I was supposed to hike Wildcat D today for my November Grid. The girls have this peak already – it is the only mountain I have left to hike without them for Grid purposes. When I arrived at Wildcat Ski Area however, the snow machines were on full blast…I wasn’t sure if I would be trespassing or not and I had not mentally prepared myself for the longer hike of approaching this peak from Wildcat A, so I decided to wait until Thanksgiving and try again. I am pretty sure I can get this peak one way or the other during that time period. Fingers crossed.
Mud Pond Trail, a National Recreation Trail and a trail within NH’s Silvio O. Conte’s National (Fish &) Wildlife Refuge, was a short detour from the normal route home, so I thought I’d pay a visit. I had only been here once before, years ago. It’s a short hike (0.6 miles) on a pathway which turns into a raised boardwalk that leads right to a pond. Elevation gain is negligible, and the whole thing is wheelchair accessible. It was quite the different hike than I’d set out to do this morning, but it was lovely.
A woodpecker landed on a nearby tree during my walk back to the parking lot. He/she seemed oblivious to my presence.
I realized during the drive to the trailhead how ready I am to be finished with the Grid (hiking NH’s 48 highest peaks during every month of the year, a total of 576 ascents). Hiking the same mountains, no matter how beautiful, over and over and over and over again just is not my thing (though it does keep you in hiking shape!). I look forward to being able to commit myself fully to this quest – the quest this blog will record. I long for new adventures and new trails. And I have to start preparing myself physically for it. I will be in my 50s and 60s during the length of it all….maybe it will take me into my 70s. I need to quit alcohol for good, and I need to walk every single day when I am not hiking. I need to take much better care of my body and my mind.
I love my children dearly, but I am ready to start the next chapter of my life. The thing is, I still have to get through the next seven months (the Grid), and then next summer and fall (hopefully finishing hiking all the trails in the White Mountain National Forest (over 1440 miles), and then through summer 2023 (when my youngest leaves the nest). I hope at that time to have a body that is in tip-top shape, enough money set aside to live outside and on the road for twenty years (coming back each year to my condo to share Christmas with my daughters for as long as they want to share that holiday with me), and a mind that is free of the fog of food and alcohol addiction. Hiking is the only thing that keeps me healthy. I need to live a life where I can hike all the time. I don’t need hotels or expensive cars or anything high maintenance. I just need to travel the country, sleeping in my tent or my car, and explore.