Tom Rankin
Well-known member
We drove up Saturday and did Tecumseh on the way. It was pretty crowded. There was a whole bus load of young boys, all extremely well dressed, considering they were hiking. The bus driver told us they were studying for the priesthood.
We drove to Lyon's in Twin Mountain, and met up with Doolittle, Arghman, Pat and Audrey, and Sapblatt. We had dinner at Faybians (sp?), and toured a few local view spots with Arghman. We got some nice pics of Washington as the sunset.
The next morning there was frost on the car!
We were on our way at about 7:00 AM, and hit the trail at 7:20. The first 2 miles were pretty easy, and none of the 3 stream crossings seemed difficult, so we hopped over, and skipped the herd paths. From here, the grade got steeper but was never really tough. We were on the Eastern view point by around 10:30. We rested a while, and decided to keep going to the Western view point where the flag was last year.
When we got there, we set up the flag, and Laurie and Arghman went over to visit South Twin. While they were gone, Pucknuts and Brownie showed up! I guess they passed each other, not knowing who each other were. We chatted for a while, and when Laurie came back, I introduced everyone to each other.
I called Doolittle and told him to look for the flag (down in Twin Mt.). He could not see the flag, but he told me he was going to get out his telescope to try to see the flag. I was unable to reach him again, due to poor cell phone service. Any luck Doolittle ?
A few minutes after noon, a military fighter roared thru the mountains, seeming to pay particular attention to the Twins (Twin Towers? I don't know), and then roared off. Did anyone get any pics of the jet ?
Speaking of the military, around 11:00, Tom and a young man named John showed up on the summit. They helped us relocate the flag to higher ground. John had just gotten back from a tour of duty with the Marines in Iraq.
A lot of people stopped by the flag and we chatted with most of them. Some were aware of the event, some were not. I had big binoculars, and let people see other flags on other peaks. I was able to find: Washington, Bond, Carrigain, S. Twin, Liberty, Owl's head (YES!), Gale head, Lincoln, Lafayette, Garfield, Cannon, and maybe Tripyramid. I didn't have time to look for Field, Willey, Hale, Zealand (from the other view point), but I probably could have found them if I had tried.
It was a special day. The wind cooperated, the views were unlimited, and we met a lot of VFTT'ers. Never forget....
After the hike down, we met a lot of people at Mooseland Grill. We had a long drive ahead of us, and we left early, but a good time was had by all! I was honored to be able to participate in this endeavor.
We drove to Lyon's in Twin Mountain, and met up with Doolittle, Arghman, Pat and Audrey, and Sapblatt. We had dinner at Faybians (sp?), and toured a few local view spots with Arghman. We got some nice pics of Washington as the sunset.
The next morning there was frost on the car!
We were on our way at about 7:00 AM, and hit the trail at 7:20. The first 2 miles were pretty easy, and none of the 3 stream crossings seemed difficult, so we hopped over, and skipped the herd paths. From here, the grade got steeper but was never really tough. We were on the Eastern view point by around 10:30. We rested a while, and decided to keep going to the Western view point where the flag was last year. When we got there, we set up the flag, and Laurie and Arghman went over to visit South Twin. While they were gone, Pucknuts and Brownie showed up! I guess they passed each other, not knowing who each other were. We chatted for a while, and when Laurie came back, I introduced everyone to each other.
I called Doolittle and told him to look for the flag (down in Twin Mt.). He could not see the flag, but he told me he was going to get out his telescope to try to see the flag. I was unable to reach him again, due to poor cell phone service. Any luck Doolittle ?
A few minutes after noon, a military fighter roared thru the mountains, seeming to pay particular attention to the Twins (Twin Towers? I don't know), and then roared off. Did anyone get any pics of the jet ?
Speaking of the military, around 11:00, Tom and a young man named John showed up on the summit. They helped us relocate the flag to higher ground. John had just gotten back from a tour of duty with the Marines in Iraq.
A lot of people stopped by the flag and we chatted with most of them. Some were aware of the event, some were not. I had big binoculars, and let people see other flags on other peaks. I was able to find: Washington, Bond, Carrigain, S. Twin, Liberty, Owl's head (YES!), Gale head, Lincoln, Lafayette, Garfield, Cannon, and maybe Tripyramid. I didn't have time to look for Field, Willey, Hale, Zealand (from the other view point), but I probably could have found them if I had tried.
It was a special day. The wind cooperated, the views were unlimited, and we met a lot of VFTT'ers. Never forget....
After the hike down, we met a lot of people at Mooseland Grill. We had a long drive ahead of us, and we left early, but a good time was had by all! I was honored to be able to participate in this endeavor.
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