..I don't know why I did it, but I grossly underestimated the amount of time and energy it would take to go into search, conclude a search, and work through the many complications of moving, buying a house, ending a ministry, and starting another one.  So in my ignorance I signed up for courses and workshops.  Early in the year they worked out well.  I took a course on non-profit administration, for example.  I felt I would need those more "secular" skills if I stayed at Eliot and worked part time somewhere else.  I highly recommend it if you are from Massachusetts and don't mind the occasional drive to Framingham.  However, this was early in my process and part of the process.

I also signed up for some courses and trainings in the area of ecology and religion.  I do this sometimes when I am stressed out.  Learning something that is separate from the chaos is fulfilling and useful for the future.  However...in this case I had to back away.  Before I did, though, I managed to complete an assignment in which I wrote a "Psalm" about the county where I am moving.  It made sense to focus my energy there since we were heading out for house-hunting, candidating, and other meetings.  Anyway, here it is.  I didn't finish the course but I recommend it. I also recommend the platform for people who are interested in the study of religion...

I haven't posted here since October.  It isn't that I didn't have things to say!  It is just that there has been a lot going on.  Also, at sensitive times in an institution like the church, it is important not to over speak.  My last post was about the Eliot Church downsizing their staff and what that meant for me.  A great deal was pretty open-ended back then, but now there has been quite a bit of resolution.

Long story short...I am moving. I went into search while looking at part-time options that would have kept me in Natick.  In the end, I accepted a full-time position as Pastor at the Second Congregational Church of Greenfield Massachusetts.  I am in the process of buying a house in Franklin County.  Allison and I (and to greater or lesser extent the boys) are leaving Natick after over twenty-one years.

This has been a whole process, of course.  Which no doubt I will reflect on when the time is right.  However, I wanted to get back into the habit of blogging and--now that there is some certainly around future and current roles--this seemed to be a good time.

One of the trickiest parts of this transition is saying "goodbye" and then saying "hello".  Part of both processes involve boundaries.  In the ministry there are rules about when, where and how we interact with former congregants.  These rules loosen up a bit over time but right now they are in effect.  That is OK.  When we live our lives in the church we try to promote healthy relationships both when we arrive and when we leave.  Here is the newsletter column I posted for the Eliot Church about how the goodbyes will go through the last few weeks of my time at Eliot and for the next year at least...

 I Just got back from a vacation I sort of backed into.  Over the summer we thought it would be fun to go do some hiking and sight-seeing in Ireland for a couple weeks.  We did the preliminary planning and took the time off. We got people to commit to preaching at the church in my stead. Then...we didn't go. Life got complicated.

Still, we had the time so we went up to Maine for a week and visited family.  We saw my sister and brother-in-law's new house.  We checked in with my mom.  We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law.  We stumped around the part of the state where I grew up. We caught a friend's book-launch and poetry reading. Then we also hiked, ticking off visits to the Camden Hills and to Gulf Hagas.  It was a restful trip that I would love to post about some time in the future. However, that is not what I am up to today. Instead I want to touch briefly on developments in my church.

You see, for years we have been talking about the future of churches in the United States.  I have written about it, talked about it, and preached about it numerous times. In that broader context I and others have set the life of our specific congregation. Things have been hard for the modernist institutions we think of when we hear the word "church".  Progressive or conservative, they come with buildings which are often too large for their needs.  They come with a struggling staff in desperate need of retraining and revisioning. They come with programs--like Sunday School--that are much less popular now. They come with the perception of arbitrary judgement which--while not as common as people think--still holds true in many places. The post-modern world has caught up to us.  Congregations--progressive ones anyway--are adapting...but slowly.

 While religion may just be fine, our old institutions may not be. They must change and learn in order to grow.

All of this is to say that The Eliot Church, where I have served for twenty-one years and two months, will be cutting the pastoral position from full-time to half-time starting no later than September 2025. It gives us as a congregation time to plan for what that will look like.  It gives me a year to figure out what I will be doing for the rest of my career. It feels like a long period, but it isn't really.  We are adapting to the new reality--churches must be more flexible, more creative, and more stable ​going forward--but we are still an old and venerable institution. Pastors also need to be these things but I, of course, am older, too.  I am glad we are facing the current reality, even though there will be some hard traveling both for the congregation and for me.

I don't think it is time to dwell on the details.  These will come in time and I will probably post some of what I witness and learn here on Sabbath Walks. However, on our way up to Gulf Hagas we happened to drive past my first church settlement.  I was 1/3 time but they shortly re-connected with another congregation who hired me for 2/3 time. This gave me the same "uneven yoke" that my predecessor had.  Both of those churches are still there, surviving in the face of all the difficulties that this era brings to voluntary associations. Seeing the old parish was a good reminder that life goes on, as does love.  It reminded me that God does not abandon us. We just need to make sense both in and to the society and culture that needs our message.

We have made a big step.  I do not know what it means for me or my family.  I do not really know what it means for the congregation.  What I do know is that we are acknowledging a change that leaves room for celebration as well as grief.

"Remember your baptism" is a popular phrase in my life.  My colleagues and I are urged to do so--and to encourage others to do so--every once in a while throughout the year.  There are good reasons for this, of course.  When we remember this moment in our lives, we recall our relationship with God.  We also recall our relationship with the holy people who gathered together to witness the moment.  At least some of those people are our family, or chosen family. Sometimes it is done in the midst of a congregation as well.  In my congregation on Ingathering Sunday we bring water from places that have been important to us.  Then we use it for baptisms and other things so the congregation is always there in spirit. A baptism doesn't need witnesses.  However, when they are present, they remember their baptisms, too.

Of course, many people don't literally remember.  They were infants at the time.  Also--after the baptism--some people have few opportunities to be reminded of it. Families don't attend worship like they used to. In the absence of anything other than a very occasional visit for Christmas Eve, more and more adults give little thought to their children's spiritual lives or their own. The ritual can be just a thing you do in those early days before other things take precedence.

I am not saying this as a complaint.  It is just a statement of fact.  In fact, I literally remember my baptism.  I was 18.  The reasons my parents decided to encourage me (along with my siblings) to be baptized were complicated. Neither we nor they attended church regularly.  However, even at the time I found it moving.  I had been hovering around the edges of my friends' churches for a while by then.  I had questions about life and its meaning and the people I met in church--while they didn't have answers--seemed to have a path.  Now I am a pastor and so is my mom.

During worship this past Sunday, I officiated a baptism for an adult who was formerly a member of the youth group. It reminded me of my own experience.  Before the service I told him that there would be times when it meant very little to him and times when it meant a great deal.  That is how these things work.  Baptism is one string that connects us in every direction to Creation.  We don't always notice it, even when we know it is there.  Then...we really do when we need that connection.

Baptism is a sacrament in the tradition I represent.  There is only one other.  That is communion.  The reasoning is that they are the only ones that appear in the Gospels.  John the Baptizer stood down by the river. Jesus sat in the upper room. Other traditions range from having no real sense of sacraments to having seven or nine.  Each tradition chooses different things as well. That is the richness of how we see God.  We are humans, the Divine speaks to us in a language we understand. We all have different "languages" that we speak.

We had communion on Sunday as well.  It was, in fact "World Communion Sunday," which is a celebration of diversity and ecumenism held on the first Sunday in October.  It is another opportunity to consider our spiritual connections.  At Eliot we pass the tray of bread cubes and little glasses through the pews.  We do this so we might serve each other in the process.  Also, it is a recognition of the divine spark within each of us.  Other congregations go to the front to break bread off a communal loaf or take a wafer from a priest.  Frequently there is a communal cup as well.  That we recognize each other in our diverse manifestations of ritual is important.  These are small differences that reflect the wide variety of roads we take toward God.

When I was first getting interested in the United Church of Christ, a UCC colleague asked me how I planned on dealing with participating in a more sacramental tradition.  I had spent some time as a Unitarian Universalist pastor where the word "sacrament" when it is used doesn't have the same weight.  She had also entered the UCC from a less sacramental tradition.  I didn't have an answer then and she didn't expect me to.  It was more of a "head's up" that I might want to start thinking about baptism and communion more seriously and systematically.

I am glad I took her warning. I have learned over the years that ritual can be built over differences in style and belief.  It creates common ground upon which we can sit and converse. We can see our commonality in the quest toward unknowable mysteries.  It also gives us a way to show our love both to God and the world.  Amen to that.

HIKED ON August 10, 2024,  27/52 WAV

If you want a tough hike just for yourself on a mountain that no one knows about...here yah go.  I had been thinking about this climb for years but kept putting it off.  Allison wanted to finish the 48 4,000 footers, after all.  Also--though I hike frequently by myself--something told me I would want a companion for this one.  Some hikes hit harder than what they seem on paper.  On paper this mountain already provides a challenge.  On the ground...it is a lot.  That said, the reward is high. 

​Mount Paugus sits relatively alone in the Sandwich range.  It is a "hiker's mountain".  Not many casual climbers take it on, preferring the better known trails and peaks around it.  The same parking lot hosts the trailheads for two 48ers (Whiteface and Passaconaway) as well as the local favorite, Mount Wonalancet. This means that you have the trail to Paugus pretty much to yourself.  The lot was full.  No one was going our way.  It is a dive into the wilderness.

I remember mentioning during my hike on the Great Glen Way in Scotland that sometimes a walk can be about water and its movement.  In that case we were on the Caledonia Canal and the lochs.  Paugus, though, was about water, too.  It seemed the whole mountain was draining down to larger rivers and into the sea.  It had the best soundtrack of water rolling over the rocks.  The streams and rivers supplied the banks with greenery. The falls themselves were evocative and beautiful.

As we climbed, we marveled at how gorgeous everything was.  We paused to rest and take pictures frequently.  We would come up on a little falls and think it couldn't get better...but then it would get better and we would pause again.  The 52 With-A-View list is about aesthetics.  Not all views are from the top.

This is where I should note that the massive amount of water eventually obscured the trail and we got lost.  Now, we have been lost before.  Most of the places we hike, things are well-marked.  However, that isn't always the case and sometimes it is easy to get confused.  Thankfully, we know what to do in these situations...

1) We got out our various direction-finding tools. Al and I have slightly different tastes in this regard.  I like a paper map and a compass.  Having taken a bearing at the parking lot and using the local features, I can usually position the map and find our general location.  Then I study it so I have a picture in my mind and plot a course.  If I am confused, I get it back out to refresh my memory and sense of direction. 

Allison prefers technology.  We have our trusty Alltrails app, of course, but if we are lost that has most likely failed us.  So we turn on our Garmin mini, which is a miracle of the 21st Century.  The Garmin talks to a satellite to pinpoint our location.  It is good, actually, to have more than one way of determining our location. After my map ritual, Al had the Garmin going.  So we knew our condition was temporary.

2) We proceeded slowly and thoughtfully, looking for signs both of the trail and the way to the peak where we knew the trail ends. The landscape, itself, gives hints to your direction.  This is particularly true if you have filled the requirements of Step #1. We listened for the sound of the river on the right so we always had a landmark we could return to.  We noted the rise and dip of the elevation, which corresponded to our maps.  

3) We worked as a team. Allison walked behind me and reminded me of any drifting I might have in the process of avoiding the many, many, ground hazards that could trip us up. We kept the mood light as well. This was a puzzle to be solved not a horrific crisis.  That may be the most important thing.  As in life, relationships matter.  In the moment we tried to maintain our relationship with each other, with the landscape around us, with the picture (or map) of the landscape, and with our goal of finding the trail.  In the end we came out on the trail about 30 yards from our target location.

A while after we made it back to the trail, we encountered the one other person on Paugus that day.  There was a trail maintenance guy happily moving dead falls and pruning back branches.  From him we learned that the water was the highest he had ever seen on this mountain.  The river we heard had, in fact, washed out and over the trail, obscuring the blazes and making about half a mile of it impassable, which was why we couldn't find it.  

Anyway, on to the top.  We had read a great deal about this hike before taking off so we had heard that the actual view was hard to find.  Indeed it was!  Once at the peak one has to turn toward a pile of rocks, go around those rocks, then take a small footpath to the ledge overlooking Whiteface, Passaconaway, and numerous other landmarks.  In a quest for the "best" view I got myself stuck on a large rock for a while.  However, it was worth it.  The air was relatively clean and we could look out on a landscape that has become familiar over the years. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, we took the other trail down.  Kelley Trail (the one with all the water) was beautiful, of course.  Old Mast (the trail down) was more mundane.  It did have the benefit of being relatively dry, though, and that made all the difference.  On the way I collected water from one of the many springs.  Partly it was because I was dehydrated and running out of the water I brought.  We carry purification pills and equipment with us for when this occurs.

However,  it was partly so that I could bring whatever was left to church. In our congregation, on "Ingathering" Sunday, we share water from places that have been important to us in our summer travels.  This seemed like a good choice. Paugus was a challenge, but also a spiritual place.  I was glad to have finally experienced it.

HIKED ON: August 7, 2024

All walks tell a story.  Most of the time we do not articulate it.  Maybe many of them are just a laundry list of errands; "I bought a coffee then walked to the office then walked to lunch," and so on.  However, some try to be more.  A person or persons get together and try to create an adventure that will underscore or celebrate the story of a place or thing.  The mid state trail is one of those walks.  The "story" gives glimpses into the landscape, economy, history and people of Worcester County.

This, of course, is the second leg of our journey.  The first--a walk through and around the Douglass State Forest--was wooded.  This hike starts in a similar way, with a few miles left of Douglass.  This area had been more heavily populated and industrialized in the early 20th Century.  Similarly to our first hike, there was ample evidence of previous habitation.  Now, however, nature is clearly in control. After the park, the trail dips between country roads and forested back yards until emerging in downtown Oxford.

Most of it was lovely.  The road parts were a bit hard on the feet but the traffic was lighter than we had feared, which was nice.  There was also a slight navigational challenge.  Maps of this route are constantly being updated as the Worcester branch of the Appalachian Mountain Club negotiates with towns, businesses, and homeowners for access to the forested areas on their various properties.  Growing up in New England I am familiar with sometimes-jealously-guarded borders.  It cannot be an easy task. That said, they seem to be doing a good job of it!  Many times our maps (we were using both Google maps and the Alltrails app) would have us on yet another road.  However, the signage informed us of another compact that squeezed a half-mile more of forest for our enjoyment. Life has been crazy lately.  However, I am tempted to volunteer for the local AMC. Right now I am grateful for their work.

As for sights, there was a nice old graveyard about halfway through the day's journey.  We stopped for our break there and re-arranged our rain gear.  The stone markers went back to the 18th Century and--presumably--the first white settlers on our route.  There were a number of working farms as well, and many rolling fields.  Much of the area reminded me of Dutchess County New York, where I worked on my grandparent's farm in the summer and fall when I was a kid.  There were roads and road crossings that required our attention but...mostly not.  In general it was an easygoing 11.5 mile trip!

A couple of notes: Be sure to bring enough snacks!  While you will be on roads for about half of this section, there aren't really a ton of places to provision. Also, consider a reflecting vest or your hunter orange gear.  The roads--not surprisingly--don't have very wide shoulders and there are no sidewalks.  I would think twice about bringing your dog for this same reason.  Also, think hard about your footwear.  The roads are hard and smooth but many of the "backyard" portions are rocky and--at least in our case--wet.  There seem to be a number of seasonal riverbeds involved in the current route. You could also make a great case for hiking poles even though there are those road parts.

Finally--as I mentioned earlier--be sure to take your time to looks for signs and blazes.  The trail is a living document and you can miss a turn easily.  We sure did. In our case we landed in a cul-de-sac and turned around.  However, in the forested sections you could end up wandering through someone's yard very easily.  A best it is a mild trespass.  At worst, you could also startle the many dogs and livestock you encounter, creating chaos for yourself and others!

All told it was a good trip.  I had been dreading the roads a bit but they were fine.  From our map it looks like the next section will be similar.  Then--north of the City ---the green spaces are closer together.  Something to look forward to...

Hiked on July 27, 2024 
26/52WAV

I held off doing this mountain for a while.  Partly because of its reputation.  Partly because I had a vision of climbing it when the Celtics won the NBA championship with Marcus Smart as their charismatic front man.  Of course the Celtics did win...but there was no Marcus Smart.  Still, it is on the 52 With-A-View list.  So even with its reputation for being sneaky-hard, I decided to check it off the list. It puts me exactly halfway on the 52WAV. My wife Allison--who tends toward the 4,000 footers--came with me.  Even she thought Smarts was plenty of mountain

Smarts Mountain--at 3,238 feet--does, in fact, punch above its weight.  The distance and cumulative elevation of this hike is comparable to that of taller mountains, like nearby Moosilauke.  I would say it is even a little bit harder than that particular 4,000 footer.  Both are among the only twelve mountains in NH with a prominence of over 2,000 feet. However, the landscape around Smarts rolls up and down. There are a few scrambles.  The bare rocks are wet.  On a personal level, we hadn't done much hiking in the last couple of weeks.  Moosilauke was my very first 4,000 foot climb while I was recovering from back surgery. I was in horrible shape and sulked most of the way down.  However, while I personally found this hike easier, I believe it has more to do with improved health than anything Smarts was able to give.

The mountain is also home to the wreckage of two different small airplanes.  Some people will bushwhack to the location of these tragedies.  I prefer to leave the sites alone.  That said, this knowledge just adds to the legend.

Our hike began at the parking lot which serves the trailhead for both the Lambert and Ranger Trails.  Lambert is part of the AT.  Most of the people we saw were well aware of this fact.  Section hikers and thru-hikers were easy to pick out thanks to their large packs.  Some stopped to chat.  Others were powering north or south with only the vaguest awareness of those of us in the "slow lane".  Regular readers will know that our son did the AT a couple years ago.  In fact, he was only a few miles away, walking north on the Vermont Long Trail.   

As "peak-baggers" our hiking experience is very different.  We met a few of our own kind as well, with well-worn but lighter gear, fully expecting to be home in bed by the end of the day. That said, it was nice to be on a mountain where--whether long distance or habitual day hikers--everyone we saw was serious about their hobby.  People knew the unwritten rules of trail use and etiquette.  The shop-talk was excellent.  This is not unusual on the less well-known peaks.  More casual walkers tend toward places like Washington, Lafayette, Monadnock, and Chocorua.  Those are all great hikes as well.  The views are fabulous.  That said, it is very cool every once in a while to be an insider.  Insider moments make all the outsider moments easier to bear. 

While Lambert was probably the more challenging of the two trails, we decided to take it up for the climb.  Near the top there were open ridges that promised encouraging views as we plodded along.  Also, the Ranger trail is notoriously muddy and wet. Given the relative humidity it was nice to be on the up with the breezes while fighting gravity.  The miles hit pretty hard but our morale was good.

While there were limited views on the way, the top is wooded.  Thankfully there is a fire tower.  We made our climb up to the top for the 360-degree view of southwestern New Hampshire and into Vermont.  Most of the mountains were harder to identify than we are used to.  The 52WAV list is broadly distributed so the peaks don't quite function as well as landmarks.  Cube--which has a great view of Smarts--was identifiable as was Mount Cardigan back on that ridge.  It was fine, though, just to look out and admire the landscape around us.

The only other remarkable thing that happened was that I took a massive fall!  After climbing down the tower my heal caught on a rock and my ankle gave way.  My water bottle went flying and I landed face-first in the midst of about a dozen fellow hikers.  They were...concerned.  However I seemed to be OK after a rest.  I have always fallen a lot on these mountains.  I'm not blessed with many athletic gifts. Maybe this is why I am used to it enough not to worry too much about the inevitable chuckles and recollections after I am out of earshot.  It is part of the experience for me.  My only concern is whether I can get down the next mountain and up the next one.

The walk down Ranger was uneventful.  The trail was buggy and wet, but easier on the lungs and joints than Lambert.  The mud was a challenge at times as were the slick rocks. Occasionally we found ourselves strolling next to a lovely stream that provided both soundtrack and visual interest. Near the end it devolved into a long, flat slog.  It always feels like the trail is a touch too long.  In the end we made it back  to the parking lot.  There we found a few section hikers refueling before heading back out.

​On the way home somebody backed into our car so instead of hitting the pub we got to fill out insurance papers.  Other than that it was a great day.  I am not sure if Smarts will be on my list again soon, but I am glad we did it.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.  --Isaiah 43:19

I have been thinking about this quote from Isaiah a lot lately.  I find it reassuring to think that the Great Whatever that encompasses all of us is always starting anew in a perpetual cycle of beginnings, endings, and in-betweens.  Right now I am in the midst of endings and struggling to find the trailhead for whatever comes next.  Mostly that is an OK place to be.  However, it isn't ever easy.

Perhaps that is why I recently started a manageable new thing. Sometimes an achievable goal can help us practice for harder ones. The way the world is right now, we can all use the practice.

The Mid-State Trail runs the roughly 90-mile length of Worcester County from the border of Rhode Island to the border of New Hampshire.  I have explored a good chunk of its northern end but done very little with the space south of the City of Worcester.  Worcester is New England's second largest municipality.  However, it drops off fast, meaning that while there is plenty of road walking, most of it is in the woods.

​This project is more gentle than the mountain climbing "lists" that I spend much of my time with.  Also, Worcester County is much more accessible to me.  I can work on it when I can and put it away when I cannot. Finally, it is an area I enjoy exploring.  For the last two decades I have lived in the 'burbs.  By just heading that little bit west of my home I can pretend that I live somewhere else. I wrote up a few of those previous hikes on the trail, therefore...

​I will put a number of links at the bottom of this post so you can learn more about Mid-State!

The trail has its roots in the 1920's but came to fruition quite a bit later.  It was finally completed some time in the 1980's and is now maintained by the Worcester Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club.  They are always recruiting volunteers.  I should look into that. Anyway, the goal was--and is--to maintain a long trail that ties together the numerous smallish parks that decorate the maps of Central Massachusetts.  The first sections were in the North, where the road walks are not that intense.  Mounts Watatic and Wachusett are two major gems in the region going back before colonization.  As I noted in a previous post, Henry David Thoreau had some things to say about that area as well. ​Again, links to previous hikes are below.

My goal for this trail has always been to hike from one end to the other, using car-spots to prevent too much doubling back.  While I have explored it a great deal, I am a completist by nature and the gaps in my geographical mind-map bother me. My friend Sarah Stewart is doing this with me and will be providing that other car.  She actually lives in Worcester so the commute, while fairly simple for me, is even easier for her.  An added benefit is that Sarah is also a preacher, so we can talk shop without bothering our spouses.

Even though I said that we are hiking south to north, we walked this southernmost section in the other direction.  This was thanks to some complications.  First, I had a meeting, which threw a wrench into our plans.  Second...there is no parking lot at the ​actual beginning of the trail.  So, after much thought, we found that the simplest thing to do would be to start at the parking lot at Route 16, head south to the beginning of the trail, then turn north to hike a few miles back to the main entrance  to Douglas State Park, where we put our southernmost car.  In the end, it took about 7 miles of walking to complete the first 5.5 mile section.

The entirety of this day's walk occured inside Douglas State Forest.  The trail, itself, was relatively flat and featured some views of one of the few Atlantic White Cedar wetlands in the region.  Apparently there is a boardwalk over part of it.  However, if we cross it at all, it must be on a different day.  Along the way we stopped talking to listen to the birds and to notice the abundance of bear scat on the trail.  We didn't linger too much thanks to the presence of a large number of singing insects.  There were also blueberries and a blueberry-like fruit which seemed related to the "bilberries" I ate in abundance while hiking in Scotland. More research and eating is necessary...

There was also evidence of former human habitation.  Cellar holes and stone walls dotted the forest.  Also, the trail, itself showed evidence of being a road earlier in life.  I have done some research in what the area might be...but I haven't come to any great conclusions.  The next section will start in Douglas as well, so maybe by then I will have something to report.

That is all for now.  It is fun to start on a new thing, particularly one without a deadline that gets us outside, moving around, and breathing the fresh air. When the end to a beginning seems attainable. It helps with the less attainable ones, right?  In any case, it strengthens us for the journey and adventures of life.

HIKED ON June 17, 2024
​It has been over three months since I posted anything.  There are reasons that are too tedious to go into.  Suffice it to say that it was a rough spring on a number of levels and now...I feel a lot less like I am drowning in entropy.

I have been getting out to hike regularly but I haven't done anything new in a long, long time.  I went out to Purgatory Chasm here in Massachusetts where we used to take the kids when they were small.  I managed to fall there and really mess up my hip.  Then I hiked Mounts Jackson and Webster as a loop.  The same way as the time I almost slid down Jackson on the ice.  There wasn't any ice this time, which was good.  The view was just as fine.

However, I managed a new hike recently that is worth mentioning if only for its newness. It is fun to explore new trails and new vistas, after all.  It also marked--hopefully--a change in fortune for the summer.

​It was a short hike up Middle Sugarloaf.  In total--including a brief diversion toward North Sugarloaf--it took about two hours of walking time.  I picked it because of its brevity.  Allison had gone up to NH earlier in the day to hike with an old high school friend.  I, however, had work to do and left later in the day.  I had just enough time to fit this in.

Regular hikers in the area will know how to get there.  The trailhead is the first or second one--depending on how you count--off of Zealand Road which is, itself, off US 302.  The spot is easy to find and parking--unlike for the high traffic mountains--is free. A walk over a small bridge along the road leads to a right turn onto the cleverly named "Sugarloaf Trail".

To start, one follows the stream that the bridge had traversed.  I cannot find the name of it, which is frustrating.  This little string of mountains (Hale then South, Middle, and North Sugarloaf) are collectively referred to as the "Little River Mountains" but there are plenty of rivers and streams a long the route.  This stream, however, is most likely the Zealand, which the Hale Brook flows into before it meets the Ammonoosuc.  Further research is obviously necessary.  After a short time along the  stream the trail turns left and up toward the peaks of North and Middle.  There is neither a trail nor a view off South, although at slightly over 3,000 feet, it is 500 taller than the other two.

After the usual obligatory steep rocky part, the trail splits.  Left takes one to Middle Sugarloaf.  The other goes to North Sugarloaf.  The way after that is mostly flat until the final push...which is steep!  As with many "easyish" hikes it is always good to remember that there will be a moment of pain and despair before the end.

Anyway, I made it to the top where I encountered a number of old guys all hiking separately from each other with pretty much the exact same kit as me.  Apparently this is where my people hang out.  One of them told me that Middle Sugarloaf had the better view--it is my 25th mountain on the 52WAV list--so I took my time exploring the top and gazing out at Mount Hale immediately before me and the Presidentials in the distance.  Looking north I could see the Twins, two of my favorites. It was a clear day and a glorious sight.  I moved around to take in as much of the broad view as possible.  Yet another of the old guys told me we had a 270-degree panorama.  I trust him.

In the end, I never made it to North Sugarloaf.  I am sure I will one of these days when a short hike is called for.  I started over but ran out of time and ended up hiking down with one of those other old men.  He is a retired professor of botany who now lives in Northampton, MA.  We had a good chat about hiking, land preservation, and our adult children.  Then we went our separate ways.  As usual...I never got his name...

It was short, but I am glad I hustled up north in time to climb it.  I really needed a hike.  I also needed something new. It had been a long winter and spring.  It was good to be out in nature.  If I were to make a list of short-on-time White Mountain hikes, this one would be near the top.  The next day Al and I hiked Mount Willard together with her friend and it is hard to beat the view into Crawford Notch.  However, Middle Sugarloaf wasn't crowded.  Also, the company was mellow. If you just want a place to sit and eat a power bar whilst re-calibrating...this hike wins it. 

Yup.  Here is the last sermon of the series!  It was quite a trip which contributed to a bit of a work bottleneck and a couple life stressors that still haven't been cleaned up.  The great thing about nature is that in times of stress and chaos we can retreat to it, remembering our relative insignificance.  It is therapeutic and we all could use a little therapy these days...