coldfeet
Well-known member
Yep, I didn't follow the golden rule of using the "bear box" or hanging my food 
but the good news is that I scared away the little thief before he could do major damage. I guess the little guy was hungry because he came back no less than 2-3 ft away from me 2 times to grab my food. I couldn't believe the "balls" this little guy had. After talking to the caretaker about it I was real happy it was a squirrel and not a bear. I didn't really notice the 150lb bear box near the platforms when we hiked in at 1am Yea, we got a late start after driving 7 hours from NYC and CT. Glad he chewed through my made up bivy bag and not my pack. That's another story.
So the hike, well we parked in the lot by the beginning of the Crawford path app 10:30pm, the rain had stopped after we got off the highway. Was with my nephew Matt. One year ago he planned our Flume,Liberty, Lincoln trip. Seems like a Columbus weekend tradition. The hike up was slow and steady, very wet trail with water continously coming down the trail. We found an empty platform and set up our site. Matt was using his new light weight tent, and I was using a double space blanket duct taped together to form a bivy sack to save weight instead of carrying a 5lb tent. Since I did that I brought a 0F bag instead of the 20. Do to knee issues I'm trying to reduce the weight of my pack, I was already loaded with app 25lbs including water. Also my last hike was the ADK winter gathering last Feb and my knees were killing me that weekend. When I woke up in the morning I heard a weird sound near my feet and that was when I noticed the little thief chewing away at the space blanket right near my feet!
Back to the hike, after talking to a few people at the Mitzah hut we decided to do a through hike from Pierce to Eisenhower and down the Edmunds path to the road and then walk the 2-3 miles back to our car. I had hiked up Pierce on the VFTT winter gathering I think 2005 so I had a little idea of what to expect. Boy was I wrong! It was even nicer than I had imagined it. At the top of Pierce I could see the beautiful path that would lead us to Eisenhower. It was getting pretty windy and by the time we got up to Eisenhower the winds were really strong (me being a city boy has no idea what really strong winds are). Did I tell you that it was a wet trail almost the whole time? Matt and I hung out at the large cairn on top of eisenhower to take pics and video. His thermometer said app 18F who knows what it really was. We met a few others up there and then we continued down to the Edmunds trail. It was pretty cool with lots of rocks to walk on as it skirted around the other side of Eisenhower. We came across an interesting sign letting us know about the dangers of being in exposed areas and how people have died there. Hmmm, maybe that sign should be at the beginning of the trail? It was a long boring walk back down to the lot especially after the semi ridge walk. My knees were hurting really bad on the descent. I knew that would happen. Luckily at the lot I asked for a lift back to the car and drove back to pick up my nephew. It was app 4pm, we started at 10am. We met many people going up the Edmunds path which I thought was pretty late in the afternoon but they are probably a lot faster than me. If I could do it again I wouldn't go down the Edmunds path, I'd double back to Pierce and enjoy the open walk a second time. Did I tell you that it was a vey wet trail? Ah yes, we went to the Moat brewery in north Conway for a great burger and a few small 5oz samplers! Got me another NH viewandbrew Total miles drive, app 825 total hike app 8 miles...great time with nephew, priceless! Loved NH Thx!...Will try to get pics up this week, have some type of computer problem.
ps, the Gray Jay ate a bananna chip from my hand, guess he heard from the squirrel I had food. I promise not to do that again.
but the good news is that I scared away the little thief before he could do major damage. I guess the little guy was hungry because he came back no less than 2-3 ft away from me 2 times to grab my food. I couldn't believe the "balls" this little guy had. After talking to the caretaker about it I was real happy it was a squirrel and not a bear. I didn't really notice the 150lb bear box near the platforms when we hiked in at 1am Yea, we got a late start after driving 7 hours from NYC and CT. Glad he chewed through my made up bivy bag and not my pack. That's another story.So the hike, well we parked in the lot by the beginning of the Crawford path app 10:30pm, the rain had stopped after we got off the highway. Was with my nephew Matt. One year ago he planned our Flume,Liberty, Lincoln trip. Seems like a Columbus weekend tradition. The hike up was slow and steady, very wet trail with water continously coming down the trail. We found an empty platform and set up our site. Matt was using his new light weight tent, and I was using a double space blanket duct taped together to form a bivy sack to save weight instead of carrying a 5lb tent. Since I did that I brought a 0F bag instead of the 20. Do to knee issues I'm trying to reduce the weight of my pack, I was already loaded with app 25lbs including water. Also my last hike was the ADK winter gathering last Feb and my knees were killing me that weekend. When I woke up in the morning I heard a weird sound near my feet and that was when I noticed the little thief chewing away at the space blanket right near my feet!
Back to the hike, after talking to a few people at the Mitzah hut we decided to do a through hike from Pierce to Eisenhower and down the Edmunds path to the road and then walk the 2-3 miles back to our car. I had hiked up Pierce on the VFTT winter gathering I think 2005 so I had a little idea of what to expect. Boy was I wrong! It was even nicer than I had imagined it. At the top of Pierce I could see the beautiful path that would lead us to Eisenhower. It was getting pretty windy and by the time we got up to Eisenhower the winds were really strong (me being a city boy has no idea what really strong winds are). Did I tell you that it was a wet trail almost the whole time? Matt and I hung out at the large cairn on top of eisenhower to take pics and video. His thermometer said app 18F who knows what it really was. We met a few others up there and then we continued down to the Edmunds trail. It was pretty cool with lots of rocks to walk on as it skirted around the other side of Eisenhower. We came across an interesting sign letting us know about the dangers of being in exposed areas and how people have died there. Hmmm, maybe that sign should be at the beginning of the trail? It was a long boring walk back down to the lot especially after the semi ridge walk. My knees were hurting really bad on the descent. I knew that would happen. Luckily at the lot I asked for a lift back to the car and drove back to pick up my nephew. It was app 4pm, we started at 10am. We met many people going up the Edmunds path which I thought was pretty late in the afternoon but they are probably a lot faster than me. If I could do it again I wouldn't go down the Edmunds path, I'd double back to Pierce and enjoy the open walk a second time. Did I tell you that it was a vey wet trail? Ah yes, we went to the Moat brewery in north Conway for a great burger and a few small 5oz samplers! Got me another NH viewandbrew
Total miles drive, app 825 total hike app 8 miles...great time with nephew, priceless! Loved NH Thx!...Will try to get pics up this week, have some type of computer problem.ps, the Gray Jay ate a bananna chip from my hand, guess he heard from the squirrel I had food. I promise not to do that again.
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