Samurai Appliance Repair Man's Blog

Good to finally be out on the trail again today after being sick for over a month! Still not 100% and definitely felt that on the trail as I was hacking up some really interesting greenies on the snow. Good thing I chose a shortish hike for my reappearance in the White Mountains. The Welch and Dickey Loop is a 4.5 mile hike that has one of the highest views-to-effort ratios in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Accompanied as always by my semper-fi canine hiking partner, The Oz Man, we still had Appliantology on our minds as you can see in the some of the photos below.


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr


Welch n' Dickey Loop with the Oz Man by Zenzoidman, on Flickr

Thunderstorms, seagulls, sheep... something's gone wacky with this planet!

The ice looks sturdy, but looks can be deceiving...

Up and back to the West Peak of Mt. Ascutney via the Weathersfield Trail. Very icy trail conditions! The Oz Man and I both took several world class tumbles. I was wearing Yak Trax Pros because my Katoola microspikes broke. And full-blown 10-point crampons would've been overkill, even dangerous with the many rocks poking up out of the ice-- snag a crampon fang on one of those going down and you're going headlong down the mountain. Wish I had taken some pics of the trail but I got some other shots that show the surrounds and the very nice view from West Peak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AChoJc66lPA

Celebrated the Second Day of Christmas with an awesome winter wonderland hike up the Ammonusuc Trail to the AMC Lakes of the Clouds hut. Didn't take the Oz Man this time because I didn't think this trail and conditions would be dog-friendly. Turned out to be the right choice-- would have had to abort mission if the Oz Man was with me, no way he could've made this.

Trail conditions were snow on top of ice-- combined with the steep grades, this is one of the most difficult traction conditions you can encounter. I only brought my Kathoola microspikes and they were not at all adequate for this hike-- needed full 10-point crampons, which I left back in the van. Took some world-class tumbles both going up and back down. No real injuries, just a wet, bruised butt and snow dumped down my shirt and britches.

Turn your speakers up and enjoy the slide show ==> Slide Show