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It was a dark and stormy night............. There was an 8 inch snowfall on Friday afternoon/evening. Dave and Murray are late in arriving at the new kickoff point. We no longer leave from Herb and Betty's. We now leave from Joy's house. Mike's truck got stuck on snow covered hill when driving to the trailhead. Ward has Joy's car and is in front of Mike's truck. Murray has tow ropes. Between the four-wheel drive Subaru and others pushing, the truck is able to continue up the hill. The hike in on Saturday sucked. As Dave put it "It was a bit too ambitious." The hike was up a steep hill and about 2.5 miles long. Dave missed the original campsite and we ended up at a campsite about .5 mile beyond intended site. It was misty and drizzling which turned into a light rain by mid afternoon. This weather sucked. After the hike in, not too many people felt like doing anything(except to talk about how the hike in sucked). Bill and Steve took a short hike to Guinea pond. Nothing too eventful there. Highlight of weekend was the amount of "wildlife" we experienced. There were many snowmobiles throughout the weekend. We had a couple of x-country skiers stop by to say hi. We also had a few chick-a-dees around the campsite. Billy encouraged their staying around by throwing out some food. He soon had them actually eating out of his hand. Soon Steve, Dave, and Murray were playing around with the birds. Discussion soon turned to trying to capture a bird. Billy used his equipment hammock to try to net one. This would have worked if the mesh was smaller. He was able to have a bird in his net, but just flew out. He eventually ended up by trapping one under his hat. Meanwhile, Dave and Steve rig silly little snares out of string with food inside( you know, like the coyote and the roadrunner). After several attempts of snaring a bird, Steve places food on his palm and simple grabbed the birds leg when they landed to feed. He did this three times to prove it was not a fluke. The birds were a bit upset. When Billy was trying to get his evening meal together, the birds would constantly fly about him. Billy became a bit upset. Sometime during the course of the afternoon, Murray discovered bird-shit on his coat. Nobody else was treated like this. Hmmmmm........ Steve lost the shovel when he was setting up his tent on the first day. The shovel is an icon to "backing up to the bark". He took(and gave back) much abuse. Murray found it on Monday poking in the snow around Steve's tent. It is decided that nobody has to bring in any food next year. Murray had brought enough in to feed all. This includes some sort of freeze-dried chilli(with corn) to feed about 3 or 4. He ate the whole thing. This was followed by a 3-shit day. He ran out of toilet paper. Fortunately, he doesn't have to go again before leaving. On hike out, Dave makes great time riding his sled(he pulled his gear in/out this year) down the big hill. It was just beginning to snow when we got to the trucks. When Mike drops his pack, he notices the coat he had strapped to the pack was not there. His car keys and wallet were in the coat. Steve and Bill go back for it. It had fallen off his pack almost all the way back to the campsite. This delays departure by 1.5 hours. Murray, not having inhaled enough campfire smoke, builds a fire while waiting. The forecast is for 8-12 inches of snow during the day on Tuesday. Steve and Murray are the first go. Steve calls shortly after from Center Ossipee after having his truck slide off the road. Steve is OK but truck is totaled. Mike goes to pick Steve up and bring him back to Joy's. Dave, with Cheryl and Chris, Mike Steve and Billy all stay an extra night due to worsening weather conditions. 12 inches of snow fall. Murray made it home OK. It took him about 5 hours. Betty and Joy take Steve home on Wednesday. Dave got a speeding ticket at RT9 and 495. He also was without his license. He claims he was going 55 and got a ticket for 70. |