JeffAndrews
New member
…or how I finally got the monkey off my back.
Three years ago I got it into my head that I should hike to the high point in each of the New England states in a weekend. The inspiration came from a tiny little article in Backpacker magazine about a dream hike one of the editors wanted to do some day. The weird part was that at the time I hadn't hiked in years and I can't even remember why I was reading Backpacker.
Anyway, over the last three years this silly notion has grown into an obsession. I started researching the hikes on the web, which is how I discovered VFTT, Mohamed Ellozy, David Metsky and all the other really knowledgeable people who hang out here. Even though I've never actually met any VFTTers and I'm mostly a lurker, the sense of welcome and community inspired me. I became convinced that I could actually do this thing, which I decided to call Mountain Fest.
MF1 did not go well. I totally underestimated the challenge. We climbed Katahdin on the Saturday and then Washington on Sunday. 2 out of 6, but we had great weather and a lot of fun. The hook was set.
MF2 was miserable. Rain, fog, snow, ice and more rain. We bagged Frissell, Greylock and Mansfield, but were turned back on Washington by hurricane force wind, snow, and my injured knee. 3 out of 6, and scant fun. Despite thoughts of throwing in the towel we decided not to let this thing beat us. In fact, I think we had a bit of chip on our shoulders.
Which brings us to MF3. It officially started at 5 PM on Friday at the top of Greylock. We had climbed up the Thunderbolt trail starting at 4 PM in what seemed at the time to be hot weather, so we were already a little tired. But now the clock was ticking and we were off to attempt to get to the final summit before 5 PM on Sunday. So we ran down Thunderbolt, which was a lot of fun, and jumped in the car and headed for CT.
To get to the CT highpoint, we took the trail over Round Mountain and Frissell. We tagged the marker on the south slope and scampered back to the car. It was slow going to Hartford, but once we hit highway we started making better time. We got to mighty Jerimoth Hill well before Midnight and tagged our third highpoint of the day.
We got to the line at Baxter State Park at around 5:30 AM. I had expected more people to be there, but we ended up being about the tenth car in line. We had decided to do the Abol trail (did I mention that we had a chip on our shoulders?) and were the only car that headed that direction.
Abol was tough, especially with the heat. In fact, it was the toughest trail I'd ever hiked. But it was still early in the weekend.
When we got to the top we were the only ones up there, so we had the summit to ourselves. We may have been the first ones to the top that morning. And it was beautiful with a nice wind up. But we needed to push on, so it was back down Abol and on to Washington.
The car wasn't dealing well with the heat. The transmission was slipping and running the AC seemed to exacerbate the problem, so we drove much of the 5 1/2 hours with it off. We passed one of those roadside thermometers that read 100 degrees. It was not a pleasant ride.
But we got to Pickham Notch around 4ish. I looked for Sherpa John as I wanted to say hello and pick up a copy of the movie, but figured I could met him on our way back out after the showing. So we headed up Huntington Ravine, which quickly replaced Abol as the toughest trail I've ever hiked (there is that chip thing again). Between the heat and my general exhaustion, we ended up slowing way down. But we kept plodding away at it and got to the top by 8 PM (I wouldn't be meeting SJ this evening!). We had the top to ourselves and mugged for the summit cam in hopes my wife would see the picture and then headed down Lion's Head.
It is a long slog out of there and we were totally spent. We decided that Mansfield was not in the cards this year and that it would have to wait for MF4. So we headed down to Hanover and got in around 3 AM, dejected but safe. After a solid 4 hours of sleep, we were both up at 7:30 AM and feeling a lot better. So much so that we arranged a replacement car and headed back north at 10:30 AM, riding a wave of energy.
This wave crested about a quarter of a mile up the Hell Brook trail. Pouring sweat in the heat we plodded our way to the top. It was a long slow climb but we made it. After a brief celebration at the summit we headed back down the HB trail and were back to our car by 3:30 PM, less than 48 hours before we started up Greylock.
We grabbed a pizza at Pie in the Sky and headed back to Williamstown to pick up my car and then I went on to NYC. I got in around 12:30 AM. My wife had more pizza waiting for me in the fridge, along with a gimlet. I toasted the end of MountainFest and then crawled into bed.
It's been a long journey from conception to completion. In the process, I've become a hiker again, and discovered this great community of people who share this passion. All and all, I think it was worth it!
Three years ago I got it into my head that I should hike to the high point in each of the New England states in a weekend. The inspiration came from a tiny little article in Backpacker magazine about a dream hike one of the editors wanted to do some day. The weird part was that at the time I hadn't hiked in years and I can't even remember why I was reading Backpacker.
Anyway, over the last three years this silly notion has grown into an obsession. I started researching the hikes on the web, which is how I discovered VFTT, Mohamed Ellozy, David Metsky and all the other really knowledgeable people who hang out here. Even though I've never actually met any VFTTers and I'm mostly a lurker, the sense of welcome and community inspired me. I became convinced that I could actually do this thing, which I decided to call Mountain Fest.
MF1 did not go well. I totally underestimated the challenge. We climbed Katahdin on the Saturday and then Washington on Sunday. 2 out of 6, but we had great weather and a lot of fun. The hook was set.
MF2 was miserable. Rain, fog, snow, ice and more rain. We bagged Frissell, Greylock and Mansfield, but were turned back on Washington by hurricane force wind, snow, and my injured knee. 3 out of 6, and scant fun. Despite thoughts of throwing in the towel we decided not to let this thing beat us. In fact, I think we had a bit of chip on our shoulders.
Which brings us to MF3. It officially started at 5 PM on Friday at the top of Greylock. We had climbed up the Thunderbolt trail starting at 4 PM in what seemed at the time to be hot weather, so we were already a little tired. But now the clock was ticking and we were off to attempt to get to the final summit before 5 PM on Sunday. So we ran down Thunderbolt, which was a lot of fun, and jumped in the car and headed for CT.
To get to the CT highpoint, we took the trail over Round Mountain and Frissell. We tagged the marker on the south slope and scampered back to the car. It was slow going to Hartford, but once we hit highway we started making better time. We got to mighty Jerimoth Hill well before Midnight and tagged our third highpoint of the day.
We got to the line at Baxter State Park at around 5:30 AM. I had expected more people to be there, but we ended up being about the tenth car in line. We had decided to do the Abol trail (did I mention that we had a chip on our shoulders?) and were the only car that headed that direction.
Abol was tough, especially with the heat. In fact, it was the toughest trail I'd ever hiked. But it was still early in the weekend.
When we got to the top we were the only ones up there, so we had the summit to ourselves. We may have been the first ones to the top that morning. And it was beautiful with a nice wind up. But we needed to push on, so it was back down Abol and on to Washington.
The car wasn't dealing well with the heat. The transmission was slipping and running the AC seemed to exacerbate the problem, so we drove much of the 5 1/2 hours with it off. We passed one of those roadside thermometers that read 100 degrees. It was not a pleasant ride.
But we got to Pickham Notch around 4ish. I looked for Sherpa John as I wanted to say hello and pick up a copy of the movie, but figured I could met him on our way back out after the showing. So we headed up Huntington Ravine, which quickly replaced Abol as the toughest trail I've ever hiked (there is that chip thing again). Between the heat and my general exhaustion, we ended up slowing way down. But we kept plodding away at it and got to the top by 8 PM (I wouldn't be meeting SJ this evening!). We had the top to ourselves and mugged for the summit cam in hopes my wife would see the picture and then headed down Lion's Head.
It is a long slog out of there and we were totally spent. We decided that Mansfield was not in the cards this year and that it would have to wait for MF4. So we headed down to Hanover and got in around 3 AM, dejected but safe. After a solid 4 hours of sleep, we were both up at 7:30 AM and feeling a lot better. So much so that we arranged a replacement car and headed back north at 10:30 AM, riding a wave of energy.
This wave crested about a quarter of a mile up the Hell Brook trail. Pouring sweat in the heat we plodded our way to the top. It was a long slow climb but we made it. After a brief celebration at the summit we headed back down the HB trail and were back to our car by 3:30 PM, less than 48 hours before we started up Greylock.
We grabbed a pizza at Pie in the Sky and headed back to Williamstown to pick up my car and then I went on to NYC. I got in around 12:30 AM. My wife had more pizza waiting for me in the fridge, along with a gimlet. I toasted the end of MountainFest and then crawled into bed.
It's been a long journey from conception to completion. In the process, I've become a hiker again, and discovered this great community of people who share this passion. All and all, I think it was worth it!
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