[at-l] Re: Adventure and Adversity

[rcli4 at comcast.net (rcli4@comcast.net)]

My version of the same day

The trail was hard as hell but pretty.  It was foggy and then bright sunshine and then it rained like a bitch.  First time I ever seen lightning below me and felt thunder beside me.  Rode with a drunk Lady to the Hyde Away inn and paid four bucks for a piece of sawdust pie.  Jan made up for it in the morning by eating 26 pounds of free breakfast. 

Clyde
Makes ya wonder why half a million people read Jan's Journal and 6 people read mine :>))

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> 
> 
> Ack! So now I'm caught reading back over our Long Trail journal of 
> '02... what a pretty, rocky place northern Vermont is. 
> 
> Speaking of Adventure and satisfied bitching about trail adversity, 
> here's a weather adventure and day of contrasts that took place the 
> day after our night hike - at this point, Day Sixteen, we'd gotten 
> well into the very interesting parts of the northern Long Trail: 
> http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=21594 
> 
> "We are truly in the grip of Kingdom of Weather up here, there is 
> nowhere else to go. Wind is our constant companion in the uplands, and 
> the clouds darken as the morning progresses. Distant thunder growls at 
> us, and we hustle off the tops. There are alot of tops. 
> 
> It is a fantastic day of hiking, cool though humid, the rocks 
> sweating, low stunted spruce, rocky outcrops and shelves galore, views 
> to make a stone man weep. 
> 
> Among the spruce, the mossy forest floor carpet is over-grown in a 
> low, shamrock-type plant springing up from the moss base. There are 
> other floral wonders. On the ski runs, summer phlox and autumn 
> goldenrod vie, the seasons overlapping in this special August cusp. 
> 
> It's been one long hot, sweaty week for the Trail Princess without a 
> proper shower, a new personal record. We are heading into town today. 
> I can hear that hot water heater calling my name. 
> 
> But Mother Nature has other plans. 
> It begins to rain. Then downpour. 
> You want WATER, Sugar Plum? Here it comes. 
> 
> 
> KAAA-BOOM! 
> 
> 
> The trail becomes a torrent of rushing brown liquid, an ankle-deep 
> river that makes rock climbing a dicey business. The wind blows and 
> the thunder crashes closer, 
> one one thousand, two one thousand, three... 
> damn, less than two miles... 
> then less than a mile... 
> then... 
> 
> We are on a ridge from which there is no escape, so we keep on hiking. 
> What else to do? It's downright unnerving - and Something Else too. 
> 
> The thunder is crashing close above us now. It is intense. I start to 
> whoop. 
> 
> YEEEHA-A-A!!!! 
> 
> Why not? I feel ALIVE! Even if vaporized in the next second, the rush 
> RIGHT NOW is intense. Clyde looks back to see what I am hollerin about. 
> 
> Right then, a blinding flash and simultaneous BOOOOOOM!!!! RIGHT OVERHEAD. 
> Instinctively I drop to my knees in the icy water. I don't think I am 
> praying, it just seemed to be the thing to do. Clyde, Da Man, doesn't 
> even flinch. 
> 
> Upon realizing life still continues for both, I whoop again. 
> 
> The Weather is definitely in control up here, not us. It is GREAT to 
> be alive up on this wild ridge, soaked to the bone, wind-lashed, 
> hiking, in the thick of it. 
> 
> We slog through the torrents and puddles, descending and ascending 
> hairy rocks covered in running water. Our shoes and socks are soaked 
> through, blisters rubbing afresh as our toes and heels prune. 
> 
> I swear, the sky water in Vermont is barely a degree-and-a-half shy of 
> a Slushee. Just when I think I can get no wetter feet, I slip off a 
> stepping-rock into black, ankle-deep ice water. 
> 
> Still, the rocks are spectacular, the thunder is moving east, and we 
> have lived to tell the tale - so far. By the time we reach the shelter 
> of Mad River Glen warming hut, we no longer need it. We sit anyway, 
> and wring our socks out multiple times. 
> 
> While we are there, the sun comes out. We've had it all today, Clyde 
> comments, except snow. We admire Mad River's ancient, primitive ski 
> lift, a unique one-seater. Later we are told this is the only 
> one-seater lift left in America. This understated ski area co-op, and 
> skiers own shares. 
> 
> The descent to Appalachian Gap is a jaw-sagger. (We would still be 
> talking about it on the bus ride home from Vermont...) There ought to 
> be a law. 
> 
> What kind of people build "trail" like this? In a city park, it would 
> be roped off and topped with concertina wire, guarded by Dobermans 
> against liability but here in northern Vermont it's the damn blazed 
> trail! (note - this was my first long-distance hike, and I hadn't yet 
> traveled the Whites! ;-)) 
> 
> We have ladders and roots-holds and butt-slides, complicated by the 
> lack of traction due to wetness. In sleet, it would be near to 
> impossible. Thank god for organic matter! How hikers will descend when 
> some of these roots disintegrate is beyond me. 
> 
> It is a measure of the Trail rough going to say that, after walking 
> eleven miles already that day, we actually felt sorry for the guy we 
> saw going ONE mile UP it... 
> 
> We catch a quick hitch to the Hyde Away Inn, thank goodness. Hitching 
> when tired is a desperate game. One is THERE, at town, but not really 
> THERE YET... A quick ride is a blessing. 
> 
> At the Hyde Away, the shower turns to ice water when the toilet below 
> is flushed. It is a mark of my growing toughness that I hardly flinch. 
> A real shampoo. Groan of pleasure..." 
> 
> My tale above was acute for me, as it was my first time out on an 
> exposed ridge in a lightening storm, on my first long distance hike. 
> Come to think of it, such an experience would still probably raise the 
> hairs on the back of my neck. 
> 
> So, I've enjoyed reading the night hike thread. 
> I'll bet there are alot of tales of Adventure and Adversity on this list. 
> How about it?, campfire dwellers? 
> 
> -- 
> ======================================== 
> AT Journal: 
> http://www.trailjournals.com/Liteshoe/ 
> Jan Leitschuh Sporthorses Ltd. 
> http://www.mindspring.com/~janl2/index.html 
> 
> ======================================== 
> 
> From Slyatpct at aol.com  Wed Oct 19 15:05:50 2005
From: Slyatpct at aol.com (Slyatpct@aol.com)
Date: Wed Oct 19 16:09:34 2005
Subject: [at-l] New trail video (movie)
Message-ID: <1e0.46defd81.30880f2e@aol.com>

In a message dated 10/19/2005 4:44:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
yugrekih@yahoo.com writes:

> Anyone know anything about this?
> 
> http://www.southbounders.com
> 

No, but I just wrote them about having a screening at the SoRuck....  maybe 
it will get Felix to come.

Sly