Ritzhikes

Where: Oxbow Pond, Pharaoh Lake area, Adirondacks When: July, 1992 With: Bill, Tom Jane and I were living in a rental house, having sold the house in Holliston and being unable to move into the new place in Hopkinton just yet. Despite plans to the contrary, I hadn't been camping all season. Jane was pregnant, we sold a house and bought a house...things happened. I'd managed a day trip up Mt. Washington but that was it. So I was talking with Bill and he mentioned he and Tom had found a neat place to go camping. I said, "Let's go!" A week later, I was on my way to Albany. We met up at Bill's place, piled all the gear into Tom's truck, and headed north. I seem to remember some problem with Tom's truck along the way, but eventually we arrived at the area. There was a long dirt access road to be dealt with first, and a stream crossing but after a bit we found ourselves in a somewhat crowded parking lot. I think there was good access to a lake there, s...

Where: Mt. Washington When: June 27, 1992 With: Solo I wanted to climb Mt. Washington, so I looked in the White Mountain guidebook to see what routes were available. The book said the Huntington Ravine trail was the most difficult trail in the White Mountains, so that settled it. If I was going to climb the highest mountain in the Northeast, I was going to take the hardest route! The main reason for the difficulty rating was the exposure. The route was very strenuous, to be sure, but it was the open, unprotected climbing near the top of the ravine that earned it its rating. I got an early start and drove straight to the mountain, up 93 to the Kancamagus Highway and then cutting over on Bear Notch road to avoid North Conway. The weather at the base was warm and sunny, and there were a fair number of people and cars there. I packed up my daypack, checked out the Pinkham Lodge facility, and then headed up the trail. Given the popularity of the route and the area, it was no surpris...

Where: Cedar Brook Trail to Wilderness Trail When: February, 1992 With: Chip Three years ago, with Dave, we had done this hike and enjoyed it so much we wrote a song about it. When we talked of great hikes, that one came up first. So naturally, Chip and I decided it was worth a revisit. We had planned to go several weekends before we finally did go, but the weather forced us to change our plans. The winter was odd, with rare snowfalls followed by pouring rain and then sub-zero temperatures. The weekend we went was more of the same, but we convinced ourselves to try anyway. To save time, we bought all our food and alcohol ahead of time and just headed north. Chip insisted on a stop at the NH liquor store anyway, but it was only a short stop and soon we were at the Kancamagus Highway. There had been no snow on the ground most of the way up and the thin covering we saw now was topped with a sheet of ice. We feared we might have to cancel our plans. When we got to the trailhead, the...