Mats Roing
New member
After a scientific car-spotting arrangement where among other things we got involved in helping a VT woman with her flat tire on 302 between Bretton Woods and Crawford Notch. She had just lost her job and her boyfriend and was moving to Portland, ME. Someone else had started to help her with the tire but left her without completing the job since it started to rain. Barry (not on VFTT but should be) started this trip with creating good karma even before spotting the first car. Suddenly several cars stopped close to us and we thought that people are very nice here to stop and ask if they can help.......150 feet behind us a moose emerged from the woods.....oh well....it was cool to see the moose though 
Darlene picked up Gris's daughter Ashley in Franconia and by 10pm a good chunk of people were gathered around a massive fire tended by Unfrozencaveman and Marc Howes. I counted 17 people around the fire the first night and there was a great deal of carbohydrate in-take in preparation for tomorrow's activities. With good 80's tunes blazing from the speakers a team set up the 54 lbs party-tent (in case it rained) in about 30 minutes.........a disco-ball was placed in the center-court of the tent. Then we all went over to the bon-fire which heated up the wooden bench and chairs around it so slowly people took shelter behind the tables and chairs. Unfrozen had brought about a month's worth of firewood..........with Marc Howes feeding the fire we risked running out of wood the 2nd night.......no one suffered frostbite the first night......if you wore shorts, shaving of legs wasn't needed either
Friday July 4th
Unfrozen, Juniper, Nif and Darlene went up Daniel Webster Trail and got a 5:25am start. Barry, Nartreb, Ashley (Gris's daughter), Sven, Karen, ferrisjrf, Peakbagger, Adamiata, Mountaingirl, Sasquatch and myself went up Valley Way to Madison Hut. Kevin (KevinJudy and Emma), BikeSkiHikeFish and Larry started from Bowman at 7am and went up Castle Ridge Trail - Jefferson - Adams - Israel Ridge Trail. We planned to meet somewhere between Jefferson and Adams.
Six of us left at 5:30am sharp as planned! Us other five left at 5:48am after waiting for two unnamed latecomers. 1hr57 min later we were by Madison Hut and the inside quickly filled up with VFTT dudes and dudettes. Took a break (no details needed) and then went up Madison and found the other four already there. Hugs and photos and red,white and blue colors were all abundant. Someone made pushups with the mini-keg as well. Stunningly beautiful weather and Darlene as usual doesn't miss an opportunity for summit group photos. Darlene looked like she just had won the Miss America contest. Ashley came a little behind the rest of us and we met her at the hut after descending Madison. She then went up Madison and traversed over to Daniel Webster and hiked back to Barnes Field. This was her initial plan as well.
The 14 of us split up in a Star Lake Trail group and a Gulfside Trail group. We appreciated the fact that we were blessed with such athletic weather .....the day could not have been much better. A group of four asked if they could pass us.......our conversation probably scared them off or bored them to death......not sure which but we discussed some strange stuff as usual.....
Repair of Uncle Sam hat with ductape on top of Adams and we were on the summit by ourselves. We also sampled a bit of each others different types of energy drinks. ferrisjrf had some home cooked stuff which tasted rather interesting to say the least. Stayed there for a while before heading to Thunderstorm Junction and the big cairn. Nif and Adamiata took off like rockets as usual and weren't able to apply the brakes at Edmand's Col.....they just kept rolling up the other side to Jefferson. Some young dude asked to take photos of us upon arrival at the summit. After 20 minutes or so at the summit, bikeskihikefish, Kevin and Larry shows up and we are now 17 people on Jefferson........Larry asks if anyone wants a thin mint.....he pulls out a roll of it and before he gets it back it's empty - if you feed a flock of wolves.... We could almost smell the sulphur from the Cog Railway now....we could certainly hear the horns......SJ must be in the Washington vinvinity
We say bye to the Adams-bound trio and head for Sphinx Col......I lost my red ribbon but Nif picks it up to ensure 'leave-no-trace" is applied during our trip. Some of the rock rats in our group started to salivate when a nice natural climbing wall shows up where Sphinx Trail intersects Gulfside Trail......some free-soloing up the rock is the result of this. Opposite the Sphinx Trail there was a more moderate 15 degree ledge which Darlene and I managed to put up a new route we called "Parallel Lines"......see photos
After more hat repair the group decided Clay was in the cards so there we went. Peakbagger and I took up the rear end and discussed alternative energy in the form of extracting methane from pig and cow spilling and figured out that in North Carolina you can produce 46 million watts of alternative energy just from the cows. On Clay we took a long nice break and many photos.......Nif had disappeared in the horizon though and next time we found her she was chewing away by a table in the Mt. Wahington cafe. Before that though we ran into Drewski and SherpaJohn right below Washington summit. After some discussion, touting of horns and photos we continued up to join Nif......re-taping of feet and much appreciated pizza and tabasco were some of the activities in there. When we came outside people asked to take photos of us and at least three photographers took the opportunity......did anyone see us on the front page of New York Times, USA Today and Chicago Tribune? Delayed the keg opening and silent moment for Darren's father since too much commotion on top. We met some other people on top of Washington but forgot who they were - Unfrozen: can you help me out here?
Went real swift down to LOC hut. At least Juniper and Barry added Monroe to their 48-list. It was just great to see 14 sparkling hikers flow down the trail in front of you. Keg opening happened on Franklin summit. It wasn't that difficult to spread 5 liters of Heini among 14 people so we had some extra oil cans to lubricate our throats. At a distance we saw someone with a big flag hiking up towards us......and lo and behold - it was McRat! He had been serving 262 ice cream sandwiches along the trail so far.......we got the last two.......dry ice works real well to keep things frozen! So now we were 15 of us and on Eisenhover Mr Metsky himself was waiting!
We had a silent moment for Darrens father on top of Eisenhover. It worked out well since we had the summit to ourselves. On to Pierce and another encounter with SJ's team. His girlfriend Sarah and Howard were there also with Drewski. Here Adamiata and McRat followed Sj's team down to Crawford Notch. After piuctures on Pierce, Kevin, Sven , Karen and Barry went down Crawford Path. At Mizpah Spring Hut Metsky and Nartreb took the short-cut to Crawford Path. Unfrozen, Darlene, Nif, Mountaingirl, Sasquatch, Juniper, ferrisjrf and myself continued to Jackson and we covered the two miles between the hut and Jackson summit in 31 minutes. Beautiful sideways light through the woods........7:30pm and we went down Jackson Trail.......Unforzen and I had some deep discussion about important things in life and suddenly McRat and Adamiata was waiting for us with a cooler full of beer close to 302.....went to pre-place a Heineken can up the trail for the next group of us coming down. Juniper came with the can around the corner and we sat down enjoying life for a while before walking over to the cars across the road. Metsky was waiting here with a giant cookie the size of a pizza......did we gain or lose calories on this trip? Who cares! We had a blast. A great part of the hike was probably to see all the smiling faces we encountered along the ridge.....
Back to the campground in a variety of vehicles. Ed Hawkins had been to the campground earlier in the evening and donated some Pabst Blue Ribbon to us - thank you very much Ed! A great evening around the fire and tomorrow we didn't need to get up early since it was a rest day with rock climbing on the schedule Next party we need to record the discussions around the fire.........some great stuff was heard each night.......
Next episode: Some fierce rock climbing where a grandmother pulls off a wicked overhanging 5.8 route at Square Ledge.....the author didn't make that route......don't tell anyone ;-) Also some whitewater upstream swimming contest in Peabody river. Last but not least - Giggy's arrival to Barnes Field.....
Darlene picked up Gris's daughter Ashley in Franconia and by 10pm a good chunk of people were gathered around a massive fire tended by Unfrozencaveman and Marc Howes. I counted 17 people around the fire the first night and there was a great deal of carbohydrate in-take in preparation for tomorrow's activities. With good 80's tunes blazing from the speakers a team set up the 54 lbs party-tent (in case it rained) in about 30 minutes.........a disco-ball was placed in the center-court of the tent. Then we all went over to the bon-fire which heated up the wooden bench and chairs around it so slowly people took shelter behind the tables and chairs. Unfrozen had brought about a month's worth of firewood..........with Marc Howes feeding the fire we risked running out of wood the 2nd night.......no one suffered frostbite the first night......if you wore shorts, shaving of legs wasn't needed either
Friday July 4th
Unfrozen, Juniper, Nif and Darlene went up Daniel Webster Trail and got a 5:25am start. Barry, Nartreb, Ashley (Gris's daughter), Sven, Karen, ferrisjrf, Peakbagger, Adamiata, Mountaingirl, Sasquatch and myself went up Valley Way to Madison Hut. Kevin (KevinJudy and Emma), BikeSkiHikeFish and Larry started from Bowman at 7am and went up Castle Ridge Trail - Jefferson - Adams - Israel Ridge Trail. We planned to meet somewhere between Jefferson and Adams.
Six of us left at 5:30am sharp as planned! Us other five left at 5:48am after waiting for two unnamed latecomers. 1hr57 min later we were by Madison Hut and the inside quickly filled up with VFTT dudes and dudettes. Took a break (no details needed) and then went up Madison and found the other four already there. Hugs and photos and red,white and blue colors were all abundant. Someone made pushups with the mini-keg as well. Stunningly beautiful weather and Darlene as usual doesn't miss an opportunity for summit group photos. Darlene looked like she just had won the Miss America contest. Ashley came a little behind the rest of us and we met her at the hut after descending Madison. She then went up Madison and traversed over to Daniel Webster and hiked back to Barnes Field. This was her initial plan as well.
The 14 of us split up in a Star Lake Trail group and a Gulfside Trail group. We appreciated the fact that we were blessed with such athletic weather
.....the day could not have been much better. A group of four asked if they could pass us.......our conversation probably scared them off or bored them to death......not sure which but we discussed some strange stuff as usual.....Repair of Uncle Sam hat with ductape on top of Adams and we were on the summit by ourselves. We also sampled a bit of each others different types of energy drinks. ferrisjrf had some home cooked stuff which tasted rather interesting to say the least. Stayed there for a while before heading to Thunderstorm Junction and the big cairn. Nif and Adamiata took off like rockets as usual and weren't able to apply the brakes at Edmand's Col.....they just kept rolling up the other side to Jefferson. Some young dude asked to take photos of us upon arrival at the summit. After 20 minutes or so at the summit, bikeskihikefish, Kevin and Larry shows up and we are now 17 people on Jefferson........Larry asks if anyone wants a thin mint.....he pulls out a roll of it and before he gets it back it's empty - if you feed a flock of wolves.... We could almost smell the sulphur from the Cog Railway now....we could certainly hear the horns......SJ must be in the Washington vinvinity
We say bye to the Adams-bound trio and head for Sphinx Col......I lost my red ribbon but Nif picks it up to ensure 'leave-no-trace" is applied during our trip. Some of the rock rats in our group started to salivate when a nice natural climbing wall shows up where Sphinx Trail intersects Gulfside Trail......some free-soloing up the rock is the result of this. Opposite the Sphinx Trail there was a more moderate 15 degree ledge which Darlene and I managed to put up a new route we called "Parallel Lines"......see photos
After more hat repair the group decided Clay was in the cards so there we went. Peakbagger and I took up the rear end and discussed alternative energy in the form of extracting methane from pig and cow spilling and figured out that in North Carolina you can produce 46 million watts of alternative energy just from the cows. On Clay we took a long nice break and many photos.......Nif had disappeared in the horizon though and next time we found her she was chewing away by a table in the Mt. Wahington cafe. Before that though we ran into Drewski and SherpaJohn right below Washington summit. After some discussion, touting of horns and photos we continued up to join Nif......re-taping of feet and much appreciated pizza and tabasco were some of the activities in there. When we came outside people asked to take photos of us and at least three photographers took the opportunity......did anyone see us on the front page of New York Times, USA Today and Chicago Tribune? Delayed the keg opening and silent moment for Darren's father since too much commotion on top. We met some other people on top of Washington but forgot who they were - Unfrozen: can you help me out here?
Went real swift down to LOC hut. At least Juniper and Barry added Monroe to their 48-list. It was just great to see 14 sparkling hikers flow down the trail in front of you. Keg opening happened on Franklin summit. It wasn't that difficult to spread 5 liters of Heini among 14 people so we had some extra oil cans to lubricate our throats. At a distance we saw someone with a big flag hiking up towards us......and lo and behold - it was McRat! He had been serving 262 ice cream sandwiches along the trail so far.......we got the last two.......dry ice works real well to keep things frozen! So now we were 15 of us and on Eisenhover Mr Metsky himself was waiting!
We had a silent moment for Darrens father on top of Eisenhover. It worked out well since we had the summit to ourselves. On to Pierce and another encounter with SJ's team. His girlfriend Sarah and Howard were there also with Drewski. Here Adamiata and McRat followed Sj's team down to Crawford Notch. After piuctures on Pierce, Kevin, Sven , Karen and Barry went down Crawford Path. At Mizpah Spring Hut Metsky and Nartreb took the short-cut to Crawford Path. Unfrozen, Darlene, Nif, Mountaingirl, Sasquatch, Juniper, ferrisjrf and myself continued to Jackson and we covered the two miles between the hut and Jackson summit in 31 minutes. Beautiful sideways light through the woods........7:30pm and we went down Jackson Trail.......Unforzen and I had some deep discussion about important things in life and suddenly McRat and Adamiata was waiting for us with a cooler full of beer close to 302.....went to pre-place a Heineken can up the trail for the next group of us coming down. Juniper came with the can around the corner and we sat down enjoying life for a while before walking over to the cars across the road. Metsky was waiting here with a giant cookie the size of a pizza......did we gain or lose calories on this trip? Who cares! We had a blast. A great part of the hike was probably to see all the smiling faces we encountered along the ridge.....
Back to the campground in a variety of vehicles. Ed Hawkins had been to the campground earlier in the evening and donated some Pabst Blue Ribbon to us - thank you very much Ed! A great evening around the fire and tomorrow we didn't need to get up early since it was a rest day with rock climbing on the schedule
Next party we need to record the discussions around the fire.........some great stuff was heard each night.......Next episode: Some fierce rock climbing where a grandmother pulls off a wicked overhanging 5.8 route at Square Ledge.....the author didn't make that route......don't tell anyone ;-) Also some whitewater upstream swimming contest in Peabody river. Last but not least - Giggy's arrival to Barnes Field.....
