Thanks everyone
Day 0
JasonPatrik picked me up at work in Boston (he came down all the way from Tilton, NH) and then up to Youngblood's place in Bethlehem where we overnighted. Sorted gear and packed the pack which weighed in at 65 lbs.
The food was the bulk of it. Food, water and the pack itself amounted to about 45 lbs. Tent, sleeping bag, liner and sleeping pad was another 6 lbs. Clothing, cooking stuff, repair kit, first aid, electronics, hygien, camera and porn magazines was another 14 lbs.
Day 1
We placed Jason's car at the Starr King TH where Chinoktrail picked us up and we drove to Mt. Cabot TH where she dropped us off. 5:28am the trek started. It's a different type of ordeal with 65 lbs on your back. A little after 6am we turned off our headlamps and slowly we came t the creek crossing with the "last drinkable water" or whatever the sign says. Dropped the pack at the trail intersection at 2,900 feet and after the mushroom cloud settled we continued up feeling awesome - nothing like an instant 30% weight loss
Great views from the cabin and it was an undercast with the valleys covered in white in the morning sun. Checked out the cabin inside and took some pix before moving on to the summit. It was frost on the ground. It took us 2hrs 13 min from the TH to the summit. Ten pushups and then back down during which time I posted on vftt with the Iphone.....AT&T had great reception.
Down at th packs we took a break and Jason said someone was coming up the trail - and the wide bright smile of Adventurist came up between the trees with her red ArcTeryx jacket. Hug and then she went up Cabot. Jason and I had another bite and then off to the col and the Terraces. jason helped to get the pack on. The straps are the hardest - helps to loosen them up before swinging on the pack and then tighten them again. Traverse over to the col was beautiful, we had a quick pause before starting the 600 vertical to the 3,630' first summit of the three Terraces. One step at a time and we turned around here and there to look back at Cabot and pad ourselves on the back
Adjusted our altimeters by the summit sign and continued....Kilkenny Ridge Trail is a beauty. Over the middle one and on the last one we dropped the packs and went th e0.1 miles to the true summit and outlook. Took pix again before going back to the packs. Got SMS from Adventurist she will meet on Waumbeck instead of trying to catch up. I think I turned on the GPS tracker here again. The appr 1,000 vertical down to the low point and intersection with York Pond Trail. Here the goal was to make it in 100 vertical feet increments since we had 1,250' or so of gain to the first Weeks. It was 11:16am when we left York Pond trail. Slow and steady it went. "Wicked awesome! We are at 2,900 feet!" and so it went. Gotta enjoy the small victories during these long hikes.
Took a good break at the summit. Took off the shoes to air out the feet and socks. Here the last sandwich for the trip went down. Then we dropped 650' or so to the next col before starting up......only 425' of gain or so.....felt like stealing candy from kids
....not exactly......were excited to only have two more dips before Waumbeck though. The next two dips were not so bad although they were felt. The last mile or so before Waumbeck you are on this ridge at 3,800-3,900 feet which feels like forever before you finally take a 55 foot dip and then head up to the summit......we continued to a shady place in the col to take a break and forgot the pushups in the meantime
No Adventurist though - we found out later she waited on Starr King but got cold). Did the pushups on Starr King instead and then we started the long descent to the Starr King TH. Felt pretty beat by now but psyched that we made the two summits on the agenda for today. Cabot goes quickly but then you have two hard earned summit Waumbeck and Jefferson) for which you have to cover close to 30 miles of real estate. And then you have 45 to go after that. Was trying to tell myself it's all mental
After about three lightyears the parking lot with the one car showed up. It was about 4:45pm now. Off with the pack for both of us, Jason put his in the trunk of the car and I had to put mine back on.....with some lederhosen I would probably have been yodeling
They have some strategic rocks to put packs on by the parking lot to make it easier to lift the pack off the ground.
Jason's mission was to charge my Iphone and try to see if there were any good camping spots along route 2. He went to Jefferson Motel and back with the beta and after 1/2 hour or so he came back to meet me. Thanked him for the awesome company and I was on my own. Tock tock tock tock from the trekking poles and vroom vrooom vroom from the cars driving by. The monotonous asphalt hiking is wearing you down pretty quick. Made it to the beginning of the long starigtaway where you can see the 115 intersection 1.5 miles down.....went on a tiny little road for a little bit with a creek next to it.....dry creek....no good....need a place with water for the night....back on to route 2.....neede to retie my right shoe but couldn't bend down, had to wait for next bridge railing to do it.
Continued along the straight-away tock tock tock vroom vroom etc. Saw this RV park on my right and thought, I should ask if they have tentsites. They did and they were only $23 with water and electricity and site was next to the showers
And they were not coin-operated
it was about 6:30 and I got the tent set up and communicated with the outside world a bit before taking the shower. Cooking dinner next. It was dark by now and was getting colder by the minute. Felt good to be inside the tent in a warm sleeping bag though. Added tabasco and olive oil to the chciken breasts and mashed potatoes (Mountainhouse). Heavenly it was......layed down a bit and next time it wa 11pm and I must have slept a bit. Up to loosen my legs a bit and then back to a more deep sleep.....
......however the alarm I didn't hear so I woke up at 6:07am and I planned to be on the road
again by 6am........ice on the ground and the tent so had to pack a pretty soaked tents with me. Shaking off dew in sub-freezing temps doesn't work well. It took 2 hours to get going......not going into any details here. First Mtnpa stopped to say hello on his way to the Weeks then Juniper and Dave Metsky drove by and shouted something. A couple of unknown hikers stopped and asked me how to get to the Castle TH. A good bunch of hikers were meeting by the Castle TH including Darl58, JasonFerris, Gillian, Dr Wu and wife, Leaf, Juniper and Dave Metsky. very cool!
Anyone want to write from here
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