Ritzhikes

Where: Bondcliff/Twinway/Franconia Brook trails When: 9/2-9/3/1999 With: Solo Well, I finally ran out of excuses. The weather forecast was perfect, there hadn't been recent rain to swell the streams, the lawn didn't need mowing, it was midweek (fewer crowds), Andy was in school, Jane was on vacation, my boots were broken in... In short, there was no reason why I shouldn't go hiking, so I went. Hoping to make the trip as comfortable as possible, I packed as light as I could and wound up with about a 25 pound pack. No stove or pots. Instead I took snacks for the trail (Kudos bars and Batman gummies), sandwiches for lunch/dinner, and instant breakfast for, well, breakfast. Spare clothing was kept to a minimum also. A sweater for warmth and a spare set of socks was about it. For sleeping, I brought the hammock tent and my Cat's Meow bag. No pad required. I threw in a rain tarp and parka and pack cover, having learned my lesson on the previous trip with Andy, though I ...

Where: Three Ponds When: 8/7-8/8/99 With: Andy The trip started out on a dark note Saturday morning when I returned from retrieving the newspaper to find Andy standing at the bottom of the porch steps. "Daddy," he asked, "can we please not go camping?" He didn't have any specific reason...he just didn't want to go. It was hard to argue with that, since I've cancelled out on my share of trips too. Still, I thought there might be a chance of changing his mind so we continued to talk while we had breakfast. No change. "Okay," I said, "we don't have to go, but I'm going to pack up anyway, just to see how heavy the pack would be." So while he watched his Saturday morning cartoons, I packed the gear. I reasoned that seeing the packing would change his mind, and having everything packed would enable us to get out quickly when it did. Everything was nearly packed, and there was still no interest. That's when I brought out the ...

Where: Collinsville, CT When: 7/17-18, 1999 With: The Stupids Year 4 or 5 of the annual expedition to the Farmington River, depending upon whether we count the year we crashed at Seth's apartment as Year One or not. Anyway, there wasn't much activity going on so I picked a weekend in July and proposed it for this year's trip. Dave finally got an email address and we let the Internet do the work. Dave wasn't able to make a firm commitment at first, but eventually everyone was on board. As the day drew near, more of the pieces fell into place. Chip made the arrangements for the boats with Collinsville Canoe. I'd brought back some smoked salmon from a trip to Vancouver, so I volunteered to take care of dinner. I also offered the use of my orange pup tent to Xeth once again. He accepted and asked for my opinion on other gear. He had a huge Walmart sleeping bag and wondered if that was appropriate. It seemed a bit much and I recommended something like a fleece bag ...

Where: Mt. Grace, MA When: 3/27/99 With: Andy While reading through some hike reports on the Internet, I spotted a report of a hike up Mt. Grace. It described it as one of Massachusetts' smaller mountains and indicated it might be a good hike for a small hiker. So I did a little research and when a day of warm weather presented itself, I threw Andy and some gear into the car and headed toward Orange, MA. As usual on my hikes with Andy, I overpacked a bit. Lots of extra snacks and emergency gear, extra clothes that we never need, etc. At the last minute I'd hauled an old, small polypro shirt of mine out for Andy so he wouldn't be out hiking in cotton. It was a little long in the sleeves for him, but it worked out just fine. He wound up hiking just in that for most of the day. We made it to the trailhead with no problems in about an hour and a half. Orange turned out to be prettier than I'd expected. I was used to real run-down old factory towns out in this part o...

Where: Mt. Monadnock When: 1/31/99 With: Solo Super Bowl Sunday, and I decided to go for a hike. A stretch out, gear check walk more than anything. I had some new things I wanted to try (instep crampons, boots, wicking shirt) and some old things I wanted to reacquaint myself with, so I threw a day pack together and headed to Mt. Monadnock. I had a good time on the Pumbelly trail the last time I soloed this hill, so I decided to try it again. Easily my favorite route. It's off the beaten path and longer than most approaches, so it doesn't get much traffic. Despite the length though, it's not a hard trail. The first couple of miles are relatively flat walking through woods...good for working out the kinks and warming up before the real climbing begins. I'd gotten a late start out of the house, so I wanted to get going pretty quickly once I'd parked. A couple of guys arrived around the same time and set off before me though, so I wound up giving them a little h...