Pine Mt. sunset

Somebody had fun on Pine. Believe it or not, I didn't do this.

If you're wondering what happened to hike 8, no I didn't skip it…  

On my day off, I finally managed to find time to take a winter hike with one of my clients who lives on the base of Mt. Jesse, near the Moose Mts. range.  There are snowmobile trails around the mountain, but local access is private, so you need landowner permission to hike there.  Luckily my client has a vast property (which is slated for conservation :-) so we can explore via her own paths and old logging roads, which connect to the snomo trails.

Our hike was more of a slow, social walk (she's had knee replacement surgery, so can't move too fast), but that was the main point anyway, to just enjoy some time outside along with each others company.  Mission accomplished.  And we did hit one mile, so technically it still counts as a hike!

Maybe some day we'll make it all the way to the top of Mt. Jesse.  

But for now, onto hike 9!

Hummingbird was in need of some nature therapy after work, so we decided to hit the Burke trail, which shares the same parking lot as Pine Mt. in Alton Bay.  It had been a cold wind, so we chose a trail that would be well treed to protect us.  Well, so much for that idea…

We met up in the parking lot and quickly decided that 1, the sunset looked like it was going to be pretty, so it might be worth going up Pine instead, and 2, Burke would definitely require snowshoes, whereas Pine would be spikes, so we could save a bit of energy by changing our plan.  

We were very happy with that decision!  The sunset was gorgeous.  And the wind wasn't even all that bad.  AND because we took a different trail down, this still counts as a unique hike.  Score!

There's really not much more to say about the hike otherwise, so let us simply end by enjoying more "nature porn." LOL  

(I probably should refrain from using our new favorite term TOO much, lest google flags my blog for suspected inappropriateness.  hahaha  Don't be disappointed, I'm sure I'll say something else "wrong" in short order. ;-) 

Hike 9. 3/2 Pine Mt. side loop, 1.9 mi, 48 min, 312 ft.