Here at Hangman Hill

Welcome to the new home of the “Here At Hangman Hill” blog!

We have switched from the old “Blogspot” location to this new “WordPress” site. Hopefully this will improve both the frequency and quality of our blog postings.

If you haven’t bookmarked the site yet the address is https://hereathangmanhill.home.blog

We enjoyed a 4.9 mile hike from Echo Lake to Whitehorse Ledges earlier this week. It was cold and icy, and the views were great. The trails were quite steep, so we were grateful for our micro-spikes which stayed on all day. This was our longest hike with Mesa and she did really well – she also slept soundly the evening afterwards!

Santa was kind to us this year and brought a varied selection of Christmas socks. Thanks Santa!

Our Christmas Day hike this year took us to Mount Willard in Crawford Notch, NH. We enjoyed a sunny hike along a well-packed trail wearing our micro spikes and the pooches (Zealand and Mesa) managed to burn off some excess energy. There were two stream crossings and we had to carry the dogs across a balanced log at each point. Thankfully no body got wet feet!

Today we hiked to Mts Pierce and Eisenhower via the Crawford Path. It was interesting to return to both summits in the winter, having been to both in late summer as part of the Presidential Traverse. It was a classic winter hike with a firm monorail the entire way which was easily navigated with microspikes. The distance was 10 miles which we completed in 5 hours, which is much faster than we can do in the summer. Hiking the White Mountains is definitely easier when all the rocks and roots are covered in snow.

The good weather attracted many hikers and it was busy on the trail. We met some really nice people, including some four-legged hikers. Temperatures were warmer than expected and the winds very light so we were able to spend time on both summits.

We were back to the Highland Center by 2:30pm and were able to finish our lunch and relax by the fire before heading to pick up our friend Mesa who spend the day at Karla's Pet Redevous.

Last night we tackled another fiendish jigsaw puzzle. This time the subject matter made it a little easier, but the pieces were still very small and unusually shaped. And no straight edges of corners either!

It wouldn't be Christmas without a

jigsaw puzzle. This one from Janel and Michael was a challenge but we were able to complete it in one evening. There were no two pieces with the same shape and none had a straight edge. We started in the middle.

Tonight we went to the “Christmas in Song” event at the Watch Hill chapel. We dodged the rain showers and enjoyed solos, choral singing and hand bell ringing. Merry Christmas to you all!

Earlier this week Bruno was able to visit the city of Cambridge during a business trip to the UK. These photos are from an early morning walk around the town on what turned out to be a beautiful autumn day.

Today we enjoyed a bracing hike to Mt Shaw and Black Snout. These are two of the northern-most mountains in Southern New Hampshire (that is, they are in the middle of the state). Mt Shaw is on the “52 with a view” list, and we were not disappointed.

Zealand frolicked in the snow and we enjoyed his company. He carried his own water, kibble, leash, bowls etc, so he is nearly ready for a solo overnight backpacking trip!