Ritzhikes

Where: Siamese Ponds, Adirondacks When: 8/14/93-8/15/93 With: Bill, Tom Another Ritz Brothers hike. I was up at 5:30, on the road at 6:00, at Bill's at 8:20, in Delmar to pick up Tom at 9:00, and on the road at 9:30 heading north. We hit the trailhead at 11:00 and found a lot of vehicles parked there. That was a bit of a concern, but it didn't change our mind about the hike. We all did a bit of load lightening, removing stuff from our packs, and then started the hike. The trailhead sign said 5.8 miles to the pond, which seemed reasonable. There was a short uphill to start, then downhill a bit, then a level walk next to river. A recent rain brought out a nice variety of fungi - lobster mushrooms, white coral-like fungus, and others. We also spotted a woodcock along the way. It was a warm, partly cloudy day and the walking was pleasant. Despite all the cars at the trailhead, we didn't run into too many other people on the trail. There was a dayhiker with dog, but th...

Where: Mt. Bemis When: June 1992 With: Solo The intent of this trip was to find the now-unmaintained former trail up Mt. Bemis, follow it to the top, bushwhack across to Mt. Nancy, and then descend to the campsite at the outlet of Norcross Pond to spend the night. I drove up under threatening skies, taking the Kancamaugus Highway to Bear Notch Road and then over to the trail head. Just as I arrived at the trailhead, the skies opened up. I packed up in a downpour, using the hatch of my car for cover, and then started walking. This was my third time up this trail, so it wasn't unfamiliar and I quickly settled into an easy pace. A little ways along, I met two women, travelling in the opposite direction. In comparison to my full foul weather gear, they were wearing shorts, gaiters, and raincoats. Probably a better choice of clothes for the warm weather. They mentioned that they were heading out because they hadn't brought a tent, not expecting the rain. We chatted a bit and...

Where: Cascade Brook Trail, NH When: 2/27/93-2/28/93 With: Chip After cancelling in January due to lack of snow, the White Mountains got something like 7 feet of snow in February, so up we went. We hit the parking lot at 9:30 and were on the trail by 10. We both had snowshoes (Chip rented a pair of Sherpas - metal frames...mine were wooden Iversons) and skis. My ski boots turned out to work just fine in the snowshoe bindings, so I left my Bean boots in the car to save weight. Mistake #1. After clumping along a well-worn access path, we made it to the main trailhead but almost missed it because it was untraveled. Despite the lack of a well-worn path, we decided to follow the trail anyway. "Hey," we said, "we've got snowshoes. How hard can it be to break trail?" Mistake #2. What a pain that was! 100 yards in and we were already talking about turning back. Just completely exhausting. And when we'd stop to rest, the cold would settle in and in no time we...