White Mountains New Hampshire

One of the things Ruth and I (Drew) like to do is hike. We are looking forward to exploring Islands and hiking the trails to the top. Our next sailing adventures include ASA Catamaran Class in September, a trip to the Annapolis Boat Show in October, and a return to BVI where we've chartered a catamaran with 2 other couples in November.

In between sailing trips, (life can't be all about sailing can it?) we decided to take a trip up to Pinkham Notch NH and hike in the White Mountains. We stayed at the Joe Dodge Lodge and hiked up through the famous Tuckerman's Ravine to get to the ridge of Mount Washington. It was a beautiful day and there was still snow in the ravine. I ended up buying a hand held GPS for the trip that I can also use as backup navigation in the future for our boat.

Joe Dodge Lodge

It's not far to the top, but challenging

Ruth ready to go, cold in July!

No avalanche today

Waterfalls on the way to the top

Still happy

Getting closer

Hermit Lake and Tuckerman's in the distance

Still some snow

At the base of the ravine

More snow

View of Lion's Head from the top of the ravine

Left gully, popular ski route

Tired after a long hike

It's challenging trying to balance spending money on vacations versus feeding the cruising and sail boat kitty. Every time I take a trip I add up the money we spent in our head and figure we could have added weeks to the cruising kitty. Since we are still 3-years away from buying our boat and 4-years away from setting sail, we do need to strike a balance and have fun while we are saving. Looks like more camping and backpacking in our future and less chartering.