For a Book - Looking for Hikers Who Happened to be Hiking in NH on 9/11 2001

[Buffalo]

Hi all,
After chatting with one of the admins, he suggested I post here. I'm writing a story about the response among the forest bureau and hiking community on the day of 9/11, 2001. I'm looking to talk to any hikers who happened to have been hiking in New Hampshire on the morning of 9/11. My preference would be to talk to anyone who was hiking on a Fire Tower mountain or in the Whites.
You all may know me from my work at Appalachia or my books Buffalo and Tough Cookie or the White Mountain. This is for a new book coming out later this year. Certainly feel free to respond here, but I'm happy for you to drop me a email at [email protected] as well. I can also be easily found on Facebook.
Thanks so much in advance and hopefully I'll be talking to you soon!
Dan

 

[Tom Rankin]

No direct experience, but we've done 15 Flags on the 48 hikes, and met a lot of people impacted by the tragedy.

 

[Mike P.]

It was a Tuesday 20 years ago. In some respects it doesn't feel that long ago, however, so many things have changed. The Old Man was still overlooking New Hampshire, few weekends had overflowing parking lots during the year. (Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day and Columbus Day) Washington and the lots that serviced the huts would be full but rarely overflowing during most weekends.

Retirees would hike during the week and those of us who loved solitude might take a day off mid-week to enjoy the solitude, however, we would often do that on a Monday or Friday in order to get an extra day in for the weekend. (I was commuting to work that day with my flip phone when I got a call from a co-worker who worked in our NYC office just a few blocks away.)

 

[Grey J]

I was in Boston that week and planning to hike in NH the next weekend. My buddy knew someone who died on one the planes that hit the towers and he canceled. A few weeks later, we reconvened at his cabin and for obvious reasons, we chose to hike Mt Liberty. I was also at Fenway Park on the night the Red Sox resumed play after MLB's one week hiatus.

 

[sierra]

I was living in CO at the time. The funny thing is, I was on a long hike and bivied out on the 11th. I did not hear of the tragedy until late on the 12th. I was way out in the middle of mountains, when I heard about it on the radio. I remember thinking, this cannot be real, both towers? I got home and rushed to the TV and sat there and watched.