H and I are planning a walk next week to bag a couple more 4,000 footers, this time Whiteface and Passaconaway. We may be joined by old friend, BB. Unlike the uninteresting in-and-outs I’ve been doing, this walk will describe two loops, a big one and a little one—a badly misshapen figure-8—with very little backtracking. It’s a little over 12 miles, and gains a total of about 4,500 feet.
Assuming a successful day, I’ll have 11 of the 48 peaks remaining to summit, but this will have been the last of the low-hanging fruit—4,000s I haven’t climbed over the last 40 years that are less than an hour-and-a-half from my bivouac at H and A’s house in Concord. I might just squeeze in four more on an overnight in mid September or October, but the zowie finish will have to wait until next year—on Carrigain, I think, as recommended by many because of its view of most of the others.
I’ve been alternating trailrunners and mid-weight boots (Keen Targhees) on these jaunts. Frankly, they’ve both been fine, though I slightly favor the sneaks. The Salomons I’m using right now (XA Pro 3D Ultra—where do they get these names?) are a little lacking in underfoot padding and protection for the rocky Whites (the same complaint I had with my earlier Montane Vitesses and Hardrocks), but they don’t make my feet sweat (blister alert!) as much as the GoreTex-lined Keens.
I think on this walk I’m also going to try out my newish iPhone 4 as camera and, especially, videocam. I’m a little concerned about dropping the thing out of my sweaty paws, and I haven’t yet figured a workable way to give it a wrist loop,* but I think I’ll give it a whirl. Not literally.
* Maybe I have. Danglet, anyone?)
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