Gathering 9: Y'all missed it!

[Tom Rankin]

We arrived Friday night in North Adams. After experiencing rain all day in Eastern NY, we expected TJ and company to be floating in the campgorund, but it didn't look too bad. They had a nice little (emphasis on little) setup going.

TJ had done some scouting on Greylock and so we discussed our plans for Saturday over the fire and a few exchanged beers from various coolers.

At 11:30 I looked at my watch and said "Wow! it's 11:30!" Time to get some sleep! So we went back to the Hotel (yeah, we're softies!) and hit the hay. We were back at the camp site at 8:30, having nibbled a meager breakfast. Coldfeet was cooking up a feast! He had pancakes, bacon and eggs, coffee, OJ, etc. It was great! Thanks David!

Chief cook and bottle washer: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00015.JPG

Hungry Freddy: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00016.JPG

Here's the sign: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00009.JPG

After a little more discussion, http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00014.JPG, (and food! ), we decided to climb up from the North. The crew was Funky Freddy, Coldfeet, Laurie and me. We hit the trail at 10:10 and started off on a feeder trail to the AT. The trail was a little muddy in places (to be expected), but overall in good shape. By 10:40, we had our first view of the day, on top of Mt. Williams. This peak is only 2951', but we could see the valley down below, more than 2000' away! The fog was just starting to lift. Pretty cool.

View: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00023.JPG

The rest of the walk over to Greylock is mostly a gradually ascending ridge walk. Just before we got to the road, TJ came puffing up. It seems he had said he was coming with us, but we didn't realize that, and left w/o him. Oh, well, sorry TJ! http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00024.JPG

We all strolled up to the summit together entering into a cloud bank! The clouds teased us for over an hour, threatening to blow away and reveal marvelous views! We caught glimpses in almost every direction, but it never really cleared up. It was nice to sit in Bascom Lodge for a while and refill our water bottles. We all climbed the tower and tried for some more views, but they were elusive, so eventually we set off down the way we came.

The gang: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00032.JPG

When we got back to Mt. Williams, it was still socked in. Bummer. But when we got back to the car, and began driving down the mountain, we realized it had cleared up completely! (Or so we thought! ) So, I said "Hey, let's *DRIVE* up to the summit now!" 4 of us thought that was a great idea, so we re-shuffled cars, turned around, and started up the road.

When we got to the top we could see what was *REALLY* happening. The winds were blowing pretty stiffly out of the West, and when they hit the summit, clouds would form right over the top, and then break up once they had passed over!

So again, we had glimpses of views that would not yield even to Funky Freddy's 'Sun Dance'. We did at least manage to get a few pictures of the tower and views to the East.

View: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00038.JPG
Tower: http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/DSC00044.JPG

Back at the camp site, Stan and TJ were hanging out. We shared a bew more beers, and met Swamp and Mrs. Swamp, (sorry can't remember your name). That made a grand total of 8 participants at Gathering 9. For the other 2,000+ of you registered users that did not attend, all I can say is "You missed it"! We had a great time, met some new friends, and got in a good hike (Greylock is over 2500' above the valley floor, so if you want, you can make it a really tough hike).

Others can post here or start their own threads.

 

[Gris]

WTG. Precious looked remarkably subdued tho...

 

[Jay H]

Sorry, couldn't make it. With the weather report on saturday and the fact that I've been up greylock twice in the last year, I thought it prime time to finish my kayak rack on my deck I've been putting off for months. Sunday, I went on a rail trail ride with a friend of mine from work. Thought about doing some VT hiking with fred but I never heard from Fred after the talking with him the week before and I knew he was going up with Coldfeet.

Jay

 

[Stan]

It was the lowest turnout of all the Gatherings and some of us stayed up most of the night trying to figure out why ... actually, only a couple of us, funky freddy and me to be exact, stayed up keeping our campfire skills honed (we learned that tequila is not a good igniter, a great accelerator but much more effective taken internally) ... beware of leprechaun jokes ...

Not wanting to stress my knee just three weeks off of surgery for a torn meniscus, I hiked Berlin Mountain instead. A five mile loop with an open summit, well marked but overgrown in places ... also accessible by all terrain vehicle over the Taconic Ridge Trail from rt. 2.

The knee performed quite well thanks and the only pain was my butt dragging after laying off such activity since spring. Turns out, however, that since the Greylock gang started halfway up the mountain, my elevation gain of over 1400 ft. was greater than theirs! Wellll, I'd been to Greylock so many times the change was good ... I believe the map I loaned Tom dated back 20 years or so.

For once the Gathering was not the loudest event at our venue ... there happened to be a Pow Wow taking place there, too. The drums along the Mohawk were very inviting and I joined the festivities for a while after my Saturday hike. The concluding chant for the afternoon was a group one meant to restore energy ... it worked and I hiked again Sunday mainly to check out a Money Brook bridge my son Erik helped build with the AMC 10 years ago.

Best to teejay for organizing it and winning the leather apron.

 

[coldfeet]

I had a great time...so what if we made a wrong turn going home and ended up in Albany!

TJ...thx a million for setting up the gathering, it was my first time in Mass and I can't wait for the Greylock reunion..

Fred....thx for riding shotgun...Mt. Stratton was really nice, so what about the fog the change in foliage was looking good...how about those spooky cairns?..

Tom and Laurie, excellent to see both of you again, keep me in the "easy" loop and I'll supply the breakfast!....nice pics..i'll get it going this week..

Stan...thx for the nightcap...it made beddy bye real easy...sounds like your knee is recoperating nicely..

Swamp and Amy, hope to see you again..

"Precious" from class 5-402 had another awesome trip, it was his 3rd straight gathering , Vermont, Maine and now Mass....wonder where the winter gathering of 2007 will take him?...any ideas?...

 

[SherpaKroto]

Coldfeet: I believe that was Precious's 4th straight Gathering. I ercall something about getting beat at Cribbage in winter Gathering '05 at Barnes Field in NH.

Wish I could have made it, though I suspect that with the Doctor not in attendance, it was a tad quieter

Good job as always in planning TeeJay! See you soon (I hope).

 

[darren]

It was the lowest turnout of all the Gatherings ...

Not true....there were only 4 of us at the first Winter Gathering (G1.5).

Glad you guys had fun. I would have won the apron for sure....

- darren

 

[Stan]

Not true....there were only 4 of us at the first Winter Gathering (G1.5).

There were only four of us at G 2 5/8 that Metsky had at a Dartmouth cabin near Moosilauke, too. I wasn't counting winter gatherings. No one in their right mind goes to winter gatherings which is why they are so popular around here.

 

[donna]

Hey, really glad you all had a wonderful time. Hope to see ya all at the next one.

 

[audrey]

I'll bet we'd need only 2 VFTTer's to make a fine Gathering. Glad you all had fun. The next one will be mobbed, since we're all suffering withdrawal symptoms.

 

[teejay]

Tom, when you say I came puffing up, give me a bit of credit for catching up to you before the end after starting 20 minutes behind.

Coldfeet, Shizzmac in training. Thanks for breakfast.

Swamp and Amy, what a pleasant surprise.

FF, lots of laughs. I'm all packed and ready for the next time. Where to?

Stan, thanks for hanging out with the other old f**t. Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye on Sunday as I left the campground at 7:00 AM to get back for an afternoon wedding. (Best view of the weekend.)

I narrowly beat out Coldfeet for the apron by a few miles.

The Great Gathering Gift, Gear and Goodie Giveaway didn't happen. Later, maybe. And there's still a partially used EMS gift card prize for the taking.

teejay

 

[Tom Rankin]

Tom, when you say I came puffing up, give me a bit of credit for catching up to you before the end after starting 20 minutes behind.

You do realize I used PUFFING deliberately!

 

[John K]

Missed the camping but ran into Coldfeet and crew while my son and I were cruising through the mist on Mt Williams. Looks like fun was had by all. Bear is a nice touch.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Missed the camping but ran into Coldfeet and crew while my son and I were cruising through the mist on Mt Williams. Looks like fun was had by all. Bear is a nice touch.

Ah yes! Forgot about you! Sorry! Nice meeting you and your son.

 

[Seeker]

I'm certainly suffering Gathering withdrawl! It's been two years for me .

Alas, I was out west suffering in the Wind Rivers or I would have attended. But sacrifices must be made...

Sounds like a grand time!

 

[jjo]

Sounds like y'all had a great time...

 

[MichaelJ]

Indeed, finally a Gathering in my home state and I missed it. But alas, I spent the weekend indoors in a basement doing a good deed to help a friend who's recovering from a heart attack. Thanks for all the great pictures, Tom! They were the next best thing.

 

[coldfeet]

Guys I posted pics on a new thread incase others wanted to see...

 

[funkyfreddy]

Here are my pictures......

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/555262077aIrWko

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/555260936nHJmHY

Sorry it's taken me so long to post them. I kind of fell into a "vaporous
hole" when I got back to NYC from the gathering, lots of stuff was going on, but not anything worth discussing on VFTT....

I had a great time time meeting,hiking, and talking with everyone - hope to do it again soon! Extra special thanks to David for inviting me up there with him, I had a great time exploring western Mass and southern Vermont with him. It was very nice to finally hike with Tom, Laurie, and Teejay. I also had a great time conversing, drinking, and fire building with Stan till the wee hours of the morning. Thanks again to everyone for being there! Fred

 

[Raymond]

I'm getting 404 errors on your links, Tom.