On Sunday we'll be hiking up the Kearsarge North Trail to the summit, which also features the Pequawket Fire Tower. This is quite possibly the nicest fire tower in the Northeast, and features an enclosed observatory with 360 views of the surrounding white mountains and Maine. We'll stop at the top to take in the views and cook up some hot cocoa and whatever else we can think of to bring. This trip is geared towards anyone with experience on similar trails in 3 season terrain, and we'll take a pretty slow pace up to the summit. No winter experience is needed!

The trail will be ~6 miles covering around 3,000 feet of elevation gain. The forecast is calling for 10+ inches of snow Saturday that we'll be breaking out, and wind chills may be down to -25f. Considering this forecast, 3 season experience / general fitness is especially important. It's a great opportunity to test out your layering system, get experience using microspikes and optionally snowshoes, and learn how to use a white gas stove for melting snow / boiling water.

We'll have a mandatory pre-trip meeting Thursday after the lecture (9PM) to go over weather and necessary gear + coordinate rideshares. Everyone should plan on bringing microspikes, non-cotton layers suitable for cold + wet conditions, a backpack with extra space for group gear, warm gloves, and a hat / scarf. A lot of this can be rented from the MITOC office Thursday evening.

Participants will share car costs (about $120/car). If you can drive your own car or are willing to drive a rental car, please edit the lottery preferences on your MITOC profile to show this.

Reach out to the leaders with any questions!