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SUNDAY: Where does the time go? It seems like just a couple months ago that the usual gang of suspects got together for our annual trip to the huts. And here it is again. Audrey, Pat, Kris (Little Bear), Stephanie (Kris' daughter), Marge and me. Early on Sunday morning I drive the motorcycle down to Pat & Audrey's, leave it in their garage (so my wife can have the car for 4 days) and ride up north with them. The first casualty strikes before we even turn a mile on the odometer. Marge has called and we are informed that she slammed her finger in the car door and is off to the hospital. There is a bit of optimism that she might be able to drive up and join us on day 2...but we know how painful her injury is. We cross our fingers and hope she'll be OK.
We arrive at Lincoln Woods and wait for Kris and Steph to show up. It takes a while. Kris' story is that she was "delayed" behind a slow driver on the Kanc. I think it's because she needs more horsepower in the buggy!
Actually we were early, so it all works out. After a car shuffle, dropping Steph's off at Gale River trailhead, we leave Franconia notch and head up the Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf hut. Steph is the "newbie" on the trip, so we pound away with stories about "Agony Ridge" and how far Galehead hut will look from the summit of Lafayette. Prime the pump, so to speak. I think it falls on deaf ears...she is more than capable of keeping up with us old geezers. Sure must be nice to be young and good looking! I think my pack is slowing me down. I have enough food to feed the entire hut for 2 days, along with 4 liters of wine. I don't know how much everyone else is carrying, but suffice it to say, we barely made a dent in our wine cellar at Greenleaf. I take the time to zip to the top of Lafayette and back, sans pack. Then it's down to an evening of good food, friendly company, 24 hut guests for dinner.
MONDAY: Another beautiful day, carbon copy of yesterday. Not a cloud in the sky, t-shirts and shorts time. Up to Lafayette summit, this time with the packs. We point out Garfield and Galehead to Steph. "Looks like a long ways, doesn't it?" We have no mercy! Down the never ending drop to the col and the endless ups and downs, and finally arriving at Garfield summit. I dig into item #2 in the "pack weight reduction scheme"...3 lbs worth of pumpkin spice cake. We make fast work of it and my pack gets lighter by the minute! More rough descents...more endless ups and downs, and we finally arrive at Galehead. Only 14 of us here tonite. Another great meal, and time to lighten Kris' load by dipping into her wine cache. Holy Moly! She brought the entire "Wine-in-a-box" dealy from the store! Keep drinking pilgrim, there's more where that came from! Unfortunately, Marge does not show up. We hope her finger is OK.
TUESDAY: Weather is the same. It's so nice and perfect it's almost sickening! This is our "kick back" day. Light weight day packs, climb to the summit of South Twin...and hang around for an hour, taking pictures and doing basically nothing. Across the ridge to North Twin for a repeat performance. The only downside to the day is the pesky no see-ums that decide to attack Steph and leave her covered with mini-welts. Hmm...maybe she didn't drink enough wine? Back to the hut and a quick scramble up Galehead..."just because." Tonite the five of us are the only hut guests, so we con the crew into joining us for dinner, telling them it will be a great experience. Hah!!! Little do they know the conversation will revolve around nursing homes, old age, other weird subjects. I secretly think they were glad to get rid of us...but they pretended to have a good time. Steph calls her boyfriend on the cell..."I'm having a great time except for the fact that my ass is being handed to me by a bunch of 50-somethings." I think she exagerates...she's holding up just fine! She's a great addition to the gang...I hope she can hike with us more often! And she did good...she helped us finish off the last of the wine.
WEDNESDAY: Steph leaves via Gale River trail as she has an afternoon commitment. The rest of us say goodbye and head off down Twin Brook Trail and the hike out from 13 Falls. All goes well...we find plenty of opportunities to stop for foliage photos. A few minor river crossings, nothing serious. Then we hit a flooded section, inundated by beaver activity. I spy something on the ground. Hmmm, what is this? Wow! "Anti-bear pepper spray!" I wonder if it works? Take off the cap, give it a little test burst. Orange cloud of pepper shoots forth. My companions are 40 feet away, precariously crossing the beaver dam. Suddenly, fits of choking, coughing, gagging! It's a wonder no one fell into the beaver pond! I get accused of trying to do away with my hiking companions. That's ludicrous...I rifled through their belongings earlier and they didn't have anything worth making off with! But the little stunt provides for plenty of joke material for the next couple hours. I find a pair of wool socks on the trail. Pat finds a nice pair of sunglasses. We wonder when the bag of money is gonna show up?
Finally it's back to the last 3 miles of the Wilderness trail. We haven't seen another hiker all day, but the next hour is punctuated with a stream of perfumed tourists working their way up the trail. Then it's over...until next year. Thanks gang, I had a great time.
Wait until I show the guys at work how that bear repellant works!!
We arrive at Lincoln Woods and wait for Kris and Steph to show up. It takes a while. Kris' story is that she was "delayed" behind a slow driver on the Kanc. I think it's because she needs more horsepower in the buggy!
Actually we were early, so it all works out. After a car shuffle, dropping Steph's off at Gale River trailhead, we leave Franconia notch and head up the Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf hut. Steph is the "newbie" on the trip, so we pound away with stories about "Agony Ridge" and how far Galehead hut will look from the summit of Lafayette. Prime the pump, so to speak. I think it falls on deaf ears...she is more than capable of keeping up with us old geezers. Sure must be nice to be young and good looking! I think my pack is slowing me down. I have enough food to feed the entire hut for 2 days, along with 4 liters of wine. I don't know how much everyone else is carrying, but suffice it to say, we barely made a dent in our wine cellar at Greenleaf. I take the time to zip to the top of Lafayette and back, sans pack. Then it's down to an evening of good food, friendly company, 24 hut guests for dinner.MONDAY: Another beautiful day, carbon copy of yesterday. Not a cloud in the sky, t-shirts and shorts time. Up to Lafayette summit, this time with the packs. We point out Garfield and Galehead to Steph. "Looks like a long ways, doesn't it?" We have no mercy!
Down the never ending drop to the col and the endless ups and downs, and finally arriving at Garfield summit. I dig into item #2 in the "pack weight reduction scheme"...3 lbs worth of pumpkin spice cake. We make fast work of it and my pack gets lighter by the minute! More rough descents...more endless ups and downs, and we finally arrive at Galehead. Only 14 of us here tonite. Another great meal, and time to lighten Kris' load by dipping into her wine cache. Holy Moly! She brought the entire "Wine-in-a-box" dealy from the store! Keep drinking pilgrim, there's more where that came from! Unfortunately, Marge does not show up. We hope her finger is OK.TUESDAY: Weather is the same. It's so nice and perfect it's almost sickening! This is our "kick back" day. Light weight day packs, climb to the summit of South Twin...and hang around for an hour, taking pictures and doing basically nothing. Across the ridge to North Twin for a repeat performance. The only downside to the day is the pesky no see-ums that decide to attack Steph and leave her covered with mini-welts. Hmm...maybe she didn't drink enough wine? Back to the hut and a quick scramble up Galehead..."just because." Tonite the five of us are the only hut guests, so we con the crew into joining us for dinner, telling them it will be a great experience. Hah!!! Little do they know the conversation will revolve around nursing homes, old age, other weird subjects. I secretly think they were glad to get rid of us...but they pretended to have a good time. Steph calls her boyfriend on the cell..."I'm having a great time except for the fact that my ass is being handed to me by a bunch of 50-somethings." I think she exagerates...she's holding up just fine! She's a great addition to the gang...I hope she can hike with us more often! And she did good...she helped us finish off the last of the wine.
WEDNESDAY: Steph leaves via Gale River trail as she has an afternoon commitment. The rest of us say goodbye and head off down Twin Brook Trail and the hike out from 13 Falls. All goes well...we find plenty of opportunities to stop for foliage photos. A few minor river crossings, nothing serious. Then we hit a flooded section, inundated by beaver activity. I spy something on the ground. Hmmm, what is this? Wow! "Anti-bear pepper spray!" I wonder if it works? Take off the cap, give it a little test burst. Orange cloud of pepper shoots forth. My companions are 40 feet away, precariously crossing the beaver dam. Suddenly, fits of choking, coughing, gagging!
It's a wonder no one fell into the beaver pond! I get accused of trying to do away with my hiking companions. That's ludicrous...I rifled through their belongings earlier and they didn't have anything worth making off with! But the little stunt provides for plenty of joke material for the next couple hours. I find a pair of wool socks on the trail. Pat finds a nice pair of sunglasses. We wonder when the bag of money is gonna show up? Finally it's back to the last 3 miles of the Wilderness trail. We haven't seen another hiker all day, but the next hour is punctuated with a stream of perfumed tourists working their way up the trail. Then it's over...until next year. Thanks gang, I had a great time.
Wait until I show the guys at work how that bear repellant works!!
