New @inlandwoodstrails trails at Sunday River. They start behind the hotel. Not much of a view up there today but it was a nice alternative to the ski trail. The first loop is the Beechnut Trail and it looks like it was machine built like a single track mountain bike trail with some wooden bridges. Jordan Loop is a little more primitive but well marked.

First time camping and fishing on Mooselook. Cool lake to explore with lots of islands and coves.

Hiked Carrigain(4,700’) this afternoon which makes 28/48 for nh.

Finally got around to hiking Mount Abraham today, which makes 8/14 of Maine’s highest for me. One of the better summits in Maine, has the second largest alpine zone in Maine behind Katahdin.

Finally got around to the Tripyramids, three summits and two that count for the 4K list. The North Slide is probably the toughest trail I’ve hiked in the Whites and the South Slide was pretty steep coming down. Quad burner.

Hot and hazy in the Carters. I finished the Carter Range with Wildcat A (4422’) Carter Dome (4832’) and Mount Height. Going up both sides of Carter Notch in one day isn’t something I want to do again anytime soon.

Great cap to an awesome trip. Today I summited the second highest mountain in the continental US, Mount Elbert (14,439’). I wasn’t sure I’d have the energy for it and it took quite a bit to reach the summit. Someone said you can see most of the other Colorado 14ers from the top and I’d believe it. Can’t wait to fly home tomorrow.

Some pics from the desert, Dead Horse and Arches National Park.

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit Colorado was to see if I could hike a 14,000 foot mountain and this morning I summited Bierstadt. Such a great feeling doing something I’ve wanted to do for years. So many friendly people hiking today that made the day even better.

This mornings hike up the East Inlet trail to Cascade Falls didn’t disappoint. This area of the park is part of the area affected by wildfires in 2021 so it was kind of a surreal landscape of charred trees. I saw a moose with her calf, then a little farther up watched a bear run across the meadow, hiking trail and up a mountain, then came face to face with a decent sized bull moose.

First day in Colorado was pretty awesome. I landed around noon so I grabbed some groceries and went up to drive the Ridge Road in RMNP. I was hoping to see an elk on this trip but didn’t want to get my hopes up. I ended up seeing dozens and a lot of them were right next to the road, not bothered by people stopping to take pictures. Incredible mountains too. At 11,000+ feet I got a little out of breath just walking up a hill.

Decided to hike the Hancocks today. The loop is about 9 miles with two peaks over 4000’, North Hancock (4420’) and South Hancock (4319’). Pretty remote peaks with a nice ridge walk between them. #28 and #29.