Ritzhikes

Where: Mt. Isolation, NH When: 18 November, 2021 With: Steve & Sam Here's how it started: While I continue to work on summiting the 48 NH 4000' peaks, Steve is working on The Grid , and in a post about another hike he'd done for his November summits, he mentioned Mt. Isolation. It's true to its name. Remote and genuinely isolated, it requires a long, tough hike to get to it. It's just barely over 4000 feet (4004'), and despite spectacular views from the top, it probably wouldn't get much traffic if not for the 4K list. I figured I'd get it eventually, but there were plenty of other peaks to get to first. Still, here was an opportunity to check it off. Though I had a few chances to back out (or not agree to go in the first place), I kept saying I was still in for the hike. The final call from Steve came the day before the hike. Showers were predicted all day, and I hadn't been sleeping well the past few days, and there was that twinge in my back, ...

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: Smarts Brook When: May, 1991 With: Seth, Chip This was the hike Chip and I should have taken back in March of 1990, when we were rained out. We could have dried our gear out and gone in here for a nice weekend. It was the last unhiked trail into this area for me, so I kept it on my list and when we needed a hike, I suggested it. We got a late start due to the delivery and setup of a table at Chip's house, but we were in no hurry this day. We arrived at the trailhead in Chip's car, took some pictures, and headed into the woods. The trail was a no-brainer, following an old road and a stream up into the mountains. I even wore sandals instead of boots the first day. The trail came to several pools in the stream that were probably packed in mid-summer. The trail narrowed after passing a beaver pond and the bugs came out. As usual, while we moved they were no problem, but when we stopped they feasted. We moved a good ways back into the forest before finding a nice spot ...

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...

Where: Hancock - Carrigain When: Summer, 1987 With: Solo The AMC White Mountain Guide says, "The ridge line joining Mt. Carrigain and Mt. Hancock has no trail and is rough bushwhacking." This sounded good to me, so off I went. My plan was to go up Hancock, bushwhack along the ridge, and then drop down to Carrigain Pond for the night. The next day, I'd head up Carrigain and then go back to the car on the Hancock Notch trail. The first part of the trip was exactly as advertised. I hiked in and went up the North Hancock side of the Hancock Loop trail. It was easy at first, then very steep. Fortunately, it wasn't too long and I was soon on top, admiring the view. After a bit, I headed toward the South peak. I was stopped at one point by a grouse in the path, making a big fuss. I looked around and spotted 4-5 chicks nearby. I backed off a bit, let the whole family pass, and then continued on. I was keeping an eye out to the left, looking for a likely spot to pick u...

Where: Old Osseo Trail When: Summer, 1987 (?) With: Chip I'd enjoyed this hike and convinced Chip to check it out. We headed up Friday night after work and arrived at the Wilderness Trail trailhead in darkness and rain. A Forest ranger came over to check us out and we convinced him we knew where we were going and were properly equipped. We put on the rain gear, grabbed some flashlights and headed in. Before too long, we were at the Osseo trail and in to the campsite, beside the stream. We set up camp and had a nice dinner of fresh mushroomburgers and vodka. A rainfly created a nice dry area, so we were pretty comfy and wound up staying up past midnight. The next day was dry and we went up the trail. Easy at the bottom, tough at the top. Very steep with steps cut into the hill. We made it up though, with Chip carrying a huge amount of water, and found the old trail. We made it to the campsite pretty early and spent the afternoon hanging out and sleeping. Some flies were anno...

Where: Desolation Shelter via Wilderness Trail When: 1986/87 Winter With: Chip I'm not sure how it all came about, but there we were, Chip and I, standing in the snow at the beginning of the Wilderness Trail with backpacks and skis. Somehow, we decided to take another shot at winter camping, now that three years had passed since our last attempt . Funny, we couldn't convince Dave to join us this time. We decided to head in on the jeep road on the east of the river, rather than on the Wilderness Trail itself on the west. It began to snow and we stood on a bluff on the river, marveling at the sight of the falling snow and the mountains and proclaimed, "Those bums!" Our friends were missing a great hike. We crossed the river at Franconia Brook, taking longer than expected but making it, and then headed in further, recrossing the river on the suspension bridge at Cedar Brook. It was the first ski of the season and the lack of conditioning started to show as the tr...

Where: Mt. Hitchcock When: Summer, 1986 (?) With: Chip & Dave I'm not sure how we decided to head where we did on this hike. We started in on the Wilderness Trail (WT) and at some point crossed the river and scrambled up the other shore. We made our way through thick growth and finally came out on a dirt road. We crossed that and started to head up the mountain, aiming toward some water. We found one good stream...I recall skinny-dipping and having Dave rescue a wayward sock floating downstream. We continued through the woods toward the sound of more water. The map showed a sizable stream that we established as a goal. We found the other stream and the remnants of a road on its bank, which we followed upstream. We termed the area the Dead Woods, because of the scrubby growth and general dampness. We set up camp on a small level spot and set up a fire down by the stream. After some exploring further uphill, we returned to the camp for dinner and an evening by the fire. A...

Where: Old Osseo Trail When: Summer, 1986 (?) With: Solo One odd thing about the last hike...I'd expected the Osseo Trail to come out on the highway, west of the Wilderness Trail trailhead. Instead, while hiking in I found it hooking up with the WT, with signs saying it'd been relocated. A little investigation told me that the relocation had been due to condo construction at the old Osseo trailhead. "Hm," says I, "I wonder if any of the old trail is still there?" So I went in from the Wilderness Trail and headed up from the new trail junction. Up and up and up. Steeper and steeper. Toward the top the trail had steps and ladders, it was so steep. Finally I made the top and stopped at an outlook for lunch. A nice view over the Pemi Wilderness. The trail was flat from here and I went looking for some sign of the trail. Suddenly I saw a plastic marker on a bush and sure enough, there were the remnants of the trail. I followed it on a ridge through some p...

Where: Prospect Rock When: Summer, 1985 (?) With: Chip Back to Prospect Rock, via another route. Up the Lye Brook trail this time. We figured to make it to Bourn Pond and then hike over to Prospect Rock. A good plan, but the trail turned out to be a lot longer than we'd expected. The Lye Brook trail seemed to go on forever, with a lot of false pond sightings to break the spirit. It turned out to be a 7.4 mile hike to the pond...maybe three hours of walking. After a short rest at the pond, we continued on the Branch Pond trail to the Long Trail and down to the Rock. That was another 5.1 miles. Most of the last 2-3 miles I had a roaring caffeine withdrawal headache and by the time we finally made camp I was pretty incapacitated. I set up my tent, crawled in, and just lay there. After a while, and a little food, and some drink, I came back to life and the rest of the evening wasn't too bad. The next day we were joined by a trail crew as we were breaking camp. They asked wh...

Where: Vermont, Prospect Rock When: October 27-28, 1984 With: Chip I got a new car (Honda Civic Sedan), so...road trip! Chip's Long Trail book guided us to Manchester Depot, Vermont. The road to the trailhead turned from highway to lane to dirt road quickly, and soon the new car was bumping and scraping through rocks and ruts. We finally parked at a pullover and started hiking. The road was the trail, so it was relatively easy hiking, pretty much all uphill. After an hour or so, we spotted a side trail and went to investigate. We found ourselves on Prospect Rock, a chunk of cliff on the side of a valley with a panoramic view across to the next range. Down below, the town of Manchester Depot. Wow! A flat spot back from the edge was a nice, protected place for the tents. Water was a ways further up the trail. We settled in and spent the night watching the town and listening to the stream below. The next morning, I snuggled into a crook in the rock in my sleeping bag and watch...

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 wa...