Broken (Alligator) Eggs in Maine

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nartreb

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Joined
Feb 1, 2005
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Waltham, Mass.
Saturday morning I drove up to hike Saddleback from the South. I set up my tent at Piazza Rock campsite and left most of my gear there, planning to hang out at the summit until sunset. I brought warm clothing, my camera, some water, and some dinner. This last item consisted of five eggs I had lovingly simmered for exactly ten minutes, which should have left them just slightly runny at the center.
Well, while on the summit chatting with a northbound hiker, I noticed a damp feeling in my pocket. All the eggs had broken and were leaking out of the zip-lock bag in my pocket. They weren't just slightly runny, either - they were a soupy mess. I couldn't bring myself to eat them, so eventually hunger drove me off the summit and back to my campsite - having eaten nothing but a few handfuls of bunchberries and partridgeberries since about 11 AM. I poured the eggs into my stew, they thickened it up nicely. On the way back to the campsite, using all the skills learned from watching Survivorman, I browsed for more berries, snacked on sorrel, and even bit into deermoss lichen. The lichen's texture wasn't nearly as bad as I expected - it softens right up with some chewing. The taste at first was starchy and mild - like the mushrooms on pizza - but the aftertaste was very bitter. Maybe they're better if you boil them?

Next day I went up Abraham via the firewarden's trail, again planning to slackpack to the summit, but this time my drop spot was closer: the firewarden's cabin. Just before the cabin I met Yellowdog coming down with his yellow dog. He informed me that Double Bow was also on the mountain that day. Sure enough, in the cabin he and Shamie had signed the log just before me. I opened one of the older logbooks at random and the very first entry I looked at was AMSTony (from 2000, I think: #61?). Met several people on the way to the summit, but stopped asking after Double Bow after a while.

This time I'd brought enough non-fragile food with me to last until sunset, and I got some good pictures (to follow in a few days). There was nobody else at the cabin, so I slept indoors instead of setting up my tent. It was roomy and warm, but I was kept awake by mice cavorting around the cabin. I should have brought earplugs, or a cat.

While eating dinner in the cabin I browsed a book someone had left - a collection of novellas. The first story was a romance in which the heroine is a vampire. It was so badly written and edited that the book jacket had the title wrong. I can only remember once sentence: "His good looks made every part of her body feel warm and breathless."

Mushroom season is upon us, and I took lots of photos, many of which didn't come out so great (I'm almost tempted to carry a second lens for macro shots). I caught a squirrel in the act of eating a mushroom (so those *were* bite marks I've been seeing!), saw a couple of falcons, and found some equisetum by the firewarden's cabin.
 
nartreb said:
I opened one of the older logbooks at random and the very first entry I looked at was AMSTony (from 2000, I think: #61?).

I'll do some typing for the currently injured AMSTony ... His first entry would have been September 2005. He and SteveHiker went up, then called me from the summit while I was en route back from working in New Orleans post-Katrina. A second entry would have been in July 2006, when he and I and MadTownie bagged it on July 4th weekend.

Nice peak! And nice TR -- too bad about the eggs ...
 
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