Winter Gathering NH 2014

[coldfeet]

So would you like to know how it was? Fantastic!

Arrived at Barnes Field Thursday with Mike (MOC on ADKhighpeaks) and set up tents and shelter. Clouds came in and we had a little bit of everything, rain, sleet, hail and snow. While we were setting up Lefty E came by to say hello and wished us well. North Shore drove over and I made plans with him to hike Mt. Waumbek (sp?) the next day. That night Red Oak drove up and hung out, he supplied some great chips and spicy salsa. Woke up in the morning to app 2 in of fresh snow.

Met North Shore and we hiked Star King and up to Mt Waumbek. We started late and the crappy weather passed over us luckily. We used our snowshoes and every 10 steps had to stop and bang the snow balls off the bottom of the shoes. Did this for the whole trip up and down. North Shore had broken his snowshoe on the trail and like a good scout he is, pulled out a MSR repair kit! Walla, 10 minutes later we are back on the trail looking at the views. Always be prepared! Met some Canadian girls on the trail, they hiked up there in half the time it took me, I'm so out of shape. Went back to campground and chilled out by the fire, ate some good food and then who shows up? Yep, shizzmac! Been app 7 years since I saw him at GO's winter gathering in Maine. Nice to chat. Ooh did I just see some stars? yep, clouds cleared up and it was looking good, for a few minutes then nighty night for me.

Wake up Saturday morning and Matt D (nephew) is there, yea! Going to oil up my knees like the Tin Man and go with him to Middle and South Carter. Ugh, mentally and physically not happy after the hike the day before, but Matt was a great trip leader and kept reminding me about taking our time. The snow was different from the day before, no more snow balls but soft and if you took 1 step off the trail you post holed with the snowshoe! Trail was not looking good with many post holes from bare booting in front of us. Matt got me to Middle Carter and then it was off to South Carter, beautiful! Icy evergreens all around us, sun was shining but windy. We were supposed to continue down a different way to where we spotted his car but the trail wasn't really broken out so I told him I wasn't comfortable going that way and wanted to return the way we came up. He knew it would be a longer hike and wanted to shorten it for me because of knee issues but I told him thanks but I'll have to deal with it. I hate going down hill! So after taking a lot of pics we went back down. Decided to butt slide in certain spots and only fell once flat down after getting tired and not picking up my snowshoe high enough and caught a post hole. Oh yea, also post holed with my snow shoe on down to my knee, thanks for the lift Matt! Back to the car, 9 hours later.

Back at the campground, Peakbagger and Frodo show up, so did the stars! Amazing! It was nice to hear and speak to another Yankee Fan way out in NE territory. After some good food it was an early night for me. MOC and I packed up early and made it back home around 4pm. Glad to be there, hope to go back again next year or maybe even Maine!

Next time I will remember the bagels! Hope this counts as an official gathering, wanted to pay it back to those who set up previous ones and allowed me to join them.

Thanks to all for showing!

 

[Driver8]

Great report, coldfeet. Sounds like a good weekend of adventure. I'm hoping to spring free of CT's confines for some wintry rambling in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

 

[coldfeet]

Driver8, I love CT! That's where MattD is from and where I grew up during the summers as a kid. Just talked to friend about hiking part of the AT some time. Would love to have some company when the time comes.

 

[coldfeet]

I had a great time. Thank you for organizing the gathering. You were great on the trail and I am really proud of you.

Thanks Matt, will send you e mail hopefully tonight after seeing my dentist

 

[Adventurous]

We had every intention of going but with a late start after driving up from RI and a much later finish than planned because of snow conditions, we couldn't muster up the energy to drive another 1.5 hours to Barnes when we had an offer to stay at a friends house 10 minutes from the TH. It would have been fun to camp out and meet some new people...maybe next year. This image was taken on Passaconaway shortly after deciding that going to the gathering wasn't in the cards.

 

[peakbagger]

Thanks for setting it up. I was quite surprised that on a vacation week that the Barnes was mostly empty. Things have changed.

 

[NorthShore]

I posted these in the events forum, but they belong here with the trip report:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/109142731850640716661/albums/5984082626093362097

 

[Red Oak]

Fun and low key time at the gathering. Nice to meet all and great job hosting by coldfeet..Coldfeet also cooks up a mean fish soup! Nice to meet all that showed up to hang. Recovering from cold so not much hiking except pleasant walk around Dolly Copp. some pics on facebook https://www.facebook.com/alex.granite/media_set?set=a.10201626392326290.1073741842.1373160843&type=1