Sage and Mighty Max. Bald Mountain, Feb. 13, 2011

It's been a while since Sage has asked to hike a 4K, so when she asked to go this weekend, I gave my enthusiastic yes. Unfortunately, this morning's upper summit forecast called for wind chills that fell beyond my comfort zone. I probably would have taken Alex up in such weather, but Sage is still new to winter hiking and I want to stay on the conservative side with her until she has more 4Ks under her belt.

I explained the situation, and though Sage was disappointed, she understood. To cheer her, I suggested we visit Sage's favorite stomping grounds, Bald Mountain in Franconia Notch. We could bring our 4 1/2 month old puppy, Max, and take him on his first real hike. Sage brightened at this idea, so we threw on our fleece, grabbed the leash and the dog, and jumped into the Honda.

In spite of Max's many attempts to eat both the steering wheel and the gearshift, we arrived at the trailhead unscathed. We parked, got out, and searched for the sign...it took us a while to find it due to the giant wall of snow that seemed to stretch halfway up the mountain.



It's a 1/4 mile hike to Bald Mountain's summit; Max took to the trail like...well, like a dog takes to the woods...we were there in no time.



Try as I might, I couldn't get a decent picture of Sage and Max together on the summit. Max wouldn't stay still for more than a millisecond. The following is the best I could do.







I finally gave up and took a video.



After scampering around for a while, Sage and Max both decided they were ready to move on. We headed over to Artists Bluff and finished the loop hike in record speed, using our bottoms for most of the descent.



'Twas a fun day and we enjoyed ourselves.




Sage wants to hike up Cannon next weekend...and she says she wants to finish the NH4Ks by the end of this year. I'm not sure she understands exactly how much hiking that is. I'll play it by ear and take her whenever she asks, and we'll see what happens.

'Til next weekend...