I went one for two on summits during my recent furlough from work, which was dominated by unrelenting rain.

Thunderstorms turned us back the first time that Evan and I tried Mt. Jefferson (last year), but this year we made the 5716 ft. top. It was a gloriously sunny day (although the summit itself was in a cloud), and the climb up the Caps Ridge Trail was a blast (which is good, because it took us three hours up, and nearly that long going down). A fox greeted us at the trailhead off Jefferson Notch Road (see pix below).

The peak had pierced a cloud, so we couldn’t see much from the top, but the skies cleared as we made our way back down. Though his climbing abilities are impressive, Ben needed help on the steeper stretches, more so going up than down… on the areas where we were climbing hands-on, he had to be hoisted by hand.

Both Evan and Ben are experienced hikers, but it was their first 4K peak. Huzzah!

Earlier, we’d visited Arethusa Falls and the Flume, both in the rain.

I have a long-standing goal of cycling up Pack Monadnock (on the auto road, of course, and using my road bike). It wouldn’t be a worthy goal if it were easy, and sure enough, I didn’t quite make it on my first try, during a brief break in the rain a couple weeks back. I started in downtown Wilton, planning a loop through Peterborough, but when I found the road up Pack was closed to auto traffic (for ice storm clean-up) I couldn’t resist having a go.

My first problem came when I lost traction on wet pavement on a steep section, and my rear tire skittered aside. It was too steep to start peddling from that spot, so I had to walk a little ways… enough to ruin the attempt, in my view, though I think I would have made that part of the climb. Further up, I simply couldn’t quite handle the last long steep stretch before the summit. Rather than fall over, I gave up and walked the last bit.

There will be a next time, but I need more training. Fortunately we have plenty of other climbs around to build my stamina. I’m thinking of a loop that includes the Mt. Vernon town center, down to Fitch’s Farm, up Center Road to Perham Corner, then back into Wilton for Pead Hill…. any other suggestions are welcome.