Goals

Our goal was to hike Mount Eisenhower and Pierce in the White Mountains this weekend.  It was a simple goal to fulfill until Mother Nature decided we needed to change that goal.  Let’s face it we are fair weather hikers.  We don’t enjoy windblown cold rain or snow that we could sink down into up to our thighs. Friends were letting us enjoy their use of their cabin in the North woods of New Hampshire, so we were going up whether we could hike or not.  By Thursday evening we had to re adjust our goals because Mother Nature was not going to bestow on us a favorable forecast.

Mike and I each had a separate goal and one shared goal.  Did we achieve our goals? You betcha!!

Mike’s goal was achieved within thirty minutes of arriving at the cabin.  He wanted to see the sun of a beautiful day set across the water and capture a picture of us on the deck.

My goal was to see wildlife, in particular loons and a moose.  The loons glided across the lake early on Saturday as fog ebbed and flowed over the mountains and the lake.  Peace settled in my soul as I watched the couple swim along.

As for the moose, well that happened on the shared goal…a good old car hike (i.e. road trip, but since this is supposed to be about hiking…).  The last time we were up this far north was over 20 years ago and didn’t have the appreciation for trails and scenery we do now.  So on a rainy, wind jostled, fog filled morning we set out to car hike route 116 to route 3 to route 302 to route 16 to the Kancamagus Highway to Route 3/93.

One of the favorite spots was the view to Mount Washington….oh wait you can’t see it at all from this scenic overlook because it is shrouded in fog. We found this very amusing.

We reached a high elevation of 2978 feet and we enjoyed the fogged in view.

When we reached lower evaluations the fog was gone, rain was rampant but we still had some amazing views.

Throughout Saturday’s car hike, we found our humor getting sophomoric with the signs.  We do realize the importance and life saving ability of the signs, but for some reason we found the giggles escaping us.

We returned to the house after a 4 hour car hike to nap, discover I have an addiction to the show Glee and set goals for Sunday.  In the midst of this, the sun snuck out and provided us with great photo opportunities to capture reflections on the water.

Still my goal of seeing a moose wasn’t achieved, sure I did see a wooden moose in a town and if I was desperate I was willing to compromise my goal to a wooden moose.

Sunday morning we awoke to snow but our goal today was another car hike with pictures of Mount Washington Resort with Mount Washington grandly behind it and hopefully a moose for me.

This time we car hiked Route 3 to Route 2 to Route 16 to Route 302 to Route 3 then to Route 116.

It was cold and snowy on our car hike.

We zipped along enjoying the views and then on Route 16 my goal was achieved.  I have this odd ability to sense deer, so why shouldn’t it transfer to moose? Well my deerdar transferred itself to moosedar.  There in the woods by a stream were two moose.  Mike kindly u-banged in the middle of the road, then again so we could stop and take pictures of the two majestic creatures.  Of course by the time I was snapping, they gave me behind shots, but I have moose photos.

On our last trip over 20 years ago we saw our first moose, I was so flustered and excited I never got the camera out in time and have been ribbed for all these years of missing that photo. I redeemed myself today!!

Next goal a photo of the regal Mount Washington Resort with Mount Washington behind it.  I was wishing for that magical photo that everyone would go ohhh and ahhh.  Well here you have it….

Goal partially achieved.

We had a great weekend with new goals set and accomplished.  Hopefully we will achieve our quest to conquer Mount Eisenhower and Pierce via our feet soon.  I also have a new goal, to climb Mount Washington.  In the past I’ve feared that mountain, because it is harsh, brutal and dangerous. This weekend though when I was able to glimpse it in the midst of fog and snow, I discovered that I have a longing to climb it and meet it challenges.

I learned that I didn’t fail at my initial goal. I had to set new goals that fit the situation, the environment, the moment I was in.  My original goals of hiking those peaks is still there, but it wasn’t the right time, the safe conditions for them this weekend, so I didn’t fail, we didn’t fail…we achieved our goals for the time, the moment we were in.

Until the next hike…..