What I was thinking:
First, just wanted to mention that this hike was for charity organization called Friends for Health in Haiti. All the information on the cause and how it all developed is on Rocks on Top. The link to the thread is here: http://www.rocksontop.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4528 Also, there was a brief post in the organization’s blog on my hike found here: http://friendsforhealthinhaiti.wordpress.com/ I will be making a guest post there as well. The main website for Friends for Health is here: http://www.friendsforhealthinhaiti.org/ OK, on to the Trip Report.
Planning and Logistics:
Realistically I only had 48 hours to drive up to the mountains, spot cars, hike 64 miles, retrieve cars and drive home safely. Ideally it would have been nice to have either Friday or Monday off from work and have my support team also on a three-day weekend schedule but we just couldn’t do that. So I had limited time. My decision to begin hiking right after I got off from work on Friday was to maximize my time. The downfall of that was the fact I was losing hours of sleep in the process. When we started hiking at 9 p.m. on Friday, all of us had already been awake for 14 hours.
I won’t describe my initial plan or the evolution of it but I will say it involved an excel spreadsheet and about 50 emails with my support team back and forth. I tried to think of every scenario and how to work it best. There’s a million ways to hike 64 miles, but only a few ways to do it in 48 hours.
My Support Team:
I’m going to say this about 100 times in this Trip Report. I am extremely grateful to my 4-person on-trail support team for pushing me through this! I know I was very cranky some of the time but hopefully not too difficult to deal with. Also I want to mention my off-trail but on-call member who was by the phone and willing to pick us up if we needed to bail where our cars weren’t spotted. And she was by the phone all the time, because when I sent her text updates, she responded immediately.
Double Pemi Support Team:
Jason (ferrisjrf) – Team Comedian
Lei (mountaingirl) – Team Workhorse
Mats – Team Moral Support
Rebecca (Juniper) – Team Chef
Gwynna (on Rocks on Top) – Team 911
Everyone, besides Gwynna (who I asked for my off-trail support), came to me and asked if they could help. I never said “Hey, I’m hiking a double Pemi, want to make sure I’m still alive by the end of it?” And that meant a lot to me, for people to volunteer their weekends to help. Once the emails started flying back and forth planning everyone was willing to be flexible and asked what was the best thing for me. Lei and Jason were willing to start hiking in the middle of the night to reach me at points on the Franconia Ridge and Garfield. That would have required waiting for me at 2 or 3 a.m. on summits. I was really moved by the amount of support they offered. Also, people who contributed money to the cause was a serious motivator. I climbed West Bond on Sunday morning for the sole reason that some people were willing to donate money per mountain climbed. And I’m glad I found the energy to do it. Lastly, thanks so much for all the emails, PMs and to mtn ma and mtn pa who had rearranged their hiking plans on Sunday specifically to see if they could catch me to provide much needed Gatorade and snacks. I couldn’t believe it! It was such an energy boost!
What I Carried:
In case people are wondering “What do you bring on a double Pemi attempt?” Here’s what I had in my backpack:
-extra tee-shirt
-fleece vest (ditched halfway)
-long sleeve shirt
-light windbreaker
-bivy tent (thanks Darlene!)
-one water bladder and one nalgene (I would ditch the nalgene at the halfway point)
-a bunch of food
-three pairs of sock liners
-three extra socks
-teva sandals
-small first aid kit
How that all added up to 20lbs is beyond me, but that was my pack. Jason had a light sleeping bag and pad for me. Beyond that, that was my gear. I would later borrow his winter hat and gloves on Sunday morning. I changed into a clean teeshirt and ditched the worn one back at the trailhead halfway.
The Hike:
I drove up with Jason and we met Lei at Garfield Trailhead to spot Jason’s car and started hiking from Lincoln Woods at 9 p.m. We couldn’t have gotten there any sooner since I didn’t get off from work until 5 p.m. So 9 p.m. it was and we donned the headlamps and started trucking up Osseo Trail to Flume. As we approached the summit the moon was setting but the stars were out and bright, including a planet that I decided was Saturn, but could have been Jupiter or Venus. We reached the summit of Flume at midnight after two brief snack breaks. Jason had suggested we stop every hour or two and eat and drink which was a great idea I thought. In the end, our breaks would turn to every three to four hours, but we always placed emphasis on that. One of my big anxieties was being on the Ridge at night. I guess I should say I retained some of my childhood fear of the dark. I was also concerned about the weather and low visibility with headlamps but once we reached the summit of Flume…. then Liberty at 1 a.m. my concern faded. The weather was really good. Hardly any wind and only spotty clouds. Personally, I’d never been on an exposed ridgeline in the middle of the night but the way that night turned out, it was a very comfortable experience. We got on Haystack by 2 a.m. and through to Lafayette around 3:30 a.m. through this sort of mystical environment. Our LED headlamps illuminated the new growth on the spruce and the alpine flowers with this unnatural super blue color. Lafayette appeared before us in the dark and it was very intimidating! You could make out the black shape of the mountain in the dark dark blue of the sky. No terrain visible, just a massive shadow. Lei commented if she was alone she’d probably turn around, and I agreed, it looked scary! Also didn’t help when Jason screamed a blood curling scream out of nowhere to scare the hell out of us. It was hilarious. There were a lot of funny things that happened up there in the middle of the night, including Jason sucking water out of the spruce, Lei telling us she was in the clouds and to look at that U.F.O., and some comments about clowns appearing around the next corner. Each one of those moments kept me motivated and in high spirits. I can’t describe how it all looked, with massive black shadow mountains, bright blue spots of flowers and trees and distant lights of towns directly below us but can say it was something I’ll never forget.
As we descended Lafayette around 4 a.m., a red sliver of light began to appear in the horizon. My sleep-deprived mind didn’t know what it is until Lei said “Look, the sun rise!” The red got brighter but more of a darker red, if that makes sense. Garfield appeared in the foreground now and the scene was absolutely gorgeous. The actual sunrise happened somewhere between Lafayette and Garfield. We didn’t see it, but when we reached the summit of Garfield around 6 or 7a.m., I can’t remember, it was full on morning. The clouds were low and the mist and fog were hugging the valleys. I was imagining people just waking up and the sun trying to poke through the clouds to begin to burn off all the fog. Garfield is my favorite mountain in the Whites, not sure why, it moves me in a way other mountains don’t. I think I told Lei and Jason this about 5 times. In fact somewhere between Garfield D, C and B before the final summit push Christmas Carols turned into Garfield Carols. Why Jason was singing carols to begin with? Not sure, but I joined in and we made up some pretty funny lyrics to “Mt. Garfield is coming to town.”
When we reached Galehead Hut was when I first started to think we were running too late behind schedule. I thought our push from Garfield to Galehead we’d make up time, like pilots “make up time in the air” after a long 2 hour ground delay on the tarmac. But the reality was, it took us 12 hours to go from Lincoln Woods to Galehead Hut. I know then that it was going be a 20 hour first Pemi Loop. I tried to relax on the bench as Jason tagged Galehead Mtn and Lei went ahead to find Rebecca and Mats who should be waiting at Guyot for us. I did some calculating in head (probably not accurate) but started to think that my second loop’s time, being as tired as I was going to feel was also not going to break 17, 18 hours. That would mean two 20 hour Pemi Loops, worst case, and 40 hours just wasn’t available to me. I was unwilling to be out of the woods after 7 p.m. on Sunday because the safety of my support team out-weighted the success of a double Pemi. I didn’t want them trying to drive home that late on Sunday. Luckily, Jason was back after only 20-25 minutes and that train of thought was derailed and I was back enjoying the company of my friend. I suffered a little up the steep ascent of South Twin as Jason impressed me with his pace. He was talking at times, but I couldn’t comprehend a lot of it.
(continued..)
First, just wanted to mention that this hike was for charity organization called Friends for Health in Haiti. All the information on the cause and how it all developed is on Rocks on Top. The link to the thread is here: http://www.rocksontop.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4528 Also, there was a brief post in the organization’s blog on my hike found here: http://friendsforhealthinhaiti.wordpress.com/ I will be making a guest post there as well. The main website for Friends for Health is here: http://www.friendsforhealthinhaiti.org/ OK, on to the Trip Report.
Planning and Logistics:
Realistically I only had 48 hours to drive up to the mountains, spot cars, hike 64 miles, retrieve cars and drive home safely. Ideally it would have been nice to have either Friday or Monday off from work and have my support team also on a three-day weekend schedule but we just couldn’t do that. So I had limited time. My decision to begin hiking right after I got off from work on Friday was to maximize my time. The downfall of that was the fact I was losing hours of sleep in the process. When we started hiking at 9 p.m. on Friday, all of us had already been awake for 14 hours.
I won’t describe my initial plan or the evolution of it but I will say it involved an excel spreadsheet and about 50 emails with my support team back and forth. I tried to think of every scenario and how to work it best. There’s a million ways to hike 64 miles, but only a few ways to do it in 48 hours.
My Support Team:
I’m going to say this about 100 times in this Trip Report. I am extremely grateful to my 4-person on-trail support team for pushing me through this! I know I was very cranky some of the time but hopefully not too difficult to deal with. Also I want to mention my off-trail but on-call member who was by the phone and willing to pick us up if we needed to bail where our cars weren’t spotted. And she was by the phone all the time, because when I sent her text updates, she responded immediately.
Double Pemi Support Team:
Jason (ferrisjrf) – Team Comedian
Lei (mountaingirl) – Team Workhorse
Mats – Team Moral Support
Rebecca (Juniper) – Team Chef
Gwynna (on Rocks on Top) – Team 911
Everyone, besides Gwynna (who I asked for my off-trail support), came to me and asked if they could help. I never said “Hey, I’m hiking a double Pemi, want to make sure I’m still alive by the end of it?” And that meant a lot to me, for people to volunteer their weekends to help. Once the emails started flying back and forth planning everyone was willing to be flexible and asked what was the best thing for me. Lei and Jason were willing to start hiking in the middle of the night to reach me at points on the Franconia Ridge and Garfield. That would have required waiting for me at 2 or 3 a.m. on summits. I was really moved by the amount of support they offered. Also, people who contributed money to the cause was a serious motivator. I climbed West Bond on Sunday morning for the sole reason that some people were willing to donate money per mountain climbed. And I’m glad I found the energy to do it. Lastly, thanks so much for all the emails, PMs and to mtn ma and mtn pa who had rearranged their hiking plans on Sunday specifically to see if they could catch me to provide much needed Gatorade and snacks. I couldn’t believe it! It was such an energy boost!
What I Carried:
In case people are wondering “What do you bring on a double Pemi attempt?” Here’s what I had in my backpack:
-extra tee-shirt
-fleece vest (ditched halfway)
-long sleeve shirt
-light windbreaker
-bivy tent (thanks Darlene!)
-one water bladder and one nalgene (I would ditch the nalgene at the halfway point)
-a bunch of food
-three pairs of sock liners
-three extra socks
-teva sandals
-small first aid kit
How that all added up to 20lbs is beyond me, but that was my pack. Jason had a light sleeping bag and pad for me. Beyond that, that was my gear. I would later borrow his winter hat and gloves on Sunday morning. I changed into a clean teeshirt and ditched the worn one back at the trailhead halfway.
The Hike:
I drove up with Jason and we met Lei at Garfield Trailhead to spot Jason’s car and started hiking from Lincoln Woods at 9 p.m. We couldn’t have gotten there any sooner since I didn’t get off from work until 5 p.m. So 9 p.m. it was and we donned the headlamps and started trucking up Osseo Trail to Flume. As we approached the summit the moon was setting but the stars were out and bright, including a planet that I decided was Saturn, but could have been Jupiter or Venus. We reached the summit of Flume at midnight after two brief snack breaks. Jason had suggested we stop every hour or two and eat and drink which was a great idea I thought. In the end, our breaks would turn to every three to four hours, but we always placed emphasis on that. One of my big anxieties was being on the Ridge at night. I guess I should say I retained some of my childhood fear of the dark. I was also concerned about the weather and low visibility with headlamps but once we reached the summit of Flume…. then Liberty at 1 a.m. my concern faded. The weather was really good. Hardly any wind and only spotty clouds. Personally, I’d never been on an exposed ridgeline in the middle of the night but the way that night turned out, it was a very comfortable experience. We got on Haystack by 2 a.m. and through to Lafayette around 3:30 a.m. through this sort of mystical environment. Our LED headlamps illuminated the new growth on the spruce and the alpine flowers with this unnatural super blue color. Lafayette appeared before us in the dark and it was very intimidating! You could make out the black shape of the mountain in the dark dark blue of the sky. No terrain visible, just a massive shadow. Lei commented if she was alone she’d probably turn around, and I agreed, it looked scary! Also didn’t help when Jason screamed a blood curling scream out of nowhere to scare the hell out of us. It was hilarious. There were a lot of funny things that happened up there in the middle of the night, including Jason sucking water out of the spruce, Lei telling us she was in the clouds and to look at that U.F.O., and some comments about clowns appearing around the next corner. Each one of those moments kept me motivated and in high spirits. I can’t describe how it all looked, with massive black shadow mountains, bright blue spots of flowers and trees and distant lights of towns directly below us but can say it was something I’ll never forget.
As we descended Lafayette around 4 a.m., a red sliver of light began to appear in the horizon. My sleep-deprived mind didn’t know what it is until Lei said “Look, the sun rise!” The red got brighter but more of a darker red, if that makes sense. Garfield appeared in the foreground now and the scene was absolutely gorgeous. The actual sunrise happened somewhere between Lafayette and Garfield. We didn’t see it, but when we reached the summit of Garfield around 6 or 7a.m., I can’t remember, it was full on morning. The clouds were low and the mist and fog were hugging the valleys. I was imagining people just waking up and the sun trying to poke through the clouds to begin to burn off all the fog. Garfield is my favorite mountain in the Whites, not sure why, it moves me in a way other mountains don’t. I think I told Lei and Jason this about 5 times. In fact somewhere between Garfield D, C and B before the final summit push Christmas Carols turned into Garfield Carols. Why Jason was singing carols to begin with? Not sure, but I joined in and we made up some pretty funny lyrics to “Mt. Garfield is coming to town.”
When we reached Galehead Hut was when I first started to think we were running too late behind schedule. I thought our push from Garfield to Galehead we’d make up time, like pilots “make up time in the air” after a long 2 hour ground delay on the tarmac. But the reality was, it took us 12 hours to go from Lincoln Woods to Galehead Hut. I know then that it was going be a 20 hour first Pemi Loop. I tried to relax on the bench as Jason tagged Galehead Mtn and Lei went ahead to find Rebecca and Mats who should be waiting at Guyot for us. I did some calculating in head (probably not accurate) but started to think that my second loop’s time, being as tired as I was going to feel was also not going to break 17, 18 hours. That would mean two 20 hour Pemi Loops, worst case, and 40 hours just wasn’t available to me. I was unwilling to be out of the woods after 7 p.m. on Sunday because the safety of my support team out-weighted the success of a double Pemi. I didn’t want them trying to drive home that late on Sunday. Luckily, Jason was back after only 20-25 minutes and that train of thought was derailed and I was back enjoying the company of my friend. I suffered a little up the steep ascent of South Twin as Jason impressed me with his pace. He was talking at times, but I couldn’t comprehend a lot of it.
(continued..)
