A tradition that my husband and I started a couple years back was going hiking on Black Friday after Thanksgiving instead of going shopping. Last year REI even did a campaign for heading outdoors on Black Friday called #optoutside. They gave all of their employees a paid day off and the stores closed to all them to go out and enjoy nature with families and friends instead of in crazy lines at stores.
Sadly this year Jon had to work, but Mizpah and I hit the trails and did a little girls hike. This was my third time doing Mt. Tecumseh. It is a great 4000 footer because its so short, just took me three hours. We had to be back in the afternoon to go out with Jon’s family that night so I had to pick a quick mountain!
Usually the views from Mt. Tecumseh are lovely. Here are the views from an outlook over one of the Waterville Valley Ski trails and a view from the summit. These pics are from September 2015.
View from outlook on Mt. Tecumseh trail, not sure which trail this is at Waterville Valley?View from the summit. The summit for this one is small, just a cairn up there and some views!
The weather on Friday was drastically different. Driving up, it was rainy and sleety, and just past exit 19 on 93 there was snow on the ground and trees. The hike was literally in a foggy cloud the whole way. It wasn’t raining or snowing but my jacket and pack were soaked just because the air was soggy and wet. The snow on the trails was beautiful. It was definitely fresh because literally only one person had been on the trails that morning on the snow. There were no views, it’s just white. Honestly it was almost a little disorienting.
No views at the outlook on the ski trail, huge difference huh?Snowy white summit!
I wore my waterproof Marmot pants which are dead now….I put another hole in them slipping down a snow covered rock. My Marmot shell jacket is still awesomely waterproof and my pack held up with the moisture. Mizpah had her Ruffwear jacket on too which was good and kept her dry and warm!
Its a winter wonderland in the White Mountains!One of the best hiking dogs you will ever meet ❤
Noone would say the conditions were optimal, but it was still a nice hike. I bare-booted the whole way up, and then threw my microspikes on for the trek down so I could go a little faster. The only thing I purchased during the holiday sales was actually a pair of Tory Burch boots. They were on sale from almost $500 to $208! I have been needing a new pair of black boots and I think these will fit the bill nicely 🙂 I know I am a little late, but I do hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family! Anyone snag anything good during the sales??
I hiked on Black Friday…..but I did purchase a few things over the weekend 🙂 I got something from Lilly Pulitzer for my mom and got some free gifts for purchasing over the weekend…might just give her the free gifts too though because it’s all nice and wrapped up right now in tissue paper. I don’t want to disrupt by messing with the free gifts. Not going to put what I got her on here just in case she looks, but lets just say, my Floridian mama has fabulous taste in Lilly- she likes Elsa tops and the tshirt dresses!
I did some other online shopping for family and did grab a couple little items for myself….
This lovely bracelet from Kiel James Patrick- Anchor Bracelet. KJP was 25% off this past weekend, love it. This bracelet will go with a lot of my clothing as it has the lighter leather AND darker leather. Can’t wait to see it.
This beautiful scarf from Equestrianista- Tartan Plaid Infinity Scarf. Equestrianista also did a sale this past weekend and I have been eyeing this scarf! I love the mixed plaid patterns and the color scheme will hopefully compliment my red hair!
These flats from Talbots- Georgina Suede Embroidered Flats. I love these because smoking slippers are so expensive at some places but these were 40% off!! I got the car/indigo flats that have a super cute scene with the woodie/tree on top driving on a white path. Only snag here, even though its in the name of the flats, I was looking at all the different ones and it kinda didn’t register that they were suede. Some of their other Georgina flats are in wool….which is more what I would want. Suede is not so great for Massachusetts. These might go back, we shall see. Sorry the image isn’t great- got it from the website!
There were some great sales this past weekend. Lilly girls are all really waiting for their big sale in January, but the gifts can be fun. Honestly it can be hard with all these deals to corral the spending, but we are saving for our wedding and a house in the very near future. It was interesting that these sales really started last week like before Thursday and some have continued through tonight! The emails from some companies were pretty much daily. Did anyone else feel like it was a little much this year? I don’t know.
Anyways, I hope you all got some deals this past weekend through yesterday…or today…speaking of today…..today was Giving Tuesday! My cousin was recently diagnosed with DCIS (type of breast cancer), and has undergone a lumpectomy and has been traveling from where she lives out in Wyoming to Sloane Kettering Memorial in NY for treatment. Her sister set up a Go Fund Me for her to help with expenses and so that will be my donation for Giving Tuesday. Their mom, one of my mom’s first cousins, died from breast cancer when she was just 44, so her daughters are not messing around with treatment, thank god. She is doing well but has a long road ahead!
Anyone find anything good over the long weekend in the midst of these sales? Hear about any good Giving Tuesday stories? Share in comments!
I hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving and a great weekend!! I spent the weekend up in NH with my fiancé and his family. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, and then his birthday on Saturday with an awesome hike to #optoutside on Friday in between.
I only have 7 hikes left to complete the NH 48 4000-footers…..but they are all pretty long. We wanted to be back, showered, and ready to go for dinner & drinks at Poor People’s Pub (good grub, cheap beer) Friday night, so we chose Mt. Moosilauke for our hike. The trail we picked, the Gorge Brook Trail, had a book time of 5 hours. We did it in 4.5, but we had to add an hour because the gate to the access road was shut and locked so we had to walk another 1.5 miles in and out from the trail head. That happens in the fall/winter.
The Gorge Brook Trail, Al Merrill Loop, Ridge Trail, and Snapper Ski Trail all start near the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. The lodge and bunkhouses are owned by the Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) from Dartmouth College in Hanover NH. The DOC is legendary in the White Mountains. Their love for outdoor activities, particularly winter sports has made the White Mountains what it is today, a region dotted with ski resorts, and home to cross country ski trails, snowshoeing trails, and backcountry skiing. Really many of the first mountaineers in the Whites were from the DOC, some from Harvard too. These were the first mountaineers out west in many cases too. They were men that loved sport, competition, and endurance….and had the privilege and opportunity to travel and play in the mountains.
I have already hiked Mt. Moosilauke from a trail on the other side of the mountain, Glencliff, so this was my first time seeing the lodge. It’s really neat, bunkhouses named after different classes, a swimming hole for the class of 07, and the lodge itself is huge! They offer lodging to the public, students/alumni get a discount, and offer meals too. It’s also home to the trail crew, a group of students that maintain 17 cabins and ~50 miles of trails between the lodge and the campus in Hanover.
Ivy league bunkhouses folksWalking up the main lodge, it’s huge!!Tried not to be too much a paparazzi, but I loved this bunkhouse. You can just barely see the screened in porch on the right with matching hunter green adirondack chairsThe lawn of the lodge- I picture frisbee games, picnics, and stargazing out here
The hike itself was great, trail was not too rocky, lots of rock stairs, some ice towards the summit. The trails are very well marked by orange signs and very well taken care of. There are a couple re-routes which can be annoying, but are also signs of good trail stewardship. For this mountain, they have been moving the trails up and away from the riverside because of erosion and damage from hurricanes in the past.
Mizpah is very attentive when we stop for a snackSelfie with Miz!
Dartmouth owns the Gorge Brook watershed, something like 4500 acres on Mt. Moosilauke and the surrounding area. It is named after C. Ross McKenney, an avid woodsman who oversaw the building of the main lodge in 1938. The lodge was saved after many years of disuse in the 50s by Al Merrill, the Director of Outdoor Programs and Ski Coach at the time.
Memorial for Ross McKenney at the last sure water stop
The summit of Moosilauke is above treeline. It can be extremely windy up there because its the furthest west of the 4000 footers and catches undeterred wind all the way from Vermont. There is a stone foundation up on the summit, the remains of an old hotel up there in 1860. It was first called the Prospect House, later called the Tip Top House. The Carriage Road Trail was originally used to reach the hotel. It was lovingly run by Dartmouth students from 1920 until it burned down in 1942. The hotel on Mt. Washington was also called the Tip Top House. I just couldn’t get a pic of it on this hike, the wind was gusting to ~50 mph. It was tough to stand up and walk at times.
Freezing in the wind on the summit, couldn’t take too many picsMuddy paws and ears flapping in the wind
I absolutely love the history in the White Mountains. All the old hotels, mountain huts & shelters from a time when the train was the only way to get up there. To see what it looked like up there in its hey day. Not all of it was good of course, the White Mountain National Forest was almost leveled for lumber and to create farmland. I definitely prefer it with the trees, but the glimpses of the past are much appreciated.
I would like to explore the lodge more when its open. They open in May and close November 1st. Don’t worry, my fiancé is doing the grid for the 48, so he has done Moosilauke in 3 months so far, 9 more to go!
What did you do to #optoutside on Friday? Have I inspired anyone to come to NH and see the Ivy League accommodations at the ravine lodge? Please say yes! 🙂
I think it was Monday night that I got the email from REI that they were closing on black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. REI is a coop company where once you join the coop, any purchases get chronicled, and you get money back each year on your purchases. I have gotten camping & hiking stuff at REI in the past. Black Friday has become a day of American consumerism like nothing else. The time for stores to open has pushed all the way to basically after dinner on Thanksgiving Thursday. The first year I headed up to NH to be with my fiancé’s family after Thanksgiving lunch with my family, there was traffic. I was shocked, how could there be traffic going through his town? It was because of the Walmart. I was driving to get to dessert with those I love, and got stuck in traffic with people going to get the best deal on a new flatscreen.
REI’s campaign asks us to go outside on Friday after Thanksgiving- get out of the stores, get off our computers, and do something outside. They created the hashtag “opt outside” for all of us to showcase our non consumer driven activities. Its fine with me because we were already planning to hike in NH. I still have to do the Tripyramids, Hancocks, and Cabot this fall/winter.
Will REI reach a new group of people to be customers? I don’t know, its a pretty specific audience that goes to REI. Maybe the campaign will inspire people to go buy new outdoorsy items for their #optoutside adventures. Maybe REI will even toss us some sales beforehand to help us get outfitted for the day. Will other companies join REI in closing on Black Friday? I don’t know. Think about everyone being able to spend all of Thursday & all of Friday with their families. REI’s 143 stores will be closed on that Friday and every employee will get paid to go do something outside! Can someone start paying me to play outside?! Here are the little YouTube videos they have created for the #optoutside campaign:
Opting outside will cost me gas money, and maybe a parking fee depending on which mountain we go to. Sooooo much cheaper than whatever I would ever buy on black Friday. Go outside more, spend less.
New England Classic Beauty 