Last day

On our last day we wake up late and I get to eat eggs and bacon again. Yummy. Camping is great!

After two good days of hiking, today we only do a short hike up the halfway house trail, so named because its halfway to the top and the site of a once famous hotel. Now it is just ruins, but there is still the road that runs up to the spot, parallel to the trail, and there is a private house at the end of the road (see pic. I wouldn't mind living up here!)

The hike doesn't start from our campsite-we have to drive to another spot to hike, which when looking at the mountain is the gently sloping side of the mountain. That being side, the hike is fairly easy, not steep at all, although I still am feeling it from the past two days of hiking. We only have to climb 500 ft and we make it to the ruins in 45 mins, eat our lunch, and walk the dirt road down, getting back in 35 mins. A nice quick hike, which is good, because we must leave that night : (

Back at the camp we play some more scrabble, and slowly pack up (sadly), but of course we make one more fire, with much trouble. Maybe someday I'll learn proper fire making techniques. Ha.
We leave the camp around 6:30, but make sure to stop and get ice cream on the way home. Have to have ice cream!!! A nice way to top of a good weekend of camping and hiking.

I just hope I will be ready for Mt. Washington this weekend!!

Here is what I learned on this camping trip:
Birch bark is excellent tinder
That being said, I still suck at making fires
Make sure Joy brings camera next time! The treo doesn't cut it (sadly)
Joy is really good at folding tents/canopies/tarps/maps etc, its exactly why I brought her along! J/k-I love you babe!
My new watch is pretty sweet, we'll see how the Suunto Vector stands up to Mt. Washington.
Ice can last a long time if properly taken care of. We still had a bunch of ice in the cooler when we got home. We put two bags in fri. morning and it lasted until late Sunday night before we dumped everything out.

Next year we are going to do an actual overnight (2-3 night) backpacking trip. Mr. Army, Kyle, my brother, wants in, so we'll see if he'll be up to it by then!