So maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea to do another sizable hike only 4 days after the “definitely too big” section of the MSG. I did know that, despite feeling back to normal, I didn’t want to push my body too hard. I mapped out several options, so I knew the estimated stats. The route Hummingbird and I agreed on seemed reasonable, and within my range, but compared to my norm of late, the elevation gain was still significant. The distance was nothing to sneeze at either. But of course the truth is, my body wouldn’t necessarily have handled it any better or worse on a later day when I felt the same. And it was such a gorgeous day for a hike!
I started my morning in town Concord with a wonderful yoga class at Sharing Yoga, stopping into Gibson’s Bookstore for a copy of the MSG guide (I’ll be planning my own routes from now on), and getting a delicious custom smoothie at Live Juice, which had delightfully happy, personable employees who were able to work with my food allergies. The weather was beautiful, and it was a great start to the day. Hummingbird was getting out of work early so we could to do a productive hike in the afternoon.
I’d been kind of dreading Brook Trail on Gunstock since we started redlining. Hawk and I did it several years ago when we were working on the Belknaps peaks patch, and all we remembered is that conditions were terrible. The trail was literally a brook, and we had to weave around so much that he felt we barely touched the official trail. So it wouldn’t be entirely honest of me to count it towards redlining. I had it in my head that the best time to attempt it again would be mid-winter, when everything was frozen. Unfortunately, Gunstock began requiring passes during ski season, even for hikers, and we refused to pay to hike somewhere we can go for free in non-winter. (Geez, we better finish the redlining patch before they decide to start charging for access year round!) So we just planned to try to hit it when conditions were least miserable.
I’m glad I had this second chance to experience Brook Trail. It was actually quite nice! I would even do it again, given favorable conditions. There were a few little manageable wet or muddy spots and water crossings, but overall conditions were quite decent. It appears that there has been quite a bit of trail work done recently, and freshly painted blazes, so that may be part of it too. Perhaps it was simply due for maintenance at the time that Hawk and I did it. On this hike, Hummingbird and I had no trouble following the trail.
It was definitely a hike. Not a severe climb, but certainty a steady uphill workout. It naturally wound over and around brooks, and through pretty forests with bright spring foliage. Bridges were in good repair, and the way the sun hit the water at one point was almost magical, as were parts of the vernal woodland trail.
At the top of Brook Trail, we took the even shorter than expected spur over to Gunstock summit. We hung out on the pub deck for a few minutes, resting, munching on my plantain chips, and snapping photos of the view despite the smokey haze blown in from the Canadian wildfires on the other side of the country. It’s amazing how everything affects everything else; it’s all connected.
From there we set out to finish the hike in a loop with Overlook trail. We backtracked to the short Saddle Trail between Gunstock and Belknap Mts, and followed that until the junction for Overlook. I thought it sounded nice, but turns out it’s not entirely pleasant. At least it wasn’t on this day.
Overlook was visibly less well traveled and maintained than Brook. We encountered several blowdowns, lots of mud, rougher leaf-covered rocky trails that were at times hard to identify as trail, and trickier water crossings. On the plus side, at least it was relatively well blazed in most places, and the majority of it was mildly rolling. There were even a few (very short) sections of Overlook that were actually nice. If conditions were better, it probably would be an enjoyable trail worth repeating, but as it stands, we feel no urge to ever do it again.
The one highlight of Overlook Trail was the single viewpoint approximately halfway down. The pano at the top of this blog was taken there.
Once we neared the bottom of the mountain, we veered off onto Round Pond Trail to tag a section that would be more difficult to get in combination with a separate hike. We weren’t enthusiastic about extending this hike, but it was worth the extra effort to get it done now. We ran into a couple more inconveniences and copious muck, but we accomplished our goal. We backtracked through the annoyances of that added section, and found our way towards the parking lot on the remaining part of the orange/red trail to complete our redlining for the day. The patch is within reach now! Only a few hikes left!
 |
| Faces in the trail markers! |
Lessons:
1. Don’t immediately follow up a hike that requires a recovery period with another significant hike. Even if it’s a more reasonable one. Keep it moderate for a while.
2. SPF 35 face moisturizer is not quite enough protection on its own. Wear a hat. Or deal with the skin issues from stronger waterproof sunblock.
3. Stop saying things on trail like, "at least the water crossings have been fine so far," or "at least this section isn't so bad." Because the next one you encounter invariably will be worse.
5/10 Gunstock Brook & Overlook trails, 7.06 mi, 1631 ft, 3:35 hrs
No comments:
Post a Comment