Ritzhikes

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...

Where: Oxbow Pond, Pharaoh Lake area, Adirondacks When: July, 1992 With: Bill, Tom Jane and I were living in a rental house, having sold the house in Holliston and being unable to move into the new place in Hopkinton just yet. Despite plans to the contrary, I hadn't been camping all season. Jane was pregnant, we sold a house and bought a house...things happened. I'd managed a day trip up Mt. Washington but that was it. So I was talking with Bill and he mentioned he and Tom had found a neat place to go camping. I said, "Let's go!" A week later, I was on my way to Albany. We met up at Bill's place, piled all the gear into Tom's truck, and headed north. I seem to remember some problem with Tom's truck along the way, but eventually we arrived at the area. There was a long dirt access road to be dealt with first, and a stream crossing but after a bit we found ourselves in a somewhat crowded parking lot. I think there was good access to a lake there, s...

Where: Mt. Washington When: June 27, 1992 With: Solo I wanted to climb Mt. Washington, so I looked in the White Mountain guidebook to see what routes were available. The book said the Huntington Ravine trail was the most difficult trail in the White Mountains, so that settled it. If I was going to climb the highest mountain in the Northeast, I was going to take the hardest route! The main reason for the difficulty rating was the exposure. The route was very strenuous, to be sure, but it was the open, unprotected climbing near the top of the ravine that earned it its rating. I got an early start and drove straight to the mountain, up 93 to the Kancamagus Highway and then cutting over on Bear Notch road to avoid North Conway. The weather at the base was warm and sunny, and there were a fair number of people and cars there. I packed up my daypack, checked out the Pinkham Lodge facility, and then headed up the trail. Given the popularity of the route and the area, it was no surpris...

Where: Cedar Brook Trail to Wilderness Trail When: February, 1992 With: Chip Three years ago, with Dave, we had done this hike and enjoyed it so much we wrote a song about it. When we talked of great hikes, that one came up first. So naturally, Chip and I decided it was worth a revisit. We had planned to go several weekends before we finally did go, but the weather forced us to change our plans. The winter was odd, with rare snowfalls followed by pouring rain and then sub-zero temperatures. The weekend we went was more of the same, but we convinced ourselves to try anyway. To save time, we bought all our food and alcohol ahead of time and just headed north. Chip insisted on a stop at the NH liquor store anyway, but it was only a short stop and soon we were at the Kancamagus Highway. There had been no snow on the ground most of the way up and the thin covering we saw now was topped with a sheet of ice. We feared we might have to cancel our plans. When we got to the trailhead, the...

Where: Nancy/Norcross Ponds When: September 21-22, 1991 With: Chip, Seth Ever since passing through this area years before, I'd wanted to come back to the campsite at Norcross Pond. The combination of water and vista made it an ideal site. So when a hike was proposed, I suggested this area. Seth and I joined Chip at his house and we all piled into my car for the trip. We drove up the Spaudling Turnpike through the traffic jams of Conway, made a stop at a liquor store, and then made for the trailhead. To our dismay, there were quite a few cars parked there already. We feared we'd find crowds in the woods and I figured the campsite would be taken. Undaunted, we started to pack up. By mutual consent, we'd each brought two containers of alcohol. The first was to be a large quantity of something of moderate strength and the second was to be a half-pint of hard liquor. We agreed to save the identities of the half-pints for later but compared notes on our other purchases. ...

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 ...