Mount Adams firetower

An old archive photo of the Mount Adams firetower. The trees have grown back (in force) since this photo was taken
Back to the tower for last weekend for work trip. This time there were only 2 of us which was a shame as the weather was just about perfect. That said one of the tower roofing guys had been up a week before and put the last touches on anchouring the roof… so some work had been done since my last visit. To be fair the new roof had withstood some pretty serious winds over the months of May and June and had come out unscathed so the “extra” anchours might not be necessary but better safe than sorry. Saturday, Jack and I headed up to the tower at about 8am and made short work of the climb. We are both getting pretty familiar with the twists and turns of the steep trail and know well when to expend energy and when to relax and grind out the steep chutes. On top we set about our tasks after a short break. I was back on stair tread duty and have become somewhat of a professional at it. Jack on the other hand took to painting the existing window frames with both a primer and (after the primer quickly dried) a final coat of paint. The day started out somewhat cloudy with a good breeze. As I changed stairs high up in the tower the wind picked up significantly. So much so that after about an hour I was quite cold (and a little unnerved) and decided to work a little lower down where the wind didn’t blow so strong.
Fresh paint on the window frames and a new roof above
Mid-morning we took the 2x8x10 foot scaffold planks down from the cab. These planks had been used by the roofing team to stand on while assembling the roof. This proved an exciting challenge a) to negotiate down the narrow spiral staircase with these long boards and b) because they acted a lot like a sail in strong wind gusts. On more than one occasion Jack and I hung on for dear life to the planks(and the tower) as the wind buffeted us around. Fortunately at this point the wind came in fits and starts and we got short breaks to hustle down the steps when the wind stopped. As the day wore on the wind eased off and I was once again able to work on the upper levels. At this point we started to get some of our first "guests" of the day. I didn’t think a lot of people would bother to “ford” the Hudson now that the bridge was out but the water level is pretty low in midsummer so it didn’t stop some folks. Nice to chat with people about the tower while we worked. Most were tourists but one guy had lived in nearby Newcomb all his life and only now made the hike to see the tower. They were all enthusiastic about seeing it rehabilitated. One couple arrived with their Jack Russell terrier and tied him up to a tree while they went up high to see the view. He was not about to be left on the ground though and skillfully broke loose from his tether. As I worked on level 3, I had a small wet nose poke me in the thigh to get past as he wanted to climb the tower to be with his “pack”. Without safety fencing on the staircase (yet) I thought it best if he stay low so I grabbed him in his tracks and soon enough his “Dad” came scurrying down to babysit him on terra firma.
Day dreaming comes a little too easily from this jobsite
By the end of day I had finished replacement of all the stair treads but for a couple that were a little too long and needed to be trimmed to fit (next time perhaps). The existing windows were all painted, a few blown down trees were cleared off the tower and a few measurements were taken for some of the next projects on the list. A good day and the hike down was a cake walk (on dry rock) compared to the flowing stream that I had to deal with back in June. At the cars, Jack made the (excellent) suggestion we grab a burger in Newcomb. So after cleaning up a bit we made the short drive back to the (one and only) bar in town and had a decent burger to close out the day. Far better than the bowl of pasta I had planned for the evening. Got myself a campsite at the state campground at Lake Eton for the night. On signing in I was given a form with “Rules” to keep bears out of my campsite. Interestly the “rules” started at rule #6. What were rules 1 to 5?!? Surely rules 1 to 5 would be important and worth sharing. What if rule #1 was “DON'T CAMP HERE! You WILL be eaten by bears”! Bad for business I suppose and I could understand why they might not like to share that bit of advise. Went to sleep confident I would be eaten by bears… but survived the night. Close call…
Maybe bears don't like fires? Maybe they do(rule#3)! Who know's?!

The view across Raquette lake from West mountain
Sunday I decided to visit a fire tower peak where the tower had been removed some years ago. West Peak sits On Raquette lake on the…. (are you ready?) west shore. It has a 4 mile approach hike that is relatively flat and then 1000 foot climb in the last mile to get to the summit. The day was gorgeous with a warm sun shining. The deer flies were a little annoying but I chose to trail run the flat stretch so I covered the ground pretty quickly. Again, the climb was quick as the rocks were dry and the view from the top was pretty good. Interesting to visit the summit and see some of the remains of the tower still intact more than 30 years after the structure was removed. Nice meadow for the care takers cabin just below the summit and a good view even without a tower. A little hot and hazy but it's summertime so you can’t have everything. Stopped by the shores of Raquette lake on the way back. Looked quite inviting for a quick swim but with 2 more miles to go back to the car I opted against and made the short run before cooling off. Another nice couple of days in the peaks.
Raquette Lake on a warm day

New Hampshire sampler

Sunlight beaming down the trail
Managed to get off to New Hampshire last week. I like to get down there at least once a year to do some hiking. Was meaning to try to get down during the winter and try out a few areas for some skiing but that trip never came together. At any rate it’s nice to get into a slightly different area to do some hiking in terrain that is new so I looked forward to it. The past couple of years the trips to NH have had little success. Low cloud decks and heavy rains greeted me in the granite state. I did climb a few trails (so there must be some mountains in there somewhere!) but it was mostly a wet, miserable affair with little or no views to enjoy at the summit. This time the weather looked promising. While it was going to rain heavily on the drive down it was supposed to clear out overnight and give blue skies the next day. Indeed as I negotiated my way through and around Montreal’s construction headaches I was indeed pelted with heavy rains but they mostly subsided by the time I got to the US border. Made camp at a little spot outside of Twin Mountain and – with long summer days - I had time to scurry up and down a nearby high peak before darkness fell. Only some slight vistas at the top but the clouds were starting to break up which was encouraging.

Summit views from Mount Tom
Sound sleep and the next morning I awoke to…. A very low cloud deck with limited views :( Maybe it would clear through the day so I headed out for a long hike over the Willey range in hopes that, up top at least, the clouds would break. They did not completely… but I did get some limited views so not a total loss. New Hampshire’s mountains are a little different than the Adirondacks I’m more used to. They don’t muck about with long, gradual approach hikes to the bottom of where you start to go up to the top. Rather they get down to the real work of gaining elevation almost right from the get go. There is also a lot better trail construction, as a result I suspect, to much higher volumes of hikers. As my first “big mountain” hikes of the season I was far from prepared for this and the steep climbs took their toll. Slow and steady progress though and once on the ridges the walking was quite pleasant. Sadly, summit time was somewhat limited as the black fly hatch had made its way up in elevation and the demons were waiting for me. Black flies have long since come and gone in the valleys but I guess the climate changes as you climb and they had found a happy existence above 3500ft. So summit visits consisted of a few pictures, a few mouthfuls of food and a swig or two of water before the clouds of black flies started to take their toll and it was time to pack up and get moving again. Still it didn’t rain until I got back to camp and then only sporadically so what was there to complain about.

The Tripyramids from Mt. Tecumseh
After the long hike – and a wet night – the next day was to be somewhat slack. Sadly it proved the nicest day of the my trip with clear sunny skies. After touring around through midday I found myself in Waterville valley and loaded up the pack for a short trip up Tecumseh peak to take advantage of the nice day. Not a favourite with peakbaggers I quite enjoyed it with a steady climb for a couple of miles to the summit ridge and an overlook to the nearby mountains. Again the black flies found me so a short stop but even still it was a nice hike.

Lots of cold mountain streams to soak away the lactic acid after a hard hike
Final day I got low clouds and some scattered showers again but picked a nice hike in Waumbeck mountain. Again, peakbaggers tend to bemoan this peak with limited views but after three days of hiking I enjoyed the steady grade, good trail. Add to that the nonexistent views proved to be somewhat misleading with a nice lookout over to the northern presidential range. The quality of the trail also made for easy/fast descending which was an enjoyable end to the day before the long drive home. So a good few days in the Whites with some limited views (but vastly improving over previous years visits). It proved good “training miles” for climbing high peaks and will stand me good stead as the hiking season marches on.

The cloudy Northern Presidentials from the lookout on Waumbeck