btowne33

Waumbek

Boomer the good boy hiking partner

Top of Waumbek looking over to Mt Washington

Waumbek via Starr King Trail is really a wonderful hike. The first third is open forest with sun and growing wildflowers like Trillium, the middle third is piney overgrown shade with tons of moss, pine needles, rocks, and roots while the last third is flattish windy trail. It’s probably the simplest 4000-footer and made for a nice easy-going adventure.

I changed my goals for today so I could take Boomer the 70-pound, 1 year old, Goldendoodle. He is just a puppy still so it could not be a big hike today and I can frankly tell you that it is nice hiking with a dog. I used the short 5 feet leash which was hard on feet placement as he was pulling me along without much time to choose my footing. I changed out my hiking boots for hiking sneakers and ditching the trekking polls so I could hold onto Boomer. It was great weather, so it was finally time to ditch all the layers and extra gear.

I kept Boomer leashed up all the way to the top even when there was still some snow and ice above 3800 feet elevation, and I need to be creative on my feet. At the top of Starr King there was a great lookout to Mt. Washington and a cool fireplace that was built years ago. A nice place to catch a break and eat something. But of course, not me, I kept on moving to the top. The top of Waumbek is wooded with a medium size cairn but 100 feet or so there was a great lookout. I feed Boomer and gave him something to drink as I ate a bar and talked to a couple of girls who were talking about hiking the 4000 footers. It was nice peaceful company with Boomer and the girls.

Then off back down the hill. I ‘trail ran’ a mile or so on the way down because I had some energy, it was not a crazy hike up, and Boomer was wanting to go faster. I took him off the leash to which he thoroughly enjoyed hiking up and down and getting into every single stream and mud puddle on the way down. Boomer didn't have enough energy to bother the people and other dogs on the way down which was great. I kept telling him he knows the way and he moved along. The hike back through the sparse forest with wildflowers was magical and took my time seeing nature spring back into life after the winter. Thanks for being my buddy today Boomer.