4th of July at the top of the world...
Yeah...this is going to be a long one.
So as most of you now know, I made a surprise visit to Hanover for the 4th! I left Thursday night, post-review session and dinner, successfully navigated the T to South Station (it wasn't that hard), and took the Dartmouth Coach up, arriving in Hanover at 10 PM. I of course accomplished nothing study-wise that night or the following morning, as I was too busy catching up with Taus and friends.
So Friday afternoon found me waiting for the van that would bring me up to Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Marissa, one of our newly-minted bros, had heard about my plans and was really enthusiastic about the possibility of hiking Moosilauke and catching the fireworks from the top, but every spot in the van was supposedly filled. I suggested she come with me to Robo on the off chance somebody didn't show up, and the idea paid off--we were all soon headed up the Connecticut River valley toward the Whites!
We arrived at the lodge (driving past a middle-aged hiker with the HUGEST FUCKING CALVES any of us had ever seen), and briefly enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon outside before crowding inside for dinner. The eatings were scrumptious--fresh salad, beef and veggie chilis with cheese, rice, cornbread, and some berry crumble desserts which I was too picky to try, but looked delicious anyway. I ended up sitting at the same table as my fellow trip leader, though we didn't get a chance to talk much. Turns out we both worked the Lodge station for the 50 last fall, but I didn't remember her that well.
Anyway, this whole time Marissa and I were getting antsy as hell to start hiking! One little problem though...how were we going to get back to campus? We asked around for people hiking the mountain and driving back that night, but found nobody who was doing so...grrrr. About an hour (of time we could have been hiking) later, the van drivers finally convened to decide what to do. They separated us into two groups: those wanting to hike the mountain, and those wanting to head back. The former group consisted of me, Marissa, and a couple who hadn't even brought flashlights. Needless to say, they voted to drive both vans back immediately. Well, fuck, then...worst bunch of CnT'ers EVAR.
So Marissa and I realized we'd have to spend the night at the lodge, and additionally find a ride back the next morning. After more fruitless asking around, we finally just decided, the hell with it, we'd start hiking while we still had daylight, and hopefully find someone at the top who could give us a ride back the next morning.
8:45--we set off, heading up the relatively easy lower portion of the Gorge Brook trail. Once we've left the river, it's now too dark to see with the naked eye, so I bust out my headlamp and Marissa, her flashlights. I'm a bit worried, since the batteries in my headlamp are the same ones I used for the 50, a year ago! Luckily, no batteries ended up dying on this hike. Anyway, we continue on, beginning the serious climbing, and we need to slow our pace a bit. By now, it's almost completely dark, and all we can see are pines--until we reach a clearing with a view. We extinguish our lights, and gaze out over the near-dark hills...it's magical. The stars are out in full, but the hills around us are shrouded in haze. A few thousand feet below, we can see the lights of a few scattered homes in the woods, and an occasional small, silent blossom of color off in the distance--fireworks. We pause a moment, then continue on--the summit still awaits!
10:15--it's clear we're going to miss most of the fireworks (thanks, lame non-hiker people!), but nonetheless we continue onwards and upwards. We start passing the first groups going down, and I recognize one of the students--she's in the same Hah-vahd orgo class I'm taking, and is a more insane hiker than I (by a few orders of magnitude). She says we have about 15 minutes to go before the top. A short time later, we top out on the false summit, and from here, it's a flat walk out of the trees and into the alpine zone. We see the final summit ahead of us, though the nighttime makes the distance we have to travel deceptive. Finally, one last short climb and we're on top!
10:30--awaiting us there are about 20 people, including one bad-ass Phi Tau bro of the CnT variety, a few people (illegally) camping on top, and one bottle of wine, property of bad-ass bro, who wants people to drink it so he doesn't have to carry it down. I happily oblige...
It feels wonderful on top, probably in the high forties with a light breeze. We can see the lights of towns far below, and a million stars overhead, but not much on the horizon due to the haze. After about 20 minutes, we join up with a group of six heading down the mountain.
11:30--we're about halfway down the Carriage Road, a much gentler trail, when a guy sprains his ankle. Luckily, it's not a bad one--he's able to keep hiking, and on we go...
12:30 AM--we arrive back at the lodge, the only people awake. Having nowhere else to sleep, Marissa and I crash with the group we hiked down with. We still don't have a ride back to campus, and our best chance of finding one is at breakfast the next morning, which is at 7:30 AM. Shit...
6:30 AM--I wake up, possibly because of the chilly air in the cabin. Bleary-eyed, I want to go back to bed but don't, since I'm unsure what time it is. I finally will myself out of the top bunk and check my cell phone, which has almost no battery left, but enough that I find out what time it is. Around 7:10, I wake Marissa and the others.
7:30 AM--we're at breakfast, and luckily I run into Katherine, a CnT acquaintance who is heading back to town and has four seats available! Marissa opts to stay back at the Lodge, however, citing the need to read through her two quantum mechanics textbooks without distractions; her knees are too sore for Moosilauke to be a distraction, so I agree it sounds like a plan. The rest of us leave, driving back to town on a beautiful morning while playing Contact; I manage to pwn everybody.
Back in town, I'm too exhausted to study orgo, so I aimlessly wander for a while, then drop by the Hop to practice my horn for about 20 minutes. I sound pretty decent considering I haven't played in a month!
Later in the day, I try to stop by to visit my boss, only to discover the Tavern is closed for the weekend. Oh, well...
The next day, I return to Boston without incident. Back to the daily grind...
(more to come soon on this past week)
So as most of you now know, I made a surprise visit to Hanover for the 4th! I left Thursday night, post-review session and dinner, successfully navigated the T to South Station (it wasn't that hard), and took the Dartmouth Coach up, arriving in Hanover at 10 PM. I of course accomplished nothing study-wise that night or the following morning, as I was too busy catching up with Taus and friends.
So Friday afternoon found me waiting for the van that would bring me up to Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Marissa, one of our newly-minted bros, had heard about my plans and was really enthusiastic about the possibility of hiking Moosilauke and catching the fireworks from the top, but every spot in the van was supposedly filled. I suggested she come with me to Robo on the off chance somebody didn't show up, and the idea paid off--we were all soon headed up the Connecticut River valley toward the Whites!
We arrived at the lodge (driving past a middle-aged hiker with the HUGEST FUCKING CALVES any of us had ever seen), and briefly enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon outside before crowding inside for dinner. The eatings were scrumptious--fresh salad, beef and veggie chilis with cheese, rice, cornbread, and some berry crumble desserts which I was too picky to try, but looked delicious anyway. I ended up sitting at the same table as my fellow trip leader, though we didn't get a chance to talk much. Turns out we both worked the Lodge station for the 50 last fall, but I didn't remember her that well.
Anyway, this whole time Marissa and I were getting antsy as hell to start hiking! One little problem though...how were we going to get back to campus? We asked around for people hiking the mountain and driving back that night, but found nobody who was doing so...grrrr. About an hour (of time we could have been hiking) later, the van drivers finally convened to decide what to do. They separated us into two groups: those wanting to hike the mountain, and those wanting to head back. The former group consisted of me, Marissa, and a couple who hadn't even brought flashlights. Needless to say, they voted to drive both vans back immediately. Well, fuck, then...worst bunch of CnT'ers EVAR.
So Marissa and I realized we'd have to spend the night at the lodge, and additionally find a ride back the next morning. After more fruitless asking around, we finally just decided, the hell with it, we'd start hiking while we still had daylight, and hopefully find someone at the top who could give us a ride back the next morning.
8:45--we set off, heading up the relatively easy lower portion of the Gorge Brook trail. Once we've left the river, it's now too dark to see with the naked eye, so I bust out my headlamp and Marissa, her flashlights. I'm a bit worried, since the batteries in my headlamp are the same ones I used for the 50, a year ago! Luckily, no batteries ended up dying on this hike. Anyway, we continue on, beginning the serious climbing, and we need to slow our pace a bit. By now, it's almost completely dark, and all we can see are pines--until we reach a clearing with a view. We extinguish our lights, and gaze out over the near-dark hills...it's magical. The stars are out in full, but the hills around us are shrouded in haze. A few thousand feet below, we can see the lights of a few scattered homes in the woods, and an occasional small, silent blossom of color off in the distance--fireworks. We pause a moment, then continue on--the summit still awaits!
10:15--it's clear we're going to miss most of the fireworks (thanks, lame non-hiker people!), but nonetheless we continue onwards and upwards. We start passing the first groups going down, and I recognize one of the students--she's in the same Hah-vahd orgo class I'm taking, and is a more insane hiker than I (by a few orders of magnitude). She says we have about 15 minutes to go before the top. A short time later, we top out on the false summit, and from here, it's a flat walk out of the trees and into the alpine zone. We see the final summit ahead of us, though the nighttime makes the distance we have to travel deceptive. Finally, one last short climb and we're on top!
10:30--awaiting us there are about 20 people, including one bad-ass Phi Tau bro of the CnT variety, a few people (illegally) camping on top, and one bottle of wine, property of bad-ass bro, who wants people to drink it so he doesn't have to carry it down. I happily oblige...
It feels wonderful on top, probably in the high forties with a light breeze. We can see the lights of towns far below, and a million stars overhead, but not much on the horizon due to the haze. After about 20 minutes, we join up with a group of six heading down the mountain.
11:30--we're about halfway down the Carriage Road, a much gentler trail, when a guy sprains his ankle. Luckily, it's not a bad one--he's able to keep hiking, and on we go...
12:30 AM--we arrive back at the lodge, the only people awake. Having nowhere else to sleep, Marissa and I crash with the group we hiked down with. We still don't have a ride back to campus, and our best chance of finding one is at breakfast the next morning, which is at 7:30 AM. Shit...
6:30 AM--I wake up, possibly because of the chilly air in the cabin. Bleary-eyed, I want to go back to bed but don't, since I'm unsure what time it is. I finally will myself out of the top bunk and check my cell phone, which has almost no battery left, but enough that I find out what time it is. Around 7:10, I wake Marissa and the others.
7:30 AM--we're at breakfast, and luckily I run into Katherine, a CnT acquaintance who is heading back to town and has four seats available! Marissa opts to stay back at the Lodge, however, citing the need to read through her two quantum mechanics textbooks without distractions; her knees are too sore for Moosilauke to be a distraction, so I agree it sounds like a plan. The rest of us leave, driving back to town on a beautiful morning while playing Contact; I manage to pwn everybody.
Back in town, I'm too exhausted to study orgo, so I aimlessly wander for a while, then drop by the Hop to practice my horn for about 20 minutes. I sound pretty decent considering I haven't played in a month!
Later in the day, I try to stop by to visit my boss, only to discover the Tavern is closed for the weekend. Oh, well...
The next day, I return to Boston without incident. Back to the daily grind...
(more to come soon on this past week)