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Bittersweet Beauty
(part 1 Of 2)
“i’ve Been Coming Here For Decades And This Might Be The Nicest Day I’ve Ever Seen.†These Were Words That I Heard Uttered As I Sat Atop Of Big Slide On The First Saturday Of July In 2005. I Smiled Inwardly Thinking Of All The Wonderful Days I Have Been Graced With Inside This Wonder Of Wonders Of A Park, This High Peaks Area Especially. That Is Not To Say I Have Not Encountered Many Of The Sideways Rain Days That Can Humble The Sturdiest Of Hikers, But For Some Reason, At Least Up To Now, I Must Have Racked Up A Disproportionate Share Of Perfect Peak Days Up Here. Though, Some Of My Favorite Days Have Been Spent Reading A Book And Munching On Goodies In A Lean—to While Listening To The Pattering Of The Rain Overhead, And Maybe Also The Pattering Of The Mice Underfoot, But More Often I Have Found Myself Enjoying The Vistas Offered By These Grand Mountains For Longer Than One Might Think That One Might Should.
It Was A Bittersweet Smile Though. This Trip Was Planned With My Longtime Hiking Partner, 46er Climbing Team Member (37), And Friend For Almost Twenty Years. Things Happen In This World. Sometimes For The Better, Sometimes Naught. So I Smiled On This Sunny Saturday Early Afternoon As I Alone Shared What Might Have Been The Teams 38th High Peak With About Ten Fellow Hikers And Wondered If I Would Stand On All 46, And If I Do, Will It Mean What It Might Have Meant Once.
True To Form, I Allowed Myself A Bit Over Two Hours Of Rest/sleep At A Quickly Assembled Camp At Roaring Brook Falls Before Embarking On A Route That Would Take Me Over Brothers On A Pristine Day. The High Was Forecast For High Sixties After A Long Period Of High Heat. It Turned Out To Top Off In The Mid Seventies As I Leaped-frogged A Young Couple Up The Ledges Of Brothers. I Had Little To Do Today Except Enjoy, And That I Did. I Stopped About Every Other Ledge And Sat For A Few Minutes Or More. I Even Had A Butterfly (moth?) Land On Me. I Was Able To Get The Camera Out With Stealth And Get A Shot Before He Fluttered On. Are The Ones With Black Wings Accompanied By White Stripes Flutterbyes Or Moths?
I Reached The Summit Of Big Slide And Settled In. I Had A Book, Some Puzzles And Enough Food And Water To Last All Day. This Summit Also Has An Awesome View Of The Big Slide On Gothics. I Do Not Rock Climb, But Looking At That Monstrosity, I Sometimes Get The Urge To Be Led Up There. More Than A Dozen Souls Came And Went As I Stretched Myself Out, My Feet Breathing The Fresh Air. Everything Else I Needed Was In My Car, And My Cabin I Had Rented Lay Just Miles Down The Road. The Only Stop In Between Was A Trip To The Beacon Of Light In These Hills, Stewarts, Which Happened To Be Stationed Direly Across The Street From My Temporary Abode. I Remarked To A Girl Working There, That The Stewarts In Keene Might Well Hold The Record In The North-east For Having The Most People Grunt And Groan, With Pleasure Mostly, As The Got Out Of Their Cars And Entered The Store. A Long Day Of Hiking? You Better Make That Three Scoops, And There Are Times You Do Not Mind Standing In Line To Use The Bathroom, Especially When There Is No Other Public, Non-outhouse Bathroom For Miles And Miles And Miles.
The Owners Of Mountain Manor Were Very Friendly. David (i Can Remember That Name Easy Enough), Told Me About The Fireworks That The Ausable Club Would Be Shooting Off Later That Night. I Took A Shower In My Cozy And Tiny Little Cabin And Made Myself Some Dinner. It Was A Perfect Place For Anyone Looking For No Amenities. $45 A Night, It Had Two Comfy Beds, A Sink, A ****ter, And A Shower. What Else Could You Want From Cabin #3? The Water Runs From The House For This Cabin Only, So You Need To Waste Some Water Waiting For Hot To Kick In To The Shower, Then You Are Golden. For A Steeper Price You Can Get A Very Nice Cabin. $100 Bucks Gets You A/c, Cable, And I Think At Least One Has A Hot Tub. They Were Nice People And That Is Why I Would Recommend Them.
The Fireworks Were Better Then I Expected. They Started Off Slipshod. Piecemeal, One At A Time, Maybe By Private Members, Then After About Twenty Five Minutes The Show Proper Began. Sitting On The Golf Course, In A Pre-determined Area, Under A Cloudless Night With A Sky Littered With Stars, Planets, A Slice Of A Moon, And Satellites To Boot, You Could Choose To Stare Up, Or To The East And The Landscape Dominating Giant Of The Valley, Or To The West And The Impressive Show That Was Going On Under On A Pleasantly Chilly Night. After Over Thirty, Thirty-five Minutes Of Never Ending Echoes Swishing Around In Stereo Down Through The Valley, I Must Admit, I Now Have Something Positive To Say About The Amr ‘get The Hell Off Our Land’ People.
The Next Morning, After I Awoke (a Little Later Then Expected: See No Sleep And Late Night Fireworks In Earlier Paragraphs) I Was Determined To Undo A Slight That I Felt I Committed During The Griad (great Range In A Day) I Accomplished And Published On This Site Earlier This Year. That Day I Stepped Atop Of Three New Mountains, One Of Which Was A Big One, A Really Big One. My Total Time Atop That Peak Had To Be Less Then Five Minutes, Maybe Two. I Was A Bit Out Of It By That Time. So Today I Was Going To Give My New Pack A Real Test. I Cobbled Together A New Pack From Ems. The Pack Itself Was Designed More For The City, But I Put A Bladder In The Back, And It Fit Well. It Had A Belt Strap And A Chest Strap, Which On My Last Pack, Reliable As It Was, Had Neither. It Did Have Two Good Size Pockets, But Not As Large As I Had Had With My Last Pack. So With A Pot And My Stove, I Was Determined To Spend As Long As I Could On The Summit Of Haystack, And Properly Introduce Myself To This Majestic Mountain. I Still Believe That It Is Here Where The Great Range Truly Ends, As You Peer Over And See The Great Headwall That Closes Off Panther Gorge. Deep Inside Of Their Has To Be As Far As You Can Get From Anywhere In The Northeast Without Having To Go To Maine.
I Wonder If Haystack Would Be Easier If You Climbed From The Loj And Sacrificed The Extra Up/down For Ease Of The Trail. Not That A Hard Trail Is A Deterrent, There Is Just No Easy Way To Get To Haystack And Out In One Day. It May Be A Harder Climb Then Marcy, Even From The Garden, Definitely From The Loj. The Day Was Getting Hot, And You Do Not Really Start Climbing For A While. I Had A Full Three Liters In My Camelback, And I Did Not Bring A Filter. There Was A Lot Of Ice In There, But I Wanted To Be On Top As Soon As I Could. The Pack Is All Right
I Took A Brief Rest At Bushnell Falls Lean-to. As I Was Leaving I Saw An Older Oriental Fellow And A Young Lad. They Were Headed For Haystack Also, Though I Did Not Know This At The Time. After An Obligatory Pb&j At Slant Rock, I Was Ready For The Big Push. If I Am Not Mistaken, Johnny Read 4590 At Least Three Times Before I Reached Its Lofty Top. To Make Sure Our Legs Get The Right Amount Of Work, You Must Go Over The Height Of Land, Then Over Little Haystack, The Up To Haystack Himself. The Payoff When You Finally Arrive, Especially On A Clear And Warm Day As That Day Was, Is Remarkable. It Seems I Say These Things Very Often, But There Really Are So Many Splendid Places With So Many Different Landscapes And Vistas In This Area And The Park As A Whole, We Should Be Proud Of How We Treat Our Treasure, And Be Vigilant In All Regards While Still Allowing Us Humans To Be Humans.
People Came And Went As I Spent Three Hours Stretching, Reading, Cooking And Listening To A Bit Of Prairie Home Companion That I Picked Up On My Walkman. I Enjoyed A Nice Warm Repast And Collected So Many Nice Pictures, I May Need A Bigger Hard Drive. After A While, I Spied The Man And Boy I Had Seen Earlier Making Their Way Over Little Haystack. When They Had Gotten To The Top, We Had A Nice Bit Of Conversation. He Was Chinese, And Looked Like He Was From The Old Country. His Son Was Very American And Looked To Be No More Than Ten Or Eleven. They Live In Syracuse, And The Old Man Said That He Had Once Thought He Was A Bit Strange About Wanting To Climb To High Faraway Places, But Was Happy To See How Others Also Enjoyed This Area Over The Years. He Mentioned That He Had Climbed Most Of The Peaks In The Area. When I Asked The Young Man How Many Mountains He Accompanied His Father To, He Replied ‘all Of Them’. Then He Said Something Like He Was Not Really Sure Why He Was Here. I Assured Him That While He May Not Understand At This Moment, I Could Guarantee Him That Some Day He Most Definitely Sure Will Understand. Even After A Long Summit Stay, It Is Hard To Leave On A Day Like This.
While I Do Keep Up A Pretty Good Pace On The Ups, I Think It Is Going Down That Gives Me A Bit Of An Advantage Over Some Of My Friends That I Love To Hike With. My Friend Terri Once Said That I Had The Billy Goat Gene. I Have Always Had Good Balance, And The Dacks Are Nothing If They Are Not A Constant Exercise In Keeping Ones Balance. Going Down Is Nothing More Then A Controlled Fall, Where Being Of Average Height And Proportions Is An Asset. Those Who Are Taller And Narrower Have The Advantage On The Big Leg Up When Ascending, But Are In Need To Be Most Careful On The Way Down In Order To Avoid The Horrible ‘header’. The Hiker Who Is Smaller Has Best Balance Going Down, But Has The Hardest Time With The Ubiquitous Rocks Needed To Climb Up And Over Or Down. Those Of Us In Good Shape In The Middle Need A Bit Of More Effort Going Up, But I Have Hit Eighty Feet Of Descent Per Minute A Few Times, According To Johnny. Oh Yeah, One More Thing. The Shorey Short Cut Doesn’t Seem Like Too Much Of A Short Cut To Me. Maybe If They Called It The Shorey Last Chance Not To Go Over These Next Two Real Big Mountains Trail, I Could Live With That.
I Am Not So Sure It Had Any Less Descent Then Going Back The Way I Came, But The Col Between Haystack And Basin Is Very Serene.
When I Finally Came Upon Jbl, I Sat For A Bit And Was Surprised To Hear The Gurgling Sound As The Last Of My Three Liters Was
Being Ingested. It Had Been A Very Long And Hot Day. Fortunately, I Was Just Over An Hour From The Garden Trailhead And The Path Is Not Too Challenging. When I Reached The Car, I Was Asked By A Man If I Had Seen His Son. I Left Haystacks Summit Right At Four, And It Was About Seven Fifteen When I Emerged. I Had Not Seen Him. The Gentleman Said He Had Given Up Just Before Three About Where Phelps Hits The Great Range Trail. The Son Had Some Water, But No Light On Him, And Had A Long Way To Go. I Hope That Father, Who Had An Even Smaller Child He Carried Throughout The Day With Him, Had His Son Returned, With Or Without The Help Of The Rangers. Be Careful People. And Be Prepared. Have What You Need And If Things Go Wrong Accept The Situation, But Never Put Yourself Into A Situation Where You Suffer As You Think Of How Easy It Would Have Been To Not Put Yourself Into The Predicament.
I Wandered Over To Stewarts, Then To Cabin #3 For A Hot Shower, Warm Soup, And A Nice Long Rest For My Weary Feet. There Was Nothing To Do Tomorrow But Lounge About. It Was The Fourth Of July, And Almost Everybody Gets The Day Off. Maybe I Would Take The New Inflatable Boat Out, And Just Be Lazy!
End Of Part One (of Two)
(part 1 Of 2)
“i’ve Been Coming Here For Decades And This Might Be The Nicest Day I’ve Ever Seen.†These Were Words That I Heard Uttered As I Sat Atop Of Big Slide On The First Saturday Of July In 2005. I Smiled Inwardly Thinking Of All The Wonderful Days I Have Been Graced With Inside This Wonder Of Wonders Of A Park, This High Peaks Area Especially. That Is Not To Say I Have Not Encountered Many Of The Sideways Rain Days That Can Humble The Sturdiest Of Hikers, But For Some Reason, At Least Up To Now, I Must Have Racked Up A Disproportionate Share Of Perfect Peak Days Up Here. Though, Some Of My Favorite Days Have Been Spent Reading A Book And Munching On Goodies In A Lean—to While Listening To The Pattering Of The Rain Overhead, And Maybe Also The Pattering Of The Mice Underfoot, But More Often I Have Found Myself Enjoying The Vistas Offered By These Grand Mountains For Longer Than One Might Think That One Might Should.
It Was A Bittersweet Smile Though. This Trip Was Planned With My Longtime Hiking Partner, 46er Climbing Team Member (37), And Friend For Almost Twenty Years. Things Happen In This World. Sometimes For The Better, Sometimes Naught. So I Smiled On This Sunny Saturday Early Afternoon As I Alone Shared What Might Have Been The Teams 38th High Peak With About Ten Fellow Hikers And Wondered If I Would Stand On All 46, And If I Do, Will It Mean What It Might Have Meant Once.
True To Form, I Allowed Myself A Bit Over Two Hours Of Rest/sleep At A Quickly Assembled Camp At Roaring Brook Falls Before Embarking On A Route That Would Take Me Over Brothers On A Pristine Day. The High Was Forecast For High Sixties After A Long Period Of High Heat. It Turned Out To Top Off In The Mid Seventies As I Leaped-frogged A Young Couple Up The Ledges Of Brothers. I Had Little To Do Today Except Enjoy, And That I Did. I Stopped About Every Other Ledge And Sat For A Few Minutes Or More. I Even Had A Butterfly (moth?) Land On Me. I Was Able To Get The Camera Out With Stealth And Get A Shot Before He Fluttered On. Are The Ones With Black Wings Accompanied By White Stripes Flutterbyes Or Moths?
I Reached The Summit Of Big Slide And Settled In. I Had A Book, Some Puzzles And Enough Food And Water To Last All Day. This Summit Also Has An Awesome View Of The Big Slide On Gothics. I Do Not Rock Climb, But Looking At That Monstrosity, I Sometimes Get The Urge To Be Led Up There. More Than A Dozen Souls Came And Went As I Stretched Myself Out, My Feet Breathing The Fresh Air. Everything Else I Needed Was In My Car, And My Cabin I Had Rented Lay Just Miles Down The Road. The Only Stop In Between Was A Trip To The Beacon Of Light In These Hills, Stewarts, Which Happened To Be Stationed Direly Across The Street From My Temporary Abode. I Remarked To A Girl Working There, That The Stewarts In Keene Might Well Hold The Record In The North-east For Having The Most People Grunt And Groan, With Pleasure Mostly, As The Got Out Of Their Cars And Entered The Store. A Long Day Of Hiking? You Better Make That Three Scoops, And There Are Times You Do Not Mind Standing In Line To Use The Bathroom, Especially When There Is No Other Public, Non-outhouse Bathroom For Miles And Miles And Miles.
The Owners Of Mountain Manor Were Very Friendly. David (i Can Remember That Name Easy Enough), Told Me About The Fireworks That The Ausable Club Would Be Shooting Off Later That Night. I Took A Shower In My Cozy And Tiny Little Cabin And Made Myself Some Dinner. It Was A Perfect Place For Anyone Looking For No Amenities. $45 A Night, It Had Two Comfy Beds, A Sink, A ****ter, And A Shower. What Else Could You Want From Cabin #3? The Water Runs From The House For This Cabin Only, So You Need To Waste Some Water Waiting For Hot To Kick In To The Shower, Then You Are Golden. For A Steeper Price You Can Get A Very Nice Cabin. $100 Bucks Gets You A/c, Cable, And I Think At Least One Has A Hot Tub. They Were Nice People And That Is Why I Would Recommend Them.
The Fireworks Were Better Then I Expected. They Started Off Slipshod. Piecemeal, One At A Time, Maybe By Private Members, Then After About Twenty Five Minutes The Show Proper Began. Sitting On The Golf Course, In A Pre-determined Area, Under A Cloudless Night With A Sky Littered With Stars, Planets, A Slice Of A Moon, And Satellites To Boot, You Could Choose To Stare Up, Or To The East And The Landscape Dominating Giant Of The Valley, Or To The West And The Impressive Show That Was Going On Under On A Pleasantly Chilly Night. After Over Thirty, Thirty-five Minutes Of Never Ending Echoes Swishing Around In Stereo Down Through The Valley, I Must Admit, I Now Have Something Positive To Say About The Amr ‘get The Hell Off Our Land’ People.
The Next Morning, After I Awoke (a Little Later Then Expected: See No Sleep And Late Night Fireworks In Earlier Paragraphs) I Was Determined To Undo A Slight That I Felt I Committed During The Griad (great Range In A Day) I Accomplished And Published On This Site Earlier This Year. That Day I Stepped Atop Of Three New Mountains, One Of Which Was A Big One, A Really Big One. My Total Time Atop That Peak Had To Be Less Then Five Minutes, Maybe Two. I Was A Bit Out Of It By That Time. So Today I Was Going To Give My New Pack A Real Test. I Cobbled Together A New Pack From Ems. The Pack Itself Was Designed More For The City, But I Put A Bladder In The Back, And It Fit Well. It Had A Belt Strap And A Chest Strap, Which On My Last Pack, Reliable As It Was, Had Neither. It Did Have Two Good Size Pockets, But Not As Large As I Had Had With My Last Pack. So With A Pot And My Stove, I Was Determined To Spend As Long As I Could On The Summit Of Haystack, And Properly Introduce Myself To This Majestic Mountain. I Still Believe That It Is Here Where The Great Range Truly Ends, As You Peer Over And See The Great Headwall That Closes Off Panther Gorge. Deep Inside Of Their Has To Be As Far As You Can Get From Anywhere In The Northeast Without Having To Go To Maine.
I Wonder If Haystack Would Be Easier If You Climbed From The Loj And Sacrificed The Extra Up/down For Ease Of The Trail. Not That A Hard Trail Is A Deterrent, There Is Just No Easy Way To Get To Haystack And Out In One Day. It May Be A Harder Climb Then Marcy, Even From The Garden, Definitely From The Loj. The Day Was Getting Hot, And You Do Not Really Start Climbing For A While. I Had A Full Three Liters In My Camelback, And I Did Not Bring A Filter. There Was A Lot Of Ice In There, But I Wanted To Be On Top As Soon As I Could. The Pack Is All Right
I Took A Brief Rest At Bushnell Falls Lean-to. As I Was Leaving I Saw An Older Oriental Fellow And A Young Lad. They Were Headed For Haystack Also, Though I Did Not Know This At The Time. After An Obligatory Pb&j At Slant Rock, I Was Ready For The Big Push. If I Am Not Mistaken, Johnny Read 4590 At Least Three Times Before I Reached Its Lofty Top. To Make Sure Our Legs Get The Right Amount Of Work, You Must Go Over The Height Of Land, Then Over Little Haystack, The Up To Haystack Himself. The Payoff When You Finally Arrive, Especially On A Clear And Warm Day As That Day Was, Is Remarkable. It Seems I Say These Things Very Often, But There Really Are So Many Splendid Places With So Many Different Landscapes And Vistas In This Area And The Park As A Whole, We Should Be Proud Of How We Treat Our Treasure, And Be Vigilant In All Regards While Still Allowing Us Humans To Be Humans.
People Came And Went As I Spent Three Hours Stretching, Reading, Cooking And Listening To A Bit Of Prairie Home Companion That I Picked Up On My Walkman. I Enjoyed A Nice Warm Repast And Collected So Many Nice Pictures, I May Need A Bigger Hard Drive. After A While, I Spied The Man And Boy I Had Seen Earlier Making Their Way Over Little Haystack. When They Had Gotten To The Top, We Had A Nice Bit Of Conversation. He Was Chinese, And Looked Like He Was From The Old Country. His Son Was Very American And Looked To Be No More Than Ten Or Eleven. They Live In Syracuse, And The Old Man Said That He Had Once Thought He Was A Bit Strange About Wanting To Climb To High Faraway Places, But Was Happy To See How Others Also Enjoyed This Area Over The Years. He Mentioned That He Had Climbed Most Of The Peaks In The Area. When I Asked The Young Man How Many Mountains He Accompanied His Father To, He Replied ‘all Of Them’. Then He Said Something Like He Was Not Really Sure Why He Was Here. I Assured Him That While He May Not Understand At This Moment, I Could Guarantee Him That Some Day He Most Definitely Sure Will Understand. Even After A Long Summit Stay, It Is Hard To Leave On A Day Like This.
While I Do Keep Up A Pretty Good Pace On The Ups, I Think It Is Going Down That Gives Me A Bit Of An Advantage Over Some Of My Friends That I Love To Hike With. My Friend Terri Once Said That I Had The Billy Goat Gene. I Have Always Had Good Balance, And The Dacks Are Nothing If They Are Not A Constant Exercise In Keeping Ones Balance. Going Down Is Nothing More Then A Controlled Fall, Where Being Of Average Height And Proportions Is An Asset. Those Who Are Taller And Narrower Have The Advantage On The Big Leg Up When Ascending, But Are In Need To Be Most Careful On The Way Down In Order To Avoid The Horrible ‘header’. The Hiker Who Is Smaller Has Best Balance Going Down, But Has The Hardest Time With The Ubiquitous Rocks Needed To Climb Up And Over Or Down. Those Of Us In Good Shape In The Middle Need A Bit Of More Effort Going Up, But I Have Hit Eighty Feet Of Descent Per Minute A Few Times, According To Johnny. Oh Yeah, One More Thing. The Shorey Short Cut Doesn’t Seem Like Too Much Of A Short Cut To Me. Maybe If They Called It The Shorey Last Chance Not To Go Over These Next Two Real Big Mountains Trail, I Could Live With That.
I Am Not So Sure It Had Any Less Descent Then Going Back The Way I Came, But The Col Between Haystack And Basin Is Very Serene.
When I Finally Came Upon Jbl, I Sat For A Bit And Was Surprised To Hear The Gurgling Sound As The Last Of My Three Liters Was
Being Ingested. It Had Been A Very Long And Hot Day. Fortunately, I Was Just Over An Hour From The Garden Trailhead And The Path Is Not Too Challenging. When I Reached The Car, I Was Asked By A Man If I Had Seen His Son. I Left Haystacks Summit Right At Four, And It Was About Seven Fifteen When I Emerged. I Had Not Seen Him. The Gentleman Said He Had Given Up Just Before Three About Where Phelps Hits The Great Range Trail. The Son Had Some Water, But No Light On Him, And Had A Long Way To Go. I Hope That Father, Who Had An Even Smaller Child He Carried Throughout The Day With Him, Had His Son Returned, With Or Without The Help Of The Rangers. Be Careful People. And Be Prepared. Have What You Need And If Things Go Wrong Accept The Situation, But Never Put Yourself Into A Situation Where You Suffer As You Think Of How Easy It Would Have Been To Not Put Yourself Into The Predicament.
I Wandered Over To Stewarts, Then To Cabin #3 For A Hot Shower, Warm Soup, And A Nice Long Rest For My Weary Feet. There Was Nothing To Do Tomorrow But Lounge About. It Was The Fourth Of July, And Almost Everybody Gets The Day Off. Maybe I Would Take The New Inflatable Boat Out, And Just Be Lazy!
End Of Part One (of Two)
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