Mt. Rowe
Submitted by Pat
Stats
Mountains: Mt. Rowe (1,680)
Date: January 22, 2017
Time: 3.5 hours
Weather: Cloudy, low 40s
Miles: 3.7
Elevation Gain: 1,100
Trails: Mt. Rowe Trail — Ridge Trail — North Spur Trail — Benjamin Weeks Trail
I meet Nancy at Ackerly’s Grill at 9:30 am for breakfast. I really enjoy sitting down with her before hitting the trail. It gives us time to catch up with a tablespoon of reconnection.
Today we plan to climb Mt. Rowe, our 7th mountain in the Belknap Range. The trailhead should have been relatively easy to find, but I lead us on a couple of course deviations before we finally find it. The reason I bring it up, especially knowing how much I hate to get lost, is that this time I don’t get angry at myself. I actually find it humorous and laugh at myself.
The day is cloudy and the cloud deck low enough that the summit ridge is in the clouds. The temperature at the bottom rises into the low 40s while it drops and the wind picks up as we near the summit. We hike up the Mt. Rowe Trail to the Ridge Trail and encounter the summit at a cell tower. A very anticlimactic summit. We don’t even take a picture until later.
Nancy changes her clothes as the wind and cold really close in on her. I am cold too after doing most of the hike in silks and a thin Teckwick.
The snow is a squishy mess as we descend, sticking to our microspikes and making walking a challenge. We enter a colder band of air and the snow deepens. The trail is pretty, with rock slabs, low-bush blueberry bushes and some views. Up on the ridge the wind is blustery and I put another layer on.
We descend on the North Spur Trail to the Benjamin Weeks Trail. Only one other person has been all the way through since the last snow. We are down and safe by 2:00 pm, glad for the time we have together and surprised by how out of breath we were on the way up. I feel my legs — we both do — but I don’t expect to have to deal with much in the way of late onset muscle soreness.
Another one in the books!