Crest Trail #25 - the only other trail I had hiked before. :) It's a wonderful hike. The entire trail is over 25 miles long...we didn't do that whole thing, nor would I. Jim (friend,Tai Chi sifu - remember him) has done the whole thing. IN TWO DAYS! Planned for 3; down in 2. Amazing.
TSHG always meets at the base of Ski Run Road, and we always drive to whatever trail is today's choice.
To get to Crest Trail is quite a drive up into the mountains, branching off toward Monjeau Lookout.
There are lots of postings on YouTube about this area: Monjeau Lookout and the White Mountain Wilderness. I'll stick with my photos for now. The Little Bear Fire went thru here...the change is dramatic, but (imho) not relevant to these posts. Look it up if you want to hear about 'disaster', 'should', shouldn't, 'blame', 'devastation', etc.
The real impact of the fire is much more personal than that to me and - for me - requires a different POV. Also for another post.
Only some of these will get captions; most will explain themselves:
Trailhead
Cute, huh?!
This was the beginning
of my 'get fit' stuff ~ ongoing...
Diamond Peak maybe?
Gorgeous skies
Crossroads
LOVE rocks, I do!
Monjeau Lookout
Skyrockets!
Jim Edwards
tell you in a min.
Color changes
starting!
Elk Tracks
Steps to Lookout
A gorgeous hike that was...
RE: Jim Edwards (guy in the Red Jacket) is our fearless leader. His mailing list for this group is over 100. The groups who actually hike range from 6 to 20 people per hike. Jim is an experienced Search & Rescue member, and inveterate hiker, and full of all sorts of knowledge about the flora and fauna of the area. He is extremely patient and unflappable. Really nice man. I hope I die before he decides to quit leading these groups.
