(no subject)
Today was another big adventure. All summer long I've been fascinated by the first graph on Doug Jansen's Northeast Road Hill Climb Profiles page. It lists eleven of the longest and steepest paved summit climbs in New England. Earlier in the year I told you about climbing Mount Wachusett, which is listed there as "the easiest climb reviewed". Well, as my 40th birthday approached, and with the end of the season fast approaching, and with the autumn foliage in color, I decided to make a road trip and bag the next two bigger mountains, which also happened to be the closest to Boston.
So today, despite a forecast for afternoon rain, I headed up to Manchester, New Hampshire. I parked in Goffstown and proceeded to bike to the summit of South Uncanoonuc Mountain ( photo). Unca really didn't live up to its billing; it seemed about on par with Great Blue Hill, which must be about right: Unca rises 500 feet to an altitude of 1300 feet in about a mile, at an average 9 percent grade. Some of the roads had been resurfaced, but others were badly broken up, including the main summit road. It was good exercise, but not that tough a challenge.
Just as the very light rain began to pick up in earnest, I drove a few miles to Wilton, New Hampshire, where I'd depart for an 18-mile round trip to Pack Monadnock and back. I gained 1100 feet over the eight mile approach alone, before even getting to the mountain, which was pretty formidable: rocky cliffs, two real switchbacks, and an ascent of 770 feet over a mile and a quarter, for an average grade of 12 percent. But the killer was that the last fifth of a mile was a veritable wall, with a sustained grade of 19 percent. Pack is actually steeper than famed Mount Washington, although obviously only a fraction as long.
Over the whole day I rode 39 miles and climbed a total of about 4100 feet. Unfortunately, the whole ride to Pack and back was in pouring rain along a busy highway, but other than that, it was quite a memorable ride. While Uncanoonuc isn't anything I'd go out of my way to do again, Pack really was quite a nice ride, and would be absolutely amazing on a clear, warm day. It would have produced some wonderful pictures, but it was raining too hard.
I'm glad to end my season, and unfortunately my thirties, by conquering two more noteworthy mountains. And now I've only got Cadillac left, and then I make the big jump to the set of 2200- to 2800-foot ascents, but those will all have to wait until next season.