Ritzhikes

Where: Farmington River above Collinsville, CT When: 7/18-7/19, 1998 With: Chip, Seth, Dave Year Four of the annual excursion to Collinsville. Other than setting a date there was almost no preparation done prior to the week before the trip. A couple of e-mails were exchanged and I checked the USGS web site to see about the river flow. I was encouraged to see that it was running above normal. I finally made a couple of phone calls to get things going. First was a call to Fin & Feather Sports in Upton to see about renting kayaks, but their Old Town boats did not have the folding seat backs we required for access to the storage space behind the seats. The next call was to Collinsville Canoe & Kayak, where I arranged to rent three Keowees. I had to do the usual song & dance about where we were going and how we were getting the boats there. The third call was to Dave. Though I'd reserved a boat for him, I suspected he might want to bring his sea kayak and I was right. ...

Where: Mt. Monadnock When: 7/3/98 With: Andy Andy's first real mountain climb. It was the start of a 10 day vacation for us and I thought I'd kick it off with a hike. Jane took the opportunity to visit with friends while Andy & I packed up a few supplies and headed to New Hampshire. We missed one turn and wound up taking a rather scenic back road into Jaffrey. We emerged from the woods onto the main road with the mountain looming directly ahead of us. Cool. It was a beautiful sunny day as we pulled into the parking area, paid our fee, and found a spot for the car. It had only taken us about an hour and a half to get there, so we had a nice early start for our hike. We smeared on sunscreen/bug repellent, checked the pack and the maps and were on our way. I had intended that we take the White Cross or White Dot trails to the summit, since they were the most direct paths. We left the parking lot and headed toward where I thought they started, skirting the end of the re...

Where: Imp Shelter, Carter ridge When: 3/11-3/12, 1998 With: Brian White, Brad Hennemuth Buoyed by our success last year, the Crag Camp Crew started to make plans for another winter trip. After a bit of discussion we decided to head for the Carter range, just across the valley from Mt. Washington. The area offered some challenging hiking and spectacular scenery. Instead of an enclosed cabin, this year we’d be roughing it a bit more. Brian was interested in spending a night in a tent above tree line, and even went so far as to purchase a 4-man mountaineering tent. The plan was to spend the first night at Imp shelter, an open front shelter between Mt. Moriah and the Carters. The second day we’d hike the ridge south to Mt. Hight, where we’d set up the tent camp. The third day would be a short hike down to Carter hut, for a rest day in relative comfort, and the final day would be a hike out over the Wildcat ridge. Some tough hiking, but all doable. We made plans to go during the Ma...

Where: Mt. Moosilauke When: 1/17/98-1/18/98 With: Chip As usual, this wasn't the trip we'd originally planned. Tradition dictated yet another attempt to get to the Guyot shelter, but things happened. First, there was an ice storm up north that threw most of eastern Canada and northern New England into darkness for several weeks as all the power lines came down. Electricity wasn't a big concern of ours, but the storm had caused extensive damage to the forests in the White Mountains, at least that's what the reports said. The AMC website warned of obliterated trails and hazardous conditions, while trail reports told of paths that were impossible to follow. Still, we stuck to our plans for Guyot. These included driving up Friday night, hiking in a bit, and setting up camp in the dark. We figured that would give us an early start and a good shot at Guyot. It was not to be though. Andy woke up sick Friday morning, so I stayed home with him. That nixed my plans for an e...