Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Lonesome Lake Hut

these pics are of Lonesome lake with Franconia Ridge...Llittle Haystack...and Mt. Lafayette in the background. I hope to be up on Franconia Ridge on Friday....weather permitting.




Time Flies

7/31/2013

Time Flies

I wrote a great (I never claimed to be humble)story over 2 days, about hiking in the rain.....pole vaulting a swollen brook after searching an hour for a safe place to cross, and then seeing the moose. Lost it all in one mistaken button push.  Now it is all gone and old news anyhow. I am in New Hampshire.....am hiking the White Mountains.  Have gone as far as Franconia Notch.  I have done Moosilauke, Mt Wolf, and South and North Kinsman.   Am taking a break now.  Am in North Woodstock,NH.  The "Whites" are very tough...... and really cool.  Mount Moosilauke was a rush ....got rain....small hail and lightning up on top.  Coming down the north face on wet rocks was a real challenge.  Fell twice.  It took total concentration....if you mess up you get hurt.  The Beaver Brook Cascades on the north face of Moosilauke were, for me, the absolutely coolest thing that I have seen on this hike to date!  The water falls and cascades just kept going.....all the way down the face of the mountain.   It was unbelievable.....mesmorizing....emotional.....spectacular.....  Yeah
it was quite a rush all right!












Wednesday, July 24, 2013

pictures

this is a tree I walked across to cross a creek.  2. These are my brand new shoes after 1 and a half days on the AT. 3 Black eyed Susan's.  Vermont Rock Fence 






Bull Moose Southbound on AT

Tuesday July 23? 24? Story to follow am hiking now. 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Hanging On

7/21/2013

Hanging On

I have been bouncing up and down as predictably as a Yo-Yo for quite a while now.  Part of the hiking day, I spend asserting boldly to myself that I am going all the way.....that nothing short of injury will possibly stop me now.
The other part of the day, I spend telling myself that hiking up one more damn hill is totally nuts.  That I could be home in Minnesota right now....sitting in the shade by a lake, sipping cold lemonade and watching the waves roll onto the shore.....instead of working my way up these rocks and over these roots..... on this mountain goat path..... up this mountain....whatever mountain it happens to be.....and of course it's starting to rain....so the lightning will probably get here just as I am finally reaching the summit of Killington Mountain.....or Stratton Mountain....or of course Bear Mountain.
(I believe that each of the 14 states on the AT has it's own Bear Mountain, and that I have been up 12 of them .....with the one in New Hampshire and the one in Maine waiting to be climbed)).
 I could get a ride to the Rutland Airport....fly somewhere....transfer....and be on a plane headed to the Twin Cities before the day is over.  I know that airport is down there. I saw it yesterday.....or was it the day before, from up on the top. 
The weather has been hot.  The mosquitoes have been bad.  The Black flies...Deer flies....Horse flies...and the plain old regular flies, all want a piece of the action.... me.
This Yo-Yo ing....all the way.....done today....is exactly me.  I knew it would come, before I ever started this hike.  I love the notion of hiking from Georgia to Maine.  I just absolutely love the romance of it.  The only problem is that to get from Georgia to Maine, you have to go up a hell of a lot of hills..... and then you go back down a hell of a lot of hills.   And the romance does not carry you along....your legs do. 
I have been hanging on.....riding the string... spinning.....waiting for the "Whites".  If I can just hold on and make it to the White Mountains.  The "Whites" are amazing....spectacular....one of the absolute high points of the whole hike.  You spend a lot of time up high, above the tree line.  Climbing The White Mountains is just really really cool.  Of course, it is also really hard.  Am I ready for it?  Can I do it?  Did I come this far...... 1700 miles..... to run out of legs and will ?  I guess that is it....is it not?  Do I have the will and the legs to get to the top?
 Yes.  That is it.  If you truly want to reach the top of whatever mountain it is... that you happen to be climbing..... you are probably going to have to work really hard to get up there.....  You are going to have to earn it.  In earning it comes the joy of reaching the top.  It is that simple. 
I am getting close.  The Whites are up there.  They are waiting for me.  I am excited and scared...Yo-yoing....scared and excited. 
 My plan is to recognize my limitations.  I am tired....  My mind is tired....my body is tired.  So I am going to slow down a bit (yes even slower), and I am going to rest more often.....and I am going to the "Whites".  I hope to get to them a little more rested, a little stronger.  I want to enjoy the experience.  I do not want it to be just another damn hill.
I am at a lodge right now.  I have eaten real food....and I went swimming this afternoon.  The Trail is right by the lake.  I will be on it tomorrow.  I am going to finish Vermont and hike into New Hampshire!
I want to know how far I can go!

Up on top of Killington Mountain, Vermont






Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Food

7/17/2013


Food

Hitch hiked into town this morning,  after an early and brief three mile stroll to the trail head.  Got a ride in a pickup truck,  from a younger family man who hikes, and takes his kids along for the day.  So we talked about The Trail....and how wet it has been this year.....and what a challenge all that mud can be when you are day hiking with your kids.
I am always surprised at how far downhill the highway has to drop to get down into town.    
His work stop was the lumberyard.  I walked to the grocery store from there. The Outfitter next door was not open yet, so I went straight to the food. Usually my first stop in town is the first place that I get to that has food that you can eat....right now.....but today I had decided in advance would be a "healthy food" day.  I am getting weak and run down.  Today has to be heath food day.
  
They have some really great grocery stores along the trail....the ones at Franklin, Daleville, Waynesboro, Front Royale, were great.  And today's store was mighty fine too.  They just have so much food at the big stores.....lots and lots of food. They have so much food packed into this grocery "Price Chopper", in Manchester Center, VT that the grocery carts have to be stored outside.  There just is not any room left inside.  It is just packed wall to wall with great stuff to eat.  And it's incredibly cheap.
 I wonder if anyone has written and published a supermarket guide book?  Somebody should do it.  I can not think of any place more fun to visit.  "Hey!  You have to check out the Big Brown Cow Grocery, in Palukaville.....  they have the widest selection of chocolate bars ever known". 
Since I am only staying one night it is a struggle to decide what to buy.  I simply do not have enough time to eat it all....I need discipline....I need self control. (Hey.  I just realized that I did not buy any ice cream....none of any kind.  Can you believe it?  Now that is self disipline!  Ok the truth is that luckily I forgot ice cream, and I forgot that roasted deli chicken too.  I think I could eat some of that chicken right now.)
Today I made the responsible decision that I would shop mainly for fruit.  I need to get some real fruit back into my diet to supplement those Snickers and Hershey Bars.  
I bought 2 plums....my very first of the season, and two nectarines...again first of the year for me, and a big bunch of red grapes.....and oh my gosh they had Bing Cherries....expensive 
Bing Cherries....they must have just come in season....but they were ripe and I had to have them!  And I bought a giant avocado from Peru, too.  I almost missed it because they were all pretty green and I did not have a day to wait for it to ripen.  I picked through the whole bunch.
(Hey,  I shoulda washed my hands somewhere..... after being on the trail for 5 plus days.  But I did have a clean t-shirt on).  There it was..... huge and it felt ripe....even though it looked pretty green. Yup.  It was perfect. 
Mostly I just looked.  I spent a long time wandering around that store and imagining myself taking a delicious bite of that cake, or those brownies, or savoring wonderful V-8 juice on the back of my tongue.  I added 1/2 lb. of Pepper Jack cheese and a box of Triscuitt...to go with my avocado.  And I bought two prewrapped sub sandwiches....one beef, and one ham and cheese. 
I bought three and a half days of trail food.  I have a resupply box coming up the trail, so am only going out for three nights....probably my shortest stint on the trail ever.  It's been hot and buggy....and my clothes are pretty ripe after just two days.....and as I said......I'm a bit run down.... so I am spoiling myself this once. 
The one thing of note in my resupply purchases is the lack, the total lack of Snickers Bars!  I simply could not find any full sized bars in the store.  Hard to believe.  So I bought a bunch.....way too many I know ........... of Hershey's Extra Dark.  I intended to buy 2 six packs of them at $4.29 apiece, but saw the sign saying 3 for $ 9.99.   That's 6 more bars for $1.41.  How can I say no to that?
When I am carrying 1/2 pound of chocolate, that I do not need up that mountain tomorrow....my mind will change.... Today I can not say no.
That is the only consideration that holds me in check at this grocery store.  Anything I buy that I do not consume by tomorrow morning..... I will have to carry up that hill.  What hill?  I do not know.....I just know that there will be one.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013



On top of the tower on Glastenbury Mountain





At the top of the tower on Stratton Mountain




Vermont


7/16/2013

Time Flies

I wrote a great (I never claimed to be humble)story over 2 days, about hiking in the rain.....pole vaulting a swollen brook after searching an hour for a safe place to cross, and then seeing the moose. Lost it all in one mistaken button push.  Now it is all gone and old news anyhow. I am in New Hampshire.....am hiking the White Mountains.  Have gone as far as Franconia Notch.  I have done Moosilauke, Mt Wolf, and South and North Kinsman.   Am taking a break now.  Am in North Woodstock,NH.  The "Whites" are very tough...... and really cool.  Mount Moosilauke was a rush ....got rain....small hail and lightning up on top.  Coming down the north face on wet rocks was a real challenge.  Fell twice.  It took total concentration....if you mess up you get hurt.  The Beaver Brook Cascades on the north face of Moosilauke were, for me, the absolutely coolest thing that I have seen on this hike to date!  The water falls and cascades just kept going.....all the way down the face of the mountain.   It was unbelievable.....mesmorizing....emotional.....spectacular.....  Yeah
it was quite a rush all right!