Day 3

Day 3- Before we set out, we ate a great breakfast courtesy of the AMC lodge and then moseyed on over to the Willy House. Dr. Arion told us the story that this was the site of a rockslide in 1826 where a family died trying to avoid it. After that we had a short drive to our next mountain, Kearsarge North (3,286 ft). This mountain made yesterday’s hike seem like a nature walk. Towards the top of the mountain there were parts of the “trail” that were literally vertical and so rocky I had to use all four appendages to navigate the landscape. As we made our way up the slopes we noticed the change in both temperature and vegetation. The pines and firs began to shrink their needles to allow for less surface area exposed to the cold harsh winds and snow that the heights often bring in Fall, Winter, and Spring. Once we reached the peak we could see into Maine and many of the small ponds and lakes in the area. It brought back memories of how Dr. Byrnes in our Ecology class talked about the natural cycling of the lakes nutrients through the freezing and thawing of ice and how fertile these bodies of water must be. It wasn’t long though until the weather forced us off the hill. We could actually see the warmer air being pushed up over the mountain and the water condensing into rain clouds. The descent was just as much of a hell as the hike up and many of us were hurting on the way down and needed water badly. We all finally made it down and I can honestly say that was one of the harder things I have had to do in a long time. Tomorrow morning is all you can eat pancakes and the climbs of Cherry Mountain and Owl’s Head.