Moving On To Mount Katahdin

My son Chris came to New York on August 5th to collect some furniture and move it to use in his new apartment in Cambridge, Mass.  I could not resist the sudden impulse to help Chris move and take advantage of the opportunity to climb Mt. Katahdin, the highest point in Maine.  So, after a stop in Harlem to pick up his Uhaul Truck, we collected two couches, a table and some assorted personal possessions and were onto Interstate 95 to Chris and Mollies' new apartment, formerly a Fig Newton Factory in a great neighborhood near MIT.

The entrance to Chris and Mollies' new apartment in Cambridge

A little history about the building.

Arriving in the evening on Saturday, I got plenty of pre-climb exercise going up and down the stairs of Chris's old apartment to get the beds and larger items as we tried to use the truck efficiently and finish before dark.  Tired, but satisfied we had a delicious takeout meal from a local Indian restaurant and hit the hay for the night.

The next morning, I checked weather reports and it was clear that there was plenty of rain in Baxter State Park for Sunday and most of Monday, but Tuesday appeared to be a good day to climb.  Chris and Mollie were gracious hosts for another night and I took the opportunity to shop at REI for the supplies and equipment I would need.  Monday dawned without rain and was mostly clear for the 6 hour drive, but I was hit by the occasional squall as I neared Portland and later as I approached Baxter State Park.

Turns out you need a reservation to camp in Baxter and a day use spot to hike Katahdin.  God was smiling on me as I got a cancelation in the Abol Campground for Monday night, and the rain had stopped by 6:30 p.m. when I began to set up my tent.  Then it was straight to work assembling my new MSR Dragonfly Stove and preparing a delicious freeze dried meal of Beef Stroganoff....yummm

Love my new stove!!

Nothing like a long drive and a meal of Beef Stroganoff to put one to sleep.  I went out like a light until about 6:00 a.m. when I heard a fellow camper close his car door.  knowing that there are limited day use parking spots, and that they allow outside hikers in the park at 7;00 a.m., I rose and quickly struck camp to claim one of those spots.  Happily, I found a picnic table in the parking area and took my time preparing for the hike.  Fascinated by the new stove, it seemed a hot breakfast was in order....oatmeal of course.  Ranger Corrigan and another hiker were so fun to talk with that I lingered until after 8:00 when I set off on the Abol Trail.

A view near Abol Campground 

Nearly 4000 feet of elevation gain in 3.8 miles!!

For the first hour or so I saw no other hikers as I made my way up and through a beautiful forrest.  It was a lovely cool, but sunny day.  Before long the trail cleared the tree line and began to make its way up a slide and bolder field that continued for the next two and a half hours.  The trail was merely steep and rocky at first, but quickly the boulders began to grow and grow.  I read an excellent quote about climbing Katahdin, written by Henry David Thoreau in 1846 and taken from my inspiration, a book by Joe Glickman and Nels Akerlund,  To The Top...."The mountain seemed a vast aggregation of loose rocks, and they lay as they fell on the mountain side, nowhere finally at rest, but leaning on each other all rocking stones, with cavities between, but scarcely any soil or smooth shelf......this was an undone extremity of the globe".  My translation, there is nothing like this mountain on the east coast of the USA.  It is steep, rough and difficult to climb.

Looking back on where I came from three hours before

The trail finally leveled as it reached the table's edge and it continued for a mile with only a few hundred more feet of elevation gain as I neared the summit of Baxter's Peak, the highest point on Mt Katahdin.

The alpine vegetation is fragile, stay on the trail is the message here

It Looked as though the weather might come in as I neared the summit

It was super satisfying to get to the top of Katahdin.  I spent a long time on top to savor the view, talk to fellow hikers and even cook lunch on my new stove!

At about 2:30 p.m. I started down the mountain, this time taking Hunt Trail, it is 5,2 miles long, but I believed it would be more gradual and therefore a better choice going down.  Let's just say that assumption was not entirely true.  Also, it meant that I would need to hike or hitch a ride back to my car, nearly 2 miles away from the base of the Hunt Trail Head.  Still, the hike was beautiful and well worth the work.  It followed a beautiful ridge with a Irish like countryside and ended near an hypnotic and powerful waterfall by the Katahdin Stream Campground.  The lord was watching over me because I met a lovely couple (Ken and Linda Steller) from Connecticut who not only hiked with me all the way down, but also dispensed Ibuprofen, kept up morale and gave me a ride back to my car after dark, when we finally arrived at the end of the trail!!!  Sorry that I have no pictures of the waterfall or of the Stellars.  My  iPhone ran out of juice.

It was an inspiring and successful trip that is beginning to build up my confidence as I approach my attempt to climb Mt Rainier.  I can't wait to try Katahdin again from another approach in the autumn when the leaves are in full color.  If not this year maybe next.  Is anyone interested in going with me?

Mt. Frissell: The Top of Connecticut and More

Chris and me at the marker for the Connecticut-Massachusetts border near the trailhead

Once more in the northeast I had the pleasure of hiking a highpoint with my son, Chris.  I picked up Chris and Mollie after they arrived at Newark Airport from their return trip to Japan and Korea for a vacation; a story for another blog.  There was no rest for the weary, as we headed immediately from the airport to Boston where Mollie was due to begin training for her new job on Monday June 27th.  After nearly 24 hours of travel they still managed to be entertaining travel partners, staying awake the entire time and telling me about their trip.  When we arrived in Boston, I was the one who immediately collapsed into the bed at Chris's house.

At 6:00 the next morning bright sun was streaming through the window and the birds were chirping with the promise of mother natures' blessings.  Within an hour we were up and out, eating at a Cambridge greasy spoon and looking at maps on my iPhone to do the minuscule amount of planning that I did for this trip.  I contend that spontaneity, not variety is the spice of life.

About four hours later we arrived at the trailhead, parking in an AMC parking lot. Our journey was a verdant green movie flashing through the windows as we briefly stopped in Stockbridge to grab a cup of coffee and a trail snack in a hurry to get to Mt. Frissell, then sped past the beautiful, little surrounding Berkshire towns on our way to a little dirt road leading to our trailhead.  Were it not for the blessings of serendipity we probably would not have known where the trailhead really was located.  But fortunately there was a hiker in a nearby parking lot who set us in the right direction while lacing his boots for a hike.  God must have been with me that morning because I had the uncharacteristic urge to stop the car and ask for directions.  Likewise, it was a great blessing when we headed off on the trail we chose, in the wrong direction, that we encountered another hiker headed in the opposite direction who assured us that we needed to turn around 180 degrees if we were headed for Mt. Frissell.

Finally oriented in the vast, but finite space we call earth, we began to see the red markings that indicate the Mt. Frissell Trail.

While, I am sure that we reached the highpoint of Connecticut 2,380 feet, and the top of Mt. Frissell 2,453 feet, to this day I am uncertain about the exact distance and amount of climbing we did to get there.  It turns out that Connecticut's geographic highpoint is on the slope of Mt. Frissell and the summit of Frissell is in Massachusetts.  The highest mountain summit located within Connecticut, Bear Mountain is 50 feet lower than it's real geographic highpoint.  Connecticut's highest point is indicated by a pile of stones and a green marker on the slope of Mt. Frissell.  Got that???  It's pictured here...

The High Point of Connecticut

Yes, this is the top of Connecticut!

On the border of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts

Turns out that you can hike a bit farther along the trail and arrive at a monument marking the spot where the borders of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York meet.  We were willing to pay the price of another few hundred feet of ups and downs to enjoy this quirky adventure.

Chris and I spent a great day together enjoying the beauty of the Berkshires before we headed back to NYC.

Mt. Mansfield, The Top of Vermont

On Mt Mansfield's Summit

This weekend began with a trip to Montpelier, Vermont where I was hosted by the Rangaviz family for the pre and post climb activities.   Rassoul and Ann are the parent's of my son's roommate Dave.  They are lovely, generous and engaging people,  In fact, they are so engaging that I never thought to stop our ready flow of conversation and take a picture of them!  I hope to be back soon and/or have them visit in NYC.  Then I can correct this serious blogging error.  One of the highlights of our time was a family dinner over a spectacular Fesenjoon, a Persian dish prepared by Ann.  Again, no picture, but a link....  allrecipes.com/Recipe/pomegranate-stew-with-chicken-khoresh-fesenjan/  This is not Ann's recipe, that's a secret only Ann and I can know.

Try the veal marsala and don't skip the bread dipped in garlic and olive oil!

While waiting for Dave, Mollie and my son Chris to arrive I had a tasty Italian dinner at Sarducci's then found a comfortable bar stool at the Three Penny Taproom, http://www.threepennytaproom.com/index.html , where I immediately made friends with Doug, Brian and Corey.  This led to some extensive and delicious sampling of the microbrews, talk of Michigan State University, (Doug's and my Alma Mater), telling of family stories, laughs and the beginning of my face to face social network in Montpelier!  Fortunately, Chris, Mollie and Dave arrived with hugs and a non-alcohol driven perspective to share one drink and guide me to the Rangaviz home before I fully suffered the consequences of too much fun at the Three Penny Taproom.

The next day as we prepared for the hike, I secretly questioned my sanity.  Could an aging baby boomer really make it up Mt. Mansfield with three 20 somethings who are in spectacular shape?  Mollie is a regular runner ready for a half-marathon, Dave just completed the Vermont Marathon and Chris teaches 5th graders in an urban neighborhood in Boston.

Regardless of the outcome, I was happy to be with them in such a beautiful place.  We arrived at the parking lot in Underhill, Vermont via a scenic hour long drive from Montpelier.  The elevation at the parking lot was 1540 feet.  The hike up Sunset Ridge Trail was just over three miles with 2853 feet of elevation gain.  It was steep and rocky!

I took up and maintained the rear position in our line of hikers, carrying a pack for conditioning and preparation for my upcoming climb on Mt. Ranier in September.  I started the stopwatch on my iPhone as we stepped off on the trail.  To my great surprise I was able to maintain a decent pace.  I kept them in sight as we all occasionally stopped for a rest or a snack and they mercifully paused while I caught up.

We reached the summit of Mt Mansfield's Chin (4393 feet) in a respectable 2 hours and 11 minutes.  There was enough of a chill in the air that we donned our warm coats before sitting for lunch and enjoying the view.  I love Vermont Cheddar and crackers on top of a mountain.  It tastes like victory.

Chris and me on the summit

Chris, Mollie and Dave

After lunch we chose the Laura Cowls Trail for the return loop to the parking lot.  It was steeper, wet and slippery, not a great combination for a downhill trek, but it was an adventure.  We were back in the parking lot in less than 2 hours.  Total time roundtrip for over 6 miles was under 4 hours!  It was a great hike with great company.  The top of Vermont was beautiful.  It was tempting to join The Long Trail as it traverses the summit and continue to see the rest of the state from this eagle's eye view.

For my loyal blog readers, thanks for hanging in there between posts, I promise to accelerate the pace now that summer is here.  In between current posts, I will put up some pictures of our trip to Israel and Istanbul.

Reaching Oklahoma's Highpoint, Black Mesa

Just after sunrise on April 7th we drove the remaining portions of the old Santa Fe Trail to Black Mesa.  The great thing about my quest to reach the highpoint of all 50 states is exposure to areas of the country I would never have seen otherwise.  The pan handle of Oklahoma was like driving through the scenery of every old western that you've seen.  In fact, from 1822 to 1880 before the railroad was complete, this trail was a major commercial thoroughfare connecting Santa Fe, NM with Missouri.  According to Wikipedia, Americans routinely traded with the Comanches along the trail, and it was the invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican American War.  The area we traveled is a stark high desert with tumble weed and mesas, cactus and prairie with vast open big blue sky and occasional deer and antelope sightings.  In the sporadic small towns of the panhandle we saw the real deal working cowboy fueling up his working vehicle, often towing a horse trailer.  It took about two hours to make our way to the parking lot of the Nature Conservancy's entrance to the land surrounding Black Mesa.  I can't say enough to sing the praises of the Nature Conservancy.  They buy land that is considered important, representative habitat and set it aside for preservation so people like me can enjoy it.

An old building along the Santa Fe Trail

We stopped for a morning breakfast sandwich at a mini-mart, also the choice of local cowboys

John doing his best to look like a cowboy

Antelope "playing" beside the highway

The start of the trail to the "summit" of Black Mesa 

The trail to Black Mesa is about 8 miles round trip from parking lot to "summit".  We arrived at the trailhead about 10:30 am with plenty of water and snacks.  Midday is not the best time to hike an open and exposed part of a high western desert, but we were on a schedule to bag the summit and deliver the car to John's sister Jean on Saturday in Washington DC, so off we treked, trying to recall the words of the Broadway musical Oklahoma so we'd have a hiking song to sing.

Beginning the trail to Black Mesa

The trail was mostly flat with the exception of a 700 foot elevation gain as we climbed to the top of the "table" on the Mesa.  The geology is interesting, a volcano left a crust of rock that protects the sublayers of the Mesa from erosion.  The areas that were not covered by the "crust" have eroded away, leaving the Mesa.  It was great to be on the land after hours of watching it pass our windows at high speed.  We walked past beautiful cacti, scrub and occasional trees.  Whenever we passed a tree, we took advantage of their shelter from the hot sun.

Near the top of the climb to Black Mesa

We reached Oklahoma's highpoint on April 7, 2011

We reached the highpoint at about 12:30pm, although it was difficult to tell the correct time because we kept passing between the mountain and the central time zones during our walk.  Oklahoma's highpoint is 4,972.97 feet above sea level.  It's 1605 miles from NYC and it is in Cimarron County Oklahoma, the only county in the United States to border 4 states (Texas, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico).  John walked to New Mexico, 1299 feet away, while I waited at the monument.  Then we we sang our way back down the trail and began our "run" to Washington DC.

More Details & Highlights from Hoover Dam to Black Mesa

Early on April 5th I was up for one or two last attempts to win on the slot machines and then John and I made the short drive from Las Vegas to the Hoover Dam.

We opted for the short tour since I was warned against the exposure from electromagnets in the huge generators.  It seems that they can mess up my pacemaker!  Oh well, it was still spectacular from the massive size and engineering wonders to the art deco architecture and the wonder of Lake Mead.  We looked at it, walked over it, drove over it and then drove over the big bridge above it.  We saw it from all angles, except below.  Then we headed for the south rim of the Grand Canyon!

Me and John on Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam

Lake Mead

Down River from Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

We arrived late afternoon at the South Rim of the Canyon.  The light was magical as the afternoon drew to a close and we walked the edge of the Canyon and explored the Bright Angel and El Tovar lodges.

Near Bright Angel Lodge

We left the Grand Canyon behind us and turned our attention to finding a good route to reach Black Mesa Oklahoma and climb it.  Finally back to my theme, reaching another state's highpoint.  It was dark when we hit the road again traveling on Route 40.   At about 10 pm we found a hotel in Gallop, New Mexico.  A little reading in our hotel room educated us about where we were, near the center of the Navaho Nation, with a large concentration of Zuni, Hopi and other native americans.  Many of the tribes have excellent craftspeople who make incredibly beautiful jewelry and pottery for sale.  As we drove out of Gallop in the morning, we decided to stop at a building with a sign reading All Tribes Center.  It turned out that it was run by a Palestinian man, Firas Jawad.  His brother Jamal was watching the store for him because he was headed out to catch a flight.  Firas's store contains hundreds of beautiful pieces, and Jamal spent over an hour talking about native american jewelry and pottery, as well as Israel and Palestine.  Both were interesting to me since my family was planning a Passover/Easter Trip to Israel and I had no presents to take home from my cross country adventure.  An hour and a half later, we were on our way with a nice collection of native american crafts.  I bought Debby a necklace with a Kachine (a sort of medicine man) with prayer feathers.  It's symbols mean that the holder will receive what she prays for.  I had to leave behind a beautiful piece of pottery that I loved but could not afford.  If I ever make it back to Gallop, I am sure I will visit Firas and Jamal again.

John and Jamal discuss a present for Sherry, John's wife

Wish I'd had the money and a place for this Hopi Pot.  That's also picture of the woman who made it.

A view driving through tribal areas of New Mexico

Next we were off to Black Mesa, but first a stop in Santa Fe,  That's the way our days would go, hours of driving would lead to a stop of a place that caught our eye.  We spent a few hours in Sante Fe, a beautiful city with plenty of art and culture to keep one occupied.  I'll be back with Debby some day.

Near the old mission in downtown Santa Fe

The Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, the parishioners claim it is the oldest Christian Church in America, over 400 years

We tried, but did not quite make it to Black Mesa, Oklahoma that night.  We stopped about two hours short, dead tired at the Holiday Motel in Clayton, New Mexico and were rewarded with a clean room and an "elephant towel"!!

Hey, it's crazy but it made us smile at the end of a long day.