Mt. Chocorua
Where: Mt. Chocorua
When: October 6-7, 1984
With: Chip
Channel 38 had an all night Twilight Zone marathon, so I invited folks over to the apartment to watch. At 5 AM, only Chip and I were left, so we decided to go camping! I packed up and then it was off to Beacon Hill to get Chip's gear. He ran in and soon ran out with his pack in hand and his gear in a plastic bag. A record turnaround time.
We decided to go north, to New Hampshire. Chip remembered a place called Mt. Chocorua, so we headed there. Had no idea how to get there of course. We stopped at a convenience store, picked up a couple of things, including some road maps. No price on them, so the guy gave 'em to us free. Another stop at another store got Chip a couple of hot dogs at 8AM. Soon, we were in the White Mountains.
We stopped at a National Forest info hut and got a rough tourist map of the Kancamagus Highway and found Chocorua on it, at the other end. We wound up in a parade of leaf peeper buses all the way across, but finally got there. We parked at the Champney Falls trail head and started our walk.
We stayed on the trail for a while, then realized we'd taken the wrong trail (Bolles rather than Champney Falls). We decided to bushwhack through the woods to the other trail. Somehow we managed to make our way up to Chocora and climbed its rocks. Then it was back down the ridge trail toward the next peak. About halfway across, we cut off the trail and headed down what turned out to be a stream bed. Soon it turned into a nice stream and we made a camp by a waterfall. I lost a nice knife there. Sleep at last.
The next day we headed back up the ridge, navigating by line of sight. We climbed a rock at one point and stopped to rest when we heard voices. Looking down the rock, we saw people walking up a trail we had crossed without noticing. We descended to the trail and followed it to the top of the ridge. At that point we were directly above the car, but the trail went along the ridge a bit before descending. We decided to keep our beeline approach and bushwhacked off the top down the side of the ridge.
Soon we were in a birch forest, running through the trees. We followed a stream we came to until it became a chasm and joined the trail. Back on the trail to the car we went and then home.
One stop on the return trip worth noting...I picked up an electric guitar for $15.00 (marked $18.00) at a flea market. Saw it, left it, went back for it, and just caught the folks as they were packing up.
When: October 6-7, 1984
With: Chip
Channel 38 had an all night Twilight Zone marathon, so I invited folks over to the apartment to watch. At 5 AM, only Chip and I were left, so we decided to go camping! I packed up and then it was off to Beacon Hill to get Chip's gear. He ran in and soon ran out with his pack in hand and his gear in a plastic bag. A record turnaround time.
We decided to go north, to New Hampshire. Chip remembered a place called Mt. Chocorua, so we headed there. Had no idea how to get there of course. We stopped at a convenience store, picked up a couple of things, including some road maps. No price on them, so the guy gave 'em to us free. Another stop at another store got Chip a couple of hot dogs at 8AM. Soon, we were in the White Mountains.
We stopped at a National Forest info hut and got a rough tourist map of the Kancamagus Highway and found Chocorua on it, at the other end. We wound up in a parade of leaf peeper buses all the way across, but finally got there. We parked at the Champney Falls trail head and started our walk.
We stayed on the trail for a while, then realized we'd taken the wrong trail (Bolles rather than Champney Falls). We decided to bushwhack through the woods to the other trail. Somehow we managed to make our way up to Chocora and climbed its rocks. Then it was back down the ridge trail toward the next peak. About halfway across, we cut off the trail and headed down what turned out to be a stream bed. Soon it turned into a nice stream and we made a camp by a waterfall. I lost a nice knife there. Sleep at last.
The next day we headed back up the ridge, navigating by line of sight. We climbed a rock at one point and stopped to rest when we heard voices. Looking down the rock, we saw people walking up a trail we had crossed without noticing. We descended to the trail and followed it to the top of the ridge. At that point we were directly above the car, but the trail went along the ridge a bit before descending. We decided to keep our beeline approach and bushwhacked off the top down the side of the ridge.
Soon we were in a birch forest, running through the trees. We followed a stream we came to until it became a chasm and joined the trail. Back on the trail to the car we went and then home.
One stop on the return trip worth noting...I picked up an electric guitar for $15.00 (marked $18.00) at a flea market. Saw it, left it, went back for it, and just caught the folks as they were packing up.
Follow-up note: I found a YouTube clip of commercials from the Twilight Zone marathon on WSBK (channel 38) in 1984, and it confirmed the date. A supermarket ad for a Columbus Day Sale mentions an end date of Saturday, October 6, and that date fell on a Saturday in 1984. Columbus Day was celebrated on Monday, October 8 in 1984.
