Look, I don't have the energy to go take pictures right now, and it is freezing outside.  So, you're just going to have to deal with a picture of the back of my computer:

Pollution & Mud

I am currently standing in 6" of mud while taking this picture

Bumper Sticker. Noun.  A label carrying a slogan or advertisement fixed to a vehicle's bumper

Mt. Pierce & Mt. Eisenhower via Crawford Path

I was planning to only do Mt. Pierce today, but when I found myself summiting it nearly an hour earlier than planned, and given the indescribably perfect weather, I quickly found myself lumbering towards Eisenhower as well.  Zero wind until that peak, not a cloud in the sky, and mid-teens all day.  Sitting at the summit and staring up at Mt. Washington just three miles up-trail--it was very hard to turn back. 10 miles / 5 hours.

Lessons I Learned On The Trail Today:
(1) I'm very susceptible to peer pressure on the trials.  A mere single hiker saying, “You have to keep going to the next peak” is enough to ensure I do exactly that.

(2) You know that famous Robert Frost poem with the ending: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.”  Yeah, that guy never hiked in the winter.  Let me tell you, I tried taking the path less traveled, and you know what I got out of it?  I probably spent a quarter of my day backtracking my own foot steps.

(3) Give me a cup of coffee before a hike and I will fly up the mountain.  I probably wasted a good hour taking pictures across the ridge and I still averaged 2 mph the whole hike.  I can only imagine if I didn't have my camera with me....

Summit of Mt. Eisenhower, looking up at Mt. Washington

Near the summit of Pierce

Looking down the ridge over to Mt. Pierce

Following the trail up to Washington

Honestly, I fell here.  Therefore, it was the perfect opportunity to take a picture.

 

So close to Washington...

 

One of the hardest hikes I've ever had to actually head back down from

City Planners Not Needed

I'm not sure what it is about rural New Hampshire, but people in this state love putting fire alarms in the most random places possible.  This particular fire alarm is at the end of a dead-end street, with the nearest building a half-mile away.  Next week I'll get a picture of the fire alarm that is in the one-foot-wide crawl space between two abandoned buildings.  I wish I was joking.

No man-made object is visible no matter which way you're facing...perfect place for a fire alarm and trash can if you ask me!

Freelance Whales Concert

Shot a small concert in Boston last night of the band Freelance Whales.  The lighting was absolutely brutal (the pictures don't do justice as to how dark it really was) but the dim setting gave an intimate feel to the night.

Three days, two graffiti posts... I know...

Back-alley in Portland, Maine

Keyless Entry

If it wasn't winter....well, this would still be a bad idea

Kinsmans via Fishin' Jimmy

Gorgeous day for a hike, though the clouds conveniently decided to rest about 100' below the summit of both peaks, so we never got to enjoy the view we saw hints of throughout the day.

Lessons I Learned On The Trail Today:
1.) Falling down the stairs of Lonesome Lake Hut is painful.  Do not attempt.
2.) When opting to stop-and-stretch the upper body, choose to do so when there is not a tree-limb directly above you with 2' of snow on it.  
3.) After eating on the trail, if approached by a dog, pet the animal with the hand that was not holding the sandwich.  Failure to comply will result in an interspecies battle to reacquire your glove (and possibly your hand).

 

North peak, facing South.  Closest thing to a view we got today

 

Beware of false summit at S. Kinsman; make sure you stand on this cairn

Overexposed North Kinsman summit

Creepiest Summit Picture Ever

Decided to go the abstract route today as the sun wasn't giving me the lighting I was looking for.  In this shot, the sun is sitting just below the horizon (though casting a nice glow in the clouds to the left).  The multiple levels of movement seen are the result of a slow exposure, accompanied by both zooming and panning.

An original painting by Robert Wyland from 1993, and one of the 100 whaling walls he painted around the world to raise awareness of Man's impact on the mammal.

 

From my "Disgruntled Christmas Tree" series

Casting finalist to play the tree in "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

S. Pack Monadnock

Well, I was supposed to hike Mt. Pierce today, but totally botched that one when I slept through my 5am alarm.  We decided to do a nice easy hike up South Pack to take advantage of the great weather.

Signs that should have read, "No Fires Permitted In Shelter.....Rabid Fisher Cats, Make Yourself Comfortable:"

The stairs up the fire tower at the summit were designed with a flair of incompetence--you know, the 'just place random beams of steal everywhere' approach to design:

I took a picture of a telephone pole today.
Sorry to all the passer-bys who thought there was something more intriguing that I was focused on...

Osceolas via Greeley Ponds

I decided to pick an easy hike today.  This would be my 4th and 5th summit in the past week, and I desperately needed to end on an easy note.

The Oseolas was an easy choice—two of the lowest peaks on the 4000' list, and widely described as “one of the first hikes by the average peakbagger given how easy a summit it is.” 

I never read past that part. 

If I did, I would have surely read, “...this, of course, is only referring to the trail via Tripoli Rd.  Don't attempt hiking this in the winter via Greeley Ponds Tr unless in the best of conditions and with ice climbing gear.”

Let's see... Conditions: First winter storm in New England.  Hmm.  Ice Climbing Equipment: Excuse me?

Fortunately the weather on the mountain wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of the state, and I also managed to tag up with a variety of hikers along the way (though, of the two dozen or so I saw, only four of us made it to--or past--the first peak). 

The MSRs handled exceptionally on the slides, though one of the rock scrambles near Mt. Osceola was near impossible without crampons or an ice ax.  I ended up switching-out for MicroSpikes just for that part, though the improvement was minimal.

I was very close to turning back several times during the hike, but in the end, it was worth it and quite a blast.  Didn't take the camera out much, besides a quick snap at the summit, which was of the only thing visible—trees.

I nearly lost a pole near the summit when I leaned heavily on it and it fell straight down into the 3' of snow.

Mt. Liberty via Liberty Springs Tr

The hike was 6hrs 20min.  We were on the summit for 5mins.  For the other 375-minutes, the only thought running through my mind was, “What the hell were we thinking...”

Conditions on the summit were close to -20 degrees, and given wind of around 20-30mph, the wind chill was closer to -50.  Before the final ascent, we quickly switched layers and grabbed a bite to eat.  While my googles were on my forehead, condensation formed, and before I could pull them back down, I had a thick layer of ice on the inside of the lens.  The conditions required them, so I had to hike for 30 minutes with them on (maybe one-foot of visibility) to try to melt the ice.  Every time the ice started melting, I would whip out a cloth, and before I could rip the goggles off my face and wipe the lens, the condensation instantly refroze.  I practiced the art of profanity heavily over the course of the next hour.

This all paid off when we finally reached the summit; the views were amazing in all directions.  Having been deeply packed for the course of the hike, I quickly got my camera out.  Well, on my first picture I made the mistake of breathing—the condensation that hit the back of my camera froze instantly.  Unable to see any of the shots I was taking, I just hoped for the best as I kept shooting.  Within minutes my autofocus motor froze, a thin layer of ice was forming on-top the lens, and I was growing a little scared for my camera's life (as well as my own).

The ascent was too slow given the weather to continue on to Mt. Flume, and given the fact that we were the only people dumb enough to be hiking in this weather, we decided to turn back.

If pictures could talk, this one would be saying, "JUST TAKE THE #$*%ING PICTURE!"