September 15, 2007
Weather.com predicting rain all day today. With that in mind, it's a good day to bag a couple viewless peaks. Today, I'm after Mt Weeks (also called North Weeks) and South Weeks which both make the list of New England's hundred highest. I'll also be hitting Middle Weeks, which makes the New Hampshire 100 highest, a list I haven't committed to (yet). And of course, to get to these peaks, I'll be going up and over Starr King and Waumbek which I have climbed 3 times before. Here's today's track.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The first 3.5 miles were a repeat for me. The weather was the same when I first climbed Starr King and Waumbek with Snoopy last year. Rather than taking new photos, I'll be recycling some old ones.
Madison and I left the trailhead just after 8:00 am.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Within a few minutes, we passed the old well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Maddie and I made it to the top of Starr King.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Old fireplace near the summit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There is supposedly a fairly good view from here. This was my 4th time on Starr King, and I'm 0 for 4. Madison and I then hiked another mile to the top of Waumbek. It was my 4th time on Waumbek (first for September). It
was Madison's first time and her 17th White Mountains 4000 footer. This warranted a picture, the only a picture I took today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The cairn has been rebuilt recently. Here's what it looked like when I was here with Snoopy a little over a year ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now it's time to head off into unexplored (by me) territory on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I immediately noticed that about 100 feet further up the trail there might actually be a bit of a view from Waumbek. There was a little bit of clearing. I'll have to check that out if I'm ever on Waumbek on a nice day. The trail follows the ridge for about a mile before dropping down and going up to South Weeks. I noticed and took a short spur trail maybe 20-30 feet which deadends. I'm assuming this is the actual 3885' summit which is my 77th completed peak on the New England 100 Highest list. I then dropped down and back up to Middle Weeks. As I mentioned before this 3684' summit makes the New Hampshire 100 list. I haven't kept track, but I've done at least 60 of those. Down the other side and then up to the 3901' summit of North Weeks (my 78th completed peak).
You think I would turn around now, but I didn't. The Kilkenny Ridge Trail is also part of the Cohos Trail. Eventually, I would like to hike all of the Cohos Trail, New Hampshires longest foot trail (162 miles) beating out the New Hampshire section of the Appalachian Trail by just 1 mile. I continued down 1.3 miles to the junction with York Pond Trail where I had come in to do another section of the Kilkenny Ridge Trail. There's the sign I reached a little over a month ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now it was time to turn around. Madison and I retraced our steps going back over all 5 peaks. Kudos to whoever maintains this trails. There had been lots of fairly recent blowdowns that had all been cut through. Thanks!
I usually don't time my hikes, but Madison and I completed this hike of nearly 20 miles in just under 10 hours.
| 
