When most wives ask their husbands, “Honey, Saturday is your birthday, so what do you want to do?” the plans probably involve grilling enough meat to feed a small army, donning scandalous lingerie, or begrudgingly sipping light beer at a sports bar while hubby watches football with a chicken wing dangling from his hand.
Me, I found myself on an 11-mile, 7-hour forced march across two of New Hampshire’s 4000-footers: Mts. Whiteface and Passaconaway. It had been almost eight months since our last peak-bagging adventure, so I was keen to check a few more summits off our list. That said, 11 miles is a bold ask for hiking muscles that have spent the better part of a year in hibernation. By the time we reached the wooded summit of Mt. Passaconaway, I was toast. But this wasn’t a treadmill with a stop button, and sadly, the White Mountains don’t run a shuttle service.
The trek between Whiteface and Passaconaway is a grueling gauntlet, and I gamely tried to keep my grumbles to myself—after all, it was Mr. P’s birthday. That resolve only wavered when we scrambled up cliff-like boulders near Whiteface’s summit. Then, I allowed myself a solid whine.
When we finally made it back to the car, I thought the adventure was over. But no, not 1 mile from the trailhead, we saw a car stopped in the middle of the road and the occupants staring into the woods with cameras blazing. We slowed down, thinking a moose was going to jump in front of our car at any moment, but no!
Instead, we spotted two baby black bears climbing up and down a tree, crying out for their mother. They were impossibly adorable, their tiny forms silhouetted against the forest. I briefly entertained the idea of hopping out to snap a closer picture, but then reality (and the very real risk of mama bear’s wrath) set in. Mr. P, ever the tech-savvy adventurer, captured a quick video from the car (here) and proclaimed it the best birthday gift ever.
And with that, we drove off, weary but content—another unforgettable birthday in the books, complete with peaks, scrambles, and bears.
