Mt Starr King, and our lunch spot.
Views of the northern Presidentials (Mts Madison, Adams, Jefferson and Washington) from Mt Starr King.
On the trail between Mt Starr King and Mt Waumbek, it was a winter wonderland.
Once we reached the summit of Mt Waumbek, we went beyond it by a couple hundred feet to find a nice lookout. We knew that the summit was wooded (no views), but hadn't known about this nice lookout just beyond.
And then, as you can figure out, we have to come back over Mt Starr King. By this point, Valerie's legs were getting very sore. Not sure if it was dehydration or just fatigue.
The sunlight through the forest was amazing.
Back on Mt Starr King, we stopped for more food. We'd been carrying our new Sigg thermoses (Christmas presents) all day. Valerie had filled them with hot soup at the house around 7AM. At this point, around 1:30PM, the soup was still too hot to drink straight from the thermos. These were a big success. Valerie drank and ate a bunch, just in case this was the problem with her legs. Tim played with the Gray Jays. They must have eaten like kings today as about 30 people had passed this way in each direction, and it's by far the best resting point on the whole trail, so *everyone* stops here. You can tell by the way that the area is packed down in the pictures below. While we were sitting here, we really could get warm and soak up the sun. It was amazing.
The trip down was quick and uneventful. We heard/saw no wildlife all day, except for the Gray Jays and a few wild turkeys at the side of Rt 2.
At the car, around 3:15PM, the temperature had made it up to a balmy 10 or 12 degrees F. We slipped into the "Old Corner Store" in Jefferson for pizza and cookies. Probably ate more calories than we expended. It took us 6.25 hours to go about 8 miles. Slow going and very tiring for those who haven't climbed in awhile.