Trip was supposed to be 4-5 days 50mi, ended up being 3 days 39.5mi. This was the first trip with much of my gear so it was good to finally get it off the shelf and in the dirt.

gear: Osprey exos 58, TT Contrail, REI Sub Kilo +20, BA air core, exped air pillow, BD alpine CF poles, MSR Miniworks pump (i know.. sacrilege around here), MSR pocket rocket, snowpeak 1.3L Ti pot. clothes, food. 24lb total in pack. ~14 base

Day 1: 13.4mi Jug end Rd to Riga shelter.

I had planned to stop at Sages Ravine but it was only 3pm when i got there so I kept rolling. Along the way it snowed a bit along Race mtn ridge, rained some coming off Race mountain, then hailed and rained crossing the stream/river at Sages Ravine. I have not been on more than a day hike in a while so I was quite happy with my pace and miles covered. I as alone at the shelter and it was supposed to be cold so i set up the contrail inside for extra insulation. Riga shelter has one of the best views to wake up to.
me on top of Mt Everett

Hail at Sages

set up at Riga

Sunrise at Riga


Day 2: Riga to Sharon mountain campsite 17.1mi

Woke up a bit sore but had breakfast and got moving and things were ok. since i went further on day 1, I had to adjust my goal for day 2. Thought I would do a shorter, easy day and stop at Limestone shelter 8mi away but when I got there it was early and the trail down to the shelter was .5mi and very downhill. Somewhere in that time I hit a rock funny and sprained the outside of my knee and downhills from there on were pretty brutal. Still, i'm stubborn and still cranked out 9 more miles to the campsite. Went past the Giant's Thumb limestone monolith and the Rands View field overlook. great water source, flat tent spot, .1 off trail, good enough for me. Forecast had cold and rain for the night so i used my 2nd pole to angle the foot end roof.
Giant's Thumb

Rand's View

Contrail ready for rain


Day 3 Sharon mtn to Cornwall Bridge 9.1mi + 2mi mistake

Rained pretty good for a while and then in the AM the wind kicked up to 15-20mph and was cold. I packed up quickly and got 2mi down the trail to the next shelter to make breakfast. In my rush to get warm I made a stupid mistake and didn't remember which way I had turned into the shelter trail. The guide I have has ".1W, .2E" or whatever for all of the shelter trails EXCEPT this one. So I come out and have a 50/50 shot at which way I go for south. Yea, i guessed wrong. 1mi wrong way until the next landmark. so 1mi back to where i started.. good waste of 1 hour. I decided that I would have my girlfriend pick me up today. My knee was not getting much better and I have bigger fish to fry. The next road crossing was Rt 4 in Cornwall Bridge,CT 9mi from the campsite so I could take my time. Real highlight of the day was crossing Guinea Brook, which is more of a river. It had a clear rock path going across but the middle 2 rocks were submerged so i had to find an easier path a bit up river. With poles fully engaged and a few rock hops I made it with only a damp toe on one shoe. A short road walk later I made it to the spot where I could be picked up. All in all a good trip. Have a baseline of gear and food to help plan other trips.
Path across river

gravel bar where I found a crossing.

jake, dig! the pics.
welled up some, brought back memories.
one of my fave sections, indeed!
riga=cool.
slept there solo on my thru :)
sounds like you had good times.
me jealous.
what next on tap?
lt

Thanks Leslie. Riga is definitely sweet. I got a great tip from a section hiker going NOBO to stay there and skip over Brassie since it was full. I was not disappointed.

Next depends on what my GF can do. I'd like to take her on the Pemi loop in NH 4 days 35mi with a lot of 4000 foot peaks to snag. Need to wait for it to warm up for that though. so we'll probably have to find something further south that is 1-2 nights as a warm up for her.

maybe the Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway, Mt. Chocorua loop.

Also want to do the Osceolas loop and the Welch-Dickey day hikes.

hike the bonds!

well, bond cliff and mt bond (i think) are on the Pemi loop.

all of the whites north of the Kanc still have ice and monorail so we gotta wait for that stuff.

I'd like to do the Wildcats too.

end game plan is to do the Long trail at the end of July.