For my third and final peak for this trip I chose Mount Wambek. The shortest of the three in terms of distance, it is the perfect peak to pick before sitting for 7 hours on the long drive home. Glenn turned into the Starr King Road and dropped me off where the plow stops 130m before the actual trailhead. Later on, I would meet him at the winter trailhead to pick me up.

I started on Starr King Trail early just after 7AM with a lovely yellow glow rising behind the Presidential range in the distance. I started in microspikes on the well trod snow path and noticed the  consistent ramp that kept ascending through a lovely hardwood forest. Lower down there wasn't many views but through the trees I could see glimpses of distant mountains. It didn't look like anyone had hiked Waumbek the day before on Monday, so for the third day in a row I was the first one on the trail and breaking the trail. Both Cabot and Waumbek's trails were in much better condition than Moriah's with less post holes and more even trail paths. Waumbek's trails was the best marked of the three which came in handy at the higher elevations.

The trail is essentially a long ramp all the way to the top of Starr King with out any break or reprieve. I fell into a sustainable 'all day pace' and kept my feet moving and my heart pumping. I had dropped some of my weight from usual - no snowshoes, less food and less liquid which allowed me to move a bit quicker than the last two days. After a hairpin turn, you rise up to what feels like should be the summit, but it's actually the summit of Starr King. Here there is a beautiful view of the Presidential range and a brick fireplace that is the only remains left from a old cabin. The trail continues to the right side of the fireplace where it descends down into a col. The alpine scrub dumped snow on me so I pulled my hood up to avoid getting soaked. Here the snow drifts erased the trail and I was twisting my neck side to side trying to find any faint trace. Up high, I found some new friends on the trail. The snowshoe hare population were abundant in alpine zone on Waumbek and seemed to always be travelling along the human footpaths. I never saw any of the furry creatures, but their tracks made my day much easier. Between the hare tracks and the yellow tree blazes, I was able to find my way to Waumbek's summit a short distance away after ascending one last incline. 

I checked online this time and saw that Waumbek's summit is marked with a large rock cairn. I couldn't find one with the deep snow depth, but found two junction signs that marked the summit. I took swig of water and a few selfies and left. There are no views from this summit. I re-traced my tracks down and up again back to Starr King and then began the descent down the ramp. Not too far down I found another solo female hiker who stopped me and asked me a whole bunch of questions. She had figured out by my track that the hiker ahead was a female, and made many inquiries about my hiking training and the number of breaks I took. She was impressed I had never stopped until I reached the summit and she had had been trying to match my footprints all up from the the trailhead. I found it entertaining on the way down to see her footprints right on top of mine - see photo below. She was working on her 48 and was on #29. I later saw a lone solo male hiker. The weather today was above freezing and all of us had light layers on. I was happy that on the way back down we were on the shaded side of the mountain which allowed my microspikes to scamper along down the path without balling up. The Gray Jays and Chickadees sang as I hiked on my way down. Today's hike felt like spring is around the corner! Big thanks to Glenn for coming down with me and being my shuttle driver to the trailheads. Fingers crossed my next trip down he will be able to hike with me.

Date: March 11th, 2025
Distance:11.39km
Time: 3 hours, 23 minutes
Elevation: 878m or 2880ft

Peak #103 of 115

After reading a trip report from another hiker from 2 days before, I wasn't sure whether or not to keep Mount Cabot as my objective for day 2. The hiker hadn't had any issues hiking but the road conditions into the trailhead on York Pond Road had been the issue. The description called the road a 'sheet of ice'. We eventually made the decision to check it out as it had snowed overnight and we did bring our 4WD truck with us. We went for it and it paid off. Glenn had to drive the road twice though to drop me off and pick me up. It was sheer ice under some sticky snow.

Starting around 9AM, I was the first on the trail again. The trail was supposed to be hard packed but today was also coated with an inch or so of new snow. I brought my snowshoes with me just in case the depth became too much to manage in microspikes but I decided that spikes seemed to work for the conditions. The trail starts out flat and then as it goes up the Bunnel Notch trail it follows this lovely ravine with a brook that ramps up very gradually. The about 4 km the trail ascends up this ramp until the hardwood trees fade to conifers and you find yourself at the Kilkenny ridge junction sign.

There wasn't any more snow here so I kept going on in microspikes. After this junction, the trail is flat and even descends a bit before turning up and making some switchbacks towards the final approach. The alpine firs become more and more closed in the closer you reach the summit. I had put my hood up so I didn't get constantly showered with snow and I swapped out my mitts as the first pair became we with sweat and snowmelt. I also  added a Gore-tex shell jacket to keep me protected from snow and wind.

I eventually reached a wooden sign pointing towards an outhouse and the cabin. The cabin near Cabot's summit used to be used when they had a fire tower up there. I am happy they have left it as it's a great refuge in the winter. It was here that I lost the trail...I could see very faint paths and trusted my gut to keep following it. The trail goes behind the cabin and up and every 10 meters or so I had to stop and look for clues to where it goes. I went by what may have been two summit cairns as they look like pyramids but there was so much snow and ice coverage I had no idea if there were rocks underneath them. I had made the mistake of forgetting to look online at what the marker is on the summit of Cabot. In the ADKs most summits have a sign or marker but in New Hampshire many summits don't have anything. I kept following the faint trail falling off the snow spine a couple times until I found a sign post and no hints of trails past it. This must be it! I took some photos and double checked my GPS watch and it the summit was 0 meters away. Yippeee! I then looked at my All Trails App which showed the summit behind me possibly at those cairns? Regardless I was happy and headed back down to the cabin for a drink and snack break. I had made it up in 3 hours. The clouded summit hadn't offered many views but I didn't care - I have been to many treed clouded summits before.

My pack was covered in snow from hitting branches and so after a quick break to re-fuel I headed down. About 10 minutes down the soft ramp a couple was coming up and soon after a solo male hiker. I was flying down the trail as my microspikes slid slightly and my knees liked the grade of the slope. It was less than an hour and I was back at the junction. All morning I had been looking for fresh animal track in the newly fallen snow. There wasn't much to see...until the way back! There is a family of otters that live in the creek along the Bunnell Notch trail and it looked like they were having a ball sliding around on the new snow. I also saw snowshoe hare tracks, squirrel and vole. I kept going down the ravine and hopped over about 12 open water crossings before the sun started shining and the snow started to really soften. Luckily I finished before it my spikes started balling. When I returned to the road, there were some melted parts and it looked like a plow and sander had been through. I met Glenn in the hiker parking lot and we went and checked out the Fish Hatchery on the way out. Very cool!

​Date: March 10th, 2025
Distance: 15.55km
Time: 5 hours, 10 minutes
Elevation: 932m or 3057 ft

​Peak #102 of 115

Ever since I returned from my October 2024 trip from the White Mountains I have been wanting to return. I had hit the big milestone of hitting 100 peaks of my NE111 (115) list and it was beginning to feel close to finishing. All of my remaining peaks are in New Hampshire, and so I know I will become a 115er in the Whites! Unfortunately it wasn't until March of 2025 that I was able to return, after the re-election of Trump and brewing trade war between Canada and the United States. The 7 hour drive to Gorham was a bit different this time - my car had been having some issues so my husband and I opted to take his truck. A much more comfortable ride but the gas mileage might not have have made up for it! We travelled down on our anniversary and it felt right to be back surrounded by mountains as 17 years prior we had gotten married in the Canadian Rockies. Unfortunately due to a foot injury that he is going to get surgery on he was not able to hike on this trip leaving 3 days and 3 peaks of hiking to me solo!

On Sunday March 9th 2025, Glenn dropped me off at the Carter-Moriah trailhead just before 8AM. As I was jumping out of a the truck, a local resident began yelling at us citing we were blocking his property (which appeared to be an empty lot with a fire hydrant in front of the opening). We explained that we weren't parking there for the day, I was getting dropped off, and Glenn was just turning around in the cul-de-sac but he didn't seem to care. He had obviously had run-ins with hikers in the past and was overreacting to a harmless situation. It didn't feel good to start off the hike like this and I was shocked at how this man and his dog were acting. We had never even been to this trailhead before and there were no signs to say hikers couldn't be dropped off!

I put on my microspikes and quickly headed up the hard packed icy trail. The first 637 feet go straight up before a short break in the terrain before ramping up again. The thaw that had happened a few days before was quite evident in the trail as there were thousands of footprints and snowshoe prints frozen in the snow. Yesterday's winds had blown snow over the trail the higher you went, and the thousands of deep post holes became booby traps. About half way up I became uncomfortable....worried that as a solo hiker and first person on the trail I might fall into a post hole and injury myself. I decided to change into snowshoes to allow a bit more of a safety net with the wider platform.

There are a couple of open look outs on the way up and I could see some nice views of Mount Madison of the Presidential range. There were a couple places that the trail had become erased due to the wind scouring and I had to look around to find it. It wasn't long before I found it again and was back on track. The climbing raised quickly on this hike and seeming to include lots of ups and downs and rolls. The temperature was below freezing which helped me control my temperature I got closer and closer to the summit.

At one point I saw a faint junction, or what I thought might be two directions to travel too. I chose the one that looked more well used and glad I did as it as the spur trail to Moriah's summit. I made it out to the rocky perch and drank in views of the Carters and Presi's. There were clouds building over the Presi's but still beautiful to look at. I had never visited the Whites in winter so the views were quite spectacular. I took some video and photos off the summit and some selfies with the summit marker. I had the summit to myself!

The wind was blowing hard so it didn't take much convincing to get off the open summit and back down into the trees. I texted Glenn and started to go down to find a sheltered spot to have a break. I looked at my watch and had climbed 3400 feet to get to this summit! I passed a couple of guys and a dog heading to the summit in running shoes and ankle socks (brrrr!) and found a place I could eat and drink. I put my hood up while on break and when I re-started again had to duck under a arm-sized branch hanging perpendicular across the trail. With my hood still down I didn't see a spikey branch that was poking out of it and stabbed my scalp with it's sharp spike. I didn't damage myself badly but there was some blood!

On the descent I ran into 20 people in small groups. 16 were women and 4 were men. I was stopped by one group of experienced women in particular who had all sorts of questions for me. One had done the 115 in winter, and so we swapped stories. I love seeing women on the trail!

The rest of the way down was quite treacherous. There were thousands of post holes and uneven ground to negotiate which took quite a lot of concentration.  I took my snowshoes off to find skinnier foot placements and I am not sure if that was a good idea or not because I did fall into 2 post holes. A mess of a trail but we got it done!

Distance: 14.3km
Time: 5 hours 22 minutes
Elevation: 1102m or 3615ft

Peak #101 out of 115