Guy's Weekend in the White Mountains

Cheri, Liz and Stephanie planned a trip to Boston, and a girl's weekend in the city. Not to be outdone the guys decided to have a "manly" weekend in the mountains.

So while the girls slept in a nice hotel, had late nights in Irish Pubs, toured museums and were treated to brunch, the guys 'roughed' it at the Highland Center in Crawford Notch near Twin Mountains, NH. (http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/lodges/highland/) . . .not too bad! Above is Crawford Notch in the early morning rising clouds as seen from the front door of the Center.

The Center is a large post and beam structure with bunk rooms and private rooms (privates include a queen size bed and a bunk bed....just right for 3). Dan couldn't make it on Friday, but that didn't stop James and Dana from getting to the Center Friday evening in time for the buffet dinner. Of course arriving early also provided an opportunity to try some of the high quality cheese that James brought. And what better to go with the cheese than a glass (or two) of the tawny port that Dana just happened to have in his backpack.

Saturday morning James and Dana were up early (well, early for James) and out the door for a hike up to Arethusa Falls. This hike should only be about three miles long, but we traveled down a parallel trail to Bemis Falls (shown behind us below) and it added about 0.5 miles to the trip. It was worth it to see the additional falls, but it did add a relatively steep assent to get back to the Arethusa Falls Trail.

As you can see it was a bit of a climb to get back to the main trail, but slow and steady got us to the ridge and on to the larger falls.

Arethusa Falls have a drop of about 172 feet and other hikers told us the in the winter it is favorite spot for ice climbers. The water is crystal clear and very cold....it felt good to splash a little on the face. It was too bad that Dan wasn't able to join us for this part of the weekend.

Dan did show up later Saturday afternoon and we were able to enjoy a turkey dinner at the Center (family style). Following dinner there was presentation in the small conference center by a young couple that thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail last year. They had some great slides and it brought back memories of David and Heather's stories of life on the trail. After the presentation there was some time for more port and cheese (we didn't want to have to carry it back).

The next morning, after we all got up at our normal times (Dana early, Dan waiting to hear someone else move before he realized Dana was already up and out of the room, and James up once again early for him). Another great breakfast and then out for a short hike around a nearby lake. It was drizzling most of the time, but it was great to be outdoors and about.

After getting back to the Center we finished packing up and headed our separate ways. All and all a great weekend and we agreed this is something we will be repeating.