At this moment, I have 19 high peaks left to complete my winter round of 46.  I went out on the first day of winter and got Colden, and found that winter hiking is what I remember, and did better than I expected on the hike.  That is good because I have a bunch of long hikes ahead of me.  At the moment, this is what I have left, and my concerns on each of the hikes.

Dec 21, Colden for winter credit.  Sunday I lead an ADK hike up Colden.  The weather forecast during the week was of concern because of the rain coming in Thursday and then the high winds predicted on Sunday.  In the end, it was a beautiful, if blustery, day to be hiking.  

Yesterday I lead a hike up Noonmark for ADK.  This is the second of what has now become my tradition of winter warmup hikes.  Hikes designed to get you used to carrying the heavier pack and hopefully walking in microspikes and snowshoes.

Last year, I did this hike about this time of the year with a friend and I was greatly impressed with these two little mountains.  Doing something once doesn't make it a tradition.  But doing it twice?  Well, it's a tradition now, along with the hike I'm doing next weekend.

So, today, I just learned of Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts of America) had Department of Defense War partnership.  I honestly did not know that this partnership existed, but I am not surprised.  It seems that the scouts are losing their partnership most likely because of stupid stuff.  Specifically "attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'" and "fostering 'gender confusion.'"¹.  Basically they're saying that Scouting America is too woke and their efforts to provide an inclusive program to boys and girls is a big part of the issue.

Yesterday I lead 11 other people on a hike for ADK.  It was what I consider to be a relatively easy hike for the area, but it is over 10 miles and over 2000 feet of elevation (most of it very gradual).  As a result, it had to be rated an A hike, but I really wanted to call it a B/B+.  Doesn't matter though, I got 11 others interested in it, and we set off shortly after 8 from the AMR lot.  I was surprised at how full the lot was, and it was even fuller when we got back at the end of the day.  Lots of people out there hiking!

Saturday I went up Abraham and Ellen for my second and third of the VT-5.  The weather forecast was for cold weather with a possibility of snow.  Well, that wasn't wrong, but I was overdressed.  The trail in starts right away with the uphill, with no warm up.  The leaves have fallen, but the trail was well traveled so it wasn't hard to follow or extra slippery.  About 0.7 miles in, I stop and strip off the upper layers.  I was dripping sweat, and I didn't want to be wet when I got to the top in another 2 miles.

To continue my NE111 quest, I branched out of NY once again and hit the closest peak in Vermont, Killington.  The trail up was quite lovely.  It was a long relatively flat wooded trail that ranged from trail width to forest road and was an absolute pleasure to hike.  The mile or so of up to the AT/LT was steady, but nothing difficult.  Up to this point is was mostly dirt with some interspersed rocks for trail.

Today I lead a hike up Mt. Adams Fire Tower.  This is one of the harder fire towers to go up.  It starts off on the east river trail, which is quite pleasant for the first mile.  Then you come to the observer's cabin and the trail which is where the trail starts to climb.  It starts easy and then the last mile is just like a high peak with steep slabs and eroded trail for most of the last mile up.  It's a lot of work, but it is soooo worth it.  We had the perfect day for the hike.  Slight chill at the base, but the hike in took care of that.

The North East 111 comprises of the ADK 46ers, 2 of the Catskill 3500 in New York, 5 peaks in Vermont, 48 peaks in New Hampshire, and 14 peaks in Maine.