#9 Mt. Liberty

8/25/01 Hiked with Jim and Gwen. Jimbo left me and Gwen in the dust. Gwen and I stopped at the tent sites and ate lunch. We met these 2 little adorable girls (Gwen pointed out a mouse to them). They were camping out with their fathers. "We're not sisters even though we look alike but we have the same birthday, May 1st, that's why we look alike. I'm older (6) than she is (5). My mommy's tummy was too small to keep me in any longer so I'm small. I'm going to be in 1st grade this year and she was in pre-school and she's going to kindergarten and that's my Daddy over there with the baseball cap on and her Daddy has a white shirt on. My Mommy's cleaning the school." And inhale. They asked their fathers if we could stay overnight but Gwen told them we had dinner reservations. We saw them later at the summit. One of the fathers was carrying a Barbie backpack. We also met this other guy who was trying to impress us with his watch and the 10,000 functions it had. "This is how fast I can ski, this is how high we are, blah blah blah". Gwen said he was wearing gold necklaces but I didn't notice because I was staring at his flip-up sunglasses that were in the "up" position. There were a lot of cool people on this trail. There was a skinny lady with a poodle, a woman in a long skirt holding a large child on her back and a guy on the summit who said the view was "fucking awesome". So true, so true.
Jimbo

#8 Mt. Jackson

8/13/00 - Hiked w/ Jim and Gwen. I think this mountain's named for Tito Jackson (I cannot confirm that however). We stayed at "The 7 Dwarfs" hotel the night before and played volleyball, toasted marshmallows and sat by a river. It was more memorable than the hike. The only thing that sticks out in my mind about this hike was when Gwen found a stick for some lady who hurt her knee. She was with a group of people trying to help her and I suggested they get her a stick. They said they couldn't find one (huh?) and Gwen said "how about this one?" and she instantly found the perfect stick. I think it was divine intervention.

#7 Eisenhower

STOP-
The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died there from exposure, even in the summer. Turn back now if the weather is bad.
White Mountain Naional Forest.

6/18/00 - Jim & Gwen. 11th highest mtn in NH. It's right next to Mt. Washington and we could hear and sometimes see the cog railray on our way up. The summit is above treeline so there was a warning to be careful in bad weather. It was sleeting when we got to the top. There was a couple heading up when we were on the way down. The guy was dressed like you'd expect, but the girl was in jeans and a white blouse (and a bright blue bra according to Jimbo). My back was hurting. Patti wah.

#6 Mt. Hale

5/27/00 - Hiked with Jim, Gwen, Janelle & Marquess - We had talked about us all doing this hike a few weeks earlier at Marquess and Janelle's wedding. We all backpacked up Mt. Hale then down the other side and camped near Zealand Falls. We got a late start. The trail was like walking through a stream at points, Janelle fell. It was dark by the time we set up camp. I shared Jim and Gwen's tent. It was pretty uncomfortable because the ground was rocky and slanted down hill. Marquess & Janellle bivy sacked and it rained overnight. The hike out was beautiful. The End.

#5 Mt. Waumbec

6/20/99 - Jim & Gwen hiked this with me. I think this mountain may have a curse. We tried to do this mountain the week before and Jim and Gwen's car had problems. We got all the way up there and had to come back because there was something wrong with their ignition.

I was living in Connecticut at the time so I had driven up to their house in Milford, NH, slept over, then went up to the Whites, only to have to come back and do it again the next week. We started believing there might be a chief Waumbec haunting the mountain and he didn't want the white man on his peak (so to speak). The second attempt, Gwen and I stayed up late talking and I hardly slept. Before we summited, we ate our lunch under our rain gear because there were so many bugs. There was a family with a dog named Pork Chop and an older couple with their grandson. The grandson was sketching the summit. (I wonder if they thought the mountain was cursed?)

Luckily, it was an easy mountain to climb and it ended well.

(A high 5 for mountain #5, what's that over my shoulder? Could this be spirit photography?) We drove home through Mt. Washington Valley as the sun was setting, then went to dinner at the Woodstock Inn and ate outside. Sweet! Jimbo talked about how cool it would be to eat dinner there (and drink some beer) while doing your laundry at the laundrymat across the street.

#4 East Oceola

10/12/98 - Gwen & I hiked this one alone. Trail went flat into the woods then straight up a steep face. We could see the summit most of the way up (which is unusual). There was one part that was just sheer rock. I kept telling Gwen to turn around and look at what we had just climbed up. We both agreed our mothers would freak if they could see us. We ate hot tomato soup (thanks to Gwen!) on a ridge near the summit. You could see down both sides of the mountain. We passed some college kids on the way down who saw the rock face and decided not to climb it. We also saw a couple people heading up as the sun was going to be down. I wonder if they made it.

#3 Mt. Oceola

9/20/98 - Just Gwen & I hiked this. Our first mountain on our own. It was muggy and overcast. Beautiful view at the summit, but hazy. A lot of women and dogs on the trail.

#2 Mt. Mooselac

8/2/98 - with Jim & Gwen. A beautiful summit. It reminded me of that scene in the "Sound Of Music" when Julie Andrews spins on a mountain top. We didn't do that, but we did lay in the sun for about 45 minutes. (There were too many people up there to spin). We never hang around on the summits anymore like we did that day.

#1 Mt. Tecumseh

6/6/98 - with Jim & Gwen. Jimbo brought a full pack and we had Earl Grey on the summit while watching a Canadian Jay hop around. There was a boyscout troop sliding down the huge snowmaking pipes of Waterville Valley ski hill.