Moosilauke

May 29, 2022 - An unexpected family hike to Moosilauke

Today was a good day. My family and I were camping at Lost River Valley Campground in North Woodstock. It was our first time there, and we enjoyed the campground. Very woodsy, which we like, and we were pretty close to flowing water, which always sounds great going to sleep. Before we got there, I saw on the map when I was looking at the area that the parking area for Mt. Moosilauke wasn’t far away. I didn’t get my hopes up too much thinking the rest of the family wouldn’t want to do it. I wasn’t going to go off on my own as the rest of my family enjoyed a camping trip. But we woke up Saturday and everyone was on board with giving it a go. Our kids at this time are 8, 4 and 2. The 8 year old (Cameron) should be able to handle this. The 4 year old (Harlan) loves hiking and does really well. The 2 year old (Hailey) will be on my back in a hiking backpack. Amanda and I decided that we would give it a shot, but if the kids were struggling and it was going to be too much effort to get them up there, we would turn back. I was ok with just doing a short family hike if they couldn’t handle going all the way up. We would just make the call while we were out there based on how everyone was doing.

Because we sort of made a last minute decision to do it, we did not get an early start like we normally would like to. We had breakfast at the campsite and then cleaned up and hit the road. We didn’t make it to the parking area the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge in Warren, NH around 10am. And it was absolutely packed. People were parking all the way down the dirt road, which seemed to be at least a mile long. We kept driving up mostly because we had never been there, and weren’t sure where to go. Everyone was just parking, but we decided to keep going. We lucked out, because there were some spots up close to where the lodge is, so I was able to save us an extra mile of walking. Because of how busy it was and by the time we got ready and figured out where to go, it was 10:30 by the time we were headed to the trailhead. We were headed up the Gorge Brook Trail.

Gorge Brook Trail would take us all the way to the top. Nothing too difficult about that. There was one junction where we could have gone on to Snapper Trail, but that would have been a good amount longer, so after checking our map to confirm, we stayed on the Gorge Brook. The kids started off pretty good. Cam was a bit sluggish at first, but once he got into his groove, he was the leader. Couldn’t be more proud of how he did today. I can say the same for Harlan. At 4 years old, he really dug deep and gave it his all. There were a couple short periods where Amanda would pick him up and carry him, but that was pretty minimal in the grand scheme of things. At one point, we gave him the option. We told him we couldn’t continue to carry him so we could either turn back and go back to the campground or we could continue on if he would hike it all. He didn’t hesitate at all and said he was ready to hike it. Onward. We had lunch packed for the summit. The kids kept asking for it, but we wanted to wait until we got up there. We kept giving them some trail mix and bars to hold them over. To us, it just seemed like another day in the woods. A bit more intense than our normal family hikes, but it didn’t seem that crazy. Plenty of people we saw along the trail told us they were impressed with what we were doing, hiking up with such small kids, one of which was on my back. The compliments came in heavy as we reached the summit. Plenty of people were amazed with the fact that I carried Hailey up on my back. I honestly didn’t think too much about it. Sure she was heavier than the pack I’m used to carrying, but it just wasn’t a big deal. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Focus on the task at hand and move forward. We reached the summit somewhere between 1:30 and 2. We found a spot to sit and we all ate our sandwiches. The kids were devouring them (less weight in the packs going down!). After we ate, we headed for the summit sign to take a picture, and then we headed back down. It was the same way going down - Gorge Brook Trail all the way down. We got back to the truck a little after 4. It was a great trail and a really enjoyable hike. I can definitely see myself coming back to this one.

This was a special day. The kids did so well and we all got to the summit of a 4,000 footer for the first time as a family. Cam’s legs were hurting on the way down, but he powered through it. Harlan was unbelievable. At 4 years old, he showed more grit than I’ve seen from a lot of adults. Hailey - well Hailey enjoyed her ride up the mountain. We had a lot of fun going up together. The summit was amazing. 360 views and the weather was perfect today. It never gets old seeing those views. My knees are absolutely shot. Carrying that extra weight really took its toll on the way down. But pain is just temporary. We’ll be able to remember that hike forever. It was a different hike for me. I’m used to just going. I’m not super fast, but I just keep moving and don’t have to worry about anything but me. Today, I had a lot of other things to think about. I had to make sure the kids were in good spirits and everyone was safe. I had to make sure I wouldn’t get too upset with the fact that it was taking longer than it would have if it was just me. I did that, but sometimes it’s not easy for me. I was able to just relax and not care too much about timing and all that. Of course there were some times of frustration on my part, but overall, it was a great hike and I couldn’t be happier to have shared it with my family. Amanda loved it too. She thought that I should have introduced her to the 4,000 footers with this one because it was much easier than Lincoln and Lafayette. Fair enough, maybe I went a little too intense for her with that. But at least she’s seen a couple now.

This gets me to 10. Double digits now. 38 to go. Let’s keep moving forward.