PETCH
New member
Peaks/Trails: Mt Starr King and Mt Waumbek via Starr King Trail
Trail Date: 01/16/2010
Participants: CrazyBob, Jim, Dana, Myron, and Petch
Trail Conditions: Trail was partially packed out by prior snowshoe traffic, some postholes. Overall in good shape.
Commentary: Well, the last 4K I did was back in mid-October. Then I had scheduled surgery to get my left knee scoped (getting old sucks). I couldn't stay off it due to life commitments and shear stupidity. So I had to have it repeatedly drained (3 times, 150cc, 100cc, 50cc = 300cc's for you kids keeping score at home)
, followed by a shot of cortisone.
Finally I was good to go. I just have an attraction to large needles with honkin' syringes I guess...... Then I skipped any formal rehab- again stupidity, and just did some spinning and light lifting. Overall, I experienced long periods of inactivity.
Eighth grade Physics: a body at rest tends to stay at rest until acted upon my an outside force. It is so true. So time to get the monkey off my back and take a hike! The knee feels ok, so time to bag a 4K.
Got together with some familiar faces from back in October- Jim, CrazyBob, Myron, and Dana. Jim and Dana are just 6 peaks away from their 48, one of them being Waumbek. Not a lot of recent trail beta up in the north country. We were hoping that the trail was packed out by some undocumented hikers (not to be confused with undocumented workers or illegal aliens). Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.
Got a semi-late start due to the extended drive time. It's a 100 miles from N. Windham, Maine. I'm still waiting for someone to build a semiconductor fab in the N.Conway area........
Snowshoes on the ground at about 9:10am. 2 pairs of MSR Denali's, 2 pairs of MSR Lightnings, and one social outcast wearing Tubbs Flex ALP's (that would be me). CrazyBob was sporting yet another new backpack. I think he has one for everyday of the week now. No other gear related news to report.
The trail up to Star King never gets too steep and has a consistent grade.
We took frequent stops as the mileage on this trip didn't require a quick trek. Up through the hardwoods we climbed and then the spruce trees started to take over the landscape.
Jim cruised up ahead and made it up to Star King and had time to start a fire in the stone fireplace just before we got there (just kidding).
The spruce trees up in this area were really something to see. The wind, moisture, and temps had created rime ice on top of the snow laden spruce branches. That combined with some fog/clouds, created a real neat environment to snowshoe in.
A good substitute for mountain views. The trek over to Waumbek was the same with no views other than the wild looking spruce trees.
On the way back, we stopped back on Star King for a quick lunch and more pictures. I had the opportunity to pose for the standard issue "Watch a gray jay eat something off my head" shot.
The cruise down was fairly uneventful. We met just a handful of folks on the trail. It is nicely packed out now. Afterwards, Dana and Myron departed for their respective destinations, while the Mainiacs (CrazyBob, Jim and I) stopped at Mr. Pizza in Gorham for some pie and brew. Overall a good day on the trail and another 4K off all of our lists.......
Hiking Stats: 7.2 miles,
Slideshow ^ (pictures from CrazyBob and Jim)
Hiking Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/mpetcher
Ascent List:http://peakbagger.com/climber/climblistc.aspx?cid=1767
Petch
Trail Date: 01/16/2010
Participants: CrazyBob, Jim, Dana, Myron, and Petch
Trail Conditions: Trail was partially packed out by prior snowshoe traffic, some postholes. Overall in good shape.
Commentary: Well, the last 4K I did was back in mid-October. Then I had scheduled surgery to get my left knee scoped (getting old sucks). I couldn't stay off it due to life commitments and shear stupidity. So I had to have it repeatedly drained (3 times, 150cc, 100cc, 50cc = 300cc's for you kids keeping score at home)
, followed by a shot of cortisone. Finally I was good to go. I just have an attraction to large needles with honkin' syringes I guess...... Then I skipped any formal rehab- again stupidity, and just did some spinning and light lifting. Overall, I experienced long periods of inactivity.
Eighth grade Physics: a body at rest tends to stay at rest until acted upon my an outside force. It is so true. So time to get the monkey off my back and take a hike! The knee feels ok, so time to bag a 4K.
Got together with some familiar faces from back in October- Jim, CrazyBob, Myron, and Dana. Jim and Dana are just 6 peaks away from their 48, one of them being Waumbek. Not a lot of recent trail beta up in the north country. We were hoping that the trail was packed out by some undocumented hikers (not to be confused with undocumented workers or illegal aliens). Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.
Got a semi-late start due to the extended drive time. It's a 100 miles from N. Windham, Maine. I'm still waiting for someone to build a semiconductor fab in the N.Conway area........
Snowshoes on the ground at about 9:10am. 2 pairs of MSR Denali's, 2 pairs of MSR Lightnings, and one social outcast wearing Tubbs Flex ALP's (that would be me). CrazyBob was sporting yet another new backpack. I think he has one for everyday of the week now. No other gear related news to report.
The trail up to Star King never gets too steep and has a consistent grade.
We took frequent stops as the mileage on this trip didn't require a quick trek. Up through the hardwoods we climbed and then the spruce trees started to take over the landscape.
Jim cruised up ahead and made it up to Star King and had time to start a fire in the stone fireplace just before we got there (just kidding).
The spruce trees up in this area were really something to see. The wind, moisture, and temps had created rime ice on top of the snow laden spruce branches. That combined with some fog/clouds, created a real neat environment to snowshoe in.
A good substitute for mountain views. The trek over to Waumbek was the same with no views other than the wild looking spruce trees.
On the way back, we stopped back on Star King for a quick lunch and more pictures. I had the opportunity to pose for the standard issue "Watch a gray jay eat something off my head" shot.
The cruise down was fairly uneventful. We met just a handful of folks on the trail. It is nicely packed out now. Afterwards, Dana and Myron departed for their respective destinations, while the Mainiacs (CrazyBob, Jim and I) stopped at Mr. Pizza in Gorham for some pie and brew. Overall a good day on the trail and another 4K off all of our lists.......
Hiking Stats: 7.2 miles,
Slideshow ^ (pictures from CrazyBob and Jim)
Hiking Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/mpetcher
Ascent List:http://peakbagger.com/climber/climblistc.aspx?cid=1767
Petch
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