Oh my, I cannot even begin to tell you how tired I am. Only the fact that Metallica is blaring from the stereo keeps me awake to a certain degree today. Oscar is napping right beside me; he does not seem to care too much for heavy metal music. He seems to be needing the nap just as I need it, since yesterday I participated in the most serious monster hike ever done.
I might be exaggerating just a wee bit, but not much. Here is the story – I joined a new hiking group I discovered and ambitiously, with my goal of doing ten of New Hampshire’s 4K mountains each year, I joined them for a triple threat of a hike – Mountains Madison (http://hikethewhites.com/madison.html) , Adams (http://hikethewhites.com/adams.html ) and Jefferson (http://hikethewhites.com/jefferson.html ), three of the so-called Presidentials. In terms of height, they are #2, 3 and 4 on the list of the 48 highest mountains in NH, with Adams coming in at 5774 feet, Madison at 5367 and Jeffferson at 5712. I had done Jefferson two weeks ago – as you may recall in chilly temperatures and winds of a gazillion miles per hour, and had a bit of an idea of what I was getting myself into.
This was a one-day hike, a little less than 14 miles total, and I had decided to drive up to New Hampshire the morning of the event. My new friend Raj, who just moved to Boston two weeks ago from Ohio, had never done any real hiking and thought this might just be a peachy idea, had joined me in our early morning (4 AM) drive up to the Granite State. I had given Raj ample warning about hiking in the Whites, which as you know is no child’s play; the hiking there is strenuous mostly, one has to climb over granite boulders, sometimes on hands and knees, and good preparation is essential. The weather there changes on a dime, and even in summer, our packs are generally filled with winter clothes, rain gear, food and drink for a small army, first aid kits etc. So I took young Raj shopping at REI the night before the hike, rented him some decent equipment for the adventure, and must have not scared him too much as he was still willing to participate in the big event.
We joined our motley crew of hikers at the Appalachia parking lot at 8 AM, and off we went; Mother Nature delighted us with a nice sunny day for the start up the mountains, and led by Mountain Magic (no idea what his real name is, but I have learned since that serious mountaineers of his kind have a “mountain name”) embarked on the hike. Magic certainly is a character, and one gets the feeling he might have actually emerged from these woods at some point (surprisingly he is a Boston native). He boasts a heavy duty Bahwstin accent and a beard that would make any member of ZZ Top jealous, and is accompanied by his pitbull mix Ghost Dog, who is now on his third round of hiking all the 48 4000-footers (Magic is on his 5th round). Other members of the group included Milton, who was an exemplary and very experienced hiking companion and who will be a good friend - that I am sure of. There were other members of the group, who seemed to be happy to be their own little posse, which in hindsight I was glad about, because one of them kept poking me with her trekking poles and was cussing like a sailor, and not in a good way.
We made it up the AMC Madison Springs Hut in good time, but when we arrived the weather conditions already eerily reminded us of Mt Jefferson two weeks ago. The mountain was dipped in a major cloud, the wind whipped the snot right out of you, and at this point we realized that we better get ready for a serious day in the mountains. After Milton, Raj, Maria, Bob and I came back down from the summit, we had a quick lunch, refilled our water and headed off into the clouds to attempt Mt Adams. Just when you thought the wind could not get any tougher, it did – I can honestly say that aside from pre-tornado weather in Oklahoma, I have never been in conditions such as this. After the obligatory summit photo, which you will see next week looks more like a few heads poking out of a fog wall, we quickly hoofed it off there in pursuit of our third peak, Jefferson. For a very short while (five seconds actually), the weather showed improvement and we could actually see the immediate area we were in, but that ended quickly, because now the weather really started. The wind kicked in the turbo, and it was almost impossible to stand up straight, and then the rains kicked in - not a drizzle, RAINS.
Magic, deciding he had enough of this and his malfunctioning rain jacket, decided it best for everyone’s safety to get off the mountain, skip Mt Jefferson and get the hell out of Dodge. Once we heard thunder rumbling, we knew it was the right decision. The hike down the Randolph path (another six miles or so to the car) was not pleasant – by the time we were below the tree line, we were drenched, and hiking became treacherous on account of tons of slippery rocks. We kept our spirits up, and eventually ended up back at the car at 7:40 PM (there were times honestly, when I thought we were hiking the same stretch of forest over and over, and the ordeal would never end). We dried ourselves off and then had to drive back to Boston, so by the time Raj and I got home it was close to midnight, and we were both seriously out of our minds. I still feel as if I am jetlagged and have just come off an overseas flight.
It was an adventure, that is for sure, and I was happy to have very experienced hikers with me, so Winston and Magic deserve a lot of credit. Plus we saw a moose early in the morning as Raj and I were driving down Route 3, saw a guy get handcuffed on the side of the road at 6:30 AM and in the evening a whole group of partying 18-year olds being investigated by police and take the breathalyzer test. Who says New Hampshire is no fun?
Well, that was just one day in the life of Petra – but wait, wait – there is more. Last weekend, I had a lovely hike in the Blue Hills south of Boston (http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/blue.htm) where one can get a wonderful view of this fair city of ours, especially on such as swell day as this Saturday was. Even better, there were no bugs out, so I arrived at home bite-free and for once did not have to live off Benadryl for several days until the swelling goes down.
Sunday I went to the gym, but also took a class in Ultimate Frisbee, less in game strategy but in my case just some basic lessons on how to throw a Frisbee so that it actually lands in the hands of your partners rather than decapitate plants and small animals. I do need a little more practice, but my coach Christina believes I can now be trusted and allowed to play in a public place.
4th of July – Independence Day – it was nice to have a holiday in the middle of the work week and so I went for my first ever “cookout” (it is not called a barbecue here….) – the dinner group, hosted at Patrick and Ellen’s house in Watertown, got together for some serious grilling and we were actually done stuffing ourselves by the time the rains started, which was in the early evening. We enjoyed the Newton fireworks, which can be seen from the Cooley residence, played the 1990s version of Trivial Pursuit (which was won by yours truly and her partner Ram – we blew the competition away, man!) and ate lots of angel food cake with strawberries. Life was good. That is until I came to my house, and tried to go to bed at 10:30 PM. I had never experienced the fact that I am apparently in very close distance to the Boston Fireworks which take place on the Charles River, and once my house started rattling and vibrating, I knew this was not the time to try to sleep. Good times.
So, it is time for me to head back to the couch, I think a nap is in order. Talk to you soon. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…….
PetJ
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