Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Saturday 22 July
Today’s entry is being coauthored by Tracy to ensure that I get all the details correct and especially so I don’t embellish the facts. We would first like to say that putting yesterday’s hike into words will never do it any type of justice. You will most likely just hear that “John, Teresa, Tracy, Adam, and Lauren went on a long hike”…that couldn’t be further from the truth. To fully appreciate our experience first tie your shoes REALLY tight, then punch yourself in the legs numerous times, follow that with a quick drenching with water and sit there for 12 hours…now multiply that by 100. Soon you will understand…
The day started out great. Up early (5:30), breakfast of yogurt with granola, some organic bread and LOTS of coffee. Then Adam, Lauren and I piled in the truck. Yes, all three in Adams little truck…sitting on the hump is not pretty. The ride to the mountain took us 1.5 hours. Once there we ran into John and Teresa. We double check out route with a information guide hit the head and off we went. The day was looked great for a hike and we all started out with upbeat spirits laughing and chatting. We chose to take the Tuckerman Ravine Trail which is the most popular summit trail. It’s popularity stems from its amazing views and its high level of maintenance. Despite its popularity the hike challenges even the most experienced hikers with its near constant steep accents.
The hike started out nearly perfect as the weather was overcast and cool. We stopped about .5 miles into the hike to take some pictures of an amazing waterfall that cascades nearly 200 feel through a ravine. Our next stop was at the first hut (an actual house built on the summit trail) where we stopped to use the bathroom (Adam still peed in the woods) refill our water (with an old fashioned hand primed water pump) and eat (most of us brought normal food but Adam tried to survive the entire day on organic spirulina…that’s green algae – that is what we brought for Tracy also….I would not eat it!!)
From the hut we continued to push for the summit through some amazing views of mountain vistas and waterfalls. The trail because extremely technical in many places and we were actually required to climb on our hands and knees over boulders the size of houses (this is known as an “unassisted class-3 scramble” for any of you mountaineers). The next piece of knowledge you should know is that Adam and Teresa are more or less intimidated by heights, the type of person does not want to look down. This wasn’t helped by the fact that John had to catch a young kid from almost taking a header a few hundred feet down a waterfall.
The last .5 mile to the summit was the most difficult (up to this point). You can actually see the summit buildings and the sign said “Summit .4 miles”…that half mile took us nearly an hour to complete…it felt like the summit kept moving further and further up. The hike here is more like boulder hopping, or scavenging from rock to rock. It is all above the tree line. Fog had started to roll in, along with a little wind. Our first injury of the day happened here. Teresa, while being ever so careful to watch where her feet went, ran head first into a rock. I saw it jump up in front of her!!! But that give you an idea of how steep the climb was, as you are standing there the rocks in front of you to climb are at eye level. We had passed (and been passed) by a good bit of folks on the way up, the trail was having a busy day. There was a fund raiser for the observation tower going on along with the “Sea-to-Summit” triathlon.
Alas we finally made it, to the parking lot of the summit, quite interesting to do all that climbing and come out in a parking lot. The visitor center at the top was packed! Many “normal” folks come up via the bus, cog railway or drive themselves. We stayed at the top for about an hour, having some food, buying some souvenirs (They only sell them at the top, what a racket) and just resting.
However, while we were resting at the top, weather blew in…..before we left the top a drizzle had started, we were all bundled against the cold and ready to tackle the arduous decent. We knew we were going to be in for a difficult decent because the rocks were already wet and slippery and the fog eliminated any changes of seeing more than 50 feet in front of you. Did we mention the driving wind and freezing rain yet in addition to everything else? We all decided to take a different route down so we wouldn’t have to brave the steep cliffs on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail…our knees would all come to regret this decision. The trail we decide on was called Boott Spurr. This was a MUCH less traveled (hence MUCH less maintained) trail. It also didn’t provide any cover from the driving wind and rain since it traveled across the top of a ridge that was above the tree line. The fog was so bad at this point that we had to navigate from rock cairn to rock cairn. Numbness and near hypothermia started to set in for most of us since we were all soaked from head to toe. The trail only got worse from there…
Once we hit the tree line (seemingly hours later) the trail became more difficult because it was nothing more than a stream bed that flowed down the side of the mountain. Of course the stream bed became an untamed torrent of rapids due to all the rain. Our feet were soaked from walking through this muck. The trail was also MUCH steeper and MUCH rockier than the first and our pace through the woods was slowed to a 120 MINUTE MILE!!!!!! This part of the hike saw all of us go through the entire range of emotions. Teresa was getting a bit frustrated from falling so much (we all know how much she falls on flat concrete…so imaging steep wet rocks, Tracy started hallucinating from hypothermia, John was just normal calm John, and Adam/Lauren somehow managed to giggle uncontrollably all the way down). The most difficult part of this hike was the ladder. We all came to a man made log ladder that descended nearly 20 feet down a sheer rock face…this was not an obstacle that we were ready to manage…unfortunately we didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
We somehow all managed to make it to the bottom alive…broken; but alive. We changed out of our wet clothes as best we could and all went out for a much deserved pizza and beer. The ride back in Adam’s truck was painful because it was dark and rainy and Lauren, Tracy, and Adam all smelled pretty bad.
We can’t wait to do it again next year…
The day started out great. Up early (5:30), breakfast of yogurt with granola, some organic bread and LOTS of coffee. Then Adam, Lauren and I piled in the truck. Yes, all three in Adams little truck…sitting on the hump is not pretty. The ride to the mountain took us 1.5 hours. Once there we ran into John and Teresa. We double check out route with a information guide hit the head and off we went. The day was looked great for a hike and we all started out with upbeat spirits laughing and chatting. We chose to take the Tuckerman Ravine Trail which is the most popular summit trail. It’s popularity stems from its amazing views and its high level of maintenance. Despite its popularity the hike challenges even the most experienced hikers with its near constant steep accents.
The hike started out nearly perfect as the weather was overcast and cool. We stopped about .5 miles into the hike to take some pictures of an amazing waterfall that cascades nearly 200 feel through a ravine. Our next stop was at the first hut (an actual house built on the summit trail) where we stopped to use the bathroom (Adam still peed in the woods) refill our water (with an old fashioned hand primed water pump) and eat (most of us brought normal food but Adam tried to survive the entire day on organic spirulina…that’s green algae – that is what we brought for Tracy also….I would not eat it!!)
From the hut we continued to push for the summit through some amazing views of mountain vistas and waterfalls. The trail because extremely technical in many places and we were actually required to climb on our hands and knees over boulders the size of houses (this is known as an “unassisted class-3 scramble” for any of you mountaineers). The next piece of knowledge you should know is that Adam and Teresa are more or less intimidated by heights, the type of person does not want to look down. This wasn’t helped by the fact that John had to catch a young kid from almost taking a header a few hundred feet down a waterfall.
The last .5 mile to the summit was the most difficult (up to this point). You can actually see the summit buildings and the sign said “Summit .4 miles”…that half mile took us nearly an hour to complete…it felt like the summit kept moving further and further up. The hike here is more like boulder hopping, or scavenging from rock to rock. It is all above the tree line. Fog had started to roll in, along with a little wind. Our first injury of the day happened here. Teresa, while being ever so careful to watch where her feet went, ran head first into a rock. I saw it jump up in front of her!!! But that give you an idea of how steep the climb was, as you are standing there the rocks in front of you to climb are at eye level. We had passed (and been passed) by a good bit of folks on the way up, the trail was having a busy day. There was a fund raiser for the observation tower going on along with the “Sea-to-Summit” triathlon.
Alas we finally made it, to the parking lot of the summit, quite interesting to do all that climbing and come out in a parking lot. The visitor center at the top was packed! Many “normal” folks come up via the bus, cog railway or drive themselves. We stayed at the top for about an hour, having some food, buying some souvenirs (They only sell them at the top, what a racket) and just resting.
However, while we were resting at the top, weather blew in…..before we left the top a drizzle had started, we were all bundled against the cold and ready to tackle the arduous decent. We knew we were going to be in for a difficult decent because the rocks were already wet and slippery and the fog eliminated any changes of seeing more than 50 feet in front of you. Did we mention the driving wind and freezing rain yet in addition to everything else? We all decided to take a different route down so we wouldn’t have to brave the steep cliffs on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail…our knees would all come to regret this decision. The trail we decide on was called Boott Spurr. This was a MUCH less traveled (hence MUCH less maintained) trail. It also didn’t provide any cover from the driving wind and rain since it traveled across the top of a ridge that was above the tree line. The fog was so bad at this point that we had to navigate from rock cairn to rock cairn. Numbness and near hypothermia started to set in for most of us since we were all soaked from head to toe. The trail only got worse from there…
Once we hit the tree line (seemingly hours later) the trail became more difficult because it was nothing more than a stream bed that flowed down the side of the mountain. Of course the stream bed became an untamed torrent of rapids due to all the rain. Our feet were soaked from walking through this muck. The trail was also MUCH steeper and MUCH rockier than the first and our pace through the woods was slowed to a 120 MINUTE MILE!!!!!! This part of the hike saw all of us go through the entire range of emotions. Teresa was getting a bit frustrated from falling so much (we all know how much she falls on flat concrete…so imaging steep wet rocks, Tracy started hallucinating from hypothermia, John was just normal calm John, and Adam/Lauren somehow managed to giggle uncontrollably all the way down). The most difficult part of this hike was the ladder. We all came to a man made log ladder that descended nearly 20 feet down a sheer rock face…this was not an obstacle that we were ready to manage…unfortunately we didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
We somehow all managed to make it to the bottom alive…broken; but alive. We changed out of our wet clothes as best we could and all went out for a much deserved pizza and beer. The ride back in Adam’s truck was painful because it was dark and rainy and Lauren, Tracy, and Adam all smelled pretty bad.
We can’t wait to do it again next year…
# posted by The Professor @ 6:04 AM 
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Even though I my quads hurt so bad I can hardly walk and I have bruises on my body literally head to toe I still had a great time. It was quite the adventure. Like I told Adam the next time we get together the biggest obstacle will be crossing the street to the beach. Lastly since Tracy is too modest to say this I plus everyone else in group were amazed by the agility that she displayed going up and down the mountain. Even while suffering from hypothermia and hallucinating she remained vertical the entire time. Considering I went down so many times that I truly lost count I was impressed. Tracy (along with John) also had no problem with the ladder while the rest of us were literally frozen in our tracks by the sight of it. So here's to John and Tracy the king and queen of the mountain.
# posted by 
: 7:16 AM
: 7:16 AM
It seems like going anywhere with Adam that requires walking, riding, hiking, etc. is going to turn out taking 3 times as long and involving some sort of unexpected pain.
# posted by : 8:50 AM
: 8:50 AM
I hope you guys took pictures as proof of your expedition 'cause I ain't buying it - not one bit!! Except the "Teresa Falling Down" part - that's highly believable. But, c'mon, John saved a child, ladders of death, hallucinations and fog?? Sure you guys weren't at home eating shrooms watching Raiders?
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# posted by : 12:57 PM
: 12:57 PM << Home
