SherpaKroto
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- Sep 4, 2003
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Disclaimer: Anyone looking for an exciting recount of amazing feats of strength and daring should go off to read another report. You’ll find none of that here. If not, feel free to continue...
After having spent another great night catching up with the gang around a nice fire listening to 80’s new wave tunes in mid teen temps, I figured I should catch some shuteye. Arm and I had stayed up way too late visiting the Doctor, and I knew I’d be on the slow side come (later) morning.
Woke up at what I thought was 10:10, nested comfortably in my 0 degree bag after taking in a couple of hours of some sweet Grateful Dead tunes (5/9/77, Buffalo, to be exact). A great way to welcome the day! Figuring I had plenty of time to dawdle, I slowly emerged from my cocoon to a sunny, cold morning. The prior evening’s revelers had long since gone, and my mind was beating a steady rhythm that was less tune than Doctor inspired
. After a nice quiet breakfast, I headed off to the Great Gulf trail, in hopes of meeting a few folks at Pinkham later in the day.
I took my usual spot where my Subaru could be seen from Rt16, parking next to Frodo. I wasn’t sure that solo hiking was smart for me yet, but it was just too nice to ignore the pull I felt from the Gulf. Sun was up, the air was crisp: it felt great. My little walk started well enough, but I made the mistake of starting at my “normal” pace. It only took a few minutes to realize it was my “old” regular pace. I sat down, let the heartbeat slow, and took in the sights. By now, I had RatDog on the player, and just working on my own little mental jam session. I was guessing it would take my about 90 minutes to get to the Bluff, but I had a lot of time, so no concerns.
It is not an accident that I picked “Grey Knob and the Bluffs” for our jamband’s name: I simply love those spots. At the Wilderness Boundary I ran into a group who were just out for a nice walk, and I mentioned to them that they could get a great view if they hiked another .8 miles. I was happy that they took the advice, and saw them again at the Bluff. While they thanked me for that suggestion, we talked about where I was headed. I pointed off to Low’s Bald Spot and said there and then to Pinkham Notch. “Do you have enough time?” I said, sure, it’s only 1:30 (it took me 2 hours). “Uh… no, it’s 2:30” I said, really? I had reset my mp3 player back again by mistake! Oh well, I’ll just have to move a little faster, and I do have a headlamp. Then we went on to the standard “Aren’t you afraid of the bears?” discussion. In any event, I doubt my ego (brains) would have let me turn around at that point, so off I went, still feeling pretty good considering, and I knew it was only 3.5 miles more (or so I thought), and really easy. Well, I had never been on Old Jackson Road, and had only been to Low’s BS from the SE, so I did have a few surprises. First surprise: the old bod won’t go uphill for more than ~20 vertical feet at a whack. Hmm, didn’t seem too bad getting to the Bluff. Oh well, up 20, rest, look around, repeat. 600 vertical takes a long time that way… but at least you get to do a lot of looking around . I finally made it to the Height of land at 4:20 (no lie) but had more important things to do than hang around. Took in the nicely forming alpen glow and then dropped back into the woods toward Low’s spur. By then, it was nearly full dark so I opted to skip Low's BS (been there, done that). No worries, just time to grab the headlight. As I left the Wilderness area, figured out I added wrong: hike was 7.5, not 6.5 miles (surprise #2). Still, no worries, it was a beautiful day and it had been a long time coming. It was reassuring that I had gone a mile more than I figured, less reassuring that I still had 2+ miles to go. When I finally got on Old Jackson Road, my legs keppt reminding me that they run on oxygen. At this time it occurred to me that it was named this because it is the old “Jackson Road”. Growing up, my mind had told me it was the “Old Jackson” road. Ok, by this time I was either losing it, more tired than I thought, or had way too much time on my hands! It was also interesting (doh!) to notice that the nice little streams that had been flowing all day were now frozen over, making for some hazardous footing (surprise #3). Funny the little things you forget when you get away from the game for too long. I think I’ll do spring training next year. So with the ice rinks enticing me to just slide my way down (neglecting to mention the little “gotcha spikes” they harbored), I gingerly made my way downhill. I knew I was much later than anyone would expect me, and kept expecting someone to be coming up the trail to look for me. I started seeing what I thought to be headlamps, and worked on putting on my best “yup, I’m a stud” face (which wouldn’t have fooled anyone). Finally figured out that I could go back to just fume powered SherpaK when I saw that it was car headlights. In no time (ok, 6:00), I was at Pinkham’s. The 7.5 miles I had covered were 4 more than any other attempt since my accident. I was exhausted, but real happy to be there. Running into Shizzy and Arm within minutes of finishing also put me in a good frame of mind. It was just like old times again: up in the woods with good friends. I had called the Bluff.
After having spent another great night catching up with the gang around a nice fire listening to 80’s new wave tunes in mid teen temps, I figured I should catch some shuteye. Arm and I had stayed up way too late visiting the Doctor, and I knew I’d be on the slow side come (later) morning.
Woke up at what I thought was 10:10, nested comfortably in my 0 degree bag after taking in a couple of hours of some sweet Grateful Dead tunes (5/9/77, Buffalo, to be exact). A great way to welcome the day! Figuring I had plenty of time to dawdle, I slowly emerged from my cocoon to a sunny, cold morning. The prior evening’s revelers had long since gone, and my mind was beating a steady rhythm that was less tune than Doctor inspired
. After a nice quiet breakfast, I headed off to the Great Gulf trail, in hopes of meeting a few folks at Pinkham later in the day.I took my usual spot where my Subaru could be seen from Rt16, parking next to Frodo. I wasn’t sure that solo hiking was smart for me yet, but it was just too nice to ignore the pull I felt from the Gulf. Sun was up, the air was crisp: it felt great. My little walk started well enough, but I made the mistake of starting at my “normal” pace. It only took a few minutes to realize it was my “old” regular pace. I sat down, let the heartbeat slow, and took in the sights. By now, I had RatDog on the player, and just working on my own little mental jam session. I was guessing it would take my about 90 minutes to get to the Bluff, but I had a lot of time, so no concerns.
It is not an accident that I picked “Grey Knob and the Bluffs” for our jamband’s name: I simply love those spots. At the Wilderness Boundary I ran into a group who were just out for a nice walk, and I mentioned to them that they could get a great view if they hiked another .8 miles. I was happy that they took the advice, and saw them again at the Bluff. While they thanked me for that suggestion, we talked about where I was headed. I pointed off to Low’s Bald Spot and said there and then to Pinkham Notch. “Do you have enough time?” I said, sure, it’s only 1:30 (it took me 2 hours). “Uh… no, it’s 2:30” I said, really? I had reset my mp3 player back again by mistake! Oh well, I’ll just have to move a little faster, and I do have a headlamp. Then we went on to the standard “Aren’t you afraid of the bears?” discussion. In any event, I doubt my ego (brains) would have let me turn around at that point, so off I went, still feeling pretty good considering, and I knew it was only 3.5 miles more (or so I thought), and really easy. Well, I had never been on Old Jackson Road, and had only been to Low’s BS from the SE, so I did have a few surprises. First surprise: the old bod won’t go uphill for more than ~20 vertical feet at a whack. Hmm, didn’t seem too bad getting to the Bluff. Oh well, up 20, rest, look around, repeat. 600 vertical takes a long time that way… but at least you get to do a lot of looking around
. I finally made it to the Height of land at 4:20 (no lie) but had more important things to do than hang around. Took in the nicely forming alpen glow and then dropped back into the woods toward Low’s spur. By then, it was nearly full dark so I opted to skip Low's BS (been there, done that). No worries, just time to grab the headlight. As I left the Wilderness area, figured out I added wrong: hike was 7.5, not 6.5 miles (surprise #2). Still, no worries, it was a beautiful day and it had been a long time coming. It was reassuring that I had gone a mile more than I figured, less reassuring that I still had 2+ miles to go. When I finally got on Old Jackson Road, my legs keppt reminding me that they run on oxygen. At this time it occurred to me that it was named this because it is the old “Jackson Road”. Growing up, my mind had told me it was the “Old Jackson” road. Ok, by this time I was either losing it, more tired than I thought, or had way too much time on my hands! It was also interesting (doh!) to notice that the nice little streams that had been flowing all day were now frozen over, making for some hazardous footing (surprise #3). Funny the little things you forget when you get away from the game for too long. I think I’ll do spring training next year. So with the ice rinks enticing me to just slide my way down (neglecting to mention the little “gotcha spikes” they harbored), I gingerly made my way downhill. I knew I was much later than anyone would expect me, and kept expecting someone to be coming up the trail to look for me. I started seeing what I thought to be headlamps, and worked on putting on my best “yup, I’m a stud” face (which wouldn’t have fooled anyone). Finally figured out that I could go back to just fume powered SherpaK when I saw that it was car headlights. In no time (ok, 6:00), I was at Pinkham’s. The 7.5 miles I had covered were 4 more than any other attempt since my accident. I was exhausted, but real happy to be there. Running into Shizzy and Arm within minutes of finishing also put me in a good frame of mind. It was just like old times again: up in the woods with good friends. I had called the Bluff.
