Welch and Dickey Loop Trail
Due to severely hot weather and a good bit of rain, it's been something of a quiet season for me, but I made up for it this week! This was vacation time at last, so for once... instead of staying home and making day trips... I went up to North Conway in New Hampshire and just stayed up in the White Mountains for 4 days... and a great week it was. Stayed at the White Mountain Hotel and Resort which I would definitely recommend if looking to stay in the area and have reasonably fast access to everything worth seeing. In my case, I'm a hiker and photographer, so it was perfect... right next to Echo Lake State Park and situated at the base of White Horse Ledge. Outstanding service all around and the food... phenomenal. Not sure they'll ever see this, but a shot out/thanks to my awesome waitresses... if I remember their names right... Trudy, Bernie & Lexi.
So with that out of the way, my trips! First up was the Welch & Dickey Mountains Loop. First time I've hit two mountains in one day, but was a great hike on a beautiful Fall day. Made even better for the fact there were no bugs out at all. So here'll I'll put out a couple shots from my home away from home and then some views along the trail. The rest of my trips will follow in entries next week.
Sunrise - Forest River Park
This was just a quick spur of the moment run to do a sunrise before going to bed (yes, you read that right... I typically live on vampire hours). Took a run down to Forest River Park (ironically where I take actual runs for exercise). Decent morning... reasonable amount of cloud coverage, but not quite as much as I'd like for good color pops at dawn.
Sunrise at Forest RiverBands of light from the sun beam out with a sense of the divine.
Southwick Zoo
It's been a long time since I've done a zoo. This zoo in particular? 6 years. Being that I wasn't satisfied at all with my performance of 2012 when last I went, I had to give it another go... much happier with the results of this outing. Beautiful day, all the animals were out and active for the most part (when it comes to zoos, you really have to stay the day and visit certain animals multiple times... never know what they're going to do next). So a nice trip as usual... quite possibly the best zoo in Massachusetts. Only Franklin Park can compare.
Boston Harbor & Spectacle Island
My latest adventure takes me back to the Harbor Islands for a day spent at Spectacle Island of the Boston Harbor Islands. This after another shoot I did out in Portsmouth, NH for a few friends... beautiful subjects all.
Haven't been out to the islands in a few years, so figured I was due for a return. This time I floated around Christopher Columbus Park as well by the waterfront to kill time before my ferry out to the Island. Nice relaxer day overall.
Spectacle IslandView of the Boston skyline from Spectacle Island.
Mt. Monadnock
This one was an adventure and a half. Weather was perfect... beautiful morning. Only problem that presented was it made for a perfect day for the black flies to come out in a swarming feeding frenzy. So along with this hike/climb being a true physical test, I had to constantly be swatting around like a mad man. Not that it helped much... still got eaten, but I tried. Insects out in parts of NH like that really don't care what repellent you have on. I did spray myself, but those little buggers laughed it off and dined on me all day anyway.
That aside, it was a great hike and climb... tons of rock scrambling all the way up with phenomenal views as soon as half way up. Took a couple hours each way on the steep white dot trail... great hike.
Mt. MonadnockSummit views on Mt. Monadnock
Mt. MonadnockSummit views on Mt. Monadnock
Mt. Monadnock(iphone 7 shot)
(iphone 7 shot)