<p>Third hike. Mt. Willard. It started from the new AMC Highland Center Lodge in Crawford Notch (also the starting point for my Mt. Pierce climb). Crawford Notch is a rounded u-shaped valley carved out by retreating north/south glaciers.</p>
<p>As see in the [url=<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube]YouTube[/url</a>], the view is breathtaking. Looking straight down Crawford Notch with wave after wave of mountains to the horizon.</p>
<p>Did Pilates this morning (I had skipped last week as I was ill) and was able to do some awesome strength moves I hadn’t done previously! Can really see glute definition from everything I’m doing, though my right leg, strangely, is more solid than my left. Able to do step-downs on the stability chair without holding on (major core workout) and side stretches on the ladder barrel with a lot more flexibility. Weight appears to be plateauing a bit, but my Pilates trainer, my WW leader and all of you seem to keep telling me the same thing – better off now building muscle even if the weight loss stalls temporarily, because I don’t want to cardio-and-starve my way down to a place where I’d have to live on 1000 cals and tons of cardio just to maintain. Honestly, though, even though I’m still 15 pounds above where I’d like to be, I could live with just continuing to tone what’s here. I am wearing sleeveless tops and shorts for the first time in years, and don’t have any pants that fit! You guys have been major encouragement and support!</p>
<p>Love the pictures, iDad. Pizzagirl- sounds like you are making great progress. Scale be damned- you are wearing SHORTS and sleeveless tops! Awesome.</p>
<p>iDad- I’ve lost track of your outings. Have you done this one? One of my running friends from CT is interested in it but she’s afraid, too.</p>
<p>Pemi Loop
White Mountains, NH<br>
Score: 92 Miles: 32 Elevation Change: 18,000 feet X Factor: Knee-hammering rocks</p>
<p>Extreme types hardened on the Whites’ granite staircases obsess over the better-known Presidential Range Traverse, but we consider that so-called Death March a mere training jaunt for this classic in the rugged Pemigewasset Wilderness. From Lincoln Woods trailhead on the Kancamagus Highway (NH 112), this circuit chugs up and over eight craggy 4,000-footers: the four peaks of Franconia Ridge (Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, and Lafayette), and Mts. Garfield, South Twin, and the Bonds. The long stretches of abusively rocky trail never seem more demoralizing than on the South Twin ascent, a straight-uphill section that ascends 1,150 feet in less than a mile, midway through. Be ready for dazzling views and pitiless winds above treeline-and go hard; even if you’ve lucked into a tailwind, this is likely a 16-hour trek, with miles of jouncing descent on shaky legs in the dark, even on summer’s longest days. The Appalachian Mountain Club’s Galehead Hut, near the halfway point, provides the logistical advantage of a water resupply and leftover pancakes-but tempts you to linger so long you may never get up again. Which might not be a bad idea, if you’re not truly ready for this. The state’s 6-year-old “reckless hiker” law means that if you try something hairball and need to be rescued, you reimburse the costs. Contact: White Mountain National Forest, (603) 528- 8721; [White</a> Mountain National Forest - Home](<a href=“http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/white]White”>http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/white)</p>
<p>You know, you guys are inspiring me - H and I are taking a vacation this fall sometime - we were thinking of going to Mackinac Island in MI (we wanted a driving-distance vacation, not a flying-distance one) - but maybe I’ll ask him if he wants to do something hiking related. He’ll be an easy sell.</p>
<p>“I am wearing sleeveless tops and shorts for the first time in years, and don’t have any pants that fit! You guys have been major encouragement and support!”</p>
<p>That one is a little above my pay grade. Although I have walked the first and last 3.5 miles of the loop – the easy flat bit on Lincoln Woods Trail.</p>
<p>I hope your friend is a VERY experienced hiker on the most challenging trails in the White Mountains! You have to be very fast on steep terrain, much much faster than the AMC White Mountain Guidebook. I much slower than the guidebook, so that sort of thing isn’t even within the realm of possibiity.</p>
<p>Here’s a guy who did it in 16 hours, starting in the middle of the night:</p>
<p>The Mt. Lafayette they talk about is the one above the Greenleaf hut I hiked to. There is a 9 mile day loop up and over three of the peaks along a ridge – Little Haystack, Lincoln, and Lafayette. You would want to be able to do that without breaking a sweat.</p>
<p>Also, if she wants to do the Pemi Loop this year, she better go sometime in the next couple of weeks. They are closing the Lincoln Woods trail to do some major bulldozer reconstruction work to move the trail away from a river bank Hurricane Irene eroded. Of course, leaving in the middle of the night, you could probably hop the fence and walk through the construction site before the workers arrive!</p>
<hr>
<p>Pizza:</p>
<p>Hiking is a lot of fun. My only advice would be to not let your eyes get bigger than your stomach selecting your first hikes. I’m guessing that is an almost universal pitfall. No matter how much you have been walking around local roads and paths, hiking is going to be more strenuous – much more strenuous if you have hills or mountains.</p>
<p>“but maybe I’ll ask him if he wants to do something hiking related.”</p>
<p>We ate our way through Montreal on our vacation a couple of weeks ago. Really ate our way through: Montreal bagels for breakfast (amazingly good), fish & chips, poutine or paninis for lunch (I could live the rest of my life without seeing poutine again; my kids disagree) and fun dinners (crepes, tartares, sushi) - and maple ice cream. None of us gained a pound, because we walked EVERYWHERE. Hours and hours of walking a day, with some not insignificant inclines. My daughter and I did four mile round-trip runs for the bagels in the morning. And it was 90 degrees. But - we really saw things up close, and were able to enjoy incredible food every day without a second thought because we knew we were exercising so much. Now that we are all runners or otherwise active, I cannot imagine taking another family trip that doesn’t involve lots of physical activity.</p>
<p>Thanks, iDad. I suspect she won’t do it. She does ultra-marathons, but has some back issues and the sleeping on the ground thing might not work. Sounds a little ambitious.</p>
<p>The guy who ran it did his slowest miles in 30 minutes, or 2 mph. That’s as fast as I can cover a mile in the White Mountains on the best terrain and my pace on the steep terrain is 1 mph. Since I want absolutely nothing to do with hiking in the mountains after dark, I’m not doing any long distance hikes!</p>
<p>The other issue is that those ridges above treeline are very exposed to bad weather. Quite a few people have died on the ridge along Mt. Lafayette as wind and weather rolls in, even in the summer. Lost in the fog and hypthermia is a big problem. Lightning in summer storms is the most immediate threat as those peak are actually in the clouds during a thundershower.</p>
<p>I was hiking on a gorgeous summer day, 73 degrees at the trailhead, blue sky, with occasional scattered white clouds. At the northwest facing summit of Mt. Pierce, the wind was howling. I would, personally, not hike there on a socked in overcast day.</p>
<p>Right now, 2:30 on a warm summer day, it’s 48 degrees with a 38 mph wind and 75 feet of visibility in the clouds at the summit of Mt. Washington.</p>
<p>Like your update, PG – it’s great to get some visual positive reinforcement to go along with fitness gains.
Cooker – so jealous of your Montreal trip. Yum! and congrats on not doing any serious damage on the weight front!</p>
<p>KB Class
Part 1 –one stretch band, slider and kettlebell
Passive Leg Raise x 10/ (pause at top and bottom)
Get-Up to High Bridge x 5/ (begin with slider and progress to kettlebell)
HK Windmill x 5/
Part 2 – one kettlebell
KB Halo x 5/
KB Goblet Squat x 5
KB 1H Swing practice x 10/ (practice “hike pass”)
Part 3 – one kettlebell
KB Clean x 5
KB Reverse Lunge + Press x 5
4-Pt. Rotation for active recovery
Part 4 – 3 stations; 60 seconds at each station with 30 seconds recovery
KB Swing x 10
KB 1H Swing x 10/
Crawling Plank x 10/</p>
<p>Then a 4 mile trail run in the pouring rain.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you are finding those, but the better I get at them, the harder they get. I’m doing the one with the vertical stationary leg held in place with a resistance band while lowering and raising the other…</p>
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