Tried to send a PAD via the Treo, it went to the wrong gallery, and it looked terrible. Went snowshoeing and took a bunch of nice pictures.
On Friday Allison and I rode into work together and then up to New Hampshire. A couple of traffic snafus along the way but we finally made it to Woodstock NH by 9:45pm, actually earlier than anticipated. We spent some time catching up with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne and their friend Barbara. We watched the new show Conviction and then headed to bed.
Our snowshoe trip last year took us up and downhill for a very long day ending in a steady uphill climb to the Zealand Falls hut. It was a tremendously fun trip but very challenging. This weekend's trip was to be a vast contrast from the previous trip. This was Allison's first venture into snowshoeing and she really enjoyed it.
We woke up and had a good breakfast to give us fuel on the trail; there is talk about snowshoeing burning 1000 calories and hour. We got to the Greeley Falls trailhead around 9:30 a.m. and began to unload the car. There were three guys in a car next to use who were getting ready to hike out on the same trail. We talked with them a bit and said that we'd probably see them as they made their way back. We were going to take it easy today and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery during our 5.1 mile hike. We took a few pictures at the trailhead and got under way.
The trail is a very nice one for a first time snowshoeing enthusiast. Allison took to the activity very well. There were a few places where we had to go up and down but nothing at all like we saw on the Zealand Falls Trip.
About an hour into the hike we came to the first pond. This was Upper Greeley pond. There were cross country ski tracks going right across the pond. We weren't about to do that especially after the weather has been so warm lately. We skirted the pond and the views were incredible. We were in a valley surrounded by Mt. Osceola, East Osceola and a couple of others.
We continued along after a short break at the 2.5 mile mark and I got a couple more pictures. Then we made it to the Lower Greeley pond and that was a great winter wonderland. The weather was fantastic and the snow was perfect.
We stopped about 4 miles along the trail and had lunch at a giant rock. Wayne and Cindy made some turkey sandwiches and Wayne even shared his with an over excited dog. The dog was with a group of cross country skiers and came bounding along the trail and jumped into Wayne's lap and took a big munch out of his sandwich. Then another group of people came along and took a few group pictures of us and I took some for them too.
Starting back up after lunch is always a bit of a challenge because, you stop , take off your pack and maybe sit down. I try to keep my pack on and not sit down just because putting it back on is probably the worst feeling of a hike. Lifting a sweaty pack on your back on a warm day makes for a cold chill and in the winter it is even worse. So the pack stayed on for me and so did the snowshoes. I got them on once and that was the extent of it.
After lunch I got a little ahead of the group so I could take some pictures and video, got some nice shots of folks coming down the trail. There is a great one of Allison and the excitement on her face. She had a blast.
At the end of the Greeley Ponds trail we joined up with a cross country ski trail which was actually a snow covered road, the walking there was quick and easy. We saw a father teaching his two daughters how to cross country ski by pulling them behind him as he skied along, kids holding onto the ski poles.
We arrived at the van and headed to the Mad River Restaurant and Tavern had a couple of beers and some hot wings. Then we went back to the trailhead and picked up Barbara's car. That night we placed a few games of Farkle and On the Rocks and got a great night's sleep.
The weekend was a great one that we will remember for a long time. '