A Quick Trip up Mount Waumbek (4,006′ ft)

I left work early Friday to make the long drive to the northern side of the Presidential Range. I was planning on a quick trip up Mount Waumbek before the sunset. It was only 7.2 miles from the parking lot, which is a lot shorter than my last few hikes. With the exception of a view of the presidential range, there wasn’t much to it. It kind of felt like one of those hikes I was just doing to do it, which is not really how I like to approach hiking.

I don’t know, I feel kind of burnt out lately, like I need to step back and take stock of the hiking I have completed and the hikes I want to do in the future. I’ve done more hiking this year than in any year prior. It feels great to constantly be outdoors exercising and I find it to be extremely valuable, both mentally and physically. I’ll never stop doing it, but I need to find that happy medium. The first thing that comes to mind is more exercise outside of hiking. So I’m going to start working on that.

Also, I’ve been struggling lately to capture some of these hikes in a way that feels exciting. There are moments along the trail that I find interesting, but by and large I find myself capturing a lot of the same stuff (signs, markers, trails in dappled sunlight). This does tell the ‘story’ of the trail, but it is starting to feel a bit repetitive. I’m not sure how to break away from that (yet). I need to think on this a bit more…

Straight shot from the parking lot to the summit of Mt. Waumbek. If you take this trail past the summit you will eventually land on the summit of Mt. Cabot, the mountain I hiked the week prior.