Ritzhikes

Where: 13 Falls When: November 18/19, 1989 With: Chip The caterpillar hike. It started as just another autumn hike. Nothing difficult, just a walk into a new area. We planned to follow the Wilderness Trail in past Franconia Brook, and then onto the Franconia Brook trail. At the trailhead, while we packed, I discovered I'd brought along an unexpected companion. A woolly bear caterpillar, which we named Bob. He was in the car and I put him on my pack as we set off. The day was chilly, but we weren't uncomfortable as we walked. We found the Franconia Brook trail and headed into the woods. The trail followed an old rail bed at first, then went into a marshy area where we stopped for a bit. When we decided to continue, we realized we'd lost the trail. We poked around a bit before finally backtracking and locating the way. The trail had taken a turn we hadn't noticed. From there on the trail was pretty flat and easy to follow. It was a very pretty hike. The trail slabb...

Where: Alander Mountain When: June 3-4, 1989 With: Chip, Seth All the mountains are not in New Hampshire! According to the hiking books, there was some fine hiking in Western Massachusetts. I found some maps (one from an aerial photography outfit in the Norwood airport) and picked an area at the Mass/Conn/NY border. Chip picked up Seth, swung by my place and after stops for food and gas, we were off. An incident on the Turnpike turned out to be prophetic. Near Chicopee, we struck a bird in flight. No damage, but we figured it had to be an omen. The first sign of trouble was when we were off the Pike and searching for the trailhead. We couldn't find it. We wound up spending a couple of hours driving on backroads and stopping in stores to ask for directions. The folks there just didn't seem to realize that they had a trail system in their backyards. At one point, we drove up a dirt road high up the ridge and came out on some vacation homes on a lake. We found later that we ...

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: Desolation via Nancy Pond When: October, 1988 With: Chip Yet another route into Desolation, though not in the snow this time. An autumn hike instead. The weather was cool and drizzly, so we didn't expect much company. We drove in Wendy's old car, a blue Toyota, going up route 95 and the Spaulding Turnpike into Conway. We stopped there for food and then went on to the Nancy Pond trailhead. The trail was pretty easy and in a short time we were at Nancy Falls, where we stopped to admire the scene. The Falls were more of a cascade than anything, ending in a pool. The water was quite high and the falls were full. After the falls, the trail headed up the side of the hill on switchbacks, coming back to the cascade at a couple of points before going off into the woods. We saw patches of snow on the trail as we gained altitude and the drizzle got a bit heavier. We passed through some marshy areas before reaching the top, where the trail leveled off and passed along the shor...

Where: Three Ponds When: Summer, 1988 With: Stupid Society Continuing our exploration of the southern White Mountains, we went west from 93 toward Rumney, past the Famous Polar Caves, on to Ellsworth road, and on to the Three Ponds trail. We packed the Stupid Suits, which came in handy in the parking lot. We discovered that if you just put on the arms and left the legs trailing, someone could grab the legs and spin you around! We got properly dizzy and hit the trail. The hike was easy, pretty, and pleasant. We stopped on a bridge early on for a group photo, one of my favorites. In very short time (it was only 2 miles in) we were at the ponds. We passed the shelter and continued on to the end of the Middle Pond. After passing the Donkey Hill cutoff and crossing a beaver dam, we arrived at a pretty campsite overlooking the pond. We were tempted to stay, but continued on to see if there was anything better on ahead. We went a ways, found a stream, but no better campsite, so we ret...

Where: Sandwich/Black Mountains When: Summer, 1988 With: Solo I thought I'd explore a new section of this area and maybe look for my lost pipe. I went in on the Sandwich Mountain trail, off route 49. The hike was relatively easy at first, but started to ascend pretty steeply as it climbed to the ridge. I tried to keep up a good pace and soon crested the ridge. The hike up there was much easier and the views grand, with overlooks in all directions at various points. Finally I reached the junction with the Algonquin trail, which I planned to follow down. I debated going up to the summit, but I was pretty beat and didn't know how far the summit was so I just headed down. Soon after the junction, I met up with a group of hikers coming up with light daypacks. We greeted each other and I realized they were Soviets. They said they were camping down below and I was the first person they'd seen in days. We parted and I continued on to the Black Mountain trail. I followed this ...

Where: Mt. Tom, MA When: 1988? With: Solo I'd seen Mt. Tom from the Turnpike as I drove to/from Delmar and had been drawn to the idea of climbing it. It's a striking isolated peak with a view of the Connecticut River and seemed like an interesting destination. So when the opportunity presented itself I went. The AMC Massachusetts trail guide offered some advice for routes and I wound up following a path along a power line. I don't recall much else of the hike other than some fleeting memories of standing on a high rocky cliff and exploring near some old summit structure.