[at-l] What I did on my summer vacation... (long)

[m_factor@hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

>From: DaRedhead@aol.com
>
>... another lister recently hiked w/ them (The barefoot sisters,
>Isis and Jackrabbit) and Tubaman - maybe eventually she'll post a TRIP
>REPORT???? ;-)

Umm, that would be me...  :-)  and here's the trip report...  It's not all 
hiking but it's almost all thruhiker/lister related in one way or another.

Let's see...  I think that's another 22 AT miles for me and about 25 LT 
miles.  I think I've got just 50 LT miles to go...

Enjoy...

Mara
Stitches, AT99, LT 97-01? 02? (anyone want to guess?  ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I did on my summer vacation…

It started a little bit early – on Thursday – when I went down to Wareham, 
MA to have dinner with Yak and Yo.  They’re the couple I hiked with in 
Maine.  If you have to be stranded for a few days with a couple of people, I 
was glad to be stranded with them.  Anyway, it was good to see them and meet 
some of Yo’s family.

On Friday, after work, I got a phone call from PapaBear, a section hiker I 
had met on Springer in 1999.  He’s on track to finish the AT next year and 
called to say ‘hi’ and get some gear advice.

On Saturday, I went up to VT to go to Trail Trotter and Whittler’s baby 
shower.  I had also met Trail Trotter and Whittler on Springer in 1999.  We 
had hiked hundreds of miles together on and off along the trail.  They 
completed their thruhike a couple of weeks after I did.  They are expecting 
their first child any day now.  It was great to see them and see the baby’s 
first hiking boots and fleece.  :-)  I was also glad to be able to pass 
along greetings from PapaBear.

On Sunday, I stopped for breakfast in Connecticut with family that lives in 
the area and then made my way to New York.  I stopped at the RPH shelter on 
my way to the Bear Mountain Inn but there were no hikers there at midday.  
Then, I finished the drive to Bear Mountain and drove up to the tower to 
kill some time and work some trail magic.  When I drove back down the 
mountain, I was expecting to park so that I could meet Tubaman as planned at 
2:00.  The two of us were going to track down Isis and Jackrabbit.  Imagine 
my surprise when I found the parking lots closed.  It was an incredibly hot, 
beautiful day and it seemed half of New York had decided to go picnic at the 
Bear Mountain Inn.  They were turning people away and sending them to 
Tiorati State Park.

Explaining the situation, I was finally directed to go park in the 20 minute 
parking.  When I had walked thru the Bear Mountain area two years earlier – 
almost to the day, I don’t think I counted more than 20 people.  On this 
day, there were probably 2000 or more in the area.  But, after I finally 
parked around 2:30, I quickly saw a thruhiker who directed me to a hiker 
feed that Bookworm and Chef were putting on.  Just a few minutes later,  
Tubaman also walks up having been forced to park further away and then walk 
into the park.

Tubaman had gotten email saying that the Barefoot sisters were going to be a 
day late so we decided to hang out for a little while so Tubaman could gave 
a little concert, and make our way to Tiorati State Park.  We knew there was 
camping near the trailhead and we could intercept the Barefoot Sisters when 
they got there the next day.  On the way to Tiorati, we stopped by West 
Point to see if a friend of Tubaman’s was there.  He wasn’t but we had 
noticed “Free Concert” signs on the way in.  So, instead of going to 
directly to Tiorati, we got a pizza and came back to West Point for the 
free, open air, concert.

What a treat…  It was the U.S. Army Knights Jazz band and they were doing a 
salute to Glenn Miller.  We watched, listened, Tubaman napped, and then 
Tubaman and I even managed to get in a swing dance.  Can you believe it?  He 
hikes, he plays tuba, and he SWING dances.  Cool!  After the concert, while 
people were still milling around, Tubaman gave yet another little tuba 
concert.

So, we finally make our way to Tiorati, park the car, and walk back to the 
trail where we knew of some camping just a few hundred yards in from the 
trailhead.  The weather was great so we just spread out a groundsheet and 
crashed under the stars.  There were a bunch of other hikers already dead to 
the world by the time we got there.

The next morning, we talked to the other hikers camped there and found out 
that one of them thought Isis and Jackrabbit were north of there.  Argh!  We 
had hoped to slackpack them for that section.  So, just to be sure, I took a 
quick trip up a blue blaze to see if they had signed the register at 
Fingerboard.  On the way up, I saw a 5’ black snake, a ribbon snake, 
listened to an Eastern Towhee, and ate a few blueberries.  The register had 
just been filled within a day or two but there were no notes from Isis and 
Jackrabbit – even on the back cover which still had a bit of room.

Relying on the other hiker’s knowledge, we drove back to the Bear Mountain 
area and not finding them at the Post Office, we drove up the first dirt 
road crossing north of the bridge crossing.  Each time we tried to hike 
south to go meet them, other hikers would be emerging from the south so we 
would go back to the car and hand out some trail magic.  Among the other 
hikers we saw were Rambunny and Seattle.  It was great to see Rambunny again 
and know that she’s both looking great and feeling great.  Last year, when 
she hiked the trail, she had a painful hip problem that plagued most of her 
thruhike.  This time, she realized just how much more she was able to enjoy 
the trail without the pain.

Before Rambunny and friends could get on their way, Isis and Jackrabbit 
reached the trailhead.  It was great to see them.  They are much more 
frequently now hiking in their sandals but this year.  They have a time 
constraint and sandals allow them to hike more “normal” hiker miles.

We stashed their packs, piled into the car, and went to town for a quick 
lunch.  Then Tubaman got his car back and we shuttled his car up the dirt 
road and all drove up to Fahnstock State Park.  It was about 3:30 PM on a 
hot, muggy day, when the four of us started a 16 mile slackpack back to 
Tubaman’s car.  We found out later that the heat index had been over 100 
that day and we hiked through the worst of the heat.

Tubaman caught up with us in short order after attempting to do some trail 
magic by picking up a woman we had seen roadwalking with a full pack.  She 
declined but he still had some work to do to catch up with us.  We continued 
and took advantage of a spigot near a road crossing to dunk our heads, cool 
off, and drink as much water as we possibly could.

Continuing on, Tubaman once again caught up after unsuccessfully 
backtracking to find his t-shirt left behind during a break (he would later 
recover it from some northbound hikers).  Then, at our last road crossing, 
it looked like he would be catching up again.  He was making a phone call so 
the three of us went ahead to tray to beat the rapidly falling darkness.  
When it finally go to the point where lights were almost needed, we stopped 
to wait for Tubaman, not knowing if he knew he had a light with him.  It was 
on my keychain that he was carrying.

We waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Jackrabbit and Isis sang some 
songs for me in beautiful harmony.  (What a treat.)  Now it was truly dark 
and it occurred to us that it was possible Tubaman had hitched around.  So, 
I turned on my yellow photon light (200 hours, right?) and left it hanging 
where Tubaman couldn’t miss it if he got that far.

We quickly got back to the road to find Tubaman sleeping in his car.  He had 
hitched around to the bridge and walked up from the other direction.

To make a longer story short, he brought me back to my car, I went back for 
Jackrabbit and Isis, and we found our way to the RPH shelter.  By the time 
we got there, it was after midnight.  The sisters scarfed some bread and 
cheese and went to sleep.  I ate a Poptart, spread my stuff under the stars 
for yet another beautiful night, and saw a few shooting stars before Tubaman 
showed up with ice cream.  By then, everyone else was asleep so we shared 
one pint and left the other in the cooler to melt by morning.

On Tuesday morning, we slacked the last 6.5 miles from Fahnstock to RPH 
where Jackrabbit was hoping to have a friend, Aislinn, meet her but 
wondering if her friend would find the place because the address she had was 
for the caretaker’s place, not the shelter.  We were all really dehydrated 
and not functioning at our best by the time we got back.  I filtered some 
water, Tubaman got some lemonade from the car, and then he shuttled me so I 
could get my car back.  By the time I returned, Isis had figured out where 
the caretakers house was and an hour later than the planned meeting time 
already, we raced up the hill to see if we could find Jackrabbit’s friend.  
We found the house but there was no sign of Jackrabbit’s friend.  Isis was 
discouraged but sat down to write a note to both the caretaker and the 
friend.  Right then, a car pulls up.  Jackrabbit’s friend was running an 
hour late, too.  Our timing could not have been better.

Back at the shelter, there’s yet another good reunion, another concert, and 
then Tubaman and I had to hit the road.

We stopped for pizza near the route 52 AT crossing.  Jackrabbit, Isis, and 
Aislinn pull up, too.  We ate fast, took a couple of hikers and backpacks 
back up to the trail, and hit the road.

With Tubaman’s walkie-talkies, we are able to stay in touch on the road 
while we drove north.  The plan was for Tubaman to help me shuttle my car so 
I could do a three to four day Long Trail section.

But, by the time I got near Vermont, my right knee was in such pain from 
driving (no cruise control in the car I was driving) that I had to stop for 
a break.  Just inside Vermont, I found Tubaman but knew I couldn’t finish 
the drive so I gave him back the walkie-talkie and said good-bye.  A few 
phone calls later and I was meeting Mrs. Gorp at the Whistlestop Café and 
then followed her back to her place for the night.  It was good to see 
Larry, her husband, again and catch up with Cindy.  It made me feel like I 
was thruhiking again.

The next morning, with my knee feeling much better, I left early to go meet 
the Old Ridgerunner and Trailwife for breakfast at the Plum and Maine in 
Johnson and then a shuttle back to Jonesville.  The shuttle was wonderful, 
with a tour through Smuggler’s Notch and some of the local history that you 
just don’t get when you’re “just” hiking.  I’m really glad I had the 
opportunity to sit and have breakfast with them.

With reports of marginal water at Puffer shelter, I ended up stopping at 
Buchanon shelter where a piped spring was running beautifully.  The shelter 
itself was really nice with an open air porch, and an enclosed sleeping 
area.  There were four people there who had hooked up while on the trail and 
were end-to-ending together.  They were going northbound and had already 
been on the trail for four weeks.

Two other men eventually joined us as well.

The next morning was a late one for me but I was still the first one up and 
out.  I think others were stirring just as I was heading out around 8:00am.

I had a second breakfast at Puffer shelter.  I was finding that there were 
plenty of “puddles” or slow moving streams to filter from but fewer 
opportunities to find water when just using iodine as water treatment.

I stopped for lunch at the Tucker shelter at the Mansfield Trail.  And then 
it was three miles of trail that I had been on before.  Just a bit seemed 
familiar but since it had been pouring three years ago, most of what I had 
remembered was slogging through mud and slipping on wet rocks.  Neither was 
that much of an issue this time.  The tendon on the inside of my right ankle 
was bothering me so I was going slower than expected and decided to stop for 
the night at the new Butler shelter.

Since I had been there three years earlier, the top third of the shelter had 
literally been jacked up and the bottom rebuilt under it.  The shelter was 
now much higher, had steps going up to the entrance, and a wonderful porch 
with a great bench had been added.

I remembered playing hours of cribbage inside the dank, dark shelter three 
years earlier while waiting for the rain to let up so I could make it over 
Mansfield.  The rain never let up and we ended up backtracking and skipping 
the Mansfield section.  This time, the weather was great.  The view from the 
new porch on Butler is phenomenal.  It goes straight out across Lake 
Champlain to Mt. Marcy in the Adirondacks.

There were only two other women there in addition to the caretaker so we 
were all able to spread out.

The next morning, I started out having dosed up on Ibuprofen.  I knew I 
would be calling it quits once I got to Smuggler’s Notch.  There was no way 
I could make it back to my car by Saturday morning.  Instead, I had an easy 
climb up the forehead.  Once of the women caught me as we approached the 
forehead summit station and we walked together to the Chin.  We hung out 
there for a while and then headed down.  She got ahead of me almost 
immediately and I didn’t expect to see here again.  I dropped my pack and 
took a side trip up to the Adam’s Apple and then stopped at the Taft shelter 
on the way down.  Met a few interesting people going up but then had to beat 
my way past the crowds go up as I got lower on the mountain.

Imagine my surprise when that woman and her friend were waiting for me at 
the trailhead when I finished the section.  They were waiting to take me 
back to my car.  How nice was that?  So, I got back to my car and headed for 
Stowe to hit Pie in the Sky for AYCE pizza.

On the way there, I noticed my car running hot.  I though maybe the traffic 
was the culprit but after lunch, it got hot almost immediately.  I pulled 
into a service station with a NAPA store – still in Stowe – only to discover 
that my radiator was leaking.  The guy at the store makes a couple of phone 
calls and we find a repair shop willing to look at it.  We add water to the 
radiator and I limped to the repair shop.

There, they wanted to install a new, $350 radiator into a car that’s only 
worth $500.  I declined, and was about to junk the car and take the train 
home when someone mentioned a used radiator.  One call later and I’ve got a 
radiator lined up for the next morning and this shop ready to do the repair 
as soon as I bring the car and used radiator in.

For some reason, I had tossed a hostel guide into my car before I left and I 
quickly located a hostel in Stowe so I even had nearby lodging.  Cool!

The next morning, I drove my leaking car nearly 30 miles only to find out 
that the radiator was the wrong one.  Argh!  But, since I made it that far 
and the car wasn’t overheating, I decided to try to make it to Boston.  I 
made sure I had water in the car (another use for a 4 liter Dromedary bag) 
for when I needed a refill.  With the heater blowing, I made it all the way 
back to Boston without having to refill the radiator.  Cool!

I had needed to get home because I had visitors coming from Georgia.  So I 
got home in plenty of time to meet them.  I also arrived home to find a 
message on my answering machine from Orren, (MEGA 2000) who was going to be 
pulling into Boston on a boat that same day.  Sure enough, he called that 
night.

Turns out he hadn’t hiked since his thruhike (kind of hard to find mountains 
when you're working on a 100' yacht) and he would love to join my friends 
and me for our planned Monadnock hike on Sunday.  I borrowed my sister’s car 
and the four of us met for breakfast at Johnny D’s, a great Davis Sq. 
establishment.  Then we had a wonderful climb up Mt. Monadnock.  There, as 
usual, I saw a few people I knew.  One of whom was a former Brooks employee 
who had heard some scuttlebutt while I was on vacation.  With the current 
economy, I was now going back to work knowing that I would be having a pay 
cut.  Argh!  But, it’s better than being laid off so I wasn’t going to worry 
about it while I was with friends.  We had great Tibetan food for dinner and 
Toscanini’s ice cream for dessert.

Orren ended up crashing at my place that night, too.  Once again, Mara’s 
Hiker Hostel was open for business.  :-)

Dropped Orren off the next morning at the T station and made my way to work 
to find out the fullest extent of the news…

Once I got to work, I found out the group I’m in was earmarked to lose one 
person.  Rather than fire one of use, we all agreed to work just a four day 
work week.  So, I now have a lot more free time – and a lot less money 
coming in.  I’ll have to see if I like this new lifestyle.  Can’t wait for 
all the three day weekends though…  :-)

Anyone want to go hiking?




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