Next up: Dorigan, Jeffrey and the wild rainy ride

The forecast for Saturday looks pretty damned wet. Typical November. Whatever Dorigan, Jeffrey has in mind, we better bring a boat. Count me in.

In the meantime, Danville has an inch or two of the white stuff on the ground and tonight it should drop below 20deg. Spanky and I went for a moonlight run last night in the new-fallen snow, cold, crisp air and bright moon and black shadows. I recommend it.

[Update 11/13] It looks like the rain is going to HAMMER us on Saturday. I may wear my mountaineering boots just to keep the weather out. Additional gear: balaclava - a light one (or a light face mask to keep the freezing rain off my nose/face.

[Update 11/14] We're in for the great dramatic outing of 2008. This looks like we'll be referring to it with a long series of nicknames, like:

• The Time Madison Tried to Kill Us ... AGAIN!
• The Great Soak
• The Time We Lost That Guy Jeff What's-His-Name
• Q. Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? A. Because it was better than being CRUSHED, KILLED & DESTROYED in the Northern Presi's.
• Hey, is that an island in middle of Lake Adams?
• Woah, fish at the hut?
• I have gills.
• I'm cold.
• This isn't fun.
• I'll fucking wade through it. Who the fuck cares. This is really lame. I'm cold and wet. Shut UP Keith!!!!
• My balls are peeling
  

Saturday or Sunday 11/8 or 11/9

I'm still reeling from Obama's win. At 11pm last night, Spanky and I danced in the streets of Danville. We believed that once Obama won, there would be dog-food everywhere ... and THERE WAS! ... Dancing in the street...Just us, but dancing nonetheless.

Saturday looks very rainy, Sunday looks a little better - the next day or two will tell. Here's what we know:

MadDog: probably out of commission on both days, probably drunk as a skunk
tMail: always up for a good time. also may do something with friend w/ sore legs
PM: suggested a VT trek
g-$$$: is free Sunday
mutha: wants Osceolas and Tecumseh in 2008. Aside from that, it doesn't matter.

[Update 11/7, 7:15pm] It's highly unlikely that anything big is going to happen up here. It's looking like two days of rainy weather all over Vermont and New Hampshire. Maybe I'll get some laundry done.

Cabot-Waumbek, Part II

The official plan, is the N-S route. MD, tMail and I will be staying in Danville and leaving around 5am. We'll spot a car at Starr King trailhead and mosey up to Mill Brook Road for a planned 7am start. We hope to be done by 5pm Saturday, but we'll have headlamps and warm clothes just in case we're doing the last miles in the dark.

We're all traveling light.

[Update 11/2, 7:30 EST] Pictures are posted [Mutha's Pics] [tMail's Pics]

tMail Trip Report
This "Trip Report" started in 2006 the first time I was put on an email with all of you by Spungie. Since then I have had the Early tMail
opportunity to meet (Mutha, PM, G-$$$, MD) who I consider some of my closest friends/family who over the last two years I have bonded with and trust literally with my life. You are all stand up people and I admire all of your qualities. I have been on more adventures than I could have ever imagined by meeting you guys and I thank all of you for the time spent with me hiking, running, socializing, mentoring and the opportunity to become close friends with all of you...to say friends doesn't go far enough I think more family... Thank you all again!!!

Cabot / Waumbek Trip Report:

1. Okay the cats out of the bag I lied not really a ridge but it was after South Weeks...
2. North Weeks out of Willard Notch was a bitch
3. MD loves the Bail Out
4. MD is my project manager for moving me to Vermont when I lose my job at SSgA.
5. Mutha's display of rock climbing on The Horn impressive
6. MD double short sleeve EMS Techwick...nice touch.
7. Mutha "Now that's what I am talking about"
8. The nightmares of MD..."aaaaa"..."aaaaaa"..."What is it?"
9. EZ-Z, G-$$$ awesome...
10. The Saloon Restaurant in Lancaster...everything on the menu was off the menu
11. The "Ting" sound of rocks off the bottom of MD's Ford 150
12. Mill Pond Road where the F are you?
13. Driving home with Mutha stopping and checking out the Milky Way and 2 shooting stars awesome!!!
14. Hotel Muthaville Sweet!!!!
15. MD and Mutha thanks for those 20 miles yesterday...MD...I got you planned out for your last assaults...

MadDog Trip Report

well boys, nicely done. congrats to tmail for his first patch, congrats to mutha for his second!? good lord.

- great to have g-$$$, ez-e and a bottle of sparkly at the finish. all hikes should end with the pop of cork.
- the views of the dusted whites were just stunning.
- definition of a ridge (n) 2. A long narrow chain of hills or mountains. Also called ridgeline. Don't let Tmail tell you otherwise.
- Watermelon man, is not Herbie Hancock tune from years ago.
- Being speared in the head has a remarkable way of correcting heads-down hiking.
- How many items can a restaurant have on it's menu, and then be out of when guests order?

Mutha's Trip Report

• I'll never eat in Lancaster, NH again. I can't even take the time to explain it. It'll be the topic of another trip conversation.
• I discovered a new use for watermelon Jolly Rancher candies: flavorings for anything, like tea (throw 'em in a cup of hot water), bait, caulk, ..., um, ... I guess that's about it.
  
• I should've looked at the map. What I thought was going to be about 4k ft elevation gain was actually about 7,400ft. The drops into the notches were much more significant than I'd anctipated.... or rather, when tMail said "Once we are up on the ridge, it's ridgeline the whole way." I should've realized it was all ruse to get us on the trail.
  
• Our timing was pretty good, targeting 5:pm and tagging g-$$$'s champagne at 5:15.
• Seeing g-$$$ pull out the bottle of bubbly was more than I could stand. I agree w/ MadDog - this is a tradition that is too great to die. I took a swig and thought "um, that's kind of a big bottle, too bad it'll go to waste". When we handed the empty bottle to tMail for a keepsake I realized that g-$$$ had the right idea.
• The Kilkenny Ridge Trail is lovely, rugged (although not in a bouldery way) and rarely hiked. The trail was difficult to follow at times on some of the switchbacks, but many parts of the north-facing notches were mossy and deep-dark-woods.
• The blowdowns were dramatic. Much of the trail was through what looked like a warzone. What's up with the ravaged trees? Many were uprooted, some were just splintered and broken. What happened there?
• The view of the northern Presidentials was outstanding. See the picture galleries linked at the top of this post (or in the Trip Gallery links for 081101 in the sidebar).
• The cold and wind were manageable with the light clothes we were wearing, but barely. We had the usual 2minute limit on stopping to eat/chat, but in the dark notches it wasn't good to stop too long.
• The air was clear. See pic at right of zoomed in image of observatory on the Bad Boy.
  

Cabot-Waumbek

At some point we have to decide about whether we'll stay in Danville or Goreham Friday night. Take a look at the attached map, which doesn't show Goreham.

If we stay in Danville, here's what we'd have to do Saturday morning:
- drive from Danville to Jefferson, NH (see green dots).
- drop a car off at the end of Starr King Rd. (Est. time from Danville, 1hr)
- then we have to drive up to Stark (see green dots), head down Mill Brook Road and park.

Google Maps estimates the entire trip to Stark (dropping a car on Starr King Rd) at about 1.5 hours. We'd have to add about 20min to get to the trailhead on Mill Brook Rd. Let's say 1:45 - 2:00 from Danville.

If we stay in Gorham, there's no real reason to spot a car Friday night, although there's no harm (Starr King Rd is right on the way). Google Maps estimates it's about 40min to Stark from Gorham, so it would be about 1:00 - 1:20 Saturday morning. I'm guessing we can save about 30-40 minutes by staying in Goreham.

Sun Data:

• Begin civil twilight 6:51 a.m.
• Sunrise 7:21 a.m.
• Sun transit 12:28 p.m.
• Sunset 5:35 p.m.
• End civil twilight 6:05 p.m.

If we wanted to hit the trail just before sunrise (say, 7am), we'd have to leave Danville around 5-5:30am. We'll have 10hrs of sunlight to cover 19.5 miles. I think we'll need 8 if we don't run too fast, 7 if we trot most of the trottable sections, 6 in mid-summer dry conditions.

Sunday, 10/26 ... uh ... I mean Saturday, 10/25

Saturday I'm going to the St. Johnsbury Academy/Lyndon Institute football game, one of the oldest high-school football rivalries in the US (104 years old this year). The current series standing is at 57 (St. J.) to 40 w/ 6 ties.

Sunday I'm going to hit Moosilauke. Note the current (Tuesday night) weather warning:

"...WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW POSSIBLE ABOVE 1000 FEET IN
THE ADIRONDACKS AND UP TO AN INCH OF SNOW POSSIBLE IN VERMONT
ABOVE 1000 FEET BY WEDNESDAY MORNING."

[Update: 10/22] It looks like Saturday is going to be the nicer day, so Spanky and I will probably be heading out to do "The Moose" on Saturday.

[Update: 10/24] Oy! The rain has moved to Saturday afternoon and night, with Sunday being the more pleasant (with wet trails). Stay tuned if you plan on heading out.

[Update: 10/25] Moosilauke for Dan & Spanky and The Bad Boy for tMail & the PM.

Mutha's Trip Report (Pics Here):

Spanky and I took the Asquam Ridge trail up, and the CarriageRd/Snapper trails down. We actually tried to take the Gorge Trail down, but couldn't find it. The weather was nice all the way up, but the summit was HOWLING, cold and very low visibility. I can't wait to hear from tMail & the PM. If Moosilauke was rough, the Bad Boy must've been High Adventure! We had snow, although not really more than an inch or two. But on the summit, there were knee-deep drifts on the trail!

See pic at right for some excellent windblown ears (sorry about the full mouth, but we were splitting a sandwich).

This was 46 (for my second round of 48's) and the plan is to hit Cabot & Waumbek next weekend for both tMail's and my final 47 & 48's. We're psyched.

The PM's Trip Report (tMail's Pics Here, the PM's pics Here)

Bad Boy... well, sort of. We hiked up into Tucks (I had never been on the trail), onto the ridge, and then opted to forego the summit for a longer descent down Boott Spur. There were a TON of people out - mostly French - and we saw the storm start to roll in around 11:30am. We said "F the summit." Turns out we made the right call!

The wind picked up, the clouds enveloped the ridge, and we experienced some sweet, raw fall weather!

Highlights -
1) A German man asking us if we had seen his lost friend. Yeah...
2) Amy admitting to having anxiety attacks due to high winds.
3) I didn't forget my boots or shit my pants this hike.

On a side note, my buddy from work (Scott Lindblom) was up on the mountain with 3 of his friends and he texted us around 5:30pm saying they left at 8:20am, summited via Boott Spur, and then had a 5hr descent via Lion's Head due to one guy spraining his ankle. I can't imagine the descent in the pouring rain and winds. I'll get the full story on Monday!

Added note from tMail:
PM hit the nail on the head with the trip report...

1. Be on the look out for Simon he is missing he could be on Jefferson thinking it is Bad Boy
2. There must be 20 french teenage girls that experience hypothermia
3. Banjo and Baja are great to spend the day with.

The Tripyramids

I created a new post for this item for the trip reports, not that it needed it but because I'm still sleepwalking and not responsible for my decisions. Pics by tMail here. Pics by Mutha here.

tMail Sez:

What a day...

1. I missed the pick up in Plymouth as MadDog did the Tour De Plymouth
   
2. Mutha's state in DD I think he was still sleep walking
3. Livermore where are you?
4. 20 minutes into the hike Vasque's fully submerged in water and toes frozen North Slide (by tMail)
   
5. Interesting trail chatter we will leave it at that
6. Sabbaday everything I thought it would be
7. MD getting closer to his 48....Cabot and Waumbek scheduled for November 1st
8. Tmail doing Middle Tripyramid 4 times in one day has to be a record
9. Red Sox Suck I hope the lose
10. North Slide strikes again
11. Livermore great trail for the trail trot
12. Running into the Goonies on the Livermore Trail
13. The lost city of Babylon or something like that
14. Great Friends
15. Great People
16. Great to see Sasquatch

Mutha Sez:

• I rolled out of bed when MD rolled into the driveway, and in five minutes rolled into his car. I have a vague recollection of watching the pretty leaves on the trees and then noticing that we were approaching West Virginia.
• The Sabbaday Brook trail is a trail. The Livermore Trail is a hell-hole of tiger traps made to capture anything smaller than a cow. On the plus side, Westie and I ended up having to stop, doubled over with laughter as we saw both tMail and MadDog, one-after-the-other, drop into a slippery mess of knee-deep mud. View West (by Mutha)
  It was like two cartoon characters following each other over hot coals with a 1/2 second delay in their reactions, followed by lots of arm-swinging, head-bobbing and slippy-sliding.
• The Lost City of Livermore may never be found, and that's fine with me. It probably fell over, burned down and sank into the mud.
• tMail hit Middle four times while Westie, MD and I sat in a puddle of sunlight on cold, calm North Tripyramid, soaking up the warmth and enjoying the effortless recreation.
• The conversation was ... erratic. The topic sequence went something like this: Corn, Airplanes, The Provost's Desk, Sofas, The Red Sox, Sasquatch, Airplanes, Buddha, Red Sox, Tempeh, Beets, Airplanes, The Lost City of Livermore, ...

Maddog Sez:

Adding a few other notables:

1. the facial expression of MZ, through the blinds, when his rides shows up and he's rolled out of the hay.
2. We need to get TMail's call dirty.
3. It was comical to see Westie herding cats at the end so he could the make game on time.
4. The trail was a highway department's dream - can you say thousands of cubic yds of gravel.
5. WTF were are my trail runner gaiters? Next, I'm breaking out my nylons....easy MZ don't excited.
6. It was really funny to meet those geo-geeks. Right out of a movie.
7. What's top speed of a rocket sled coming down the slide in the winter, on fully loaded snow and ice conditions? Good problem for the St J., students.
8. A real nice day..thanks boys!

October 18th/19th

So far, here's the roster:

• Mutha: Green Mountain Marathon
• tMail/Maddog: Unspecified Death March
• g-$$$: Available and hot to trot
• The MPM: Claims to be able to teleport to any event.

tMail's Plans:

The destination will be the Tripyramids we will spot a car at the trail head for Livermore and then ascend up the Tripyramids up the Sabbaday Brook Trail...based on my calculations it will be about 13.1 miles

We will NOT be going down the North Slide we will go down via the Pine Bend Brook Trail then hook up with the Scaur Ridge which runs into the Livermore.

Time and meeting place to be determined...

Moosilauke & Nancy Pond Trail

tMail and I went our separate ways. He hit The Moose with a pal and I hit the Pemi with Spanky The Wonder Dog. The trail was pretty quiet and nobody was in the Pemi. There were maybe a dozen folk on the trail, but once above The Cascades things were pretty quiet.

tMail & Mr./Mrs. MPM ran a half on Saturday, the weather is beautiful, the foliage is at peak color and everyone seems really happy with the fall, in spite of the rapid crumbling of society and the return to hunting and gathering Mutha's pics here.

From Nancy Pond Trail to Norcross Pond To The Pemi

October 12th: Increasing Irrelevance

Ouch. That hurt. I've been heads-down in work and a nasty cold that is just starting to depart. There is a tentative plan for Sunday to hit some longer distance - possibly a jaunt into the Pemi and out again, maybe over Carrigain or some other summit, but distance and time are the name of the game ... if I feel up to it.

tMail got slammed with a cold but hopes to be clear in a day or two - and rumor has it will be running a 'half' with Mr. & Mrs. MPM on Saturday, so who knows what the future may bring.

In the meantime I'll follow the methods of the MPM and mentally crank a winter Pemi... ahhh, it's sure seems possible... must get fresh batteries for the headlamp ...

October 5th: Chicorua Franconia Ridge

tMail called it: Chicorua. He's got some crazy route that goes up and down and all over the place. Here's his version:

Maybe up Champney Falls Tr, then across the Bee Line Tr., Lawrence Tr. and pick
up the Oliverian Brook Trail in Paugus Pass?

We'll know more as the situation develops.

[Update 10/4] Mutha's got a bad cold. tMail & Westie will head for Franconia Ridge on Sunday for an 8/8:30 start at the trailhead.