In September of 2014, Greg and I completed the “Cranberry Lake 50“, a 50 mile trail in the Adirondacks. We spent 3 nights/4 days out there and it was an awesome hike. We wanted to go on another backpacking trip last year, but we were in the process of moving to Massachusetts so it had to wait until this year.
We didn’t really have a trail in mind, but I like the idea of doing a loop so you don’t have to drive two cars or have someone pick you up. Now that we live in Braintree, we figured we should try out some trails in New England. I started my search in New Hampshire and stumbled upon the Pemigewasset “Pemi” Loop in the Pemigewasset Wilderness of the White Mountain National Forest. It’s 30+ miles and covers 9 peaks. I found a few blog posts about it, but there wasn’t an official website. It speaks to the nature of the trail in that it’s not an official trail, really. It’s a patchwork loop comprised of several different trails that connect to each other as you summit several peaks. There are a few huts and shelters along the way, but they weren’t interspersed at convenient intervals (we made it work).
I had some gear from my hike in the Shenandoah National Park with my family in 2013. For our CL50 trip, we borrowed our tent, stove, and most of Greg’s gear from my parents. Since we know we love to hike, it’s worth the investment to get our own gear. Greg has been really into this website called MassDrop.com and that’s where he got his backpack, sleeping bag and pad, our pocket stove, and lots of other awesome ultralight items. We got a 3 person tent from Sports Authority when it was going out of business, so we got a fairly nice deal. When we set up the tent in the living room, Felix got in and WOULD NOT get out! He was meowing constantly for Finnegan to get in there with him, but Finn didn’t really want to so they played on opposite sides of the tent walls. It was hilarious but had to end before someone poked a hole in the tent! I borrowed my mom’s sleeping bag because it has a lower cold temperature threshold than mine. Mine is good until about 40 degrees, which doesn’t always cut it for autumn hikes. *flashback to the first night of the CL50 that I spent shivering due to below-freezing temps*
Once we had all of our gear, I made a list of food to bring. I drink “Carnation Instant Breakfast” every morning (and have done so for probably over a decade) so we mix that with powdered milk and water for breakfast on the trail. Lunches and snacks are synonymous for me on the trail; I turn into even more of grazer than I normally am. I don’t want to hike on a full stomach so we stop every few hours for a Fig Bar, a Pop-Tart, a few handfuls of trail-mix, a fruit leather, or some jerky. For dinner, we like to use the pouch just-add-water types since they are so easy, light, and good! For one meal, we packed a pouch of microwave brown rice and a pouch of vacuum sealed chicken (like you’d find tuna). All you have to do is dump it all in the pot and heat it up. It’s heavier than the freeze-dried meals, though, so we planned to have it the first night so we didn’t have to carry it. Since we weren’t sure if we would be out there for 2 or 3 nights, we brought both our “Backpacker’s Pantry” pouches: pad thai and lasagna.
Greg was on a trip to France the first week of September, so we decided to take off the following Friday and Monday to do our hike. I didn’t want to wait too long into September for fear of temperatures dipping too low. Our plan was to drive the 2.5 hours to Lincoln, NH early Friday morning; hike for 3 days; drive back Sunday afternoon; and relax/recover on Monday. It’s a good idea to add in that recovery day not only to get all of your gear cleaned up and put away but also to build in a buffer in case you have bad weather on the trail and it takes you longer than expected.
Of course I brought my camera, a Canon DSLR, but we also brought the camcorder my parents bought to document their road trip. Greg took on the role of cinematographer and I edited the footage.
To read about and watch the video for day 1 of our hike, click here!
To read about and watch the video for days 2 & 3 of our hike, click here!
Thanks for reading!
-Rebecca
Flourish & Blogs 