White Mountain NF Loop

This morning I set off for a White Mountain National Forest mountain bike ride.

Welcome to the National Forest.

Jim dropped me off on a forest service road just west of Bartlett, NH and I set out with map in pocket.  The first 4.0 miles on Sawyer River road, a forest service road, were a constant uphill that got my blood flowing quickly despite a temperature in the 30's. 

Steady uphill on a gravel forest service road.

At the end of the forest service road was a gate, blocking vehicular traffic, and a sign board.  From here on the riding would be on double track.

 End of the forest service road.

Still going up, there were some steep and continuous grades.

Along the way I was greeted by some nice views of surrounding mountains.  By this time I had been riding about 45 minutes, all of it uphill.

A view to the west.

About an hour into the ride I reached a "high point", just short of the infamous Kancamangus highway.  I was making frequent map checks to ensure I was on track.  With no cell phone service and a lack of familiarity with the land, it was important to keep up with my progress on the map.

 Map: $7 well spent.

After turning and riding east I joined up with another forest service road for a short distance and then had a decision to make.  Continue on with a good chance of being back by the time I had planned or do the "Owl's Head Climb" trail.  I figured I wouldn't be back here soon, so I headed up the climb.

 Coming down from the Owl's Head climb.

The climb was all good, with no shortage of steepness and some rocks thrown in for fun.  Coming down was equally exciting with rocks spotting the way.  I came to a small bridge and decided it was a good place for the PB&J I had packed for lunch.

Sitting on the edge of the bridge and eating my sandwich I had the idea to set the camera for a self timer shot.  I placed the camera on the opposite edge of the bridge, pressed the button to start the 10 second timer and attempted to walk back to my lunch perch.  Unfortunately my foot slipped in between slats in the bridge and one of the slats broke.  I fell knee deep through the bridge and violently wrenched my left knee.  My right foot also dropped into a space between slats and I ended up with both feet in the stream below.  As I groaned over the pain in my left knee I heard the camera take a picture.  Nice.

Fallen through a bridge.

 This was supposed to be the picture.

With a bum knee I had to modify the rest of the route.  I made my way to the nearest forest service road and road out to Bear Notch Road.  My leg was scraped up from busting through the bridge but I was thankful to be moving under my own power, praying for healing all the way.

An overlook on Bear Notch Rd, snow

covered Mt. Washington in the background.

When I reached Bear Notch Rd. it was a left hand turn, north, and a steady grade up to the notch.  I was pedaling along okay on the smooth road.  Over the notch it was all down hill to get back to Bartlett.  Passing by a scenic pull off I caught a glimpse of Mt. Washington, so I pulled off at the next one for a picture.  Further down I stopped at a pull off and asked another gawker to take my picture.

Sporting the OCC wool.

Despite the unfortunate bridge crash incident, it was good ~4 hour ride and the weather was perfect.  This will be a loop to repeat on future visits.

First MTB Ride in New Hampshire

Here's a post submitted from up north.  We are here in the northeast visiting with KT's parents, staying in their nearly finished new home.  The house is very nice with a great view and there is plenty of mountain biking nearby.  Yesterday Chris, who will officially become my brother-in-law this weekend, took me for an off road ride near North Conway.

The leaves have turned and the trails were covered.

We headed out for several hours of riding west of North Conway, NH.  The trails we started out on are called Sticks & Stones and for good reason.  There were plenty of rocks and roots to roll around and over.  Everywhere you look up here there are rocks and more rocks.

 

We stopped at an abandoned quarry for a look around.

A lathe was used to turn large, granite columns.

After connecting up with some other trails we went up and over a shoulder of a mountain before heading back to the start.  There were some fun, twisty sections and some good climbing on the way up.  At one point we popped out onto a rocky bald before turning back into the woods.  Once over the ridge, we rode some pretty steep downhills that were testing my counter-gravity bike handling skills.  It was a good ride.

 The final uphill to get over the ridge was a
hike-a-bike as it was unrideably steep.  
(Of course the picture does not do it justice.)

I hope to get out a couple more times during this trip, and I will try to get some "big view" pictures to show off the mountain terrain.  Tomorrow morning will hopefully result in a ride.  My map is ready to go.

 It was the perfect fall day for a ride!

Camping with Daniel!

On the way home from work I called KT to confirm the plan... Daniel and I were going on our first camping trip tonight!  Daniel was excited when I walked in the door and we began gathering up our gear.  It was going to be a truck camping trip as I figured this would be easier should it be necessary to come home in the middle of the night, but there was no early bail out on this trip.

 Campin' in a truck bed.

We drove down to Grandma and Grandpa's woods and found a spot to park the truck.  Daniel always likes to play in the back of the truck and he really liked the idea of "sleep all night in truck!" (his description for our adventure).The first order of business was to "setup camp".  We inflated our camp mats and laid our sleeping bags.  I issued Daniel his very own flashlight.

 Ready for bed, the first time.

After peein' on a tree in the woods, with the aid of his flashlight, Daniel and I read some books.  I turned off the lantern and told Daniel it was time for bed.  As he waived his flashlight across the inside of the truck cap I fell asleep.  Apparently Daniel did not...

I woke up to the realization that a flashlight was pointed at the right side of my head.  Without stirring too much I squinted to my side and saw Daniel down on all fours, flashlight in hand, staring at my head.  He slowly whispered to himself with great enthusiasm, "Daniel looking in Daddy's ear!"

After some laughing I told Daniel it was really time for bed and I confiscated his flash light.  We zipped him in his little sleeping bag and Daniel slept all the way through the night.

In the morning we awoke with the sunrise to a 40 degree temperature.  After a walk and pee in the woods we drove home.  Daniel was excited to tell mommy about his big campin' trip.  We'll have to do it again soon but I'm not sure how many more nights will be warm enough this year.

Checking out the woods first thing in the morning.