king tut
New member
I am still itching myself as I write this, Day 22 of the pain. Let this be a cautionary tale for all who read this. Three weeks ago, one of my friends was a having a going away party as she was leaving the wonderful area of Burlington VT, and heading towards Philadelphia, land of the disenchanted Eagles and Phillies fans. A keg of Vermont's finest Ale, Switchback, was procured, and my life will never be the same after that.
After having a few too many Switchback's, we headed down to the shores of Lake Champlain to have a bonfire and swim in the lake. In the darkness of night, I accidently grabbed a handful of Posion Ivy to use as plants to start the fire beneath the logs. Within the next 72 hours, the majority of all my body parts became very swollen and puss filled. The next two weeks would revolve around 2 visits to the doctor, a round of steroids and a week of anti-biotics. The only time in my life I have been more miserable is during my two bouts of salmonella poisoning and my knee reconstruction.
After 12 days of misery, my vacation started with myself feeling better and the worst of the affliction behind me. It was Friday morning, and I was headed in the direction of Maine, Acadia National Park to be precise. My initial plans were to hike in NH on the way there and camp out. I was hesitant to keep this schedule as I was still not sleeping more than a few hours at a time in between talking scalding hot showers followed with an icy cold ending in order to try to keep the extreme itching at bay. I decided that things could not get worse, so I headed out around 6 in the morning and arrived in the Pinkham Notch area a little prior to 10 in the morning.
I decided to hike Wildcat D, since I had not hiked that peak as of yet. I followed the AT from Pinkham notch and ascended the steep slopes of Wildcat. I felt good to be getting some exercise after almost two whole weeks of bed rest. At some point during my ascent, I lost my trusty Subara water bottle that had been with me for years on trips to the gym and on hikes. Oh well. Maybe some thru-hiker will be able to grab it and make use of it.
I came out to the top of the hike after a few hours and once I got to the top of Wildcat, a rogue cloud rolled in and proceeded to pour for a good 25 minutes. I stood below the eaves of the dillapidated summit building and tried to stay dry. The weather forecaster had said this would be a partly sunny day...
After the storm had passed, I ascended the last little section to the top and then headed down via the ski trails. I jogged down the wet slopes and by the time I got down to the bottom, my left knee was starting to hurt. From the bottom of Wildcat, I took the road back up the 1/2 mile or mile to Pinkham notch to my car. I changed clothes, and packed up my big hiking backpack for an overnighter to the Mt Isolation region.
I took the Diretissima trail which was a gentle mile of hiking a few hundred feet over the notch, before joining up with the Glen Boulder trail. It was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon when I started up the Glen Boulder trail, and it took several hours for me to ascend this slope of Mount Washington. The sky opened up on me for a second time right around the boulder, and I got thoroughly soaked. I made it up to the Davis Path around 5 o'clock, and I decided to find a spot to set up camp and retire for the evening as my body was spent. The two weeks of inactivity, steroids, and anti-biotics had taken their tole.
I climbed into my sleeping bag and attempted to sleep. Attempted is the key word. I could not sleep due to the discomfort, and I ended up reading Big Russ and Me that night, almost the whole book. Around 3 in the morning, I gave up on the idea of rest, and packed up my tent and headed down the Davis Path towards Mt Isolation with my headlamp. It was a beautiful evening/morning with lots of stars in the sky. I reached the top of Mount Isolation just as the morning light was coming into the forest. I quickly hiked back up the Davis Path to the mile before where I had ditched my big backpack the hour before. I headed back up the ridge and took a nap/passed out on the trail for maybe 20-30 minutes due to sheer exhaustion. I woke up and felt much better.
I hiked back up the Davis Path and came out to the top of Tuckerman's ravine at the Boot Spur trail. At this point in the morning, I had 0 % interest in climbing the rest of Mount Washington, and decided to head down the Boot Spur trail. The sky was perfectly sunny and I had some wonderful views of Tuck's ravine.
I descened steeply down the spur to Hermit Lake and then took the main trail down to Pinkham Notch. I passed hundreds of people on the way up the trail, and wondered if some of them were heading up the trail a little late in the day. I had visions of burgers and fast food in my head, and was excited to get to the parking lot to find out that it was only..... 10 in the morning. I guess people were not heading up too late, my fast food dreams were put on hold for an hour.
I started my drive over to Acadia, eager to start vacation.
A week passed, and on Saturday, I found myself with a 7 hour drive back to Vermont. I decided to break up the drive with a hike on the way back. After about 4 hours of driving and following tourists driving 10 miles an hour below the speed limit, I decided to stop in the Gorham area before I started yelling at old men wearing cowboy hats to DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT!@
I parked at the Stony Brook parking lot at 2 p.m. and started to ascend the trail up Mt Moriah. About a mile and a half or so up the trail, the trail crosses the brook. I did not notice this and spent the next 20 minutes searching for the trail. After crossing the stream and the bankings a few times, I finally ran into a gentleman at the junction who told me that the trail crossed the brook.
At this point, I was not sure if I wanted to continue the hike as I had lost a lot of time and the day was winding down. I decided to keep going, and I powered my way up the hillside. After a week in Acadia being outside, my body was feeling a lot stronger and was now free of steroids and anti-biotics. I made my way up the 3.8 miles to the Carter-Moriah trail and then the 1.4 miles over to the summit of Moriah. I decided to hike/jog my way down the mountain as I wanted to get back to my car ASAP and continue my long drive home. The trip down the mountain was relatively quick. The only high-light was hearing a thundering sound as a Moose was spooked by the large trail runner and went running out of my way about 30 feet from me. I made my way back to the parking lot around 6 p.m., glad to be done the 10.5 mile trip. I looked down and saw some blood flowing from my leg. When did that happen??
This was a nice little hike with some great views of the Mahoosucs in Maine.
These three hikes brought my 67 total to 55 peaks. The end is almost in sight.
A few pics here
After having a few too many Switchback's, we headed down to the shores of Lake Champlain to have a bonfire and swim in the lake. In the darkness of night, I accidently grabbed a handful of Posion Ivy to use as plants to start the fire beneath the logs. Within the next 72 hours, the majority of all my body parts became very swollen and puss filled. The next two weeks would revolve around 2 visits to the doctor, a round of steroids and a week of anti-biotics. The only time in my life I have been more miserable is during my two bouts of salmonella poisoning and my knee reconstruction.
After 12 days of misery, my vacation started with myself feeling better and the worst of the affliction behind me. It was Friday morning, and I was headed in the direction of Maine, Acadia National Park to be precise. My initial plans were to hike in NH on the way there and camp out. I was hesitant to keep this schedule as I was still not sleeping more than a few hours at a time in between talking scalding hot showers followed with an icy cold ending in order to try to keep the extreme itching at bay. I decided that things could not get worse, so I headed out around 6 in the morning and arrived in the Pinkham Notch area a little prior to 10 in the morning.
I decided to hike Wildcat D, since I had not hiked that peak as of yet. I followed the AT from Pinkham notch and ascended the steep slopes of Wildcat. I felt good to be getting some exercise after almost two whole weeks of bed rest. At some point during my ascent, I lost my trusty Subara water bottle that had been with me for years on trips to the gym and on hikes. Oh well. Maybe some thru-hiker will be able to grab it and make use of it.
I came out to the top of the hike after a few hours and once I got to the top of Wildcat, a rogue cloud rolled in and proceeded to pour for a good 25 minutes. I stood below the eaves of the dillapidated summit building and tried to stay dry. The weather forecaster had said this would be a partly sunny day...
After the storm had passed, I ascended the last little section to the top and then headed down via the ski trails. I jogged down the wet slopes and by the time I got down to the bottom, my left knee was starting to hurt. From the bottom of Wildcat, I took the road back up the 1/2 mile or mile to Pinkham notch to my car. I changed clothes, and packed up my big hiking backpack for an overnighter to the Mt Isolation region.
I took the Diretissima trail which was a gentle mile of hiking a few hundred feet over the notch, before joining up with the Glen Boulder trail. It was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon when I started up the Glen Boulder trail, and it took several hours for me to ascend this slope of Mount Washington. The sky opened up on me for a second time right around the boulder, and I got thoroughly soaked. I made it up to the Davis Path around 5 o'clock, and I decided to find a spot to set up camp and retire for the evening as my body was spent. The two weeks of inactivity, steroids, and anti-biotics had taken their tole.
I climbed into my sleeping bag and attempted to sleep. Attempted is the key word. I could not sleep due to the discomfort, and I ended up reading Big Russ and Me that night, almost the whole book. Around 3 in the morning, I gave up on the idea of rest, and packed up my tent and headed down the Davis Path towards Mt Isolation with my headlamp. It was a beautiful evening/morning with lots of stars in the sky. I reached the top of Mount Isolation just as the morning light was coming into the forest. I quickly hiked back up the Davis Path to the mile before where I had ditched my big backpack the hour before. I headed back up the ridge and took a nap/passed out on the trail for maybe 20-30 minutes due to sheer exhaustion. I woke up and felt much better.
I hiked back up the Davis Path and came out to the top of Tuckerman's ravine at the Boot Spur trail. At this point in the morning, I had 0 % interest in climbing the rest of Mount Washington, and decided to head down the Boot Spur trail. The sky was perfectly sunny and I had some wonderful views of Tuck's ravine.
I descened steeply down the spur to Hermit Lake and then took the main trail down to Pinkham Notch. I passed hundreds of people on the way up the trail, and wondered if some of them were heading up the trail a little late in the day. I had visions of burgers and fast food in my head, and was excited to get to the parking lot to find out that it was only..... 10 in the morning. I guess people were not heading up too late, my fast food dreams were put on hold for an hour.
I started my drive over to Acadia, eager to start vacation.
A week passed, and on Saturday, I found myself with a 7 hour drive back to Vermont. I decided to break up the drive with a hike on the way back. After about 4 hours of driving and following tourists driving 10 miles an hour below the speed limit, I decided to stop in the Gorham area before I started yelling at old men wearing cowboy hats to DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT!@
I parked at the Stony Brook parking lot at 2 p.m. and started to ascend the trail up Mt Moriah. About a mile and a half or so up the trail, the trail crosses the brook. I did not notice this and spent the next 20 minutes searching for the trail. After crossing the stream and the bankings a few times, I finally ran into a gentleman at the junction who told me that the trail crossed the brook.
At this point, I was not sure if I wanted to continue the hike as I had lost a lot of time and the day was winding down. I decided to keep going, and I powered my way up the hillside. After a week in Acadia being outside, my body was feeling a lot stronger and was now free of steroids and anti-biotics. I made my way up the 3.8 miles to the Carter-Moriah trail and then the 1.4 miles over to the summit of Moriah. I decided to hike/jog my way down the mountain as I wanted to get back to my car ASAP and continue my long drive home. The trip down the mountain was relatively quick. The only high-light was hearing a thundering sound as a Moose was spooked by the large trail runner and went running out of my way about 30 feet from me. I made my way back to the parking lot around 6 p.m., glad to be done the 10.5 mile trip. I looked down and saw some blood flowing from my leg. When did that happen??
This was a nice little hike with some great views of the Mahoosucs in Maine.
These three hikes brought my 67 total to 55 peaks. The end is almost in sight.
A few pics here
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