Willey Range: Tom, Field, Willey, Field, Avalon

Group:  Dogman, tMail, Spanky, Trudy & me.
Route:  A-Z to Ridge, out and back, Avalon trail via Mt. Avalon on return leg.
Trail Conditions:  several inches of snow with consistent coverage up top, patches of exposed ground down low.  In the warm temperatures of the day the entire mess below the ridge was slush/snow mixture.  The snow was sticky and heavy on the poles.
Gear Notes:  We all had microspikes but I was the only one who wore them.  Microspikes or bare-boot - either one was fine.  The weather was warm enough so we stripped down to t-shirts/base layers.

Pictures: here

Dogman's Trip Report:  Nice day.
Beautiful views.
Franky, eh.... Spanky the wonder dog.
Random trail attack on Trudy, but DogMan took it easy.
The gridder girls, way to go! I love that.
The ultimate burping trail bunny, that was pretty nice too.
3 more. I might actually have to start counting. F*!

Mutha's Trip report:  Our October marathons and the big Carter-Moriah traverse last weekend have brought me back from the land of the dead and I feel like I can hike again.  Good for us.  Today's route was picked to get the dogs out so it was a nice pace, nice day, 6-1/2-ish hrs on the trail with plenty of time and breath to chat about everything from belching to the Marathon de Sable to the Tour de France (yes, "sand" is "sable" in french).

tMail's Trip Report: Another grid attack in the books.
We had a moderately warm day in which you could have been in shorts and t shirt. Conversation ranged from RD development to Winnie the Poo.
The greatest trail slam pig was discovered on Mount Tom. How to describe one, she saw us and burped out loud in our faces eating an apple and said "o yeah". She had some southern twang to here she was attractive I give her that.

We also saw Frankie and the merry bunch of [... sorry tmail, edited out to keep G rating ...] I mean peak baggers. Good for them they are out and getting after it. Go Frankie!
DogMan wants to do Rim to Rim to Rim.

Carter-Moriah Traverse

November 18, 2011 Wildcats to Moriah - (Pictures Here)

Route:  up the Wildcat Ski slopes to Wildcat Ridge, Wildcat A, B, C, D, E, ... Z???, Carter Notch, Carter Dome, South Carter Middle Carter, North Carter, Imp, Moriah, Surprise, Gorham.

Trail Conditions:  Microspikes the entire day.  In general the mud was a mixture of frozen and liquid with up to an inch or two of light snow and ice everywhere.  Particularly noteworthy was the descent off North Carter, which was a pick-your-way-in-headlamps descent down icy and snowy bare rock for an hour or so.  Real tree-to-tree stuff, even having to moving into the woods to get around the toughest icy sections.

Curiously, sections of the trail between North Carter and Moriah in those tight notches with bog bridges showed extensive erosion and many bridges out of place - at least one even shoved sideways.

Wildlife:  we disturbed a moose who turned north and stayed ahead of us for about 1/2 hr.  We had fresh bear tracks, bobcat, hare and small rodent tracks.

Total distance:  a little over 18 miles
Total time:  a little over 13 hours
Elevation gain:  over 8000.

Hale and the Pemi Marathon

Tagged Hale w/ tMail and Dogman as part of the Pemi Marathon, organized by Pavel Cenkl form Cherry Mtn to Lincoln Woods Campground.  Tagged Hale via Hale Brook and Lend-A-Hand to Zealand Hut, Exited via Thoreau Falls.

Mt. Hale Conditions:  Light snow, microspikes needed only on some limited sections.  Lend-A-Hand mostly frozen, fastest time on that trail ever due to frozen mud/water.