Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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I arrived in Keene Saturday morning and Sylvie (who has been very busy hiking for the past 2 weeks) told me she was taking a break. She had done Jay the day before in the torrid heat and wanted to go swimming somewhere.
Since she had one of her friends with her I didn’t feel guilty by taking off and doing Gothics. I left my car in the AMR lot and Sylvie and friend dropped me at the Garden. I got underway at 1PM.
I formulated this strategy: go like hell until the views open up on the cable route and then slow down and smell my armpit’s rose perfumed deodorant.
I jogged/sped hiked to the Deer Brook LT where I stopped to make an adjustment to my pack. It was then that I realized it was a hot day because suddenly the sweat poured off of my face. Each little head-shake sent a cascade of droplets into the underbrush.
I forced myself to keep sucking both water and air and propelled myself upwards with my poles which I kept long and used like cross-country ski poles.
Before I knew it I was dunking my head in Orebed Brook and then the Orebed Lean-to whizzed by.
I was feeling a bit frisky and mischievous and began to think of little pranks I could play on people. I had seen lots of people heading out since I had started at the Garden. I heard voices above me on the trail so I stopped and quickly filled my nearly empty 35 liter pack with a lot of rocks.
The people were at the first clearing on the Orebed trail where you might cut over en route to the North Face or the Orebed ski slides. I stopped to admire the view of Gooseberry Mountain and of course the gentleman asked me where I was going.
-Gothics and out over Pyramid
-That’ll be a long haul.
-I know. This is my 2nd loop of the day.
-What?
-I already did it once today and now I’m repeating the loop.
- (Not quite sure what to make of what he just heard me say) How did you get from the AMR back to the Garden?
-Bicycle. But you know what? I’m sick of carrying these stupid rocks.
-Rocks? What rocks?
I removed my pack and dumped about 50 pounds of rocks out on the side of the trail
-These rocks. That one (I pointed to a real pointy one) has been digging into my spine all day long and I’m not going to take it any more. I’m fed up with the whole thing.
(-Unconsciously edging away from me.) -Do you this sort of thing on a regular basis?
-All the time. But now I feel much better. (I broke into a very fast run and disappeared around a bend).
It was great ascending the upper Ore Bed headwall because with all the slide climbing as of late I felt like a well-oiled machine as I scooted (well, not that fast) up it..
A couple came down the trail with an unleashed dog:
-I just got bluff-charged by a mother bear with 2 cubs. In fact, she knocked me down and pawed me before I punched her in the nose and sent her squealing into the woods. I would think about leashing your dog if I were you. That is one pissed off bear you’ll probably have to deal with in a few minutes. Anyway, I gotta go. I’m trying to break my record for Gothics.
And I rushed off leaving them in a state of shock. I felt kind of bad but this is my way of meting out justice for people who don’t leash their dogs.
I got half-way up the cable route and removed my pack, dug out my flute and played with the echos for about 15 minutes and then the black flies found me so I continued up. A group of 3 back-packers were descending very slowly and it didn’t look like fun at all so to cheer them up I said: “I would never go down this trail with a big pack, it’s way too difficult and dangerous. Just wait til you get a bit lower, I have no idea how you’re going to get past that section.” Then I broke into a little run and brushed past them while whistling I’ve been Working on the Railroad, off-key.
On the summit (2 hours 45 minutes out of the gate) it was gorgeous. The views up there are so fine. It was great to eyeball the Dix Slides (you can only see the upper portions) and retrace our route from only 2 days previous.
I was alone on the summit so I removed my shirt and shorts and let the breeze dry out my underwear (which I did not remove). I was playing jazz riffs on my flute at full volume catching some faint echos off of Pyramid Peak when at about 4:30 a young man walks up from Armstrong.
I decided to play another prank.
-Are you all alone?
-Uh..yeah. Why?
-You know, it’s dangerous to hike alone in these hills.
-I’m pretty careful.
-Actually it’s the other people who can be dangerous.
Slowly, I reach into my pack and pull out my flute case. - I hear a guy got shot at Lake Colden a few days ago. They don’t know who did it.
I felt guilty because the poor guy went as white as the snow and he must have thought that I was opening my flute case to get a weapon out or something. When I opened the case and put my flute back in it I could see his color returning. I got dressed and in a friendly manner I went around the compass and named for him each and every mountain, big and small and gave him advice on the best route out.
Finally, just as I was nearing the gate I caught up with 2 guys. One was walking with a limp that looked like very sore feet. I broke into a brisk jog, touched the gate and said out loud,
“11 hours, my best time yet. What did you guys do today?”
-Gothics
-I did Phelps, Tabletop, Marcy, Skylight, Haystack, Basin, Saddleback and Gothics.It’s still .8 miles to the cars you know.
Then I ran as fast as I could up the hill. At the top where you turn right I saw a 16 year old kid sneak up on a bird and throw a handful of rocks at it. He definitely hit it but the bird seemed OK.
(Putting on the type of voice you develop when you raise 3 boys) “What the hell do think you’re doing?” I looked pretty strange: no shirt, soaking wet, wild hair and filthy dirty.
I took his picture and barked at him like a drill sergeant. “Do you know where you are? This is the Adirondacks you little POS and I don’t care how rich you’re daddy is. You’re in deep trouble now. I scooped up my own handful of rocks and squared off, cocked my arm, lifted my leg in true major league pitching form and as the poor kid cringed I opened my hand and let them fall plop,plop,plop at my feet. I looked at him in the eye and snickered, “hehehe, sssucker. Leave the wildlife alone from now on.”.
When I checked the time in my car I saw that I had been out for a total of just shy of 7 hours.
One last thing, speaking of pranks. I really did the hike as described, but the pranks are nothing more than a product of my prankster’s imagination.
Since she had one of her friends with her I didn’t feel guilty by taking off and doing Gothics. I left my car in the AMR lot and Sylvie and friend dropped me at the Garden. I got underway at 1PM.
I formulated this strategy: go like hell until the views open up on the cable route and then slow down and smell my armpit’s rose perfumed deodorant.
I jogged/sped hiked to the Deer Brook LT where I stopped to make an adjustment to my pack. It was then that I realized it was a hot day because suddenly the sweat poured off of my face. Each little head-shake sent a cascade of droplets into the underbrush.
I forced myself to keep sucking both water and air and propelled myself upwards with my poles which I kept long and used like cross-country ski poles.
Before I knew it I was dunking my head in Orebed Brook and then the Orebed Lean-to whizzed by.
I was feeling a bit frisky and mischievous and began to think of little pranks I could play on people. I had seen lots of people heading out since I had started at the Garden. I heard voices above me on the trail so I stopped and quickly filled my nearly empty 35 liter pack with a lot of rocks.
The people were at the first clearing on the Orebed trail where you might cut over en route to the North Face or the Orebed ski slides. I stopped to admire the view of Gooseberry Mountain and of course the gentleman asked me where I was going.
-Gothics and out over Pyramid
-That’ll be a long haul.
-I know. This is my 2nd loop of the day.
-What?
-I already did it once today and now I’m repeating the loop.
- (Not quite sure what to make of what he just heard me say) How did you get from the AMR back to the Garden?
-Bicycle. But you know what? I’m sick of carrying these stupid rocks.
-Rocks? What rocks?
I removed my pack and dumped about 50 pounds of rocks out on the side of the trail
-These rocks. That one (I pointed to a real pointy one) has been digging into my spine all day long and I’m not going to take it any more. I’m fed up with the whole thing.
(-Unconsciously edging away from me.) -Do you this sort of thing on a regular basis?
-All the time. But now I feel much better. (I broke into a very fast run and disappeared around a bend).
It was great ascending the upper Ore Bed headwall because with all the slide climbing as of late I felt like a well-oiled machine as I scooted (well, not that fast) up it..
A couple came down the trail with an unleashed dog:
-I just got bluff-charged by a mother bear with 2 cubs. In fact, she knocked me down and pawed me before I punched her in the nose and sent her squealing into the woods. I would think about leashing your dog if I were you. That is one pissed off bear you’ll probably have to deal with in a few minutes. Anyway, I gotta go. I’m trying to break my record for Gothics.
And I rushed off leaving them in a state of shock. I felt kind of bad but this is my way of meting out justice for people who don’t leash their dogs.
I got half-way up the cable route and removed my pack, dug out my flute and played with the echos for about 15 minutes and then the black flies found me so I continued up. A group of 3 back-packers were descending very slowly and it didn’t look like fun at all so to cheer them up I said: “I would never go down this trail with a big pack, it’s way too difficult and dangerous. Just wait til you get a bit lower, I have no idea how you’re going to get past that section.” Then I broke into a little run and brushed past them while whistling I’ve been Working on the Railroad, off-key.
On the summit (2 hours 45 minutes out of the gate) it was gorgeous. The views up there are so fine. It was great to eyeball the Dix Slides (you can only see the upper portions) and retrace our route from only 2 days previous.
I was alone on the summit so I removed my shirt and shorts and let the breeze dry out my underwear (which I did not remove). I was playing jazz riffs on my flute at full volume catching some faint echos off of Pyramid Peak when at about 4:30 a young man walks up from Armstrong.
I decided to play another prank.
-Are you all alone?
-Uh..yeah. Why?
-You know, it’s dangerous to hike alone in these hills.
-I’m pretty careful.
-Actually it’s the other people who can be dangerous.
Slowly, I reach into my pack and pull out my flute case. - I hear a guy got shot at Lake Colden a few days ago. They don’t know who did it.
I felt guilty because the poor guy went as white as the snow and he must have thought that I was opening my flute case to get a weapon out or something. When I opened the case and put my flute back in it I could see his color returning. I got dressed and in a friendly manner I went around the compass and named for him each and every mountain, big and small and gave him advice on the best route out.
Finally, just as I was nearing the gate I caught up with 2 guys. One was walking with a limp that looked like very sore feet. I broke into a brisk jog, touched the gate and said out loud,
“11 hours, my best time yet. What did you guys do today?”
-Gothics
-I did Phelps, Tabletop, Marcy, Skylight, Haystack, Basin, Saddleback and Gothics.It’s still .8 miles to the cars you know.
Then I ran as fast as I could up the hill. At the top where you turn right I saw a 16 year old kid sneak up on a bird and throw a handful of rocks at it. He definitely hit it but the bird seemed OK.
(Putting on the type of voice you develop when you raise 3 boys) “What the hell do think you’re doing?” I looked pretty strange: no shirt, soaking wet, wild hair and filthy dirty.
I took his picture and barked at him like a drill sergeant. “Do you know where you are? This is the Adirondacks you little POS and I don’t care how rich you’re daddy is. You’re in deep trouble now. I scooped up my own handful of rocks and squared off, cocked my arm, lifted my leg in true major league pitching form and as the poor kid cringed I opened my hand and let them fall plop,plop,plop at my feet. I looked at him in the eye and snickered, “hehehe, sssucker. Leave the wildlife alone from now on.”.
When I checked the time in my car I saw that I had been out for a total of just shy of 7 hours.
One last thing, speaking of pranks. I really did the hike as described, but the pranks are nothing more than a product of my prankster’s imagination.
