I Did Not Know I Could Do This

Bailed! (Written at the Crawford Notch lodge).

On the first day I took a 6 am flight into Manchester where I met daughter Jennifer and we got dropped off at Franconia Notch at 6 pm. The first mile was not bad but the next couple to the Liberty campground were straight up the mountain. When somebody says straight up I hear "difficult" but this was miserable and unreal... with full packs in the rain we were crawling over boulders and flowstone at 45 degrees. There were no switchbacks, it was straight up! Looked like a mountain stream bed. We got to the campground at 10 by which time I was delirious and seeing things (a big rock looked like an REI Half-Dome tent). Since lunch, we'd had nothing to eat, so it was a protein bar dinner and sleep. I was so tired that I was not even going to pop the tent and instead sleep in the rain, but Jen set up my tent. It was obvious that I had not trained for this!




Chapter 2: "This is f****** unbelievable!" said the young, fit, avid, experienced hiker with 1800 miles of Appalachian Trail under her belt. Jennifer had finally come to the conclusion on the second day that we had to climb down a big, steep, roaring waterfall to stay on the trail. I took the lead, holding some trees for balance, hugging wet rock and getting drenched.... again. The terrain was beautiful. The terrain was also kicking my butt. We finished exhausted at 10 that night too, but at a wilderness "hut" this time, which meant a dry bed and breakfast the next day, miles from nowhere. What a luxury!

On the third day, I drew blood. But I did what I did not think possible...10 miles of the most rugged and grueling terrain I have ever done, and I'm an old man that has done it all. Or I forgot. Some of this "hike" was rock crawling on stream beds, some vertical rock climbing and some was very STEEP bouldering... for miles at a time, up and down, over and over again. There was very, very little walking. We went slowly due to the terrain, the rain and the risky slick conditions. Coach Jennifer's encouragement helped.

At one spot I had Jennifer worried... a trail crossing expected in 0.3 mile had not yet shown up in a couple of hours, which meant to this old engineer that we had crawled to a virtual stop but yet we had another 1.6 miles to go past that, so I panicked, computing that it would be morning by the time we got through that stretch and I wondered how to get us out of this crazy predicament. Turns out that the trail crossing was not 0.3 but 1.3 miles ahead and we soon got done that night and into a hut.

Things got easier the next day, with fewer miles to cover and the trail less challenging (we actually walked some!). We got in to huts in time for dinner and slept well, although still miles from nowhere. I could enjoy the wildflowers and the bird songs. We did slip in the slick rocks and roots but had no accidents or injuries. I was having fun! Then we finally got to another Notch... and civilization! A road! A lodge! A room with real beds, showers, clean dry clothes and much needed rest.


My feet were killing me, with two blue toes, one of which will shed the nail. All our down was wet, even on dry bags. A week of bouldering the Whites is enough. I sucked. Jennifer suggested I bail out there. She'd continue up to Katahdin after drying out and spending a couple of days with dad.

At the lodge, we heard how often accidents happen (daily!) and how common it was to mobilize rescue squads and helicopters. But we had a good touristy time too, even went moose hunting (spotlighted two) and heard all kinds of tales.

It was great fun. In hindsight. Really!

- © 2009 by Willy