Trail Chaser: Belknap Grid 96/144

Mack overlook

Long overdue blog… but it's hard to find the time to write (between business, college, life, and of course hiking). Plus not every hike is worthy of a full story, so a few pics and #hashtags is all it takes. 😉 I do keep up on instagram/facebook, which honestly is enough of a time suck too. 😂 But it is comparatively quick & easy. You can always stay up to date on my hiking adventures there. Meanwhile I keep the blog for bigger stories.

Hummingbird and I have continued to go hard at the Belknap Grid. We currently have 5 months completed (not all consecutive), with several more half done, and are intending to grid out June! If things go as planned (take notice weatherman!) we should be able to finish this month very efficiently AND include a girls' hike with my sister! 😊

Of course gridding has its drawbacks. Or at least one. We've gotten so focused on it that we have done fewer "just for fun" hikes. Heck, even our local go-to Morse Preserve/Pine Mt. was passed over for three months because, as Hummingbird commented, "damn, gridding is all consuming!" LOL But being "productive" is so motivating. Plus we enjoy most of the Belknaps. And in the end, it's still hiking, so it's all good! (And for the record, we did still do a few non-grid hikes too.)

Breaking in my new trailrunners!

Today, Hummingbird and I tackled our least favorite inner peaks. This is why they call people like us gridiots! 😂 12 times we have to repeat these trails that we truthfully never want to do again. But for a patch, we do it. (It IS a beautiful patch.) We originally had planed to do another "4-pack" hike, but since the forecast wasn't great, we decided to save the prettier peaks for a better day. And it's always nice to get these out of the way sooner rather than later.

In fairness, this also is not an entirely viewless hike. There are still a few pretty spots. They just aren't on any of the summits. And really, the biggest problem is Rand. It's just out there in the middle, annoying and steep on both sides, with no convenient way to tag it (or bail out if necessary). We truly see no reason to go back there once we finish gridding. I joked to Hummingbird, "man, I just hope someone doesn't come up with seasons patches next!" (Because obviously we'd need to get those too.) But then I realized we'd have them all anyway by gridding! 😉 As long as they accept prior hikes. (I confess, now I'm daydreaming about designing those patches myself. 🤣)

But back to today. Despite the forecast, it turned out to (mostly) be a gorgeous day. The air was perfect — fairly cool, low humidity; it was more like hiking on a fall day rather than June! There was a nice breeze that only occasionally died down, or got blocked by a mountain. Bugs were manageable. The sun was out at least half the time. There were dragonflies everywhere, in all different shapes, sizes, and colors, as well as a ton of Red Eft newts. ❤️ The muddy trails have mostly dried up. A couple of times we got hit with a sudden, short-lived, light rain shower, but even that was kind of refreshing. And once we were in the trees, the canopy proved to be a decent umbrella. The sound of the rain falling on the leaves, along with the birds and other nature sounds, was peaceful. It almost sounded like a meditation or sleep soundtrack.

Another positive about this traverse was that we actually didn't hate it. We hiked in the opposite direction than usual, and found it a lot more manageable. The exception to that was the approach. We started at Reed Road, where the trail towards the Quarry Mts. ascends steadily. It's a moderate incline, but unrelenting. We were definitely feeling the burn, and we hadn't even hit our first peak. This trail is also rather tight with grasses and ferns and such, which you can't avoid brushing against, so it feels like tick central this time of year. I was glad to be wearing my permethrin treated clothes.

Once we summited, it wasn't too bad. Some parts were even enjoyable! We still didn't love Rand, in particular, but we knew it's easier east to west. Indeed, we actually made really good time, averaging a hair under 2 mph, which is our typical speed on non-tricky hikes. Good conditions surely helped today.

Somewhere between peaks.

I really need to get better about noting where the viewpoints are. haha

From West Quarry, to Rand, to Klem, to Mack, I took only those two photos. Unfortunately, in this direction, we did miss the expansive viewpoint on the back side of Klem. Still worth it. At least Mack has a couple viewpoints past the summit. Then we hit Round Pond for another view before continuing our descent to end at Wood Road, where Hummingbird dropped her car early to secure a spot in the tiny lot. The Reed Road lot is sizeable, so we were able to begin hiking later by stating there; another benefit to carspotting/hiking in this direction.

Do we plan on repeating this traverse? Well, we would prefer not to make a habit of it. But then again, I do need these peaks in several other months. It might be worth suffering through that initial approach with no warmup or reprieve to benefit from the more manageable east-west hike (compared to the gentler approach from Wood Rd. but harder west-east traverse.) As always, we will just see what each month brings!