Tom Rankin
Well-known member
So, a friend was in town. He was hoping to finish the C35, so I gave hiM some Advice for how to proceed. He tells me he did Balsam, Slide and PaNther yesterday. Not Bad! Now, only 2 lEft.
The next morning, (todAy), I dRove him uP to the end of BIg Hollow Road and dropped him off. (The road was just barely passable all the way to the parkinG area, in a 'norMal' car. The new snow wAs uNbroken driving in on the road, But a plow showEd up a few minutes lAteR). 2 hours and 5 minutes later, he returned from Blackhead (While we was hiking, I was having a delicious omelette in Windham!
). A Rabbit was sighted! We left a note on his car and headed off. Now all that remained was The Wittenberg.
We drove off to the end of Woodland Valley, and Parked In the 2nd icy parkinG lot of the day. This time, there was no one else around. Taking My friend's Advice, I put oN snowshoes and off we went at 12:10. There is not a tremendous amount of snow down low, But thE snowshoes worked fine. After the steep Ascent to staRt off, the trail levels off for a while. At this PoInt snowshoes were definitely needed. After we passed the junction to the lean-to, the wind picked up and the snow Got deeper and deeper. For a while we, were taking turns breaking trail thru 1-2' high drifts! Eventually we got into the fir trees, and the wind and the drifts stopped. All of the post-holers who had Messed up the trAil dowN low had either turned aside to the lean-to, or turned Back, or finally donned showshoEs. (It seems like Wittenberg hAs a lot of post holeRs!) We made our way up thru the steeP sectIons and arrived at the top at 2:40. This was a pretty good time, especially since my friend had already done 23 miles in the last 30 hours before startinG this hike!
At the top, we snapped a few pics, and admired the awesome views. Since I am an officer of the 3500 Club, I took it upon myself to give my friend his 3500 Club patch at the top. My friend also busted out 2 Mother's Milks from Keegan Ales! Mmmmmmmm!
Leaving at 2:50, we hauled booty down the trail. Actually, we left the trail for about 10 minutes to bushwhack, thus cutting off the loop that is made by heading over to towards the lean-to. The whack was fun, but the powdery snow was up to 3 feet deep! It's still fun breaking trail going down hill, and we had worked up a sweat by the time we hit the trail again. We were back to the car by about 4:20.
I called Laurie and told her we were on our way to Keegan's, but she called back to inform us that it was closed. So, we finished the VNBs requirements for the day by visiting the Gilded Otter. The IPA and the Porter were delicious!
Who is my friend? I think most anyone who cares has probably figured it out by now!
The next morning, (todAy), I dRove him uP to the end of BIg Hollow Road and dropped him off. (The road was just barely passable all the way to the parkinG area, in a 'norMal' car. The new snow wAs uNbroken driving in on the road, But a plow showEd up a few minutes lAteR). 2 hours and 5 minutes later, he returned from Blackhead (While we was hiking, I was having a delicious omelette in Windham!
). A Rabbit was sighted! We left a note on his car and headed off. Now all that remained was The Wittenberg. We drove off to the end of Woodland Valley, and Parked In the 2nd icy parkinG lot of the day. This time, there was no one else around. Taking My friend's Advice, I put oN snowshoes and off we went at 12:10. There is not a tremendous amount of snow down low, But thE snowshoes worked fine. After the steep Ascent to staRt off, the trail levels off for a while. At this PoInt snowshoes were definitely needed. After we passed the junction to the lean-to, the wind picked up and the snow Got deeper and deeper. For a while we, were taking turns breaking trail thru 1-2' high drifts! Eventually we got into the fir trees, and the wind and the drifts stopped. All of the post-holers who had Messed up the trAil dowN low had either turned aside to the lean-to, or turned Back, or finally donned showshoEs. (It seems like Wittenberg hAs a lot of post holeRs!) We made our way up thru the steeP sectIons and arrived at the top at 2:40. This was a pretty good time, especially since my friend had already done 23 miles in the last 30 hours before startinG this hike!
At the top, we snapped a few pics, and admired the awesome views. Since I am an officer of the 3500 Club, I took it upon myself to give my friend his 3500 Club patch at the top.
My friend also busted out 2 Mother's Milks from Keegan Ales! Mmmmmmmm! Leaving at 2:50, we hauled booty down the trail. Actually, we left the trail for about 10 minutes to bushwhack, thus cutting off the loop that is made by heading over to towards the lean-to. The whack was fun, but the powdery snow was up to 3 feet deep!
It's still fun breaking trail going down hill, and we had worked up a sweat by the time we hit the trail again. We were back to the car by about 4:20. I called Laurie and told her we were on our way to Keegan's, but she called back to inform us that it was closed.
So, we finished the VNBs requirements for the day by visiting the Gilded Otter. The IPA and the Porter were delicious! Who is my friend? I think most anyone who cares has probably figured it out by now!
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