The Streaker...

Sounds like a movie title I'm sure. I've finally returned home from the great white north an accomplished man. I completed and passed the SOLO Wilderness First Responder course and so I am now officially a WFR. I"m very excited about this because now I am back on track with my schooling and going in the right direction.

On top of that, the streak is still alive. I have run 15 days... all 15 days.. in 2010 totaling one mile or more. This has been tough to do given the environment I lived in over the last two weeks as well as the traveling to and from home. However, these are small sacrifices to make in order to keep the drive alive. I am starting to feel good again. My pace has quickened, my legs are turning over fine and now I just need to get back into the longer runs for the endurance. On Sunday the 24th..I plan to run 50K in Hillsboro, NH with Josh Robert to seal the deal on the month of January and to have officially kicked off the 2010 training on a good note.

And of course... while staying in Pinkham Notch, I had a great time on Wednesday night hiking under the light of my headlamp once again. This time.. it was Wildcat "A."
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pinkham's Grant, NH
Wildcat "A"
19 Mile Brook to Wildcat Ridge and Back

The plan to hike Wildcat "A" on Tuesday night came to abrupt halt after forecasted winds were for 75 mph with higher gusts. With temps dropping and a windchill advisory in effect, we decided to make the decision to move the hike to the following night. As Mike Innes and I left the car off of route 16 at the 19 Mile Brook Trail trailhead, it was a balmy 20 degrees with no wind at all. With our headlamps dawned once again, we made our way into the quite night as we listened to the waters of 19 Mile brook babble all along the route ever higher.

Mike is a professional guide for the AMC's Highland Center having moved here from Colorado following guide duties out there. And now, we worked along side for the WFR course and enjoyed each others company on our way to the top of another winter peak. Down low, the valley is coated by 2-3 feet of snow. The trail was hard packed from snowshoe traffic creating what we like to call a "highway." We moved steadily ever higher, crossing over the smaller brooks that feed into 19 mile, all the while listening to what water rage underneath that we could. As we reached the height of land where the Appalachian Trail intersects our route of ascent.. the wind picked up and the temps dropped into the single digits.

We beared right and immediately started to climb to the top of Wildcat "A" from Carter Notch. The trail begins to rise immediately and begins to give us trouble. Recent high winds has blown copious amounts of snow across the Wildcat Ridge Trail creating drifts that in a few places were chest deep. Lifting the leg high enough to break down into the snow was trouble in itself, never mind the slippage that happened from there. I blazed the trail through this final .7 mile stretch rising 1000' easily in a short period of time. Snow was everywhere, at least 4 or 5 feet in the woods and with the snow covering the trees it was as if we were marching through a tunnel of white.

Reaching the summit, we were treated to sites of grandeur. The towns of Conway, Glen, Jackson and Gorham all silent and lit up below while a canopy of stars twinkled above. Not a sound could be heard aside from a calming breeze that tickled the frozen trees. Below us was the humble lights of the Carter Notch Hut, illuminated by the seasonal caretaker. After a short break we returned to the woods having stepped away from the jagged edge and removed our snowshoes. We walked back onto the trail where I sat down in the snow and glissaded back down towards the notch. We bare booted the final 4 miles to the car, drove into Gorham and enjoyed a greasy BK Bacon Double Cheeseburger for dinner. The entire 9 mile trek took us 3:45 and we returned to the lodge with enough time to shower and read our books before dozing off into serendipitous slumber, dreaming of more summits to come..
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And now I am home.. where streak day 16 has come and gone.. still on task... training for Project 2010.