Ritzhikes

Where: Mt. Cardigan When: mid-late 1980s With: Solo Another in my series of day hikes, most likely inspired by the purchase of a car. I recall very little of this trip. I know I went there and seem to remember parking further up the mountain than I expected. I'm pretty sure I started on west side, and probably took the West Ridge trail to the top. The summit was open and rocky, and I think I may have found some blueberries to eat up there.

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...

Where: Mt. Watatic When: 1984? With: Solo This was probably one of my first trips in my first car, a white Honda Civic Sedan. I know because I have a picture I took of the car parked at the trailhead. I'm guessing I picked the route because the Wapack trail crossed it. I've only a few memories of the hike. It might have been in the fall, because folks were on the summit of Watatic when I arrived, watching the hawk migration. Apparently the mountain is a major gathering spot for the raptors. I continued on past the peak and followed the trail north through the woods until I reached a stone wall and a marker indicating the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border. At this point I turned around and returned to the car.

Where: Long Trail, Melville Nauheim shelter When: Winter, 1983/4 With: Chip, Dave The infamous Winter Hell Hike. The first hike for any of us in years, but Chip had a Long Trail book and the idea of ski camping sounded good. So we grabbed a couple of jars of my homemade chili, piled into the Bombermobile ('59 Chrysler New Yorker) and headed to Vermont. A long ride, but finally we spotted the signs for the parking area. Chip was so thrilled, he drove the car off the road and down the embankment into the snow. Whoosh! Dave and I walked down to a local house and had the lady there call for a tow truck, who came, took most of our money, and hauled the car out of the ditch. We parked at a lot up the road and were finally on our way. [ Notes: Presumbly, the parking lot we were aiming for was unplowed, or we would have parked there after getting towed out of the ditch. There is a parking area across the street from the parking lot, but that may have been unplowed as well. I recall w...

Where: Mt. Monadnock When: 1983 (maybe 1984) With: The Stupids? A spur of the moment road trip, probably in the old Bombermobile. Someone was hungover I think. Maybe Seth? Somehow we found our way to the mountain and climbed it. I've got a fleeting memory of scrambling up some rocks near the top, well off any trail. My most distinct memory is of running - literally - down the mountain. We just started picking up speed and before long we were bouncing from rock to rock down the trail. A few fellow hikers chided us for our reckless behavior as we passed but we had a great time. The next morning I went for a run around Jamaica Pond and that helped greatly to keep my legs from tightening up. Later that evening I joined the guys and their girlfriends at a concert at the Hatch Shell (the Fat City Band, I think) and one of the women remarked on my still-mobile condition versus her guy's pain.