Saturday, 1/8: Owl's Head?? No Osceolas.

tMail has a fantasy about skiing in to Owl's Head.  I doubt there's snow cover.  Stay tuned and post your thoughts in the comments section.  And Speicher, tell Purrier that we're going to do SOMETHING, even if we don't have the exact plan yet.  We've got weather forecasts, snow, war, all sorts of things to worry about.  we'll meet at 8:30 at some trailhead in the Whites.

[Update 1/7]  It's the Osceolas via Greeley Ponds Trail.   Email for start time/date/etc.

DogMan's Trip Report:

1. Amongst all the other overlaps in interests and experiences, I learned that Mutha also has fear of "getting wood" from a massage. Marvelous!
2. Missed MD on the trail, so no good discussions about world peace, we could only briefly visit the B-29 question, no resumption of the hero discussion.
3. Woodstock is a great place to finish a hike (NOT LINCOLN).
4. Trudy and Spanky are quite the mountain dogs.
5. The day got  a bit disjointed summit wise but who cares. Nice to be out, nice place to live and play, nice to hang with everyone. Sure beats working.

tMail's Trip Report:

• Chip hit 100mph driving to NH, at which point he says, “I should back it off a little we dropped it to 90mph”
• It’s a guarantee if more than 2 Vermont boys are in the car they will miss the exit for Lincoln, it’s a given
• Couple cool things learned about Chip avid reader, loves the Corvette and loves his Packers.
• If we are talking about secondary nicknames MadDog has earned his “Jenny Craig”
  MadDog is on a “diet”. He pointed out how many points each item was on the menu at Woodstock Inn, (that’s in N. Woodstock).
• He is allowed to eat on point a day (1 gram protein, ½ a carb, 1 electrolyte if he wants to cheat)
  His meal at Woodstock was about 1,000,000 points I almost puked looking at it
• I want a hedge fund to manage my health care
• DogMan I figured out is on my team for the privatization of health care and social security non of which will probably get.
• Lambeau is still learning but he has great potential
• I have an interesting relationship with Trudy I am either tugging on her tail to pull her up a mountain or pulling on it to stabilize her she doesn’t seem to mind.
• The green goat truck, smells interesting, there was a tennis ball mashed with goat $hit that Spanky just wouldn’t stop chasing
• I learned that MD was a chain smoker.
• Mutha at one point when building his house could bench press 225lbs
• DogMan needs to introduce me to Daisy

Mutha's Trip Report:

• East Osceola only.
• Lambeau isn't mountain ready yet
• Trail was icy - slow going.
• MadDog, thanks for going back down w/ Chipster and Lambeau.  Missed you on the trail.
• Great time was had by all.
• Spanky The Wonder Dog is world famous - was recognized on the trail by HoneyHiker and Cillbeast and ... um, damn - can't remember the guy's name... Jared?  I kept calling him Ryan.  Sigh.  Am losing my mind.
• Weird day out - the dynamic was entirely transformed by circumstances.  Lambeau couldn't deal with what were honestly not dog-friendly conditions and Chip had to head back down.  MadDog went with them while tMail raced up the mountain after me and DogMan who didn't stick around to find out why there was nobody behind us.  My bad on that one, but I needed to generate heat. 
• The fact that Trudy and Spanky handled the trail with ease completely cranked my admiration for those dogs up past 11.
• Hiking with Chip:  I have one, single Chip story (MadDog spent the day with him):  Après hike, we headed to the Woodstock Inn for beer and snacks.  Chip got a burger the size of a legless cat (coincidence?) with cheese and 5 slices of bacon.  After observing that the ketchup bottle on the table was only half-full, he snagged on from the neighboring table and proceeded to dip everything he ate into a huge pile of ketchup on his plate.  He lifted up one bun (the size of ladies' handbag) and unload about 12 ounces of ketchup on it.  He then replaced the bun.  He ate most of it (taking the bacon out and dredging it in ketchup) but ate it around the outside, clockwise, leaving behind the central 3 ounces of burger/bun with teethmarks around the outside that made it look like a gang of rats had eaten their fill before finally backing away from ketchup overload. On the way out of the Inn after eating, I noticed that Chip still had on his plastic mountaineering boots - the rest of us had, as usual, changed back at the trailhead.  He and tMail headed towards his car (he was driving).  He said "Now there's a lesson to be learned - I gotta remember to bring casual footwear next time."
• ...  ??? ...