Some Pointy Bits with Friends

Paul here (aka Sparky on the trail) with some news! The two successfully completed their Hamiltonian duties and I chauffeured them (along with Roxy in the back) up to the White Mountains. The two enjoyed their time with old and new friends, but were ready to get on the trail.
Because of my questionable fitness, we opted to do a day-hike our first day taking us 7 miles over Mt. Moosilauke. (See pictures below) Beautiful weather and a trail dog that liked to carry lunch and water made for a very enjoyable day. Amazing the two
said this was their first natural bald peak on the trail! Had I come at the perfect time to do the best part of the trial? Ha!
The next day we were joined by David, Ben's dad, who was similarly looking for some 'pain' as a fellow hiker put it. The plan was to do 27 miles in 3 days taking us over Franconia Ridge, one of the most scenic parts of the Whites (and maybe the AT!?!), onward past Garfield, South Twin, Zealand, then down into
Crawford Notch to our car. Little did we know it would be cloudy, windy, rocky, and long. As the pictures can attest it was windy and cloudy up on the ridge, robbing us of our much deserved views. We
pressed on, and on, and for myself I was doubtful I would make it past the next hill let alone mountain. After many painful steps David and I finished in good spirits, after all this was another day on the trail for the three Thru-Hikers who shrugged off the high mileage.
With some ice cream and junk-food for lunch, we left the three at the trail head with a few miles and vertical to climb before their dinner and bed. We will hopefully hear from them again before the finish!

Pete's Dad said...
Thanks, Paul, for the blog entry and pictures. That was an amazing day on top of Mt. Lafayette! Remember boys and girls, don’t wear cotton in the mist!How about those “White Mountain switchbacks”? 2,000 feet straight up or down through the rocks with a creek running through them. (I am not whining, Laura, just acknowledging the challenges - grin) Fortunately, the rewards were worth the efforts. Even if the views on the ridge were lacking, the freshness of the winds and the emotional highs were incredible. And much better views from the Twin Peaks the next day.Some of the highlights included Ben’s cooking (which Laura prepared last winter), stinky feet (which are not as bad on the trail), worshipping quick glimpses of the sun, leaning into the wind, watching Sparky light fires with wet wood and no white gas, and Snickers overdosing. Thanks, guys, for taking some of the weight out of my pack. I like the new “light philosophy” of your trip. And I promise never again to get on the bad side of the Trail Gods – they know how to bite back! My socks have not dried out, yet.After spending only three days with the Trail Dogs, I am blown away (literally on that ridge) with the magnitude of their accomplishments. They have been doing this for five months with another month ahead of them. So tell them how proud you are and support the shelter. They deserve it.Now that I have recovered from cramping thighs, calves, and feet, I find I really miss being with Tom Dooly, Pooch and Sparky the Eagle Scout. Gotta go, room service just arrived…-Ranger Doug, aka Pete’s Dad, aka David

and now for something not entirely different...

Tomorrow we head down to Clinton, NY, back to Hamilton to lead Adirondack Adventure. We will both be taking groups incoming freshmen into the woods to learn about college life, each other, and Hamilton life in genreal. However, this means that we now have to endure a near 15 day hiatus from the trail... ouch. We will lose our hiking legs, we will lose our toughness, we will not lose weight, but we will have a great time reuniting with friends long lost and taking lost of scared freshmen into the mountains for some lessons on real living. We are sad to say goodbye to many of our hiking companions as we will never see many of them again. By the time we get back on the trail, a few of them may have even finished!! But however long we spend away from the trail that we call home, there will no doubt be a quiet song in the back of our minds calling us ever north towards Maine. And when we return, north we will doubtlessly head. We have a target date now: September 24th. We think thats when this whole crazy thing will be done. That is over a month away, and yet we are mere 390 miles distant... so close, but there are a whole lot of pointy bits to go over before we get there.

We will spend tonight here in Plymouth, NH, in the heamaster's house at Holderness School (for the enevitably ungifted? ;-) The Peck family is hosting as the moment, recalling those days when we were in fact a part of their family, and perhaps still are. We will awake early tomorrow morning, look for our ride, and then be gone to NY!!

Sleep is calling,

TrailDogs

Just keep walking...

Its been a while, but rest assured, we contintue north. First, thank you to Bob and Ruth Bradley: your hospitality was truly astounding. We can't do what we are doing without people like you. We rested for a day at the Bradley's home in Windsor, MA, just east of Dalton. We were treated to delicious dinners despite a broken oven, two gorgeous Bernise Mt Dogs, a car with which to solve many a pack crisis, and hospitality to suit royalty. We truly cannot thank them enough, as with all of our homestays, for both putting us up and putting up with us.

We are now in Medon, VT, just west of Killington, in the home of Bruce and Amy Peacock, whose daughter Sarah is a current Hamilton student and great friend of ours. Once again, warm bed and filling meals are re-energizing us just in time to make our push into NH. Soon we will be getting off of the trail for 10+ days to return to Hamilton to lead Adirondack Adventure, a pre-oriention freshmen trip. First however, we must venture into the White Mtns. of NH for perhaps the hardest stretch of the entire trail: 3000+ foot climbs and lots of rocks lie ahead.

We must keep walking, so keep us in your thoughts, and hoping all is well. Happy Trails,

TrailDogs