What an intense past two weeks!
If I were to write out in detail the events of the past couple weeks, I'd have a small novel! So I'll try bullet points:
-took MCATs, not sure how I did. Not having the impetus to study and taking them on 3 hours' sleep means I'll likely be retaking, but who knows...
-visited McCoy in Irvine for five days, had an absolute blast! I literally do not think I've been so relaxed in months, if not years...
-learned to boogie board, at Huntington Beach and Crystal Cove. I'm pretty sure I actually remembered the former from when I visited on vacation over a decade ago!
-the two of us hiked to the top of the Santa Anas (Santiago Peak/Saddleback). Beautiful, if somewhat warm day. Saw mountain quail, a bobcat, and a trio of other hikers in fatigues on the mountain. Views from the summit included downtown L.A., the ocean, three massive peaks over 10000' tall, and endless urban sprawl.
-we also hiked (with a friend of McCoy's) to the top of San Gorgonio, SoCal's highest mountain. The hike starts at 6000' and climbs over a vertical mile, which is why it understandably took us over 8 hours to reach the summit! But summit we did, with views over to San Jacinto and Mt. Baldy, across the Antelope Valley, and to Palm Springs and the eastern reaches of the L.A. metro, two vertical miles below. Smog rolled in as the day went on, and by sunset when we got back to the car we could barely see across the valley where we were parked.
-Flight back (briefly) to AZ went well. I got to visit Utah for about an hour, which was...cloudy. Did see the largest open-pit mine and the Grand Canyon from the air, though.
-Flew back to Hanover the next morning, with an uneventful layover in Houston. Ran into a bunch of Oh-twelves on the Dartmouth Coach. Oh, and one-way tickets are now $38--WTF!?
-Unpacked enough to get the requisite supplies, then set off for Gilman with my co-trip leader. Had a good time.
-Met my trippees the next day! We played games on Collis's porch on account of the rain (boo hiss). Amazingly, despite being from Arizona, I was actually in the eastern half of the group!
-Day one on the trail: short, and more cloudy than sunny, but sunny enough. We had a short hike/walk to Armington Cabin, which is pretty nice and right on a lake. The day was spent canoeing, chilling on the lawn, and with a few of us doing the short hike up to the top of Piermont Mtn, where an amazing view of Moosilauke awaited. We played the skittles game, and hilarity ensued. Dinner was interesting, as due to a misunderstanding I had to call Vox Croo (and had to walk a mile and a half to get cell reception), but all was well and we enjoyed delicious mac & cheese
-Day two: rain. And when not raining, we were just in the clouds. After a Harry-Potter-inspired morning Vox Croo raid, we pretty much just trekked through the shit in silence, getting to our second cabin (great bear) as fast as we could. When we got to Rt. 25 at the base of Moosilauke, the trail across the small river there was still nonexistent, so, like the time I hiked the 50, we had to make use of a private bridge nearby. The bastard owner had greased the back of it--yuck. Finally got to great bear in rolling fog, and after a few hours got majorly spooked out by pinecones hitting the metal roof. Delicious burritos, some intense games of Mafia, those frustrating jar games of Babelfish's, and general paranoia and yelling at trees rounded out the night...
-Day three: Moosilauke. We rose early, ate breakfast, and then were the victims of an awesome raid by Popcorn and Le Fou (mmm, donuts). The morning actually looked rather nice at first, but soon became overcast as a high cloud layer moved in. We kept ourselves entertained on the 2800' climb up the Glencliff Trail, topping out on the ridge in gentle clouds. As we neared the summit, those gentle clouds turned into bone-chilling temperatures, 50-mph winds, and sideways rain! I got knocked on my ass a few times, and one of the smaller trippees says the winds briefly picked him up! We tagged the summit and beat as hasty a retreat as we could down Gorge Brook. Back below the clouds, the weather improved a bit. Ran into two other hiking groups on the way down, and ended up beating both of them back to the Lodge. The dinner show was awesome! We all pretty much agreed that summiting Moosilauke was both the best and worst part of the day.
-Return: a really nice, if cold day! Some of my trippees sound like they want to come back and try Moosilauke again in better weather, which would be awesome. Got back to campus and got our cool fyt t-shirts. Said goodbye, for now...
-Yesterday: worked catering for the president's lawn dinner (okay) and an event in LPT (mostly boring, but nice to see old friends/coworkers again). More such events follow for today. I still need to majorly unpack, hopefully paint my room, and maybe try to take a different TAS.
-took MCATs, not sure how I did. Not having the impetus to study and taking them on 3 hours' sleep means I'll likely be retaking, but who knows...
-visited McCoy in Irvine for five days, had an absolute blast! I literally do not think I've been so relaxed in months, if not years...
-learned to boogie board, at Huntington Beach and Crystal Cove. I'm pretty sure I actually remembered the former from when I visited on vacation over a decade ago!
-the two of us hiked to the top of the Santa Anas (Santiago Peak/Saddleback). Beautiful, if somewhat warm day. Saw mountain quail, a bobcat, and a trio of other hikers in fatigues on the mountain. Views from the summit included downtown L.A., the ocean, three massive peaks over 10000' tall, and endless urban sprawl.
-we also hiked (with a friend of McCoy's) to the top of San Gorgonio, SoCal's highest mountain. The hike starts at 6000' and climbs over a vertical mile, which is why it understandably took us over 8 hours to reach the summit! But summit we did, with views over to San Jacinto and Mt. Baldy, across the Antelope Valley, and to Palm Springs and the eastern reaches of the L.A. metro, two vertical miles below. Smog rolled in as the day went on, and by sunset when we got back to the car we could barely see across the valley where we were parked.
-Flight back (briefly) to AZ went well. I got to visit Utah for about an hour, which was...cloudy. Did see the largest open-pit mine and the Grand Canyon from the air, though.
-Flew back to Hanover the next morning, with an uneventful layover in Houston. Ran into a bunch of Oh-twelves on the Dartmouth Coach. Oh, and one-way tickets are now $38--WTF!?
-Unpacked enough to get the requisite supplies, then set off for Gilman with my co-trip leader. Had a good time.
-Met my trippees the next day! We played games on Collis's porch on account of the rain (boo hiss). Amazingly, despite being from Arizona, I was actually in the eastern half of the group!
-Day one on the trail: short, and more cloudy than sunny, but sunny enough. We had a short hike/walk to Armington Cabin, which is pretty nice and right on a lake. The day was spent canoeing, chilling on the lawn, and with a few of us doing the short hike up to the top of Piermont Mtn, where an amazing view of Moosilauke awaited. We played the skittles game, and hilarity ensued. Dinner was interesting, as due to a misunderstanding I had to call Vox Croo (and had to walk a mile and a half to get cell reception), but all was well and we enjoyed delicious mac & cheese
-Day two: rain. And when not raining, we were just in the clouds. After a Harry-Potter-inspired morning Vox Croo raid, we pretty much just trekked through the shit in silence, getting to our second cabin (great bear) as fast as we could. When we got to Rt. 25 at the base of Moosilauke, the trail across the small river there was still nonexistent, so, like the time I hiked the 50, we had to make use of a private bridge nearby. The bastard owner had greased the back of it--yuck. Finally got to great bear in rolling fog, and after a few hours got majorly spooked out by pinecones hitting the metal roof. Delicious burritos, some intense games of Mafia, those frustrating jar games of Babelfish's, and general paranoia and yelling at trees rounded out the night...
-Day three: Moosilauke. We rose early, ate breakfast, and then were the victims of an awesome raid by Popcorn and Le Fou (mmm, donuts). The morning actually looked rather nice at first, but soon became overcast as a high cloud layer moved in. We kept ourselves entertained on the 2800' climb up the Glencliff Trail, topping out on the ridge in gentle clouds. As we neared the summit, those gentle clouds turned into bone-chilling temperatures, 50-mph winds, and sideways rain! I got knocked on my ass a few times, and one of the smaller trippees says the winds briefly picked him up! We tagged the summit and beat as hasty a retreat as we could down Gorge Brook. Back below the clouds, the weather improved a bit. Ran into two other hiking groups on the way down, and ended up beating both of them back to the Lodge. The dinner show was awesome! We all pretty much agreed that summiting Moosilauke was both the best and worst part of the day.
-Return: a really nice, if cold day! Some of my trippees sound like they want to come back and try Moosilauke again in better weather, which would be awesome. Got back to campus and got our cool fyt t-shirts. Said goodbye, for now...
-Yesterday: worked catering for the president's lawn dinner (okay) and an event in LPT (mostly boring, but nice to see old friends/coworkers again). More such events follow for today. I still need to majorly unpack, hopefully paint my room, and maybe try to take a different TAS.