Blame the Rocket Blues! 8/30/09

[Paradox]

It was quite a mixed species herd that headed up the Asquam Ridge Trail on Sunday to participate in the Trish and Alex 48-Celebration. There was Una-Dogger, Jason Berard, MichealJ, Rocket21, Silverfox, Feathered Hat, Barkingcat, Oldman, Ron, myself, Tuckerman, Terra, Shep, & Zippy. The Asquam Ridge Trail is quite easy with mild to moderate grades and we made good time until we got to the start of the bushwhack (GPS track) up the southern side of Mt. Blue. We picked an area that we felt might be a herd path and followed Rocket into into steep yet open woods. Within 100' or so we found ourselve in very thick spruce and increasing krumholtz. After about 500' of nasty whacking, the woods opened up again and Rocket was standing there with a smirky smug smile on his face. Grouping together at the summit it was suggested that I was to blame for the nasty whack as I am the only one who wanted Mt. Blue for the Trailwrights List. Then it was pointed out that Rocket has always been blamed for any untoward occurance in past events. A group "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" indicated that this was generally agreed upon, and then we all followed him back down in a Southwesterly direction to the Beaver Brook Trail. The GPS tack indicates a waypoint designated "Open Woods". If I were to do it again I would probably do an in-and-out from near this waypoint. After a 1/4 mile or so we ran into Loanshark and he accompanied us to the summit. At the top the crowd was already quite large, with as many as 75 people attending to congratulate Alex. Pretty impressive accomplishment for a anyone let alone a 6 year old!

My camera is Kaput, please post some of your photos in this thread.

BTW Ron, my email address is [email protected]

 

[The Feathered Hat]

Did I miss the group "Nyuk nyuk nyuk"? Oh well, if I did -- NYUK NYUK NYUK, Rocket Man!

Here are three photos from the Blue whack portion of Sunday's Moose climb:

Up close and personal with the spruce:

Paradox (at right) writing, others thinking (evil thoughts):

But una_dogger makes it all worth it! (That's Silverfox's be-patched pack in the foreground)

 

[rocket21]

11 hikers, 4 dogs (Shep, Tuckerman, Zippecanoe and Terra too), 1 cat, 1 fox

Silverfox and Barkingcat start hiking:

TheFeatheredHat catches up to us, singing. Everyone looks back in horror, as Barkingcat is seen covering his ears.

Tuckerman taking a break on Mt. Jim, after having fun jumping in mud and sniffing rears. To clarify, the Tuckerman on the right

Mt. Blue looms in the distance as Barkingcat and TheFeatheredHat descend

TheFeatheredHat, OldMan, and Jason Berard just before we start the Mt. Blue bushwhack:

una_dogger and the dogs:

Top left - Moosilauke as seen from a rock near Mt. Blue; Top right - The group reflects upon a scarring bushwhack up Mt. Blue; Bottom left - Sabrina asks Tuckerman if he wants a cookie; Bottom right - A different Tuckerman says "sure" and takes it, to the first Tuckerman's disappointment.

Ascending the open ridge of Moosilauke - Paradox, loanshark, Silverfox, una_dogger, GrandPaHiker (Ron), OldMan, BarkingCat, TheFeatheredHat:

A summit full of kids! It was neat to meet so many young, well behaved hikers!

una_dogger, Silverfox, and Barkingcat head to South Peak:

MichaelJ and Terra loiter in front of the lodge, awaiting the MadRiver fest:

 

[una_dogger]

great report, great day, great friends and great dogs!!!

I had an awesome time, thanks for having me along...I hope it wasn't just because I said I'd bake cookies!

 

[rocket21]

I hope it wasn't just because I said I'd bake cookies!

Darn, you noticed that everyone abandoned you after the cookies ran out, didn't you?

 

[una_dogger]

Oh, and I thought I'd point out, that two of the dogs were Aussies.

 

[Diapensia]

Ah, I was on Mt. Blue last Sunday as well and noted the large cast of characters who had signed the register earlier that day.

I went in roughly from the west. There was a herd path that petered out almost immediately into a maze of moose trails, but after dodging trees and moss, there was the summit.

 

[Silverfox]

great report, great day, great friends and great dogs!!!

I had an awesome time, thanks for having me along...I hope it wasn't just because I said I'd bake cookies!

the cookies were great for sure!!!

your mastry of dogs is ledgendary..they grovel at your feet

I am not sure if Micheal's exclamation of.. "don't follow Sabrina on a bushwack" or your explanation that "guys, that was a really easy bushwack"
was the closer to the truth but in fact
a good time was had by all..properly crossed peanut butter cookies a suitable reward

sure was nice to catch up with old friends and meet up with some new ones..

a few pics for the assortment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157622232954046/

 

[Laurie Maynard]

Great pictures with even better captions! Wish I could have been there....well, at least for the cookies! What a great accomplishment for Alex. Congrats to her!!