Photography by Zachary Faugno

Sedona, Arizona (2019)

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Mount Jefferson, NH (White Mountains) 

Not only is this a really goofy picture of myself on a mountain, it's also a picture of me on a trip where I had to make a decision to turn around. I know we aren’t on some huge mountain range but the White Mountains of New Hampshire have plenty of risks involved if you try to push yourself through bad weather, and that is exactly what happened to my hiking partner and me. Usually, Kyle and I will think of some mountains to hike and then we pick a trail and because of our schedules, we usually have to decide last minute when to head up north. When one day I got the text from Kyle saying “Hey dude I’m free tomorrow! We are going to Jefferson.” and I will never turn down a day in the mountains so of course, I was on board with that. So the next day Kyle picks me up at Riverside at 6am and we start our drive up to the mountains. While on our drive we noticed that the weather was less than ideal for hiking in the whites. It was raining with strong winds and an overcast sky. We didn’t think anything of it at then but now looking back on it we probably should have gone hiking somewhere else. But we continued on towards the beautiful scenery of the white mountains that were still breathtaking as they hid in the clouds. 

Once Kyle and I got to the base of Mt. Jefferson we changed into our hiking clothing and peered up at the mountain. There was nothing to see because the top was hidden in overcast. As we started our hike I stopped and looked at Kyle and mentioned how this was probably the first time I’ve ever been hiking in NH and there was no one else on the trail beside the person I was hiking with. It was a strange atmosphere on the trail it was one of the only times I’ve been hiking were I was actually kind of freaked out because of the vibes I was getting from the forest. But Kyle and I continued on towards the top. This was a very long and slow hike, the trail was wet and steep and it had been a little bit since the last time I actually hiked up a mountain. We hoped that the later that it got the more potential for the storm to pass over us. But this ended up not being the case because when we got the spot right before you climb above the treeline we could still hear the winds howling overhead which sounded like jets flying over us. Kyle and I huddled up ate our cliff bars, drank some water, and then sat down and began to talk about what we should do. Kyle wanted to continue on to the top but I wanted to turn around knowing that it would be dangerous to go on. I have been hiking longer than Kyle and I’m a little more grounded than he is. Getting to the top of a mountain has never been my main objective when out hiking, I do enjoy when I make it to the top but my main goal is to have a good time on the trail with my friends and to see something new. I have always lived by the motto that nothing is worse getting hurt or killed for. Kyle and I finally came to an agreement that we should turn around and cut our losses. 

For almost the entire hike down Kyle complained that we turned and around and thought the storm wasn’t that bad, but his tune changed when we finally go back down to the car and he looked up and the top was still obscured by clouds and we could hear the wind howling down the mountain. 

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in hearing some of my stories from the trail and my adventures! I’m thinking about using this a little more of a blog spot but still posting my photography as well. The plan would be to post a photo and then tell the story behind that photo or maybe about how I got there. If you are interested in seeing that please let me know!