Hikes – Page 35 – David Kotz

Scotland

A one-week flash tour of cities, castles, lochs, highlands, and trails.

Although we only had a week, we had a great time and we saw an incredible amount. We started with two nights in Edinburgh, where we stayed with my oldest friend – that is, my first ever friend, who was born just four days after me. Then we drove northwest through highlands to the lochs and bays of the western coast, with two nights around Glen Coe. Then northeast along Loch Ness to Inverness, and down through Cairngorm national park to Scone and then St Andrews, where we spent two nights. Off to Glasgow for a night. Then an early-morning flight out of Edinburgh allowed us to have lunch in Paris before returning home. Whew! Read on.

Four recent outings

I have been fortunate to be able to get out hiking and canoeing.

Summer is a grand time in New Hampshire. The days are long, the forests lush, and the rivers calm. The weather recently has been fantastic, mostly warm and sunny but not too hot. I’ve been able to get outside a few times, with my camera:

A four-mile round-trip hike along the Long Trail [photos]
A two-day paddle along the Connecticut River [photos]
A five-mile pre-breakfast loop through (and over) Dixville Notch [photos]
A five-mile round-trip up Mount Jefferson [photos]

I hope to get out more, sometime soon!

The Ridge of the Caps starts at 3000′ elevation.

This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2021, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.

Snowshoe on Moosilauke

A glorious winter day, right after a big snowstorm.

My friends Kathy and David and I decided to head up Mount Moosilauke, after Friday’s big snowstorm. There was about 6” of new snow on top of several feet of solid base, which made for fantastic conditions. With a group of 4 snowshoers breaking trail a couple of hours ahead of us, we cruised up the Glencliff trail. Read on…

Black Mountain

On ten-ten-ten we climbed this mountain near Moosilauke.

Black Mountain is a nice little peak in the midst of a broad valley to the west of Mount Moosilauke. On this special day – 10/10/10 – we scrambled up and were treated with a gorgeous view of the Connecticut River valley and The Mountain and a distant peek at the Franconia Ridge.

Black Mountain. Andy, Daddy, John, and Mara sit atop a glacial erratic on the summit of Black Mountain.

See photo gallery for more!

Pemi-Bondcliff backpack

We spent four days and three nights backpacking in the Pemigewasset Wilderness, the central region of the White Mountains National Forest.

Every year at this time we try to get out for an extended camping and hiking trip. The weather this year turned out to be fantastic. We delayed our trip for a day to skip the showers on Wednesday, but other than a brief shower during the hike in on Thursday, we had four days of spectacular sunny, warm weather. Read on!

Family photo on Bondcliff. Pemigewasset Wilderness, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Backpacking Zealand notch

Our first-ever family backpacking trip, through Zealand notch in White Mountain National Forest.

On Labor Day weekend, we took the kids on their first backpacking trip. We hiked in from Zealand road past Zealand hut to Thoreau Falls, within the NH White Mountains. The weather was fantastic, and we found a nice campsite off in the woods away from the falls. We spent two nights there, with a dayhike up to Ethan Pond in between. We had campfires and went swimming under the falls.

We’re ready to head out on our first backpacking trip, at the Zealand trailhead in NH White Mountains.

See the photo gallery.

Auckland, New Zealand

We spent our first day in New Zealand, a glorious sunny day, hiking up the harbor volcano called Rangitoto.

Kia ora! We are now in New Zealand, after a pleasant flight from Sydney. We had a fantastic first day, Sunday, with warm weather and sunny skies. We took the ferry out to Rangitoto island, a small volcano which popped up out of the harbor only 600 years ago. Read on!

Auckland NZ: many sailboats out, with Rangitoto in background.

Himalayan trek

Can you see Mount Everest in the photo below? Neither can I. We spent six days trekking along the Singalila ridge, the border between India and Nepal, but we were in the clouds the whole time. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic trip and a beautiful place. Read on, and check out the photo gallery!

Family photo at a sunny break during the day. On a clear day, one could see Everest in the background. Not today!

New Year’s day

Hiking to Triund pass above Dharamsala.

Following our 25-year tradition, I spent New Year’s day hiking with my Dartmouth friends David and Kathy. This year, we have our families along, including Benjamin (age 4). Read on and check out the photo gallery.

Chubbers in the Himalaya! David with Kathy and David in the Triund pass above Dharamsala, India, on New Year’s day.

MobiSys in Colorado

Some hiking and sightseeing around a conference in Colorado.

At the MobiSys 2008 conference, which was held at Breckenridge resort in Colorado, a group of us met to celebrate the retirement of Carla Ellis by taking a hike in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. See the trail description and review.

Surendar Chandra, David Kotz, Carla Ellis, and Rick LaRowe.

On the way back, I drove over Loveland Pass to stand on the Continental Divide. Gorgeous!

See the photo gallery.

This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2020, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.