We're looking down into Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, from the Welch-Dickey Loop in the White Mountains.

We brought you here today to do a little hiking, talk about a centennial celebration, and show you a few little tips about lightweight backpacking.

♪ Welcome to Windows to the Wild.

I'm Willem Lange.

You know, for years, friends of mine have been teasing me to come over here to Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, and climb the Welch-Dickey Loop Trail.

So, here I am, finally.

It's a short 4.4-mile loop that goes over a couple of crags and ends up right where it started.

Here with me today to enjoy this trip is one of those friends who's been after me, Gary Moore.

You had this coming.

Gary's been with us before, and he's no stranger to the outdoors.

He's formerly commissioner of Fish and Wildlife in the state of Vermont.

Gary, you're going to help me with the pack today, you said.

No, I think you misunderstood that.

I am looking forward to the hike.

I've never done either Welch or Dickey, but I don't think the pack part was in our discussion.

Oh, okay.

Well, it's okay, Will.

I'll carry it myself then.

Good, good.

And by the way, I did bring with me today, my typical lightweight one-night summer camping kit.

But before we take off, let's take a look at that.

And you can advise me on what I don't need in there and maybe what I do need in there.

Okay?

And, I understand you have a new device to show me?

A new device?

Oh, yes.

The water purifier.

Good.

I'm interested in that.

I never use one before, but they tell me it's dangerous not to.

So we'll take a look at it.

All right, then we'll go.

Okay.

Now, Gary, you're an old search and rescue guy, right?

Right.

So as I go through this, you can tell me what's missing.

You know, what I have, and what I don’t need.

My theory is that it's one night, summertime, good weather forecast, no rain gear.

Okay?

Mhm.

And I'm doing without some things that I would normally take along for comfort.

And as much as I cut it, this is still about 16 pounds.

Mhm.

All right?

So we'll take a look at what I got as we go along here.

Right on top, compass and emergency whistle.

May I add, a lot of people today think they can get by with a GPS unit and don't take a compass and map.

[Willem chuckling] You know, GPS units, the batteries go dead, and lots of places here in the White Mountains, it's too narrow for them to get the number of satellites, so they don't work.

Oh yeah, well... You can't beat a compass and map.

Flashlight.

I always take lots of bandanas, sweatbands, sling, bandage, hot pad for cooking, Band-Aids for small cuts, Wet Ones, which I consider the frontiersmen’s bidet, Swiss Army Knife.

Good.

Which has come in handy.

This is a space blanket.

Right.

Which I use for a ground cloth if I need it.

They're cheap and disposable not in the woods; you bring it back.

But they're also good in case you do get cold and wet.

They're very handy.

This is something that's new to me.

All right, I never have used these before.

But this is an ultraviolet water purifier.

Wow.

That's what you told me about.

I haven't seen that.

Yeah.

You turn the thing on, put it in the water, stir it around until the light flashes on.

It means that you've purified the water.

My old spoon, which is the only utensil you'll ever need in the woods as far as I'm concerned.

The one pot.

One pot.

And I eat out of the pot, so I don't need a bowl.

And in here is my little WhisperLite stove.

That goes into the fuel bottle.

Sure.

And this is the extent of the stove right here.

It sets up in a couple of seconds.

Lights up.

Really cooks well.

Used one of those many times myself.

Yeah.

A great stove.

I've had that longer than I've had my wife, Gary, and I've been married 51 years.

This cup has been around.

Now my wife puts up meals for me.

This is supper here for tonight.

Three cups of water, simmer... simmer ten minutes, she wrote.

Simmer ten minutes, yep.

Okay, now I can do both of those... ...both of those cooking pots on one small bottle of fuel, Which is plenty for that.

Two bottles of water from home, so I don't need to purify them.

Instead of a cotton shirt, I bring a poly fleece shirt.

That's a good idea.

Which is extra warm for when I need it.

Sleeping bag, 1 pound.

[chuckling] Now, the pièce de résistance.

This is my special... Lange-designed tent.

I had a tent-maker make it for me many years ago.

1 pound, and is essentially a tarp... that's... configured... like the top of a tent, but without any sides, you know?

But it makes a really nice So you tie it to trees.

You don't take any tent poles.

No.

If it is buggy, and it does get buggy once in a while, there's this little net which hangs on the inside of the tent.

There's a couple loops of these paperclips hook on to.

Ah.

And that’s it!

For one night.

What am I missing?

I think you're in pretty good shape.

Do you have anything for blisters?

No.

I never get blisters.

You know that.

Okay.

I walk too slow.

[laughing] Well, I'm looking forward to the loop.

Yes!

Just let me stash this stuff and we'll go.

[birds calling] It's not so bad here in the trees, is it?

No.

It's quite cool here.

[water flowing] There’s a pretty stream.

Yeah.

It's a little slippery here.

These little mountains streams are my favorite places to fish.

That right?

Dear.

[water falling] ♪ This whole loop is part of the White Mountain National Forest, isn't it, Will?

I think so, yeah.

Yep.

Nice to be hiking on land that you own.

That's right.

Along with a few million other Americans.

Well, we're pretty lucky living where we do in Vermont and New Hampshire that we have a lot of public land we can hike on.

♪ The Welch-Dickey Loop Trail attracts hikers from around all England, young and old folks alike who find the trails manageable.

Look at the difference that people make in the woods when they have a trail.

All these roots and rocks.

All exposed by foot traffic.

They were just like that when they started.

It'll get deeper and deeper.

There's places up in the Whites where the trail is 2 or 3 ft deep between the sides of the duff.

Ah, this isn’t bad.

If it was this way the whole way it’d be nice, eh?

I understand there's going to be some pretty good places to scramble over the rocks further up.

What I read in the guidebook.

That's why I didn't bring the sticks.

I need two hands.

After my friend Gary retired as commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife in Vermont, he got busy.

He writes an outdoor column.

He's a consultant for Homeland Security.

And for 23 years, he was involved in search and rescue work.

You’re off trail, which is often difficult.

You’re either trying to follow a contour or a specific line.

Generally when you're searching, you want to go real slow because obviously... Look around us.

If someone’s unconscious, they can be very close but difficult to see.

One of the things we do is, every few feet, do a 360.

Slowly look around.

Very slowly.

Move forward, do a 360.

Because otherwise you can walk by something that's on the other side and miss it.

So by turning around, that's a big help.

But searching is labor intensive.

And you're concentrating on what's around you and trying to see any type of sign, any type of track.

Everything from a cigarette butt to a gum paper.

One thing I enjoy about hiking is that when I stop to catch your breath, someone's often there to share a story.

I finished all the 48 last summer.

And... they're just visiting.

And like I said, they're flatlanders.

Where are they from?

Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Kalamazoo!

Yep.

The area.

So we did the top part of Kearsarge.

You know, around the state park.

And we've done... a trail over by Newfound Lake.

And then today they're going to just go up to the first ledge.

So you like hiking?

He’s not too sure!

He shakes his head... Are you having a good time?

All right.

You gonna come back and hike next summer?

They like hiking.

They're having a little shy moment.

She really likes it.

But you're good hikers.

You're really going fast.

♪ The traffic's picking up.

Yeah, it is.

A lot of groups.

Yeah.

Well... good, safe place for a group.

Yes.

If only because there's so much company.

♪ Look at these stairs.

Wow, look at all this.

Beautiful.

A lot of hours of hard work put into these steps, Will.

Yeah, they even put sidewalls on them.

Very nice.

I don't know about you, but I sure do appreciate all the hard work these trail crews put in.

Yep.

Throughout the White Mountains and the Green Mountains.

Even East Montpelier, where I live, East Montpelier Trail Association.

Busy beavers.

[water falling] It's a pretty good- sized boulder.

You should take that home for Ida’s rock garden.

Yeah, right.

Thanks.

When you go through the woods in northern Maine, you’ll often find those in relatively flat terrain just a huge boulder out there.

Yep.

Left right in the woods.

Yep.

You know how it got there?

Yes.

Oh...?

Oh, glaciers.

It's called ice rafting.

It was caught on a chunk of ice that floated out into the lake, dropped it on the lake bottom.

Anomalous.

♪ Hey, Will?

Look where they carved this tree all up.

You what?

You know, graffiti.

Carving up the trees.

Yep.

Same people, probably, that spray paint all the buildings.

Fools’ names and fools’ faces.

What am I talking about?

Our faces appear in public places.

[chuckling] When I see those initials in the heart, I always wonder how long they last.

♪ There’s our first summit, I guess.

Yeah.

We still got Oh, okay.

That's where you're going to do the rock climbing today?

Oh yeah, okay.

I'll belay you.

Gary's just kidding, but not entirely.

Some of the steep slabs were a little challenging.

♪ [laboring] Gotta get the water off of my boots; the slime.

Thought you going back down there for a minute.

[Willem laboring] Phew!

That was challenging.

I can imagine what it would be if it were below freezing, had we done this in the fall of spring.

That would be treacherous.

Pretty slimy.

This is terrific because I know its an end.

I can fantasize that I'm on the north ridge of Everest, climbing up toward the second step, which is where it gets tough.

Just as good as some of his other fantasies.

Probably as likely to happen.

Hey, Will.

I left my hat down there.

You wanna go back down and get it?

Your hat.

My hat.

Where'd you leave it?

Down where we looked out of the overlook.

I'll go get it, Good.

You’ll take my pack?

I will.

[laughing] Okay.

That's called an in a pig's eye.

Your hat’s right there.

Yeah, I know.

Day was, Gary.

The day was.

Yeah.

We were talking earlier about all this lightweight equipment that we have the benefit of now.

Yeah.

You think back to your youth back when we were in Boy Scouts or later when we were in our 20s, hiking with everything was real heavy.

Oh, yeah.

For years... I hiked with a WWII surplus rucksack with a metal frame... Ski pack!

...that was actually a solid half-inch of metal.

Yeah, I had one.

Oh, I still do.

It’s in my cellar.

They put an awful sore across your lower back... Oh, you bet.

...after a while.

Yeah, they were great rucksacks.

♪ Oh, Will, looks like the woodpeckers have been active here.

Yeah.

Who do you suppose?

Downy?

Hairy?

What?

It's not a Pileated.

It's not as oval as a normal one.

Oh, no.

That tree is not going to last long now.

Now, isn't that the reason they go after it?

Yeah, they get bugs under the bark.

But now that they dug into it... Well, c’est la vie.

Yeah.

Comes to us all.

That’s right.

We don't get woodpeckers on us, we just get old.

[chuckling] Yeah.

♪ You know, this rock was right together once before?

Yeah.

Freeze-and-thaw cycle pushed it apart.

♪ Well, we left the car less than two hours ago.

I still got plenty of gas in my tank as we approach the first summit.

♪ I would say the summit is right over there.

Find a place to eat, should we?

Yeah.

Take advantage of the breeze for a while.

We were just having a little lunch here on top of Mount Welch, and along comes somebody from the opposite direction who are you?

Lisa.

Lisa?

I'm Will.

Glad to meet you.

And you're taking the trail... I’m Gary.

Hi Gary.

Nice to meet you.

I'm sorry!

Don’t pay attention to him.

[laughing] And you're taking the trail the opposite direction from what we are.

Because?

I don't know.

Just variety?

Just for a different approach.

Yeah.

You do this often?

I do.

Okay.

But I usually come the other way, so I thought I'd take it this way now.

Okay, so we're not quite halfway the way we're going, right?

Um, well you're at the top of Welch, so I guess you’re sort of halfway.

Okay.

Does your dog Teddy have any problems going on those steep ledges, going or over?

No, absolutely not.

He’s better than you or I. Yeah.

We just saw two border collies that had to be lifted down.

Oh, really?

The ledges, yeah.

No, he’s unbelievable.

How many times you think you've done this loop?

Probably somewhere in the teens, I guess.

So you know it pretty well.

Yeah.

Dog go with you most times?

He does.

Yep.

He's great.

He's a good hiking buddy, that's for sure.

Yeah.

It's nice to have a dog because he gets you out.

Well yeah, exactly.

You know, you can't just say, Oh, I don't feel like doing something today, because he wants to.

Come on, let’s go.

[laughing] See, look at him.

He’s ready to go.

He has no fear.

He's pretty awesome.

Lisa, it's a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you.

You too.

And I may you again sometime.

Yeah.

Maybe on the trails.

Could be.

Okay, be careful.

Thank you, you too.

♪ Now Gary, we are looking at thousands and thousands of acres of national forest, right?

Wooh!

Which were privately owned 100-something years ago.

Actually owned by a few large lumber barons, mostly.

And logged off and then burnt accidentally.

This was a disaster area one time.

So about 100 years ago well, just 100 years ago Congress passed the Weeks Act, which was a... motion by a congressman from Massachusetts, John Weeks, who had a summer home up here.

In Lancaster.

Oh, yeah.

Beautiful mansion atop a mountain.

The act provided that Congress purchase... ruined land like this for conservation purposes logging it, but also preservation.

A big part of that, though you're right.

A big part of that was to protect the waterways.

That's right.

Because after all this was cut off and the slash left in the fires, it exposed so much soil that it was filling up all the tributaries.

It became a real water quality issue.

Yeah.

Now Weeks was a businessman, so he knew that... his business was being hurt by the lack of water in the summertime.

Plus the canals were drying up.

They didn't have a steady water supply.

So it made sense for a businessman to sponsor it, but also for a conservationist to get behind it.

You remember what the speaker of the House, [Joseph] Cannon, said?

Not one [cent] for scenery.

So it was a hard fight.

That's right.

But they got it.

But it's the scenery that is so important now that brings so many tourists to New Hampshire.

And a great deal of the economy depends on the tourists.

And they certainly come to look at this.

They would not be coming to look at barren hills with slash and burns.

Yep.

Or a development all the way up the hill.

Right.

Of course, we gotta remember that that land was bought very, very cheaply.

Yeah, it was.

Because there was no value left to it as far as harvesting timber.

Beautiful.

Well, thank you, John.

Thank you, Congress.

We haven't had too much to thank them for lately.

We ought to have something to toast the centennial of the Weeks Act.

God, I was going to bring a bottle of wine, but this is lightweight camping today.

You don't have any lightweight wine?

I was going to bring some dried wine, but we have no water.

Okay, well... I think we better get cranking if we’re gonna get in by dark.

That's right.

You bring a flashlight?

No, but I thought you're shining personality would lead the way.

Yeah, right.

I think we’d better get going.

We leave Welch and start across the valley.

Dickey awaits.

We're going right down there to the saddle and all the way back up there, about 100 ft taller than the mountain we were just on.

It's a very distinct smell of the fir trees.

It's hard to describe, but, boy, once you smell it, you know what it is.

It's very pleasing.

I can understand why people used to like to put little pouches of cedar under their pillows and so forth as a freshener.

Always reminds me of being in the woods.

[birds calling] There.

Second peak.

Now it's all downhill from here.

Beautiful country.

However, it won't be beautiful after dark.

I am going to start down the mountain.

♪ Over this way.

Yes.

A turn.

Well, we're now standing on top of these cliffs that we were looking at when we were having lunch.

We were having lunch right on top of that peak.

We left there just a little over an hour ago.

Had a pretty steep climb down into that saddle beyond what we can see, back up to the other peak.

And now, back down the shoulder here and headed back down.

Pretty good views from both peaks and much of the way along.

♪ Gary... we made it.

We made it.

It was a hard day's work.

Jeez.

So congratulations.

I think I sweated off 10 pounds.

I know it.

I hope so.

We're only a 10th of a mile from the truck.

Do you think we can make it?

Well, if we take it easy we can.

I guess we can.

You gotta admit the views were well worth it.

Yeah.

I’d do that again.

Yeah.

It's a very nice climb.

Virtually every direction you could look, you could see nice views.

Yeah, yeah.

And lots of people.

Lots of dogs.

Yeah, I’d do that again.

That was fun.

If I still can, we'll see.

Well, you know, we just got to keep trying.

Yes, yes you're right.

I can't thank you enough for coming along again.

Well, as always, I enjoy it.

We'll do it again, somewhere, somehow.

So that means it's come to that time once again when we have to say goodbye.

I’m Willem Lange, with Gary Moore, and I hope to see you again on Windows to the Wild.

♪