Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Friday we left for Plattsburgh, where we stopped at Legends. We sipped 4 beers, of which the IPA was the least favorite. Amazing!
After that we camped at Grand Isle in the middle of Lake Champlain. A really nice place, I highly recommend it. We had a leanto overlooking the lake, which made for great views of Mansfield, one of our destinations (Higher). That night we went to Fiddleheads Brewery and the pizza joint attached to it. Yummy!
Saturday we walked around a bit and saw over a dozen Ospreys! Then we went down to Burlington and visited the Ethan Allen Tower. A short walk, made longer by a lack of signage but we found the tower. Nice views of the Lake and the city. After that we walked around the water front and revisited 2 favorite Burlington brewpubs, Vermont Pub and Brew and 300' away, Zero Gravity. Both are still serving great beer and food!
Ok, back to the hiking! Sunday we drove to Underhill state park and hiked Mansfield, using the Sunset Ridge trail. It was almost a perfect day. The temps were cool, and there was a mild breeze. We saw a lot of alpine plants (including diapensia), and took lots of pictures as the views just kept getting better and better. At the summit, we chatted with the summit steward(ess), who told me over 200 people had summited so far! Our friend Paula notched high point #15! Congrats to her!
After the hike, we drove to Schilling Brewery in Littleton. They specialize in German/Belgian beers. We all found food and beer that we liked. Then we drove to 'Chez Chip', an undisclosed location in the White mountains. We made 'camp' there and prepared for the next big challenge. We also visited with J&J, 2 of the best people in New Hampshire. They plied us with HEADY TOPPER, and other delectable items while we watched USA draw Portugal.
Monday morning we were off to the Cog Parking lot to climb the highest of the high in the northeast, the world's worst weather awaited us, on the Rock Pile, the killer of the unprepared, the big W, Mount Washington! [cue dramatic music!] Ok, maybe not on this day. It was the most perfect day you could ask for when climbing W. There was almost no wind all day, the summit temps were in the 50's, the Ammo trail was mostly dry, it was a gift from on High(er). We met relatively few people ascending, even at the hut, but the summit area was a seething mass of people. Mostly screaming children, if memory serves me correctly! We had to wait 10 minutes in line for summit photos! But Paula is now up to #16! We descended down Jewell. We met RIDICULOUSLY unprepared people, 1 couple carrying NOTHING but a map! Others were dressed in burkas, jeans, cotton galore; we cringed to think what the day would have held if the weather had not been so perfect. Anyway...
We made it back to the car and headed off to showers and Woodstock station, another embodiment of perfect beer and food pairings!
Some of you may know that Laurie and I kiss at every summit. This started before we were married, and was consummated at the summit of Whiteface in the ADKs 7 years ago when we were married. We thought it appropriate to be on high on the 7th anniversary of our marriage. Pamola (an infrequent poster here), brewed 'Summit Kiss IPA' for our wedding, and is a huge contributor to VNBs. He was unable to join us this year, but we thank him for the beer, and all the hard work he put into VNBs.
So, it was an awesome weekend! We met up with great friends, had great beer, and climbed great mountains with great conditions! They can't all be this way, but we'll take them when we can get them!
After that we camped at Grand Isle in the middle of Lake Champlain. A really nice place, I highly recommend it. We had a leanto overlooking the lake, which made for great views of Mansfield, one of our destinations (Higher). That night we went to Fiddleheads Brewery and the pizza joint attached to it. Yummy!
Saturday we walked around a bit and saw over a dozen Ospreys! Then we went down to Burlington and visited the Ethan Allen Tower. A short walk, made longer by a lack of signage but we found the tower. Nice views of the Lake and the city. After that we walked around the water front and revisited 2 favorite Burlington brewpubs, Vermont Pub and Brew and 300' away, Zero Gravity. Both are still serving great beer and food!
Ok, back to the hiking! Sunday we drove to Underhill state park and hiked Mansfield, using the Sunset Ridge trail. It was almost a perfect day. The temps were cool, and there was a mild breeze. We saw a lot of alpine plants (including diapensia), and took lots of pictures as the views just kept getting better and better. At the summit, we chatted with the summit steward(ess), who told me over 200 people had summited so far!
Our friend Paula notched high point #15! Congrats to her! After the hike, we drove to Schilling Brewery in Littleton. They specialize in German/Belgian beers. We all found food and beer that we liked. Then we drove to 'Chez Chip', an undisclosed location in the White mountains.
We made 'camp' there and prepared for the next big challenge. We also visited with J&J, 2 of the best people in New Hampshire. They plied us with HEADY TOPPER, and other delectable items while we watched USA draw Portugal. Monday morning we were off to the Cog Parking lot to climb the highest of the high in the northeast, the world's worst weather awaited us, on the Rock Pile, the killer of the unprepared, the big W, Mount Washington! [cue dramatic music!] Ok, maybe not on this day. It was the most perfect day you could ask for when climbing W. There was almost no wind all day, the summit temps were in the 50's, the Ammo trail was mostly dry, it was a gift from on High(er). We met relatively few people ascending, even at the hut, but the summit area was a seething mass of people. Mostly screaming children, if memory serves me correctly!
We had to wait 10 minutes in line for summit photos! But Paula is now up to #16! We descended down Jewell. We met RIDICULOUSLY unprepared people, 1 couple carrying NOTHING but a map! Others were dressed in burkas, jeans, cotton galore; we cringed to think what the day would have held if the weather had not been so perfect. Anyway...We made it back to the car and headed off to showers and Woodstock station, another embodiment of perfect beer and food pairings!
Some of you may know that Laurie and I kiss at every summit. This started before we were married, and was consummated at the summit of Whiteface in the ADKs 7 years ago when we were married. We thought it appropriate to be on high on the 7th anniversary of our marriage. Pamola (an infrequent poster here), brewed 'Summit Kiss IPA' for our wedding, and is a huge contributor to VNBs. He was unable to join us this year, but we thank him for the beer, and all the hard work he put into VNBs.
So, it was an awesome weekend! We met up with great friends, had great beer, and climbed great mountains with great conditions! They can't all be this way, but we'll take them when we can get them!
