Ritzhikes

Where: 13 Falls When: November 18/19, 1989 With: Chip The caterpillar hike. It started as just another autumn hike. Nothing difficult, just a walk into a new area. We planned to follow the Wilderness Trail in past Franconia Brook, and then onto the Franconia Brook trail. At the trailhead, while we packed, I discovered I'd brought along an unexpected companion. A woolly bear caterpillar, which we named Bob. He was in the car and I put him on my pack as we set off. The day was chilly, but we weren't uncomfortable as we walked. We found the Franconia Brook trail and headed into the woods. The trail followed an old rail bed at first, then went into a marshy area where we stopped for a bit. When we decided to continue, we realized we'd lost the trail. We poked around a bit before finally backtracking and locating the way. The trail had taken a turn we hadn't noticed. From there on the trail was pretty flat and easy to follow. It was a very pretty hike. The trail slabb...

Where: Alander Mountain When: June 3-4, 1989 With: Chip, Seth All the mountains are not in New Hampshire! According to the hiking books, there was some fine hiking in Western Massachusetts. I found some maps (one from an aerial photography outfit in the Norwood airport) and picked an area at the Mass/Conn/NY border. Chip picked up Seth, swung by my place and after stops for food and gas, we were off. An incident on the Turnpike turned out to be prophetic. Near Chicopee, we struck a bird in flight. No damage, but we figured it had to be an omen. The first sign of trouble was when we were off the Pike and searching for the trailhead. We couldn't find it. We wound up spending a couple of hours driving on backroads and stopping in stores to ask for directions. The folks there just didn't seem to realize that they had a trail system in their backyards. At one point, we drove up a dirt road high up the ridge and came out on some vacation homes on a lake. We found later that we ...

Where: Desolation via Cedar Brook When: March 4-5, 1989 With: Chip & Dave At long last, Chip and I convinced Dave to join us on another winter camping trip. Both Dave and I had bought -20 degree sleeping bags, so he must have felt safe. To get an early start, we staged a sleepover at Chip's place on Friday night (Wendy was gone). Seth joined us for the night, leaving open the possibility he might join us on the hike. In an amazing coincidence, Invasion of the Body Snatchers - the film that inspired the famous Pod Song, anthem of the Stupid Society ("Hey ma, the pods won't get me now. Hey ma, the pods won't get me now. My brain is fried, so I'm good inside. Hey ma, the pods won't get me now.") - was on TV in a colorized version. We organized a rapid action operation to buy food for the camping trip and pizza for dinner and hit the road. Chip and I dropped off Seth and Dave at the pizza place/restaurant and then continued on to the supermarket. W...