On the last weekend in September we took a hike out at Mount Prindle in the White Mountains, to catch some early season snow and also get in some climbing before the snow gets too deep.
It was not too cold, but the wind was brutal. We weren't sure if there were still bears out, but we dutifully carried our food in bear barrels just in case.
As the sun set the silhouettes of the mountains reflected on the other side of the valley. At night the northern lights were out, and next to the bright stars it looked like those photos of nebulae in deep space!
The next day was gloriously clear and windless, which made up for the cold evening the day before. The trail follows a long ridge with lots of tall granite tors for several miles before reaching the peak. We left our camping gear behind and took light day packs.
Some of the tors are climbable, and there are lots of nooks and crannies to poke around in.
The ridges along the other peaks have lots of little spires too.
The snow was just deep enough to make bouldering a little sketchy. We found a set of sheep tracks that we followed on our climb - after all, the animals are experts!
It was so warm. And sunny.
Assuming the position of the hunter.
We found my spinster sheep friend whom I met on a previous hike here - it's a very curious animal.
On our way back we took an alternate route down the Quartz Creek trail, which goes up the valley just to the south of Prindle. We didn't have an accurate distance from our map in the trail guide, so we estimated that it was probably not much longer than returning on the trail we hiked up. But it was not so. We hiked about 5 miles farther than we expected - I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to get back! We saw lots of bear tracks in the snow, so we felt vindicated in hauling the bear barrel along.
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