Fisher Cat
New member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2007
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- 789
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If you told me I’d have to spend a night amongst anywhere from 30-60 total strangers, I’d tell you that you’ve lost your mind. However, if you’re a hiker, you’d easily recognize that I’m staying at a Hut. So for just a few minutes I will put aside the issues of Huts, blessing or blight on the landscape, necessary or not, pricing, PILOT programs, etc., etc., and instead focus on the opportunity they can present.
Galehead is the last of the AMC huts in the Whites I hadn’t stayed at yet. I almost did it in July of 1989. Dana and I endeavored to visit Lisa, a friend of ours, who was working at Galehead that summer. Being young, energetic, and extremely stupid, we picked the long root of ascending Liberty Springs and ridging our way over. Hampered by bad weather and discouragement, we turned back, taking with us our contraband beer. (Do the math and don’t ask, we were 18, she was 19.) I never returned until 2 years ago when doing a day hike comprising of the Twins and Galehead. I like Huts, I feel like I’m transported to an alien world that is eerily familiar, while being surrounded with people I don’t know personally, but it seems that we have a lot in common. As we ascended Gale River Trail under cobalt skies I shared with my wife my past Hut experiences, a sort of what to and what not to expect, and how proud I was to be comfortable with composting toilets. After all, we had one in our cabin, only difference being I wouldn't have to clean the one at the Hut. Later that evening I even listened attentively to the lecture provided by a member of the Croo who wasn’t even born before I was shoveling out ours. We reached the Hut by early afternoon and enjoyed a private jaunt to the top of Galehead. I was protectively jealous of this time knowing the Hut was full for the night. We enjoyed a few pics, a snack, and a refreshing breeze in the middle of heavy humidity that my wife would later say “made even the mountains sweat”.
We had hop scotched with a pair of hikers from Ohio. Though somewhat older than us we found we had a bit in common. There was stuff to talk about, though being brief intervals, and we found ourselves listening to what they had to say and observe. You can’t ask for better mediation than the wilderness. Here you are united in common cause. You aptly listen to others knowing they have shared the same sweat, joy, and pain. At the Hut we spent more and more time with them. You come to find that though you are within four walls, they are really boundless. If not for hiking these people would be forever strangers, and at the end of the day maybe we are drawn to them because we see a lot of ourselves in them. Even now as I sit across from ancient slash scars of days gone by, my wife chats with them while I sit reflectively listening to voices of expectation and excitement that come closer down a treed hallway. Soon there will be a clashing of plates, the gluttony of food, cribbage games, stories told, the burps and other notes that dictate a more caustic melody of the night, the cacophony of laughter that slips to a whisper as the hours deepen.
Though I won’t meet everyone here tonight, I will appreciate the common bond that brings us together. It is as punctual as clockwork that as conversation fades to hear the parting words “ what is your name/s again?” After dinner while some converse, relax, play, go to bed, or seek solitude, I will steal a few minutes to myself on the ledge southeast of the Hut. I will listen to the last notes of competing thrushes as I watch the bleached spires of dead spruce become absorbed in the dark against an evergreen template. In this night, where throughout a world where there is always turmoil, this spot will be one that comprises different ages, races, sexes, backgrounds, and circumstances, but links us all together with a love of hiking. Can life be any better? Maybe, but at least this is a good sampling of the menu when you delve into the hiking world. Tomorrow we depart for the Twins and Bonds. We will overnight again at Guyot to enjoy a different type of isolation. Yet, I will remember these people, all of which I will likely never see again, suspended in a moment of invigorating, satisfying hiking bliss. All together under circumstances only a hiker can appreciate.
Saturday is the 21st Reunion of my White Mountains Regional graduating class, should have had it last year, but we didn’t. There will be ample proof that life can change drastically over that many years, but in the world of hiking 20 years later, it is good to see that a lot of the unique experiences are still the same. I will see Dana and let him know that, though 21 years behind schedule, I finally stayed at Galehead. It was worth the wait, it was good for me because I think I lacked the appreciation I have now when I was but 18 years old. And frankly, as any New Englander knows, I would even say I was right on time.
PS-As a summary, Klutzy Cat got Tecumseh, both Twins, all the Bonds, Galhead, and finally Zealand as we exited in horrific humidity. She now stands at 36/48. A young girl suffering from heatstroke on Twinway was brought into Guyot Campsite late Weds night thanks to the epic effort of Matt, Guyot’s caretaker, and she recovered.
Some pics here:
http://fishercat.smugmug.com/Other/July-5-8-2010/12898250_ivp7H#931553478_dSvUJ
Galehead is the last of the AMC huts in the Whites I hadn’t stayed at yet. I almost did it in July of 1989. Dana and I endeavored to visit Lisa, a friend of ours, who was working at Galehead that summer. Being young, energetic, and extremely stupid, we picked the long root of ascending Liberty Springs and ridging our way over. Hampered by bad weather and discouragement, we turned back, taking with us our contraband beer. (Do the math and don’t ask, we were 18, she was 19.) I never returned until 2 years ago when doing a day hike comprising of the Twins and Galehead. I like Huts, I feel like I’m transported to an alien world that is eerily familiar, while being surrounded with people I don’t know personally, but it seems that we have a lot in common. As we ascended Gale River Trail under cobalt skies I shared with my wife my past Hut experiences, a sort of what to and what not to expect, and how proud I was to be comfortable with composting toilets. After all, we had one in our cabin, only difference being I wouldn't have to clean the one at the Hut. Later that evening I even listened attentively to the lecture provided by a member of the Croo who wasn’t even born before I was shoveling out ours. We reached the Hut by early afternoon and enjoyed a private jaunt to the top of Galehead. I was protectively jealous of this time knowing the Hut was full for the night. We enjoyed a few pics, a snack, and a refreshing breeze in the middle of heavy humidity that my wife would later say “made even the mountains sweat”.
We had hop scotched with a pair of hikers from Ohio. Though somewhat older than us we found we had a bit in common. There was stuff to talk about, though being brief intervals, and we found ourselves listening to what they had to say and observe. You can’t ask for better mediation than the wilderness. Here you are united in common cause. You aptly listen to others knowing they have shared the same sweat, joy, and pain. At the Hut we spent more and more time with them. You come to find that though you are within four walls, they are really boundless. If not for hiking these people would be forever strangers, and at the end of the day maybe we are drawn to them because we see a lot of ourselves in them. Even now as I sit across from ancient slash scars of days gone by, my wife chats with them while I sit reflectively listening to voices of expectation and excitement that come closer down a treed hallway. Soon there will be a clashing of plates, the gluttony of food, cribbage games, stories told, the burps and other notes that dictate a more caustic melody of the night, the cacophony of laughter that slips to a whisper as the hours deepen.
Though I won’t meet everyone here tonight, I will appreciate the common bond that brings us together. It is as punctual as clockwork that as conversation fades to hear the parting words “ what is your name/s again?” After dinner while some converse, relax, play, go to bed, or seek solitude, I will steal a few minutes to myself on the ledge southeast of the Hut. I will listen to the last notes of competing thrushes as I watch the bleached spires of dead spruce become absorbed in the dark against an evergreen template. In this night, where throughout a world where there is always turmoil, this spot will be one that comprises different ages, races, sexes, backgrounds, and circumstances, but links us all together with a love of hiking. Can life be any better? Maybe, but at least this is a good sampling of the menu when you delve into the hiking world. Tomorrow we depart for the Twins and Bonds. We will overnight again at Guyot to enjoy a different type of isolation. Yet, I will remember these people, all of which I will likely never see again, suspended in a moment of invigorating, satisfying hiking bliss. All together under circumstances only a hiker can appreciate.
Saturday is the 21st Reunion of my White Mountains Regional graduating class, should have had it last year, but we didn’t. There will be ample proof that life can change drastically over that many years, but in the world of hiking 20 years later, it is good to see that a lot of the unique experiences are still the same. I will see Dana and let him know that, though 21 years behind schedule, I finally stayed at Galehead. It was worth the wait, it was good for me because I think I lacked the appreciation I have now when I was but 18 years old. And frankly, as any New Englander knows, I would even say I was right on time.
PS-As a summary, Klutzy Cat got Tecumseh, both Twins, all the Bonds, Galhead, and finally Zealand as we exited in horrific humidity. She now stands at 36/48. A young girl suffering from heatstroke on Twinway was brought into Guyot Campsite late Weds night thanks to the epic effort of Matt, Guyot’s caretaker, and she recovered.
Some pics here:
http://fishercat.smugmug.com/Other/July-5-8-2010/12898250_ivp7H#931553478_dSvUJ
