Episode 150 - Welcome to Eric Hansen - The White Mountains 4000 Footer Grid, Trailwrights 72 + Missing Hiker

[00:00:03] Here is the latest Hire Summits forecast brought to you by our friends at the Mt. Washington

[00:00:14] Observatory.

[00:00:19] Weather above treeline in the White Mountains is often wildly different than at our trailheads.

[00:00:26] Before you hike, check the Hire Summits forecast at MtWashington.org.

[00:00:32] Weather observers working at the non-profit Mt. Washington Observatory write this elevation-based

[00:00:38] forecast every morning and afternoon.

[00:00:42] Search and rescue teams, avalanche experts, and back-country guides all rely on the Hire

[00:00:47] Summits forecast to anticipate weather conditions above treeline.

[00:00:52] You should too.

[00:00:54] Go to MtWashington.org or text FORECAST to 603-356-2137

[00:01:08] And here is your forecast for Friday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 4th.

[00:01:14] Friday in the clouds trending towards clearing under partly sunny skies, slight chance of

[00:01:20] morning drizzle.

[00:01:21] High in the upper 30s with winds east shifting northwest at 10-25 mph, decreasing to 5-20 mph,

[00:01:30] becoming light and variable at times, with a wind chill rising to 20-30 above.

[00:01:36] Friday night, in the clear trending towards in and out of the clouds under increasingly

[00:01:41] cloudy skies with a lower 30 temp, winds will be northwest shifting north at 5-20

[00:01:48] mph, becoming light and variable at times, then increasing to 10-25 mph, with a wind chill

[00:01:55] falling to 15-25 above.

[00:01:59] And Saturday will be in and out of the clouds trending towards in the clouds under mostly

[00:02:05] cloudy skies with a chance of rain showers.

[00:02:08] Eyes will be up at 30s with winds north shifting clockwise to the southeast at 5-20 mph,

[00:02:15] possibly becoming light and variable at times, and the wind chill will be rising to 25-35 above.

[00:03:58] Record and produce this stuff.

[00:04:01] It's a lot.

[00:04:04] You're talking probably at least four to five hours per episode, total recording, editing, show notes, the whole thing, times 150.

[00:04:16] It's a lot of work.

[00:04:19] Speaking of work, I almost got a, I got almost mauled.

[00:04:24] Can you get mauled by a deer?

[00:04:26] Can Bambi maul you?

[00:04:29] Anything's possible this day and age.

[00:04:31] Yeah, I was out, prions.

[00:04:33] I didn't get out hiking like Eric today, but I did, I went out trail running and there's a ton of deer in my area.

[00:04:39] And I think I've already talked about this on the episodes before, but usually they'll stay at a distance,

[00:04:46] but this morning was different.

[00:04:48] They didn't leave when I showed up in this meadow that usually they'll run away.

[00:04:54] And it's that time of the year where I think fawns are being born, so the buck that was standing there walked me down, which was crazy.

[00:05:05] You saw the video I sent you, right?

[00:05:07] I did, yeah, they were just steering.

[00:05:10] They were definitely like looking for a fight.

[00:05:12] Yeah, he was like walking me down.

[00:05:13] So anyway, I survived.

[00:05:16] Yeah, well, we're glad.

[00:05:18] Eric, have you ever had any animal encounters in your travels?

[00:05:24] You mean in the whites specifically?

[00:05:26] Well, I do see deer around trails where I live, which is in the city or close to the city in Boston.

[00:05:35] Yeah, no, around the whites I've seen moose, I've seen bear.

[00:05:40] I've seen pine martins.

[00:05:43] Those are cool.

[00:05:44] So yeah, you're like, oh, they're so cute.

[00:05:47] And then someone will say, you know, they eat chipmunks for breakfast.

[00:05:50] They'll rip your face off, right?

[00:05:53] Yeah.

[00:05:54] But it's like a part of the Weasel family.

[00:05:58] Yes.

[00:05:59] But yeah, definitely.

[00:06:00] That's always a highlight if you see some critters.

[00:06:03] Yeah.

[00:06:04] So anyway, I survived.

[00:06:05] I'm here.

[00:06:06] It was an interesting, I'll put the video up on the Instagram stomp at some point so people can judge for themselves.

[00:06:13] Yeah, what else do you see out there?

[00:06:14] Wolves?

[00:06:15] Any coyotes or?

[00:06:17] Coyotes.

[00:06:18] I see fox.

[00:06:19] This is Amesbury.

[00:06:20] I don't know about wolves.

[00:06:22] There's no wolves.

[00:06:23] Grizzly.

[00:06:24] Coyotes for sure.

[00:06:25] Grizzly.

[00:06:26] Coyotes.

[00:06:27] Fox.

[00:06:28] I see owls.

[00:06:29] I see the barred owls.

[00:06:32] I see the big, whatever the large woodpeckers are, what are, I don't know what those are called,

[00:06:37] pleated or something?

[00:06:38] The P.

[00:06:39] The Downey Woodpecker.

[00:06:40] That's the one that I heard today.

[00:06:41] That's the one you heard today.

[00:06:42] According to the app.

[00:06:44] Yeah.

[00:06:45] That's a long complicated word, like palpitating it or something weird.

[00:06:48] Is it pleated?

[00:06:49] I feel like it's a plated woodpecker but I'm sure.

[00:06:51] Things are massive.

[00:06:52] I'm sure some listener will correct us at some point.

[00:06:57] That's a guarantee.

[00:06:58] Yes.

[00:06:59] Ornithologists.

[00:07:00] Yeah.

[00:07:01] But yeah, there's all kinds of wildlife out there.

[00:07:03] And the crazy thing is.

[00:07:04] Piliated.

[00:07:05] That's, yeah.

[00:07:06] Piliated.

[00:07:07] Yeah.

[00:07:08] It's like what happens to your sweaters?

[00:07:09] Like when they get.

[00:07:10] Mm-hmm.

[00:07:11] Piliated.

[00:07:12] Isn't that it?

[00:07:13] No.

[00:07:14] I'm not sure.

[00:07:15] I'm not going to go with it.

[00:07:16] Not much of a sweater guy.

[00:07:17] Sorry.

[00:07:18] Go with it.

[00:07:19] That's right.

[00:07:20] But yeah, the crazy thing is like I go out, I see, I literally go out for an hour

[00:07:23] and I see all these different wildlife and you see, you know, there's ducks and

[00:07:26] Canadian geese and all that stuff.

[00:07:28] And then we have these Bobolynx, which are these like nesting birds.

[00:07:32] And yeah, you go out for an hour in the morning and you see all this wildlife

[00:07:35] and then you don't see another human being at all.

[00:07:38] We, and there's like, you know, I live in an area where there's a ton of people

[00:07:41] and they don't see anybody out.

[00:07:43] You see the kids walking to school, but that's it.

[00:07:45] Back in my day.

[00:07:46] All the kids used to be wandering in the woods.

[00:07:49] You must be going out earlier.

[00:07:51] I am going out early.

[00:07:52] So in my defense.

[00:07:53] Yeah.

[00:07:54] Yeah.

[00:07:55] But anyway, so welcome to episode 150 of the sounds like a search and rescue

[00:07:59] podcast.

[00:08:00] So this week we've got a listener spotlight with Eric Hansen.

[00:08:04] So Eric is a longtime hiker in the area having completed the New Hampshire

[00:08:08] 4000 footer grid and various single season lists and all kinds of other

[00:08:12] pursuits, trail maintenance, all kinds of fun stuff.

[00:08:15] So Eric's going to share some of his hiking experience and tips and

[00:08:18] tricks for getting out on the trail.

[00:08:20] Plus we've got a missing hiker in the White Mountains.

[00:08:24] Stupid tourist tricks.

[00:08:26] We've got a review of Alex Honold's new TV project.

[00:08:30] We've got a rundown of some of the world's unclimbed summits.

[00:08:35] There's trouble at Hawaii stairway to heaven.

[00:08:38] We've got updates on forest road statuses.

[00:08:42] A shout out to some recent grid finishers and then we've got some

[00:08:47] recent hikes.

[00:08:48] I was out on the Bell Naps and Stomp was out somewhere.

[00:08:52] I can't remember where but we'll find out and then we've got some

[00:08:55] search and rescue news and then Eric's been hiking and doing stuff

[00:08:58] today too.

[00:08:59] So we'll find out what he's been up to.

[00:09:00] So I'm Mike.

[00:09:01] And I'm Stomp.

[00:09:03] Let's get started.

[00:09:34] This has been Peace from Hiking Buddies.

[00:09:36] We are a 501c3 nonprofit committed to reducing avoidable tragedies

[00:09:40] through education, impactful projects and fostering a community of

[00:09:44] support.

[00:09:45] You can find out more at hikingbuddies.org.

[00:09:47] We wanted to say thank you to those who have supported our mission

[00:09:50] and most importantly say thanks to those who speak up, who ask

[00:09:54] questions and who are willing to provide guidance and assistance

[00:09:57] on the trails when needed.

[00:09:58] You embody what it means to be a hiking buddy.

[00:10:01] And now for all my newer hikers out there, here's this episode's

[00:10:04] Hiking Buddies Quick Tip.

[00:10:10] Packing for overnight hikes can be tricky to balance weight with

[00:10:14] needs.

[00:10:15] Safety items are non-negotiable.

[00:10:18] Save weight by choosing dehydrated meals and bring a small

[00:10:22] camp stove and pot.

[00:10:24] Know where you can filter water on your trip, but bring plenty

[00:10:27] to get there.

[00:10:29] Your bag should not be over 20% of your body weight.

[00:10:39] Very good.

[00:10:40] Very good.

[00:10:41] So let's start with this missing person stop.

[00:10:43] So what's the rundown on this story?

[00:10:45] I'm not really sure.

[00:10:46] He's been gone for what, a couple weeks now?

[00:10:49] Yeah, yeah.

[00:10:50] Two weeks I think.

[00:10:51] Yeah.

[00:10:52] It's interesting.

[00:10:53] Go ahead.

[00:10:54] He's a Cambridge resident and apparently they said that he's

[00:10:59] a hiker so he does like to get out, but other than that it's

[00:11:03] just a lot of vague information right, Ston?

[00:11:06] Yeah, apparently the vehicle was located at the Crawford

[00:11:10] Path parking lot in Carroll and US Forest Service started

[00:11:17] an investigation and fishing game got involved.

[00:11:21] And apparently he's been on account of four for the last two

[00:11:24] weeks.

[00:11:25] Apparently he does appear to be an avid hiker and some gear was

[00:11:32] found in his car as though he were planning a hike or had

[00:11:36] finished a hike, but there has not been a sight of him since.

[00:11:41] Upper Valley?

[00:11:43] No, I'm sorry.

[00:11:45] UAV.

[00:11:46] What is that?

[00:11:47] That's the volunteer drone team.

[00:11:49] That's right.

[00:11:50] Okay, so they searched in and around the trailhead including

[00:11:54] some drainages along Crawford Path, Edmunds Path, Eisenhower,

[00:11:59] Mount Pierce, but nothing has been found to date.

[00:12:03] I don't know what to make of this.

[00:12:06] Several pieces of hiking gear that would have been beneficial.

[00:12:09] I mean, to me that could be just somebody making the call

[00:12:12] that they're going to leave their snowshoes and

[00:12:15] biker spikes, you know, because down low right now

[00:12:18] there's not a lot of snow coverage.

[00:12:20] So you could definitely, although two weeks ago maybe

[00:12:22] that's different.

[00:12:23] I don't know, but I don't know.

[00:12:25] Yeah, strange.

[00:12:27] I mean the weather has not been great either for say Army

[00:12:31] National Guard or anything like that.

[00:12:34] The article does not mention any use of dogs canines

[00:12:38] for searching.

[00:12:39] So we shall see it's a story in development.

[00:12:42] Yeah, I also find it interesting that I feel like

[00:12:47] if a car was parked at Crawford Path, like that's

[00:12:50] a pretty busy parking lot.

[00:12:53] I don't know how the Forest Service manages it,

[00:12:55] but I would assume somebody would swing by and see

[00:12:58] that car sitting there for an extended amount of time

[00:13:00] and get nervous, but maybe that's what triggered

[00:13:02] the search in the first place is that a week went

[00:13:04] by and somebody was like, what's this car doing here?

[00:13:07] Yeah, possible.

[00:13:09] We shall see.

[00:13:11] So I guess if you're on Crawford Path

[00:13:14] or you're going over to Jackson or you're going over

[00:13:17] to Eisenhower, any of those areas by Mount Pierce

[00:13:23] be on the lookout.

[00:13:25] Or Eisenhower, right?

[00:13:27] Yeah.

[00:13:28] Yeah, just the whole area.

[00:13:30] Did they move the car?

[00:13:32] Is that they towed the car away or is it still there?

[00:13:34] The report doesn't really say much.

[00:13:36] I would assume they probably towed it.

[00:13:38] You think otherwise the guy's going to come back

[00:13:41] after three weeks.

[00:13:43] Where's my car?

[00:13:45] I was backpacking.

[00:13:47] Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

[00:13:49] I guess that would be a positive outcome

[00:13:51] if that's what happens.

[00:13:55] Yeah.

[00:13:56] Do you guys, have either one of you guys done any,

[00:13:58] I mean, stop, you're the Bushwack guy,

[00:14:01] but like that drainage between Eisenhower and Pierce,

[00:14:05] is that even passable?

[00:14:07] I feel like we had somebody on that was talking about that.

[00:14:10] I'm sure it is, but that's gnarly for sure.

[00:14:13] Very steep and thick.

[00:14:15] Super thick too.

[00:14:17] You can just look at it and tell that it's very,

[00:14:19] very difficult to cut through.

[00:14:21] Yeah.

[00:14:24] Not a good area to be stuck on.

[00:14:26] No thanks.

[00:14:29] What a Bushwack in purposely.

[00:14:32] Yeah, so that's called the Gibbs Brooks Scenic area

[00:14:37] and there's a couple of drainages, the Abonacke Brook

[00:14:40] and then there's the Asa Guam Brook.

[00:14:43] So that's the other problem is there's actually

[00:14:46] two drainages there and it's incredibly steep.

[00:14:51] It's basically a head wall all the way from Eisenhower to Pierce.

[00:14:57] So it's not even really realistic that you'd be able

[00:14:59] to get a trail up there.

[00:15:02] Nah.

[00:15:03] So anyway, so hopefully this will have a good ending

[00:15:08] and maybe he went off on a vision quest somewhere.

[00:15:11] Got a ride from a friend but we'll see.

[00:15:13] Yep.

[00:15:19] We're about to serve up some tasty hiking drama.

[00:15:29] All right, so Stomp, I pulled a story with some hiking drama,

[00:15:33] hiker drama on the Appalachian Trail

[00:15:35] so you have to use our drop.

[00:15:37] All right, I won't forget this time.

[00:15:39] Yeah, you didn't do it last time.

[00:15:41] So here we go.

[00:15:42] This comes from social media.

[00:15:46] Eric, I know you're an Instagram guy

[00:15:48] but do you get involved in any of these like Facebook hiking

[00:15:51] groups or anything like that?

[00:15:52] Nothing.

[00:15:53] Smart guy at all.

[00:15:54] Smart guy.

[00:15:55] I just do it for the show.

[00:15:57] I'm off Facebook.

[00:15:58] Yeah.

[00:15:59] Sorry.

[00:16:00] Smart.

[00:16:01] Yeah.

[00:16:02] Smart.

[00:16:03] So all right, so this comes from the Appalachian Trail

[00:16:06] hikers 2024 group.

[00:16:08] So this hiker had to put out a public service announcement

[00:16:12] making sure that everybody understood that she's not a thief.

[00:16:15] So, and I won't give any names here

[00:16:19] but this lady just said that I'm told that my name is being

[00:16:23] spread around the trail as a thief.

[00:16:25] I have never stolen anything

[00:16:27] and especially would not take somebody,

[00:16:29] something from a hiker.

[00:16:32] She goes on to explain that she found an ursac

[00:16:36] hanging far away from camp.

[00:16:38] So they were at a shelter.

[00:16:41] There was tense set up.

[00:16:44] She apparently stumbled upon this ursac which is a,

[00:16:47] like a Kevlar instead of a beer canister.

[00:16:52] It's like a bag that's a Kevlar bag that you,

[00:16:55] I've seen these a few times

[00:16:57] and it seems like people put everything in them

[00:17:00] and there's a rope that ties around the top

[00:17:03] and then you just wrap it around the bottom of a tree

[00:17:05] so you don't hang it.

[00:17:06] It's just on the ground.

[00:17:08] Okay.

[00:17:10] So she stumbled across this

[00:17:12] and she was like,

[00:17:15] it must have been there awhile.

[00:17:17] So she unhooked it, took it back to the camp

[00:17:21] and then she asked a bunch of hikers at the camp

[00:17:23] if it was theirs and nobody said that it was theirs

[00:17:26] so she had no luck finding the owner.

[00:17:29] She then stumbled across this couple that was camping

[00:17:32] that looked through it for some identification with her

[00:17:35] but they only figured out that it was a female bag

[00:17:40] and then the lady goes on to explain that

[00:17:44] the couple that had looked through the bag

[00:17:48] decided to give her a tamale that was in the bag

[00:17:53] and the lady was like,

[00:17:54] the only reason I took it was because I have,

[00:17:56] I don't have a stove and you don't need to heat it up.

[00:18:00] So she said she took it

[00:18:03] and then she told the couple if you could put the bag

[00:18:06] into the beer box,

[00:18:08] then I'm gonna move along

[00:18:10] and then apparently she ran into a girl down trail

[00:18:14] and she was telling the story

[00:18:16] and she showed her the tamale

[00:18:18] and this lady apparently knew the girl

[00:18:20] who the beer bag belonged to

[00:18:22] and the lady went on to tell her like,

[00:18:24] oh yeah, it's in the beer box

[00:18:27] and she goes on to explain like

[00:18:29] I would never steal something, I didn't do it.

[00:18:31] I was giving the couple that I gave the bag to

[00:18:35] gave me the tamale so it was okay for me to take it.

[00:18:38] So then...

[00:18:40] How does that work?

[00:18:42] So essentially what would happen is like,

[00:18:44] we'll pretend, so if Eric had a bag in the woods

[00:18:47] and then I took the bag

[00:18:49] and I said that this is my, it's some bad bag

[00:18:51] and then I went to you Stomp and I said like,

[00:18:53] do you know whose bag this is?

[00:18:55] And he said no.

[00:18:56] And then you look through it

[00:18:57] and then you gave me a Snickers bar

[00:18:59] that was in the bag

[00:19:01] and you said here you can have this.

[00:19:03] Yeah.

[00:19:04] I would, and then if Eric got mad

[00:19:05] and said you stole my Snickers bar

[00:19:07] I would say no

[00:19:08] because I got permission from somebody

[00:19:10] who doesn't own your bag to take the Snickers.

[00:19:14] So messed up.

[00:19:15] Yeah, okay.

[00:19:16] So anyway, aren't you glad you're not on Facebook Eric?

[00:19:22] Is there, does she have like an AT trail name

[00:19:24] like the tamale thief now?

[00:19:26] No, well she has a...

[00:19:27] How'd you get that trail name?

[00:19:28] Well, it's a long story but like...

[00:19:30] Yeah.

[00:19:31] Or a hot tamale.

[00:19:32] Hot tamale.

[00:19:33] Yeah.

[00:19:37] Maybe in a trail name.

[00:19:38] So anyway, so people are going back and forth

[00:19:40] and like everyone's like, you know, well...

[00:19:42] You really wanted that tamale.

[00:19:43] Yeah, yeah, so...

[00:19:45] But everyone's commenting

[00:19:46] and they're sort of like, okay,

[00:19:48] well, you know good for you for admitting it

[00:19:50] and we know that you wouldn't be a thief

[00:19:52] but then the owner of the bag gets on

[00:19:54] and she's not having it.

[00:19:56] She's like, you took my bag and you took my food.

[00:19:58] The bag was properly tied to the tree,

[00:20:00] the proper distance from my tent.

[00:20:02] I was in the tent so apparently

[00:20:04] she's trying to figure out whose room this belongs to.

[00:20:06] Nice.

[00:20:07] The lady's in her tent sleeping.

[00:20:08] Wow.

[00:20:09] And she's like, you ate some of my food.

[00:20:11] That's how the other hikers spotted you.

[00:20:13] I gave a description of the bag

[00:20:15] and the content to other hikers and campers.

[00:20:17] All my stuff was in there.

[00:20:20] And it was clear that the bag was like

[00:20:23] recently packed and organized

[00:20:25] and you shouldn't have touched it.

[00:20:27] So anyway, there's a lot of drama.

[00:20:29] There's people taking sides.

[00:20:31] I think what really came out of this is

[00:20:33] that we just came up with a really cool trail name

[00:20:35] for this lady.

[00:20:36] We're gonna call her Hot Tamale.

[00:20:37] Hot tamale.

[00:20:38] Yeah, that's perfect.

[00:20:39] What a crazy story.

[00:20:40] Wow.

[00:20:41] Yeah, high drama.

[00:20:42] So a lot of drama.

[00:20:43] Yeah.

[00:20:44] Well, I'm glad we got to use the drop for this one

[00:20:46] and that's good.

[00:20:48] Yeah.

[00:20:49] And it's funny, I've come across gear out hiking

[00:20:52] but the stuff I grabbed was like

[00:20:54] clearly had been dumped on Franconia Ridge

[00:20:56] and was like frozen solid

[00:20:58] and had been there for a week or two

[00:21:01] and it was like a frozen wet sleeping bag

[00:21:04] so I just hauled it out of there.

[00:21:06] So if you're gonna take stuff...

[00:21:08] It wasn't food yet.

[00:21:09] Well, there was food actually.

[00:21:10] I did take some food

[00:21:11] but that was like dumped on the ground

[00:21:13] so I think somebody just got sick

[00:21:15] of carrying the weight.

[00:21:17] But that's the thing is if you're gonna take something

[00:21:19] like if you get a bag like that

[00:21:21] or somebody's hanging a bag

[00:21:22] like just leave it be but...

[00:21:24] So can we go back to this pack?

[00:21:26] Is it supposed to be an alternative to a bear bag or...?

[00:21:30] It is, yeah.

[00:21:31] So instead of...

[00:21:32] Yeah.

[00:21:33] Yeah.

[00:21:34] So she probably had it hung,

[00:21:35] you know, the proper measurements

[00:21:37] to act as a typical bear bag I suppose.

[00:21:41] No, no.

[00:21:42] Or was it just strictly hanging on a tree?

[00:21:44] The thing about these are

[00:21:45] that you don't hang them,

[00:21:46] you actually put them on the ground.

[00:21:47] They're just on the ground.

[00:21:48] And you tie it around a tree.

[00:21:50] It's like a super durable bag.

[00:21:54] So a bear probably couldn't get into it.

[00:21:58] I find that hard to believe.

[00:21:59] I think not approved for bears

[00:22:02] notwithstanding the name Ursa.

[00:22:04] Just humans.

[00:22:05] Yeah.

[00:22:06] I think the idea is that it's supposed

[00:22:08] to keep small critters from chewing through,

[00:22:11] you know, mice and little things.

[00:22:14] Little guys that might get at your food as you sleep

[00:22:17] as opposed to a bear.

[00:22:18] I think you would hear that coming.

[00:22:22] But yeah, I would be putting...

[00:22:25] I would be hanging my food, I don't know.

[00:22:28] Seems like taking a bag of food

[00:22:30] and strapping it to the trunk of a tree

[00:22:32] is creating an invitation

[00:22:35] for other hikers to steal your food.

[00:22:38] Yeah, exactly.

[00:22:39] In this case.

[00:22:40] But these Ursa bags,

[00:22:42] apparently what you're supposed to use them with

[00:22:46] a liner.

[00:22:47] So you put all your food in this like approved liner.

[00:22:50] That's a smell blocker.

[00:22:52] And then you put it inside this bag,

[00:22:54] which is a Kevlar bag.

[00:22:56] So it's a bulletproof material.

[00:22:58] And then you can tie it around the tree.

[00:23:00] And in theory it is supposed to

[00:23:03] be such that it won't smell

[00:23:04] so the bear won't notice it.

[00:23:05] If a bear does notice it,

[00:23:07] it's Kevlar so they won't be able to begin.

[00:23:10] It's bulletproof.

[00:23:11] Yeah, but ultimately...

[00:23:13] In case they're packing it.

[00:23:14] Yeah, but they don't like that.

[00:23:16] In the Yosemite, they say,

[00:23:17] no, you need to have an approved bear canister.

[00:23:19] Like it's not even an option.

[00:23:20] Right.

[00:23:21] So anyway, Stomp.

[00:23:25] Hopefully Hot Tamale makes it to Katahdin.

[00:23:28] Yeah, we'll be looking out

[00:23:30] as they traverse through the whites.

[00:23:33] Yes.

[00:23:34] But speaking of shenanigans on trail,

[00:23:37] we've got yellow stone in the news here, Stomp.

[00:23:39] So you pulled some stuff, right?

[00:23:41] Yeah.

[00:23:42] Apparently a stupid tourist season has begun in Yellowstone.

[00:23:46] And a couple stories here come from Cowboy State Daily.

[00:23:49] The first one is

[00:23:51] Man accused of drunk kicking a bison

[00:23:54] sets off the Yellowstone's animal attack season.

[00:23:58] Oh boy.

[00:24:01] Oh my goodness.

[00:24:02] So an Idaho man is accused

[00:24:03] of kicking a bison while drunk.

[00:24:06] Becoming the first bison attack

[00:24:08] of the season.

[00:24:09] So that's again coming from the Cowboy State Daily,

[00:24:12] which is a great resource for stories out yonder.

[00:24:16] It's crazy.

[00:24:18] Unbelievable.

[00:24:19] And I want to give a shout out to an IG page

[00:24:22] and it's called Torrons of Yellowstone.

[00:24:25] And that's a mix of tourists and morons.

[00:24:28] So Torrons of Yellowstone.

[00:24:30] And they keep you up to date

[00:24:32] on all the shenanigans going on out there.

[00:24:34] Torrons.

[00:24:35] Yeah, Torrons.

[00:24:38] We've highlighted this page before,

[00:24:40] but yeah, it's just amazing the volume of content that he has.

[00:24:43] But it's almost all...

[00:24:44] Oh, it's great.

[00:24:45] Yeah, it's almost all people just going way too close

[00:24:48] to these giant bison, which is not good.

[00:24:51] Right.

[00:24:52] Yeah, it's so ridiculous.

[00:24:54] Matter of fact, I was thinking about that exact situation

[00:24:57] when I was encountered this deer this morning

[00:24:59] because I was like,

[00:25:00] I'm staying at least 20 feet away.

[00:25:02] And you saw in the video,

[00:25:03] like I kept backing up

[00:25:04] and the thing kept walking towards me.

[00:25:06] I was like, I'm like 20 feet away from this thing.

[00:25:09] Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:10] Oh, that was a close one, Mike.

[00:25:12] I'm not going to be on Torrons no way.

[00:25:16] Torrons of Amesbury.

[00:25:18] Just don't go kicking any deer.

[00:25:20] Yes.

[00:25:21] In Amesbury.

[00:25:23] I definitely wouldn't have been able to take this deer

[00:25:25] in a fight.

[00:25:26] I resizing him up and I was thinking

[00:25:28] if I had to go down with him,

[00:25:29] it wouldn't end well for me.

[00:25:31] Do you run with a deer bell?

[00:25:35] No.

[00:25:36] It's probably not a bad idea.

[00:25:37] I see them where I run

[00:25:39] and you know, you don't really even notice them

[00:25:41] until they start bounding off into the woods

[00:25:45] and you hear that.

[00:25:46] Yeah.

[00:25:47] So the first point of awareness you have

[00:25:49] is they're just like running away.

[00:25:52] And I've seen them multiple times already this spring.

[00:25:55] Yeah.

[00:25:56] There's a lot in my town right now.

[00:26:00] I actually, I do notice them ahead of time a lot

[00:26:02] because I run the same route over and over again

[00:26:05] and I sort of know where they will be in the morning.

[00:26:09] They usually, it's pretty consistent.

[00:26:11] And a lot of times like they'll take off

[00:26:14] when they see me but I think that it's baby season

[00:26:18] so they're probably just giving birth

[00:26:21] and they're a little bit skidget.

[00:26:22] They know you maybe?

[00:26:23] Maybe.

[00:26:24] It's Uncle Mike.

[00:26:25] It's Uncle Mike.

[00:26:26] Everyone get out of here.

[00:26:28] Mike's coming.

[00:26:30] Yeah.

[00:26:31] There's no hunting where I am either.

[00:26:33] So they're smiling and stick around.

[00:26:35] Yeah, they are for sure.

[00:26:38] Cool.

[00:26:39] All right, Stomp.

[00:26:40] So we've got a review here.

[00:26:41] So I had given you the heads up that Alex Harnold.

[00:26:45] So Alex Harnold is the, he's the prolific climber guy

[00:26:49] that had done the free solo up El Capitan

[00:26:52] and he's been all over like the, you know,

[00:26:55] national geographic and all this.

[00:26:57] And he's a new series out called Arctic Ascent

[00:27:00] where he got a crew of I think like six or eight people together

[00:27:05] and they had a goal of climbing one of the Earth's

[00:27:08] tallest unclimbed natural monoliths

[00:27:12] which is pronounced in myct or tillac.

[00:27:18] In myct or tillac is what it's called.

[00:27:21] And it's in Greenland.

[00:27:23] So it's a, it's a 4,000 foot monolith

[00:27:26] that just rises out of the ocean in Eastern Greenland.

[00:27:30] So it's a three part series where I think each episode

[00:27:35] is about an hour long and it chronicles the hike

[00:27:41] to reach in myct orillac.

[00:27:45] And it's about a 100 mile hike.

[00:27:47] As part of that hike, they have to climb

[00:27:49] over like a thousand foot wall.

[00:27:52] So they've got to do rock climbing up this straight

[00:27:55] thousand foot face with like, I think half the crew

[00:27:59] was not experienced climbers.

[00:28:00] So they had to set ropes for them and have them get up there.

[00:28:03] And then they ascended the rest of the way towards

[00:28:06] this monolith and yeah, I thought it was really interesting

[00:28:11] every episode.

[00:28:12] So the first episode was sort of about them getting

[00:28:15] settled on the hike and the risk of the crevasses

[00:28:18] and all this stuff that they have to deal with

[00:28:20] when they're hiking in the glacier environment like that.

[00:28:23] And then I think the second episode was about them

[00:28:27] getting over this like thousand foot climb

[00:28:30] and the inexperienced people that had to climb up

[00:28:33] with Alex and he had like a group of two or three

[00:28:36] other experienced climbers, then their decision

[00:28:39] to like leave some of their gear to move forward.

[00:28:43] And then the last episode is about the actual

[00:28:46] climb on the four thousand foot monolith.

[00:28:48] So I thought it was amazing.

[00:28:49] What did you think, Stomp?

[00:28:51] I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking at the pictures.

[00:28:53] No, I didn't have a chance.

[00:28:56] But wait, so you can give me spoilers if you want.

[00:29:00] I'm okay with that.

[00:29:01] I signed you the homework to watch it, Stomp,

[00:29:03] and you didn't watch it.

[00:29:06] What are you doing, man?

[00:29:09] Come on.

[00:29:11] You gotta be watching these shows.

[00:29:13] Yeah, what are you watching then if you haven't watched this?

[00:29:18] X-Men?

[00:29:20] Oh God.

[00:29:21] For the first time.

[00:29:22] You're canceled pretty much.

[00:29:23] Yeah, well with Mrs. Stomp, yeah.

[00:29:25] Oh wow.

[00:29:26] Yeah, a lot of them.

[00:29:27] So there's like 10 hundred of them, right?

[00:29:29] There's like a thousand.

[00:29:31] You need to recruit Mrs. Stomp and watch this show.

[00:29:35] All right, well it looks good, but can you tell me,

[00:29:38] is he freesoloing this thing

[00:29:39] and then other people are roping up?

[00:29:41] No, no, they'll leave you climbing.

[00:29:42] So they use it to rope.

[00:29:43] So it's interesting, so this thing is huge.

[00:29:46] Yeah, yeah, and it's also difficult

[00:29:48] because like it's really brittle

[00:29:50] and he's climbing with two other people.

[00:29:52] So he's like, he's lead climbing,

[00:29:54] but he's also knocking down rocks

[00:29:56] and some of them are big rocks

[00:29:59] and the conditions are really bad

[00:30:01] and they're basically going up to set ropes

[00:30:03] to a certain point

[00:30:04] and then coming back at night

[00:30:05] and then ascending back up

[00:30:07] and getting another thousand foot put together

[00:30:10] and then one of the climbers is like not feeling it.

[00:30:13] So there's a lot of tension between Alex

[00:30:15] and this other climber.

[00:30:17] That sounds fantastic.

[00:30:18] And it's kind of interesting to see

[00:30:20] like Alex is just in his zone and he's going

[00:30:23] and the other climbers behind him

[00:30:25] and doing the support work

[00:30:26] and he's just, Alex isn't picking up

[00:30:29] that this guy's getting really, really angry

[00:30:31] and frustrated just because he's focused

[00:30:34] on the mission and I think ultimately

[00:30:37] one of the climbers bailed out

[00:30:39] and then he went forward with a second climber.

[00:30:42] Are they staging from a boat?

[00:30:44] It looks as though there's no dry land

[00:30:46] at the base of this thing.

[00:30:48] They're set up on one of those little ice berks.

[00:30:51] Little floating shelf of ice.

[00:30:54] Yeah, as far as I can tell

[00:30:56] if I recall correctly

[00:30:57] so they hike in like the first 40 miles

[00:31:00] or 60 miles and then they get to a bay

[00:31:04] and then they have to cross the bay

[00:31:06] and then they connect with a boat.

[00:31:08] So by the time they get there

[00:31:10] like the pass opens up.

[00:31:11] It's like the river sticks.

[00:31:12] Yeah, and there it seems complicated.

[00:31:15] You wouldn't count for your 48 if you're using a boat.

[00:31:18] True.

[00:31:19] If you approach the trailhead by boat.

[00:31:21] Yeah, he's out.

[00:31:22] I don't know.

[00:31:23] He's got to swim the bay for it to count.

[00:31:25] Is this one of these movies where your palms are sweating?

[00:31:28] Like as a viewer you're just

[00:31:31] you've got like cold sweat the whole, no, okay.

[00:31:34] I mean, I guess you could wait.

[00:31:35] I mean, three solo's like that.

[00:31:37] Yeah, it wasn't as bad because he's using rope

[00:31:39] so you're like, okay, he's going to be okay.

[00:31:42] But it was like logistically,

[00:31:44] I think they had a pretty big team behind them

[00:31:46] so they were coming down at night

[00:31:48] and then they were driving off in a boat going somewhere.

[00:31:51] I'm assuming like they had a camp set up somewhere.

[00:31:53] Like Hilton somewhere?

[00:31:54] Yeah.

[00:31:55] Yeah.

[00:31:56] So they did do one cool thing

[00:31:58] where they dropped a rope down to a glacier.

[00:32:00] There was like a 200 foot hole

[00:32:02] and they went down and looked at like the water flow below the glacier,

[00:32:06] which there's no way you could have paid me to go down there

[00:32:09] but they did do that.

[00:32:11] That's insane.

[00:32:13] So I highly recommend it.

[00:32:14] It's called Arctic Ascent

[00:32:16] and you can watch it on Hulu or Disney Plus.

[00:32:20] Oh great.

[00:32:21] Okay.

[00:32:22] I was just going to ask where you didn't see it.

[00:32:24] Yeah.

[00:32:25] All right, cool.

[00:32:26] And so this whole thing got me thinking about

[00:32:29] unclimbed mountains

[00:32:31] and I did a little bit of research on,

[00:32:34] you know, are there mountains that actually are still virgin peaks

[00:32:38] that have never been climbed

[00:32:40] and there are actually some mountains that are unclimbed.

[00:32:45] Some of them are sub-peaks.

[00:32:48] So depending on how you define...

[00:32:52] This is worldwide you're saying?

[00:32:54] Worldwide, yeah.

[00:32:56] And then there's like two definitions of a mountain.

[00:32:59] One is like 98 meters of prominence.

[00:33:08] So...

[00:33:10] And then another one is I think like 250 feet of prominence.

[00:33:15] So depending on which authority you use,

[00:33:18] there's a number of unclimbed summits

[00:33:21] that are sub-peaks of larger ones

[00:33:23] The one that is the highest unclimbed peak

[00:33:27] is I think Gankar Punisam

[00:33:31] which is in the Bhutan-China border

[00:33:34] and it has not been fully summited

[00:33:37] and it's actually awful limits to climbers since 1994

[00:33:42] because Bhutan prohibited all mountaineering

[00:33:45] above 20,000 feet due to spiritual religious beliefs.

[00:33:50] So you can't actually climb there

[00:33:53] and actually since 2003,

[00:33:55] they prohibited any mountaineering of any kind

[00:34:00] within the area of Gankar Punisam.

[00:34:04] So it's not likely that this one will ever be climbed

[00:34:07] unless somebody is really crazy

[00:34:10] and tries to break the law to do it.

[00:34:12] So if you want to go to Bhutan Stomp, we can try.

[00:34:15] Interesting. Any others?

[00:34:17] Because this connects really nicely to the next story.

[00:34:20] Yeah, so there's a...

[00:34:22] Based on the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation,

[00:34:26] there's a summit in Pakistan called Muchu Chish

[00:34:30] which is currently the world's...

[00:34:32] I love when my cast pronounces things.

[00:34:34] Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're just making me feel...

[00:34:35] Muchu Chish.

[00:34:37] I got something to say about that.

[00:34:39] We'll have to talk about later.

[00:34:40] It's pronunciation related though.

[00:34:42] And it's mic-related.

[00:34:43] But we can wait on that.

[00:34:44] Oh, damn.

[00:34:45] Now my palms are sweating.

[00:34:47] I'm watching an Alexander home.

[00:34:49] But anyway, Muchu Chish in Pakistan

[00:34:53] is currently the world's tallest

[00:34:55] that has not been climbed.

[00:34:57] And this one's 25,000 feet.

[00:34:59] And there's another unclimbed summit

[00:35:03] that's on a massive known as Kabru.

[00:35:07] These are all in Pakistan.

[00:35:09] And then there's Labruch Kang 3

[00:35:13] and then another one called Karjang.

[00:35:15] And these are all like between 23 and 24,000 feet.

[00:35:20] But these are all like their small summits

[00:35:23] so they're not like giant mountains, I think.

[00:35:27] The first one was...

[00:35:29] But then the most prominent unclimbed peaks

[00:35:32] are Sour Zotzi

[00:35:36] which is a high point in the Sour range

[00:35:38] between Kazakhstan...

[00:35:40] Kazakhstan and China.

[00:35:43] And then Mount Sipil which is in Antarctica

[00:35:49] which has a prominence of like 10,000 feet

[00:35:52] so it comes right up.

[00:35:54] So that's pretty interesting.

[00:35:57] What's number eight?

[00:36:01] Stomp.

[00:36:02] You're just trying to get it to pronounce it, aren't you?

[00:36:05] Come on, give me a couple more.

[00:36:07] Tongshin Jabu.

[00:36:09] Nice.

[00:36:10] That was really good, I think.

[00:36:12] Yeah, and that's another one that's in the Bhutan, China region.

[00:36:16] So essentially what you have is like this Bhutan

[00:36:19] and then Pakistan have a bunch of these unclimbed peaks.

[00:36:23] So yeah.

[00:36:25] And many of them are closed accesses

[00:36:28] not available, you're saying?

[00:36:31] Yeah, I think Bhutan is not available

[00:36:34] but then the ones in Pakistan,

[00:36:36] maybe they're just sub-peaks

[00:36:37] and there's like just no one's bothered to go to them

[00:36:40] because there's higher peaks right above them

[00:36:43] and then...

[00:36:45] Hmm.

[00:36:46] Yeah.

[00:36:47] Hey, yeah, I definitely see like number 10

[00:36:50] being like an extra impossible to climb.

[00:36:53] Yeah, yeah.

[00:36:55] What is number 10?

[00:36:57] This is brutal.

[00:36:59] I think it's very interesting

[00:37:01] and like I had mentioned,

[00:37:03] it ties into this next story coming out of Hawaii.

[00:37:06] Well, there have been multiple arrests

[00:37:08] at the infamous, what is it called there?

[00:37:11] The stairway to heaven in Hawaii

[00:37:13] because the Hawaiian authorities have decided

[00:37:16] to close it down and multiple hikers have been cited

[00:37:19] for trying to climb it over the last days

[00:37:23] before they actually take the stairs away

[00:37:27] from this hike, which happened on...

[00:37:30] Actually the 10th, I believe.

[00:37:32] I think this is history.

[00:37:33] So I don't know, very interesting story.

[00:37:35] This dates back to World War II, this hike

[00:37:39] and there were stairs that were put in

[00:37:41] for people to access the area

[00:37:43] and every single year,

[00:37:46] many people would get cited

[00:37:48] for trying to climb this thing illegally.

[00:37:50] It's been illegal since 1987.

[00:37:52] Nevertheless, people have tried to climb it

[00:37:55] and would end up having to get rescued

[00:37:57] mostly by helicopter because it's so treacherous.

[00:38:01] So the stairway to heaven is no longer

[00:38:05] there's some kind of a radio transmitter

[00:38:08] or antenna on this little hill.

[00:38:12] I think that's...

[00:38:14] They had originally built ladders

[00:38:17] or steps or whatnot to access it.

[00:38:20] But yeah, that's what I thought

[00:38:22] it'd been closed for a long time

[00:38:23] and people just keep trying to get up there

[00:38:25] sneaking under the fence over whatever.

[00:38:28] I think there's plenty of video on YouTube about it too.

[00:38:31] It's pretty wild.

[00:38:33] So the ego.

[00:38:35] The YouTube videos I've seen,

[00:38:37] people get up there super early

[00:38:39] and try to avoid authorities.

[00:38:41] But yeah, it's too bad.

[00:38:43] It makes a cool photo but it didn't look too safe.

[00:38:47] Absolutely not.

[00:38:49] All right, so Stomp,

[00:38:51] you are in the doghouse for recruiting

[00:38:53] Mrs. Stomp into activities that she doesn't want to do.

[00:38:56] Mrs. Stomp has said she wants you to stop recruiting her.

[00:39:00] So Mrs. Stomp wants to do nothing.

[00:39:02] So what's going on?

[00:39:04] Well, I guess I've...

[00:39:06] She had to point this out to me

[00:39:07] but apparently whenever guests come over

[00:39:09] or guests join,

[00:39:11] I'll just say,

[00:39:13] hey, Mrs. Stomp wants to try that

[00:39:15] when that's probably not the case.

[00:39:17] So that's happened with running.

[00:39:19] It happened most recently with

[00:39:22] Lynn Sweezer, Agent Sweezy.

[00:39:24] Where she won.

[00:39:26] When I said, Mrs. Stomp wants to go climbing.

[00:39:28] So next it'll probably be like a base jumper

[00:39:30] or something like that.

[00:39:32] It was like ice climbing, I think specifically.

[00:39:35] So she said her to trail work.

[00:39:38] That's a great idea.

[00:39:40] Yes.

[00:39:42] Yes, that'd be good punishment.

[00:39:44] Yes.

[00:39:46] Mrs. Stomp wants to do some trail work, Eric.

[00:39:48] Yeah, I mean, that's some legit work.

[00:39:51] Yeah.

[00:39:53] Be happy for the company.

[00:39:55] Yeah, there you go.

[00:39:57] In case the audience is curious,

[00:39:59] Mrs. Stomp is not a participator.

[00:40:01] This is on her own terms.

[00:40:08] Suffering the Woodpecker studio in her home.

[00:40:12] That's a pretty big participation point right there.

[00:40:15] That is true for sure.

[00:40:18] Oh goodness.

[00:40:20] All right.

[00:40:22] And then Stomp has been busy on the Instagram.

[00:40:25] He has been putting up polls

[00:40:27] and he got the listeners to give him...

[00:40:30] Is this an Instagram poll or is this just you making it up

[00:40:33] and saying it's a poll?

[00:40:35] Yeah, no, it was an Instagram poll.

[00:40:37] Just curious as to whether or not people would want us

[00:40:40] to do some more trail reviews.

[00:40:42] We had some comments from your Huntington Ravine one,

[00:40:45] first of all, that sort of started the ball rolling

[00:40:48] and then the recent Holt Trail review,

[00:40:50] which I thought was well watched

[00:40:53] and feeling informative maybe, I don't know.

[00:40:57] So people chimed in and said,

[00:40:59] how about Hancock Notch, Huntington and...

[00:41:04] Oh, Huntington Ravine, I guess that's a double.

[00:41:06] Webster Cliff, sounds pretty cool.

[00:41:09] And then Madison Gulf.

[00:41:12] Madison Gulf is pretty gnarly.

[00:41:15] I would assume that would be similar to the Holt Trail

[00:41:18] or maybe Spinks Trail or one of those maybe?

[00:41:22] Definitely more of the Spinks Trail.

[00:41:24] It's like a...

[00:41:27] You're enclosed.

[00:41:29] So you're surrounded by trees most of the way

[00:41:34] and then you pop up, but it's sort of one of those trails

[00:41:37] where you're climbing like a waterfall a bit.

[00:41:40] It's very lush there is my recollection.

[00:41:44] Okay.

[00:41:45] Like a rainforest.

[00:41:46] Yeah.

[00:41:48] So maybe similar to Beaver Brook?

[00:41:52] Yeah, that's a good one.

[00:41:55] It definitely feels more remote.

[00:41:58] I think the thing about Beaver Brook is you're right next to

[00:42:00] like a drainage so you've got like open forest feel.

[00:42:03] This is very enclosed.

[00:42:05] Madison Gulf is very enclosed.

[00:42:07] Like you look left, you look right, you don't see anything

[00:42:09] really except trees.

[00:42:11] So it's ancient.

[00:42:13] The pole was people just want to hear kind of descriptions

[00:42:17] of these trails or some experience on them.

[00:42:20] Yeah.

[00:42:21] So if Mike and I get to do them, then we'll film it

[00:42:24] segment by segment, put it together so that people

[00:42:26] have some sense.

[00:42:27] Like the whole trail was really a mystery to me.

[00:42:29] Okay.

[00:42:30] And then doing it was pretty cool just capturing

[00:42:33] certain segments that may be a little harder for people,

[00:42:36] maybe not.

[00:42:37] So yeah, I think that there's value to that.

[00:42:40] Not like where the only one's doing it but...

[00:42:43] I do have a video on our YouTube channel

[00:42:47] that is a...

[00:42:49] I climbed Huntington ravine and I did like...

[00:42:53] I did the section below, like they call that the fan

[00:42:56] I think.

[00:42:57] And then I actually did a section where I was holding

[00:42:59] the camera just climbing up that steep section

[00:43:02] of Huntington which isn't too bad.

[00:43:05] I mean it's just basically find a crevice and just

[00:43:08] go up and just commit.

[00:43:10] You know, the tricky part with Huntington is that

[00:43:13] like above that, there's a couple of spots that you

[00:43:16] have to kind of jump over.

[00:43:18] And if you're short, like I'm relatively short but

[00:43:21] like if you're short or than me, I'm like 5'8", 5'7".

[00:43:25] It can be tricky because you've got to climb up

[00:43:27] these different sections but Huntington's

[00:43:30] a tough hike for sure.

[00:43:32] It's just...

[00:43:33] You got to commit once you go up those open

[00:43:36] ledges, just go and don't stop.

[00:43:39] Pick a dry day.

[00:43:41] Yes, pick a dry day.

[00:43:43] I actually found with Huntington in my opinion,

[00:43:46] my biggest issue is I can't...

[00:43:49] Every single time I've done Huntington probably

[00:43:51] done it like 5 times, 6 times now.

[00:43:53] For whatever reason I get hung up on that bottom

[00:43:56] section, like where the...

[00:43:59] Right below the head wall where all those

[00:44:02] boulders are, like I lose the trail because

[00:44:05] the blazes are like...

[00:44:07] They're just old and faded and then I'm not

[00:44:10] paying attention and I'll hit my head on a rock

[00:44:12] or I'll fall backwards like that boulder

[00:44:15] field at the bottom is a pain in the neck.

[00:44:18] It's a bad start when you hit your head on a rock.

[00:44:21] That's not a good day.

[00:44:23] One time I fell backwards.

[00:44:26] I don't know if this has ever happened to you guys

[00:44:28] but I remember this in Huntington vividly.

[00:44:30] I fell backwards in this boulder field

[00:44:34] and I was like...

[00:44:36] I kind of went backwards and I held myself up

[00:44:39] with my hands behind my back

[00:44:41] but I felt like I tore my tricep

[00:44:44] and the whole day my tricep was killing me

[00:44:47] and I was nervous that I tore it.

[00:44:49] That's happened to me.

[00:44:51] Yeah, I've had stuff like that happen

[00:44:53] where you just...

[00:44:55] Something sort of acute happens

[00:44:57] and you just end up putting all your body weight

[00:44:59] on supporting yourself

[00:45:02] with an arm or both arms

[00:45:05] and it's almost like a spasm,

[00:45:10] muscle spasm.

[00:45:12] Your tricep are just jacked

[00:45:14] and then finally they settle down.

[00:45:16] Yeah, exactly.

[00:45:18] Excuse me, you haven't used these since 1996

[00:45:20] or what do you do with them?

[00:45:22] It's like an emergency move

[00:45:24] and your body is like,

[00:45:26] okay here, you're upright

[00:45:28] but now it's just going to hurt for the next day.

[00:45:31] Yeah, so I don't know.

[00:45:33] Huntington, something about it,

[00:45:35] like that boulder field below it is just tricky.

[00:45:38] All right, well thank you listeners.

[00:45:41] We'll see if we can get some of these rolling.

[00:45:44] Very good.

[00:45:46] And then moving on to people getting in trouble here.

[00:45:49] We've got a death in the hot spring

[00:45:51] so I'm assuming this is one of these places

[00:45:53] where there's like acidic water

[00:45:55] and people fall in and dissolve

[00:45:57] so this is the miracle hot spring

[00:46:01] so stop, hold this story.

[00:46:03] So the miracle hot spring is

[00:46:05] sequoia and then it's forced.

[00:46:07] Natural acid baths.

[00:46:09] Just snow-to-eating.

[00:46:11] Sequoia.

[00:46:12] Sequoia national.

[00:46:13] Yes, sequoia national.

[00:46:15] So this is interesting.

[00:46:17] So this is the second death in like two years.

[00:46:20] So there was somebody discovered on February 17th

[00:46:23] and then there was another person

[00:46:25] in October 17th of 2022.

[00:46:28] The cause of each death was unclear.

[00:46:31] I'm going to go on a limb and say they fell in an acidic hot tub

[00:46:34] but that's just me.

[00:46:36] But the incidents have alarmed

[00:46:38] the Forest Service officials enough

[00:46:40] that they're taking urgent action.

[00:46:43] Yeah.

[00:46:44] Don't you think this is an overreaction?

[00:46:46] Yeah, I'm thinking like let's

[00:46:48] let 10 people die before you shift down.

[00:46:51] What do you mean just like how many?

[00:46:53] Let things take care of nature, take care of itself.

[00:46:56] You put a rope up or something.

[00:46:59] Two people in two years, big deal.

[00:47:02] Public safety is of utmost importance

[00:47:05] to Forest Service officials.

[00:47:07] It is a low number.

[00:47:09] Yeah, relatively speaking.

[00:47:11] Arguably if that wasn't the dangerous thing,

[00:47:14] there's something else that would become the dangerous thing

[00:47:17] and more people would die.

[00:47:19] So maybe just keep them, you know.

[00:47:21] Kicking bison, are they going to shut down Yellowstone?

[00:47:24] I mean Yellowstone has those.

[00:47:26] That seems like a bigger problem.

[00:47:28] Yeah, they have way more deaths for people melting in those acid pools.

[00:47:31] So...

[00:47:33] Anyway, that's all relative.

[00:47:35] You have to drive the line somewhere.

[00:47:38] Yeah, so I guess if you were going to go to the Miracle Hot Springs

[00:47:42] in Sequoia National Forest

[00:47:44] just be aware that they're shut down now.

[00:47:47] Yeah, forget about it.

[00:47:49] Indefinitely.

[00:47:52] They shouldn't call them tubs.

[00:47:53] That's the issue is they're calling them...

[00:47:56] Too inviting.

[00:47:58] They're calling them tubs and you shouldn't call them that.

[00:48:01] Like the people are going to get in there.

[00:48:03] That's true.

[00:48:05] Sounds like a loss you wait and happen.

[00:48:07] I don't know.

[00:48:08] I'll link this in the show notes and people can check it out

[00:48:11] and if anybody's out there and they want to report back,

[00:48:14] let us know.

[00:48:16] But they'll have more fun in the tubs.

[00:48:18] Stay away from the edge.

[00:48:20] Yeah.

[00:48:22] Alright, and then next up we've got a force road update.

[00:48:26] So the update that I have is I did some digging

[00:48:28] to see if any roads were open.

[00:48:30] I didn't see any roads being open.

[00:48:32] Really? Nothing?

[00:48:34] Sandwich notch?

[00:48:36] Maybe?

[00:48:38] I didn't see anything. Maybe bare-knots road.

[00:48:40] Oh yeah, I bet.

[00:48:42] Yeah, it's probably still in the maintenance zone

[00:48:47] before the roads can open.

[00:48:49] It's still tiny bit early maybe.

[00:48:51] Yeah.

[00:48:53] That one's still closed I think.

[00:48:55] Yeah.

[00:48:57] Long Pond road is closed.

[00:48:59] That's the one that goes up to where I did my trail work today

[00:49:04] and this is over by Moosaloc.

[00:49:07] Yeah, Benton.

[00:49:09] So hopefully that will open at some point.

[00:49:12] Another week or two in warm weather.

[00:49:15] Yeah, I pulled up the file and it hasn't been updated.

[00:49:18] So there's nothing yet.

[00:49:21] But I did pull when I was looking at this.

[00:49:23] I did look and saw that the Mount Washington Auto Road

[00:49:29] is they're going to be clearing the road

[00:49:32] and it will be open to cars I think starting next weekend

[00:49:37] on the weekends up to the summit

[00:49:39] but they also have guided drivers to the summit

[00:49:42] on the weekend so you can get a guy to drive up there

[00:49:45] or you can drive yourself up

[00:49:47] and then they're talking mid-May for opening

[00:49:49] which that's pretty good because a lot of times

[00:49:51] they don't open until Memorial Day weekend.

[00:49:54] So it's good.

[00:49:56] Okay, yeah.

[00:49:57] Yeah, the road race is coming up soon.

[00:49:59] Well, the Observatory opens Memorial Day weekend.

[00:50:02] Right, right.

[00:50:04] They've got a lot to do over the next few weeks

[00:50:06] to get ready for all the events.

[00:50:08] I mean, Mount Washington Road Race is Father's Day weekend

[00:50:10] I think.

[00:50:11] Is it?

[00:50:12] Yeah.

[00:50:13] Oh yeah.

[00:50:14] Yeah.

[00:50:15] Well, that's good.

[00:50:16] But yeah, I think it'll be an early-ish opening

[00:50:19] for them which will be good.

[00:50:22] And then if I'll link in the show notes

[00:50:23] if you want to get a guy to drive up there

[00:50:25] to the summit, you can do that on the weekends.

[00:50:28] That'd be so much fun.

[00:50:30] All right.

[00:50:31] And then here's another thing you can volunteer

[00:50:33] Mrs. Stomp for is borrow a dog for a hike.

[00:50:37] Isn't this the closest thing?

[00:50:39] Borrow a dog.

[00:50:40] Yeah.

[00:50:41] So an Alaskan shelter lets hikers borrow a dog for day hikes.

[00:50:46] So it's called the Miles and Muts Program by Matsu Animal Shelter.

[00:50:52] It's their latest initiative to pair shelter dogs with people.

[00:50:56] You can take out a dog for a couple hours

[00:50:58] and I guess they limit it to a certain number of trails.

[00:51:02] And again, this is in Alaska.

[00:51:06] And they orientate you to the dog

[00:51:08] and make sure the dogs are screened for behavioral issues

[00:51:12] and you can take them out

[00:51:14] and just bring them back at a certain time.

[00:51:16] Can you adopt the dog?

[00:51:18] Like at the end, is that kind of part of the program?

[00:51:20] Oh, well, it goes on to say actually

[00:51:22] while the initiative is great for promoting adoption,

[00:51:25] it's also, I don't know if it really gets in that.

[00:51:28] You can't adopt those dogs.

[00:51:29] I don't think so.

[00:51:30] It's like kind of a, sounds like a little bait and switch.

[00:51:34] I guess they're trying to socialize shelter dogs as well.

[00:51:39] Interesting.

[00:51:41] So if you're in Alaska and you're lonely

[00:51:43] and you want to go for a hike with a dog,

[00:51:45] there you go, Matsu Animal Shelters.

[00:51:48] Well, I know that they used to be a program.

[00:51:52] I don't know if they still do it anymore,

[00:51:54] but the Conway Area Humane Society,

[00:51:57] you can get I think certified as a volunteer,

[00:52:01] but the Conway Area Humane Society,

[00:52:06] you can sign up as a volunteer

[00:52:08] and it used to be that they would let you take the dogs out for the day.

[00:52:11] So I don't know if you can still do that or not,

[00:52:13] but I'll link in the show notes the volunteer form

[00:52:15] and they have all kinds of options for volunteers.

[00:52:17] Like you can sweep out,

[00:52:18] you can clean up the dog poop,

[00:52:20] you can take the dogs for walks,

[00:52:22] you can do whatever.

[00:52:25] Excellent.

[00:52:26] Cool.

[00:52:27] That's good information.

[00:52:29] And then next up here, Stomp,

[00:52:32] there's a fundraiser for Icelandic Search and Rescue.

[00:52:35] What's going on here?

[00:52:37] Yeah, this is pretty interesting.

[00:52:39] This was sent in from listener Matt Stadler.

[00:52:41] Apparently, there are like 100 search and rescue teams in Iceland

[00:52:45] and they've come up with this way to fundraise for the teams

[00:52:49] by selling these little teeny figurines on a yearly basis

[00:52:55] and it goes to the teams and funds the volunteer search and rescue,

[00:53:00] which is pretty amazing.

[00:53:02] So we do have the link here for you to check out

[00:53:05] and there's hundreds of them.

[00:53:08] So they're little tiny figurines

[00:53:10] and every year they do a different one.

[00:53:13] So we also have a link for that

[00:53:15] so you can scroll through them and check them out.

[00:53:17] But yeah, it's sort of a cool idea

[00:53:19] and the person that sent the link was wondering,

[00:53:22] is this something that might translate to New Hampshire?

[00:53:24] I'm like, I don't know.

[00:53:25] Who knows?

[00:53:26] Yeah, so for the listeners,

[00:53:29] I'll describe these are like little dolls.

[00:53:31] So there's like one doll that has like an ice axe

[00:53:35] and a climbing helmet and crampons.

[00:53:38] Then there's another doll that has like a dog.

[00:53:41] Then there's one that's like a medic carrying a baby.

[00:53:44] There's one that has like scuba gear.

[00:53:47] There's a firefighter.

[00:53:49] So yeah, there's all kinds of cool stuff here.

[00:53:51] So what does that translate monetarily to US dollars?

[00:53:55] 3,700.

[00:53:57] Yeah, so 3,700.

[00:54:02] Did you say Kroners?

[00:54:05] I think that's what it is.

[00:54:07] Look at these cool figurines.

[00:54:10] They're pretty cool.

[00:54:11] They remind me of like little Smurf collectibles.

[00:54:14] Yeah, totally.

[00:54:16] Look at that guy with the litter.

[00:54:18] Oh, isn't that mint?

[00:54:20] Look at that.

[00:54:21] He's got like a rescue litter, little figurine.

[00:54:23] It's very cool.

[00:54:25] I'm going to collect them all.

[00:54:27] Totally.

[00:54:28] I mean, I guess they're all SAR themed.

[00:54:30] So yeah, that's awesome.

[00:54:32] Pretty neat.

[00:54:33] So how much are they?

[00:54:34] They're like 3,700?

[00:54:36] 3,700 KR.

[00:54:38] All right, so that's 20, $26 in US.

[00:54:42] So it's like $1 is 140 Icelandic Krona.

[00:54:47] That's reasonable.

[00:54:49] And it goes to a good thing.

[00:54:52] Yeah, get a little stomp rescue doll.

[00:54:56] Right.

[00:54:58] And then you stomp.

[00:55:00] You've got some racing news here.

[00:55:02] I got a new student from the strip.

[00:55:04] What do you want to talk about?

[00:55:06] Well, the White Mountain Endurance Aravipa race series begins this weekend.

[00:55:11] It's the White Lake Ultra.

[00:55:13] And the whole series goes through straight through the summer into the fall.

[00:55:18] And this is the first of the season, but unfortunately the last for Christina and Rem,

[00:55:26] the founders of the organization, they will be stepping aside pretty much 100% now.

[00:55:31] They have some adventures going on out West.

[00:55:34] And they just feel as though that they can't do the series,

[00:55:38] the justice that it deserves with their split endeavors.

[00:55:42] So Christina and Rem, we love you guys.

[00:55:45] And thank you for creating such a great circuit and we're sure that everything's going to be fine with Aravipa.

[00:55:52] They seem competent and run a hell of a race.

[00:55:57] And personally, me personally, just these two guys gave me a huge break with the DJ thing too.

[00:56:03] And they were instrumental in me getting my foot in the door doing some of the music around here.

[00:56:08] So again, thank you very, very much.

[00:56:10] And I wish you guys the best.

[00:56:12] And you've run a couple of those races, right, Eric?

[00:56:15] Yeah. So I've run their Kilkenny Ridge race, which I believe was the first race that they ever put on.

[00:56:25] However many years ago, when they were originally rock hopper races.

[00:56:29] Go big or go home.

[00:56:31] I guess so.

[00:56:33] But that's their last race of the year schedule wise.

[00:56:37] This year, I think it's sort of third week in September or something like that.

[00:56:42] Yeah.

[00:56:43] But yeah, great experience.

[00:56:46] That's the only one that I've done.

[00:56:48] I've done that twice.

[00:56:49] I'm going to do it again this year.

[00:56:51] But yeah, they've got a whole bunch of really interesting races.

[00:56:54] In fact, I mean, not to like plug them.

[00:56:57] That wasn't the idea.

[00:56:58] But you've got all these interesting routes in the White Mount, like specifically in the National Forest.

[00:57:06] And they have managed to get race permits to build some really interesting races through mountains and trails that you might actually just be hiking on any other day.

[00:57:22] So I've found it to be really rewarding to be able to run an event on some of these trails that I had been on many times just sort of doing a hiking thing.

[00:57:34] Yeah.

[00:57:35] So yeah.

[00:57:36] That's cool.

[00:57:38] Yeah, they will be missed.

[00:57:40] But I'm sure that we'll stay in touch with Christina and she'll hopefully come on and keep us updated on her adventures in New Hampshire and out west.

[00:57:49] Yeah, for sure.

[00:57:50] And Stomp, I don't have this on the script, but just a heads up for anybody that's going to be traveling along the cank or in North Conway area.

[00:58:00] There is a marathon and a half marathon that's going to be run on the cank on Sunday.

[00:58:07] So North Conway will be busy because I think what they're doing is staging.

[00:58:13] They're staging all the runners in like Settlers Green in that area there and then busing them to the start of the race.

[00:58:23] So the start of the race looks like it's that, you know, when you go up the cank from North Conway, before you get to the very top, there's like that overlook where a lot of the motorcycle guys will park.

[00:58:35] And then there's like a gazebo there.

[00:58:37] It looks like they're staging the beginning of the race there, which is nice because you're going to be going downhill.

[00:58:42] That's the high point of the cank.

[00:58:44] Yeah, it's close to the high point.

[00:58:47] It's a little bit down, I think.

[00:58:49] Okay.

[00:58:50] But yeah, it's so you'll start downhill and then it looks like it brings you up to Bear Notch Road and then you'll turn around.

[00:59:03] So it looks like it brings you to the high point of Bear Notch Road and then you'll turn back around and then head down the cank and then finish in center Conway by like the Hymn Ice Rink area.

[00:59:19] So that's quite a race.

[00:59:21] And then there's a half marathon as well that I think finishes.

[00:59:25] Let me look at the half marathon.

[00:59:27] So I'm going to start the half marathon at it looks like the Paso Conway Road, like the, or it's right before Champney Falls, Paso Conway area.

[00:59:39] Like, oh, actually it's all the very in Brooke area.

[00:59:42] So yeah, so that's going to be busy over there.

[00:59:45] So I wouldn't mess around with Conway or the cank this weekend or especially on Sunday.

[00:59:51] Okay.

[00:59:52] Sounds good.

[00:59:55] And then I wanted to just give a shout out.

[00:59:57] So Eric, you're a grid finisher, right?

[01:00:00] I am.

[01:00:01] Unreal.

[01:00:03] Congratulations.

[01:00:05] That as I smack myself in the forehead again.

[01:00:08] Help.

[01:00:09] I have a psycho in the house.

[01:00:10] Yeah.

[01:00:11] Yeah.

[01:00:12] I got some questions.

[01:00:13] 100%

[01:00:14] This one.

[01:00:15] I noticed like there's I just want to give a shout out to there's been a lot of finishers this winter.

[01:00:20] So there's been 15 finishers in 2024.

[01:00:26] When you look at the list here, you can just see the numbers are exploding since 2021 and 2022 is when it really blew up.

[01:00:37] So it's getting to be more common.

[01:00:40] There's 176 people that have finished the grid.

[01:00:44] And then I just wanted to give a shout out to recent people.

[01:00:47] So Denise Kimball.

[01:00:49] So you'll see Denise out on trail.

[01:00:51] She wears like the multicolored tutu.

[01:00:53] You were at her finish, Eric?

[01:00:56] I thought I saw you.

[01:00:57] I was not.

[01:00:58] Well, regrettably, I was not at her finish although she was at my finish.

[01:01:03] But yeah, I think so what is it?

[01:01:07] Oh, March 14th.

[01:01:08] Yeah.

[01:01:09] Like a month and a little more ago.

[01:01:12] And then so I'm just going to run down the last five or six.

[01:01:15] So Ashley Uland who I don't know Ashley.

[01:01:18] So she finished on Mount Pasacan way.

[01:01:24] Keith Wattling, he finished on Madison and then on April 20th.

[01:01:29] And then friend of mine, George Somerset, who I've hiked with a couple times.

[01:01:35] He finished on Kerrigan.

[01:01:36] Matter of fact, George when I met him probably like three years ago, like he wasn't that far along.

[01:01:41] So he's been grinding every month, every month he gets out.

[01:01:45] Yeah.

[01:01:46] And then Jonathan Sewell and Laura Sewell.

[01:01:49] So I'm assuming maybe husband and wife or brother and sister combination.

[01:01:53] And they post on New England trail conditions all the time if you see Wanderer.

[01:01:58] They do like a single season last year.

[01:02:03] I can't remember.

[01:02:05] That I don't know.

[01:02:07] But they do put up a lot of helpful trail reports and YouTube videos too.

[01:02:12] Just like we were talking about earlier, they will document, you know,

[01:02:15] whatever the hike was and make a nice video.

[01:02:18] All right.

[01:02:19] Well, I'll try to pull their YouTube channel.

[01:02:21] So Jonathan Sewell and Laura Sewell.

[01:02:23] And then the most recent one was Chase Hall.

[01:02:28] So Chase, I think is a red line guide.

[01:02:31] I think correct me if I'm wrong there, but he just finished on Jefferson.

[01:02:35] Yeah.

[01:02:36] So congratulations to all of them.

[01:02:40] And I'll link the list of grid finishers and as crazy, there's a couple of them.

[01:02:47] Tim Musket and Ed Hawkins are on their eighth round of the grid.

[01:02:52] It's crazy.

[01:02:53] Wow.

[01:02:54] That's impressive.

[01:02:55] Yeah.

[01:02:56] Well, Ed is sort of the creator or at least the one who popularized, you know,

[01:03:04] the grid and I know he's got at least 100 completed rounds of the 48.

[01:03:13] Yeah.

[01:03:14] Yeah.

[01:03:15] He's on my hiking.

[01:03:17] It is.

[01:03:18] And I see him, I've run into him a couple of times.

[01:03:20] Last time I saw him, he was at the Dunkin Donuts in Lincoln.

[01:03:23] And yeah, you'll see him early morning.

[01:03:26] You'll see him out.

[01:03:28] So but yeah, congratulations to all the grid finishers and especially George.

[01:03:34] I feel like those two hikes that I did with you, like you wouldn't have been able to do

[01:03:37] the grid without, without those moments.

[01:03:39] So I'm going to take credit.

[01:03:42] Absolutely.

[01:03:43] I'm sure.

[01:03:44] Of course you are.

[01:03:47] Of course.

[01:03:49] So anyway.

[01:03:52] We all know that hiking a mountain can be hard at times.

[01:03:55] So here's a corny dad joke to help you get over it.

[01:04:00] But um, bum.

[01:04:03] So Stomp, this is the part of the show where I do a dad joke.

[01:04:06] Oh boy.

[01:04:07] Here we go.

[01:04:09] I'm digging.

[01:04:10] I'm buying time.

[01:04:12] Still have time to escape.

[01:04:14] These are rough.

[01:04:15] Yeah, they are pretty bad.

[01:04:16] They're rough.

[01:04:17] They're rough.

[01:04:18] So um, what type of dog loves to take baths?

[01:04:24] A shampooodle.

[01:04:29] Oh come on.

[01:04:31] That's bad.

[01:04:32] That's like.

[01:04:33] All right.

[01:04:34] Give us one more.

[01:04:35] Yeah, guys.

[01:04:36] Go again.

[01:04:37] How to moths, how to moths swim.

[01:04:40] They use the butterfly stroke.

[01:04:44] Oh damn dude.

[01:04:46] He is a real bad.

[01:04:48] All right.

[01:04:49] Well, he's got.

[01:04:50] Claim Camilla and Lance.

[01:04:51] They got me the book.

[01:04:52] Okay.

[01:04:53] Oh my goodness.

[01:04:54] I mean they're dad jokes, you know, so they qualify for that.

[01:04:57] But bad dad jokes.

[01:04:59] Pretty bad.

[01:05:00] All right.

[01:05:01] Yeah.

[01:05:02] Well anyway.

[01:05:03] All right.

[01:05:04] We have a sponsor CS coffee.

[01:05:06] Our podcast is supported by CS instant coffee.

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[01:05:28] Or you can visit the website www.csinstantcoffee.com.

[01:05:33] As usual, you can get your stickers for the slasher podcast at ski fanatics right here

[01:05:40] in Campton, New Hampshire, exit 28 or at spinniz pizza palla with dials and pops off

[01:05:48] of Dascom road in Andover.

[01:05:50] Let's see you can get your new slasher swag at our online bonfire shop which

[01:05:55] can be accessed through the Instagram link tree.

[01:06:00] And let's see we have some coffee donations actually one this week from Bethany.

[01:06:05] You can support us at our buy me a coffee website.

[01:06:08] So check it out.

[01:06:09] But Bethany sends us five coffees.

[01:06:11] Thank you very much.

[01:06:12] And she writes, I've been listening to your show now for over a year.

[01:06:17] Crushed the first 120 episodes in just a couple months.

[01:06:21] Absolutely loved the variety of content.

[01:06:24] Stomp and Mike, you guys are awesome.

[01:06:26] Keep up the amazing work.

[01:06:27] You guys are so appreciated for this podcast.

[01:06:29] So that's really nice.

[01:06:30] Thank you Bethany.

[01:06:32] And next we have Valkyrie's gear.

[01:06:35] Does your backpack not provide enough ventilation?

[01:06:38] Does your back sweat too much when backpacking?

[01:06:41] As you know, sweat can be extremely uncomfortable on the trails plus sweat is a serious risk factor in both hot and cold climates.

[01:06:48] As your clothes get wet, your core temperature can dramatically fluctuate.

[01:06:52] And this can result in hypothermia, heat exhaustion and dehydration.

[01:06:56] Let's not forget just very uncomfortable.

[01:06:59] Today's your lucky day because we have good news for you.

[01:07:01] There's a piece of gear that solves the sweat and ventilation problem making your backpack more comfortable.

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[01:07:11] The Ultralight Frame is a backpack accessory that easily installs in your favorite pack size 15 liters to 45 liters and creates a ventilating air flow gap between you and your pack.

[01:07:22] It's also Ultralight weighing about 3 ounces, which is basically a pair of wool socks.

[01:07:27] With a hiking and hot or cold temps, the Ultralight Backpack Ventilation Frame from Vocluse Gear is a real game changer regarding airflow and ventilation.

[01:07:36] So visit VocluseGear.com to order an Ultralight Ventilation Frame today and use promo code SLASHER to enjoy a $5 discount.

[01:07:45] And let them know that Mike and Stomp sent you.

[01:07:55] Hey, hold my beer. It's time to find out what Mike and Stomp are drinking.

[01:08:01] On this week's beer talk.

[01:08:07] Very good. Very good. So this is the part of the show where we talk about what beer we are drinking.

[01:08:14] Oh, we got water over here and I'm sucking down a black coffee.

[01:08:19] Okay.

[01:08:20] What do you got?

[01:08:21] Non-alcoholic on this side. That's right.

[01:08:24] All right. Well, I have Mrs. Mike went to Trader Joe's and got a Magic Rain, which is a mighty square.

[01:08:35] Oh, mighty squirrel brewing company, which I don't know where that's from.

[01:08:40] But it's not bad.

[01:08:42] Nice.

[01:08:43] Yeah.

[01:08:44] How was your time out last week there, Mike?

[01:08:47] I know you were dry last week on the episodes so you were heading out with your buddies, right?

[01:08:52] Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right.

[01:08:54] How'd that go?

[01:08:55] Yeah. I had man time. We went and watched the...

[01:08:59] Yeah. We had man time.

[01:09:01] We went and watched the NFL draft and I was like,

[01:09:06] Okay.

[01:09:07] Yeah, Stomp, you would have hated it.

[01:09:10] There was a lot of like, oh, this guy from Alabama or I don't take this guy from LSU.

[01:09:16] And I was like, honestly, even I was like, I don't even care about this.

[01:09:20] Like, this is...

[01:09:21] That's funny.

[01:09:22] ...it's nothing.

[01:09:23] Yeah.

[01:09:24] We had this ongoing thing, Eric, where Stomp doesn't like...

[01:09:26] No drinking?

[01:09:27] He doesn't do sports.

[01:09:28] So...

[01:09:29] Yeah.

[01:09:30] I don't either.

[01:09:32] Yeah.

[01:09:33] It's like pulling fingernails off your fingers.

[01:09:36] Yeah, I don't know.

[01:09:39] Sports are fine.

[01:09:40] Yeah.

[01:09:41] It's just spending a lot of time talking about it.

[01:09:44] You know what you...

[01:09:45] Here's the trick of that out.

[01:09:47] If you're not into sports and you've got somebody that's like giving you a hard time about it,

[01:09:52] you just say like, I'm into doing sports and not watching them.

[01:09:57] So...

[01:09:58] Yeah. Basically.

[01:10:00] Yeah.

[01:10:01] That's what you...

[01:10:02] That's your answer.

[01:10:03] Words to live by.

[01:10:05] I mean, honestly hiking when there's like a football game on, that's a great, great day.

[01:10:10] You know, coming up some Sunday afternoon, try to do a late hike.

[01:10:14] That's true.

[01:10:15] That is true.

[01:10:16] People have left already.

[01:10:17] Yeah.

[01:10:18] So, you know, you can work into your advantage.

[01:10:21] Yeah.

[01:10:22] That is true.

[01:10:24] All right.

[01:10:25] So this is the part of the show where we talk about what hikes we've done recently here, Stomp.

[01:10:28] So you look like you've done a couple of hikes you've been getting out.

[01:10:32] So what's...

[01:10:33] A little bit.

[01:10:34] ...what are you up to?

[01:10:35] Yeah, Mrs. Stomp and I did the Webster Mountain on the southern end of the Squam Traverse

[01:10:41] and it's accessed by Perchpond Road here in Campton.

[01:10:46] Or is that Holdeness?

[01:10:47] I can't quite remember.

[01:10:48] It's the Brooks Fisher Trail.

[01:10:50] I've done this before.

[01:10:51] It's easy peasy.

[01:10:52] You get up to this beautiful overlook that looks over Rattlesnake Mountain

[01:10:57] and many of the lakes.

[01:10:59] It's just beautiful.

[01:11:00] And there's a bench that somebody built and put up there.

[01:11:03] And yeah, super cool time.

[01:11:06] It's easy peasy.

[01:11:07] One thing I will say about the trail is there's like 10,000 switchbacks

[01:11:11] for whatever reason I have no idea.

[01:11:14] It's like you literally just cut off a mile if you just bushwhack straight up to the high point.

[01:11:21] But other than that, great time.

[01:11:23] I've done well sticky as well a couple of times just trying to bang out that loop for exercise.

[01:11:28] So that's about it.

[01:11:30] Oh, so you're coming from like the backside of Crawford Ridge Pole.

[01:11:37] Correct.

[01:11:38] And then you...

[01:11:39] So you're basically approaching the lakes from the backside and then you get that view

[01:11:46] as you pop up on the ridge.

[01:11:48] Right.

[01:11:49] It's a great, great area.

[01:11:52] It gets you up to the ridge and it's just open woods.

[01:11:55] And just beautiful.

[01:11:57] Love it up there.

[01:11:58] You never see another person on trail.

[01:11:59] That's for sure.

[01:12:00] Yeah, it's good stuff.

[01:12:03] Well, it's good for you.

[01:12:04] And then what else?

[01:12:06] That's it.

[01:12:07] Yeah, that's it.

[01:12:08] That's all I got.

[01:12:09] That's it.

[01:12:10] Well, I went on Sunday morning.

[01:12:13] I got up super early and I had plans to finish up the bell naps.

[01:12:18] But I unfortunately took the wrong vehicle.

[01:12:21] And my wife called me and explained to me that I took the wrong vehicle

[01:12:24] and that I'm a moron.

[01:12:26] And that kind of ruined the day for me.

[01:12:28] So I was on Mount Rowe and then I got the call.

[01:12:32] And I was like, oh...

[01:12:34] What?

[01:12:35] Yeah, like it's a whole thing.

[01:12:37] So we have a bunch of cars, but like we only have two cars right now

[01:12:40] and there's three of us and my daughter had to go to work.

[01:12:43] And apparently she's incapable of parking my wife's car.

[01:12:47] And I had taken my car and she was like...

[01:12:49] And my wife's like, it's fine.

[01:12:50] I just want to let you know.

[01:12:51] And I was like, oh...

[01:12:52] Now everyone's gonna be mad at me.

[01:12:54] So I just got to gun stock and I was like, forget it.

[01:12:56] I'm not going to do Piper and Bell Nap.

[01:12:58] I'll just turn around.

[01:12:59] So I just cut it short and came back.

[01:13:04] Good call.

[01:13:05] Yeah, I was like...

[01:13:07] Okay, I got on trail at like, I don't know, 6.30.

[01:13:12] And then I was done by 8.30.

[01:13:14] And then home back home by 9.30, 10 o'clock.

[01:13:17] So it was fine.

[01:13:19] Wow.

[01:13:20] It was like, you know, it's only an hour drive from my house.

[01:13:23] So it's not bad, but it was nice.

[01:13:25] I actually liked Mount Rho and the gun stock was fun.

[01:13:28] And I hung out there for a little while and it was good.

[01:13:31] So I'll finish up the Bell Naps this weekend maybe.

[01:13:34] Oh cool.

[01:13:35] Yeah, that's a great area.

[01:13:36] I love it over there.

[01:13:37] Yeah.

[01:13:38] Super cool.

[01:13:39] Yeah, really nice.

[01:13:40] Yeah, it actually works out okay because I'll probably...

[01:13:43] I still have to do white face as well.

[01:13:45] So now I'll just do an out and back where I'll do white face,

[01:13:50] Piper I think, and then Bell NAP and then go back.

[01:13:53] Yeah.

[01:13:54] So I don't know what the parking situation is,

[01:13:56] but it looks like there's a parking lot at white face

[01:13:58] in the backside.

[01:13:59] That's right.

[01:14:00] I'll have to figure that out.

[01:14:01] But yeah, it's not bad.

[01:14:04] Cool.

[01:14:05] Yeah.

[01:14:06] So no snow.

[01:14:07] The Bell Naps were like a little muddy,

[01:14:09] but overall like, you know, it was great.

[01:14:11] It was actually great to just be out in my trail runners

[01:14:13] and my light pack and not have to worry about spikes

[01:14:16] or snowshoes or any of that stuff.

[01:14:19] Oh, it's always great.

[01:14:21] Lucky you.

[01:14:22] Yeah.

[01:14:23] Right.

[01:14:24] I stay low this time of the year.

[01:14:26] So well, that's actually what I want to get into

[01:14:28] that with you is the whole like April strategy,

[01:14:31] but we'll talk about that in a minute.

[01:14:33] All right.

[01:14:35] All right.

[01:14:36] And we'll save Eric for his segment.

[01:14:38] Yeah, sure.

[01:14:39] Yeah.

[01:14:40] Unless you want to skip notables

[01:14:41] and we can go right into it.

[01:14:43] Oh, it's so constipated on notables though.

[01:14:45] We should probably get through it quick.

[01:14:47] How about we just zip it up quick?

[01:14:49] All right.

[01:14:50] So if you want to tag slash run your adventure, do so.

[01:14:52] And we will consider you for the notable hike of the week.

[01:14:55] So we have Liz Faye coming up at Utah's Escalante

[01:14:59] upper dry for to dry fork through slot canyons.

[01:15:03] Our good friend Xbox did old spec the eyebrow screw

[01:15:06] auger falls.

[01:15:08] Dr. Storm 217 is a new one.

[01:15:11] Thomas Cole mountain not familiar with that.

[01:15:15] Scarlet 1965 hiked up to the Kersage North fire tower.

[01:15:21] Segur T.J.

[01:15:23] I hope I say that right did a bell nap traverse.

[01:15:27] Ginger beard keen hiked up to Pacman adnock

[01:15:32] and Cypric 81 red lined man that knock.

[01:15:36] That's pretty cool.

[01:15:37] They finish red lining man adnock.

[01:15:40] They finished red lining.

[01:15:42] Yeah, I don't believe they did it all at once.

[01:15:44] All right.

[01:15:45] They're running.

[01:15:46] Okay.

[01:15:47] Now check out this Carrie borrell.

[01:15:49] She tagged us on a couple things.

[01:15:51] So she did a bell nap traverse 22 miles 12 peaks

[01:15:54] and then also tagged us for Canon Mount cannon

[01:15:58] via high Canon and that was number seven

[01:16:00] for her son Owen and number 11 for her second go

[01:16:04] around of the 48.

[01:16:06] And then of course, then of course we have

[01:16:09] Littlefoot calls bad caverns Cameron Casey three

[01:16:13] welch Dickie loop on a bluebird day

[01:16:15] and then also did Mount Pemmy.

[01:16:17] You're gonna you're gonna hear Pemi a lot here.

[01:16:19] So Nick Hikes did Joe with he's been out in

[01:16:22] Joshua Tree National Park which is just amazing.

[01:16:24] Great pictures Nick.

[01:16:26] Seagoth Berg did the Ossopy loop over big ball

[01:16:30] black snout Shaw turtle back and bald knob.

[01:16:33] Well, that's a pretty epic scarlet 1965

[01:16:37] Mount Pemi Marley Sue Mount Pemi

[01:16:40] Mount Pemi Mount Pemi Jennifer Collins

[01:16:43] five 67 did old spec and that's 62 out of the

[01:16:47] 67 of for New England L B Boyd gun stock

[01:16:52] Piper in the bell nap mountains.

[01:16:54] I hope I said that right.

[01:16:57] Yeah, that's right and bell nap mountain.

[01:16:59] Excuse me.

[01:17:00] Molly Hikes in the great smoky mountains

[01:17:03] Mount camera and Mount Sterling and then

[01:17:07] finally we have hiking feeds my soul and

[01:17:09] Miles is dog hiking middle and north

[01:17:12] sugarloaf that's quite a list.

[01:17:15] I read that off with one breath.

[01:17:17] Can you believe that?

[01:17:18] A lot of Hikes for April.

[01:17:20] Yeah, right.

[01:17:21] People being smart to they go into the

[01:17:23] Ossopy range they go in a mad knock

[01:17:25] they're doing the bell naps like they listen

[01:17:27] to us stay low low and local.

[01:17:31] Yeah.

[01:17:32] So Cypric 81 red line man had knock and

[01:17:35] then Carrie Burl she did the whole

[01:17:38] bell nap traverse that's impressive

[01:17:40] plus I got invited to go on a hike with

[01:17:42] her.

[01:17:43] Oh, yeah.

[01:17:44] Yeah, she's doing some hike and I got

[01:17:46] I got added to a list so I don't know

[01:17:48] her but I got invited so I give it

[01:17:51] to you.

[01:17:55] I give it to the red line man had

[01:17:57] not person so Cypric 81.

[01:17:59] And congratulations Cypric.

[01:18:01] Very well done.

[01:18:02] So many trails on the mad knock.

[01:18:04] Yeah, I think that's

[01:18:07] 50 ish miles

[01:18:09] to all the together.

[01:18:11] Yeah, something like that.

[01:18:13] Wow.

[01:18:14] That's dedication.

[01:18:15] That's good.

[01:18:16] Wow.

[01:18:17] All right and then 48 peaks all

[01:18:19] timers use your passion for hiking

[01:18:21] to help end all timers in one

[01:18:23] collective effort 400 plus hikers will

[01:18:25] climb New Hampshire's 4000 footers

[01:18:27] or create their own challenge to

[01:18:29] support the mission of the Alzheimer's

[01:18:31] Association.

[01:18:32] The annual hiker celebration will take

[01:18:34] place Saturday June 8th at reckless

[01:18:36] brewing company with raffles food

[01:18:38] and an amazing community

[01:18:40] hike that weekend or any day you

[01:18:42] want no fundraising minimums

[01:18:44] required but those who raise $100

[01:18:46] will receive this year's performance

[01:18:48] grade purple t-shirt.

[01:18:49] Let's turn the white mountains purple

[01:18:51] to end all timers visit

[01:18:53] alts.org

[01:18:55] right slash 48 peaks

[01:18:57] alts.org

[01:18:59] right slash the number 48 peaks

[01:19:01] I'm looking forward to that. We're getting close.

[01:19:03] Yeah, it's going to be fun. Are you DJing there?

[01:19:05] Yeah.

[01:19:06] You are.

[01:19:07] Yeah, I just signed up for the hikes but

[01:19:09] cool.

[01:19:10] What you got cooking?

[01:19:12] I'm on Lynn Sweezy's team

[01:19:14] so I'm trying to get knobby hikes

[01:19:16] to do it and then I'm assuming we're going hiking

[01:19:18] that day and then going reckless but

[01:19:20] I don't know. I gotta find out.

[01:19:22] Yeah, sounds good.

[01:19:23] Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's always good time.

[01:19:25] Hang out with all the good folks.

[01:19:27] Raising money and going on a hike. It'll be fun.

[01:19:30] And drinking beer.

[01:19:32] Drinking beer.

[01:19:33] And listen to music.

[01:19:34] Yes.

[01:19:35] At the end anyway.

[01:19:36] Yeah.

[01:19:38] It's time for Slasher's

[01:19:55] Guest of the Week.

[01:19:57] Very cool. Very cool.

[01:20:09] Alright, Eric are you ready

[01:20:11] for your big segment? Your big moment?

[01:20:13] I'm ready for my close-up.

[01:20:15] See, you didn't even, you sort of forget

[01:20:17] you're on a podcast right?

[01:20:20] No.

[01:20:23] I didn't forget that.

[01:20:24] I think something about being

[01:20:26] in a strange place

[01:20:28] with a whole bunch of gear in front of me but yeah.

[01:20:31] It's okay. It's all good.

[01:20:34] And Stomp is definitely a strange person

[01:20:36] so good luck to you after we stopped recording

[01:20:38] and I shut this off. I don't know what's going to happen.

[01:20:41] Right.

[01:20:42] But Stomp why don't you kick it off

[01:20:44] and give a little bit of background on how you

[01:20:46] became aware of Eric

[01:20:48] and how we ended up getting him on the show?

[01:20:51] I was trying to think.

[01:20:52] I mean it had to be via social media

[01:20:54] but I can only remember maybe

[01:20:56] posting about my favorite band

[01:20:58] in the universe and yours as well

[01:21:00] or one of your favorites.

[01:21:02] Yes.

[01:21:03] Level 42.

[01:21:04] I think that was the clincher that sort of connected us.

[01:21:06] Super random.

[01:21:07] Yeah.

[01:21:08] It was so random.

[01:21:09] Because I thought that there was

[01:21:11] no other fan of that band

[01:21:13] ever in the universe

[01:21:15] and then all of a sudden you popped up and...

[01:21:17] Yeah.

[01:21:19] Well there's not...

[01:21:20] There weren't that many in the US

[01:21:22] but they were hugely popular.

[01:21:24] So we're talking about...

[01:21:26] Level 42.

[01:21:27] Level 42.

[01:21:28] This is a British band

[01:21:29] that became popular in the 80s and 90s.

[01:21:34] Something about you?

[01:21:35] That was probably their...

[01:21:37] That was their entry to US Airwaves

[01:21:40] was that track.

[01:21:44] But yeah.

[01:21:47] I think you put something on your Instagram.

[01:21:50] We're talking about like

[01:21:52] 2020, 2019.

[01:21:54] I mean it's a while ago.

[01:21:56] Like the guitarist passed away.

[01:21:59] Right.

[01:22:00] And you put something on

[01:22:02] like a story on your Instagram

[01:22:04] like a throwaway.

[01:22:06] You know like a little...

[01:22:09] It was Bone wasn't it Bone?

[01:22:11] Yeah.

[01:22:12] And he puts this thing up

[01:22:14] and I'm like

[01:22:16] this has got to be just a coincidence.

[01:22:18] I thought maybe it was...

[01:22:20] Because I think I was following the Level 42

[01:22:22] like official account.

[01:22:24] So I assume it was from that.

[01:22:26] And I was like wait a minute.

[01:22:28] Worlds collide, what's going on here?

[01:22:30] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:22:31] And yeah we just communicated about that

[01:22:33] and you know it's like

[01:22:35] if you're wondering why I've got 42

[01:22:37] at the end of like all my social media accounts

[01:22:40] that's why.

[01:22:41] Right, right.

[01:22:42] It's a very funny bond.

[01:22:44] I mean it's just one of the most...

[01:22:46] It's pretty random, yeah.

[01:22:47] Underrated but most amazing bands out there

[01:22:49] but anyway.

[01:22:51] So I think that was the start of it.

[01:22:52] I'm not familiar with them.

[01:22:53] They like like...

[01:22:55] I like the water boys

[01:22:57] and like

[01:22:59] when in Rome

[01:23:00] like those types of like English

[01:23:02] shift pop bands.

[01:23:03] Pre-dates

[01:23:04] not predates

[01:23:05] but it's a little...

[01:23:06] a few years earlier than that.

[01:23:09] Yeah.

[01:23:10] Yeah it started out in this

[01:23:12] Brit Funk movement

[01:23:14] and there...

[01:23:15] Like madness?

[01:23:17] No, that Brit Funk stuff was more like

[01:23:20] think Earth Wind Fire

[01:23:22] but full white guys.

[01:23:24] Definitely more funk.

[01:23:26] And then they refined their funk

[01:23:29] into more of a pop style

[01:23:31] but they maintained that funk sensibility

[01:23:33] through all their pop

[01:23:35] and it was just beautiful music.

[01:23:37] And the catalog is absolutely amazing.

[01:23:40] Yeah, good stuff.

[01:23:42] Yeah.

[01:23:43] So that's it.

[01:23:46] Well there was the hiking

[01:23:48] and the hiking community

[01:23:50] and then that intersection of

[01:23:53] musical tastes I suppose.

[01:23:56] Yeah.

[01:23:57] And then so

[01:23:59] your prolific hiker Eric

[01:24:02] can you...

[01:24:04] Yeah start a little bit like

[01:24:06] what's your background?

[01:24:07] Can you talk about your early life

[01:24:09] and how did you get into

[01:24:11] I guess outdoor activities?

[01:24:13] Yeah.

[01:24:15] Well so from the Boston area originally

[01:24:18] and that's where I live now

[01:24:20] went to...

[01:24:21] college in upstate New York

[01:24:23] but really you know

[01:24:24] I'm kind of a product of the Northeast

[01:24:26] and

[01:24:29] my father was a hiker

[01:24:32] he

[01:24:34] is kind of interesting sort of

[01:24:36] dates wise

[01:24:40] he completed the then

[01:24:42] New Hampshire 46

[01:24:44] because you know where's originally

[01:24:46] 46 peaks I believe it was 1973

[01:24:52] and you know he was a huge fan

[01:24:54] of Malmonad knock

[01:24:56] and obviously coming up to the whites

[01:24:59] and I have two older sisters

[01:25:01] you know when we were old enough

[01:25:03] he would take us as well

[01:25:05] so that definitely you know planted the seed

[01:25:09] for

[01:25:11] not just hiking

[01:25:13] honestly I think

[01:25:15] the place

[01:25:17] the place is up here

[01:25:20] you know maybe more importantly

[01:25:22] than just like the physical action of hiking

[01:25:26] that's really what kind of got me

[01:25:28] I think from an early age

[01:25:30] interest in this area

[01:25:31] Yeah the culture, the whole culture is super cool

[01:25:34] you know I...

[01:25:35] so back then you could stay at

[01:25:38] okay so dating myself but we're

[01:25:40] if you look at my grid application

[01:25:42] I've got a couple peaks on there from

[01:25:44] 1979

[01:25:46] so

[01:25:47] Oh wow

[01:25:48] you know I had a few

[01:25:50] recorded hikes

[01:25:51] I'm sure there were others that

[01:25:54] I'll just never know the dates

[01:25:56] or the peaks

[01:25:57] I probably

[01:25:59] you know probably hiked 10 or 12

[01:26:02] 4,000 footers

[01:26:03] you know with my father and then

[01:26:07] some of them would have been multiple times

[01:26:10] we would stay at the huts

[01:26:12] back then you could stay at the hut for

[01:26:15] let's say a reasonable fee

[01:26:19] and yeah actually

[01:26:21] in coming back

[01:26:23] as an adult

[01:26:25] with my own son

[01:26:27] was able to locate a logbook

[01:26:29] entry at Lakes of the Clouds hut

[01:26:31] from 1979

[01:26:33] that I wrote

[01:26:35] so that was kind of cool

[01:26:37] yeah

[01:26:38] well that's interesting because that's a good way

[01:26:40] you know you got

[01:26:42] a lot of times at the huts like

[01:26:44] you've got that luxury of time

[01:26:46] to sit there for a couple of hours

[01:26:48] so you could just grab that book

[01:26:50] and just sort of poke through and

[01:26:52] yeah

[01:26:54] well they're all dated

[01:26:56] didn't take us too long to

[01:26:58] find that entry

[01:26:59] but I was

[01:27:01] it was just really weird it was like a time capsule

[01:27:03] yeah

[01:27:05] yeah but anyway

[01:27:06] finding your handwriting was

[01:27:08] quite different than it is now

[01:27:11] probably better than

[01:27:13] than it is now

[01:27:15] but yeah

[01:27:17] so yeah I mean

[01:27:19] there was a

[01:27:21] period of time

[01:27:22] you know in my teens

[01:27:23] and my early adulthood

[01:27:24] that I was just doing other things

[01:27:28] I

[01:27:29] was into

[01:27:31] cycling

[01:27:32] road cycling

[01:27:33] competitive road cycling

[01:27:34] and then mountain biking

[01:27:36] also competitively

[01:27:38] through college

[01:27:40] and

[01:27:42] yeah I think

[01:27:43] the trend overall was

[01:27:45] I wasn't doing a lot of hiking per se

[01:27:47] you know it might be like a once or twice a year type thing

[01:27:52] but it did seem like I was gravitating back to

[01:27:55] things in the dirt

[01:27:58] meaning

[01:27:59] you know I was really super into road cycling

[01:28:02] for example in my teens and my college years

[01:28:05] and then I started just getting into mountain biking

[01:28:07] and I was like I don't know

[01:28:09] I think I'm going to stick with this instead of

[01:28:11] the road biking

[01:28:14] and

[01:28:16] yeah

[01:28:18] you know

[01:28:20] I think later

[01:28:22] later on

[01:28:24] once my own son who's now 15

[01:28:26] got old enough to

[01:28:29] be able to

[01:28:31] get his way up a mountain on his own steam

[01:28:34] it was like oh okay

[01:28:35] maybe

[01:28:37] I'll get back into hiking

[01:28:39] and

[01:28:41] you know that probably

[01:28:43] you know up until like 2016-2017

[01:28:48] you know we'd go out

[01:28:50] again you know once or twice

[01:28:52] maybe three times a year

[01:28:54] in the summer

[01:28:56] and you know we'd stay at Hutz

[01:28:58] my wife, my son and I

[01:28:59] three of us would go

[01:29:02] and that probably got me a little

[01:29:06] you know re-acclimated to again

[01:29:08] the area

[01:29:10] you know it's not just going to hike a particular

[01:29:12] mountain or a route

[01:29:14] it's

[01:29:16] driving there

[01:29:17] and in some cases

[01:29:19] you know you've got an overnight

[01:29:20] you're staying in a motel

[01:29:21] or you know

[01:29:23] you've got

[01:29:24] you've got to get

[01:29:25] you know hey dad

[01:29:26] what's for dinner

[01:29:28] you know it's like okay

[01:29:29] we're going to

[01:29:30] well we're in Conway

[01:29:31] so we'll go to the muddy moose

[01:29:32] or

[01:29:33] you know we're in Lincoln so

[01:29:34] I don't know

[01:29:35] where do I go in Lincoln

[01:29:36] you know we'll go to Enzo's

[01:29:37] or whatever

[01:29:39] you know you sort of build that

[01:29:43] you know knowledge of

[01:29:46] you know how do you get

[01:29:47] how do you get up here

[01:29:48] and then kind of have a whole trip

[01:29:52] it's so much more than just like

[01:29:54] going from the trailhead

[01:29:55] doing the hike

[01:29:56] and then finishing the hike

[01:29:58] so yeah I think

[01:30:00] you know that sort of

[01:30:01] started to happen

[01:30:03] more as my son got older

[01:30:07] and

[01:30:09] in 2017

[01:30:11] my father passed away

[01:30:14] which is

[01:30:16] a notable milestone

[01:30:17] I don't know though

[01:30:18] it's so much

[01:30:19] you know like changed

[01:30:20] my outlook on hiking per se

[01:30:23] but I think it became

[01:30:25] it became more important

[01:30:27] that kind of connection

[01:30:30] of that event

[01:30:31] and the regular

[01:30:33] more or less weekly hike

[01:30:35] I mean I come up pretty much every week

[01:30:38] up here

[01:30:41] I think what really kind of

[01:30:44] created a kind of a catalyst

[01:30:47] moment for me in terms of you know

[01:30:50] in 2017 I had done a bunch of hikes

[01:30:51] with my son, my wife

[01:30:53] and I sort of started to

[01:30:57] you know keep track of that

[01:30:59] 48 list

[01:31:01] I essentially started over

[01:31:02] because as I said I only had

[01:31:04] you know like one hike

[01:31:06] that I had actually written down from

[01:31:08] from so long ago

[01:31:10] so kind of started over saying

[01:31:11] alright I've got two out of 48

[01:31:14] with this do-over

[01:31:16] was this after your father passed

[01:31:17] or did you get a chance to tell him

[01:31:19] like hey dad I'm getting into this again

[01:31:22] no it was after

[01:31:24] yeah

[01:31:27] so

[01:31:29] I think what really

[01:31:32] kind of made a big difference for me

[01:31:35] and again sort of random

[01:31:37] but I think it was August that year 2017

[01:31:40] I got a you know like some email newsletter

[01:31:43] from the AMC and it was

[01:31:46] you know any other day

[01:31:48] it might be something I would just delete

[01:31:50] like I might not even have read it

[01:31:52] but this day I looked at it

[01:31:53] scanned through it

[01:31:55] this is interesting

[01:31:56] AMC New Hampshire chapter

[01:31:57] is running a winter hiking series

[01:31:59] what's that about

[01:32:02] you know it's like a paragraph

[01:32:04] you know explains

[01:32:06] it's you know

[01:32:07] a number of group hikes

[01:32:08] it's you know

[01:32:10] hands-on instruction

[01:32:11] you're gonna have

[01:32:12] two days at Highland Lodge

[01:32:14] and there's gonna be classroom stuff

[01:32:16] and I was like

[01:32:17] that sounds interesting

[01:32:18] you know it never really occurred to me

[01:32:20] that people are hiking

[01:32:22] these trails through the winter

[01:32:24] not funny

[01:32:26] you know it's just

[01:32:27] crazy

[01:32:28] you just figure like well

[01:32:30] you know okay

[01:32:31] I did that last hike in the fall

[01:32:32] I guess I'm gonna be

[01:32:33] you know getting fat

[01:32:34] and drinking beer all winter

[01:32:36] or whatever

[01:32:38] so that sounded really interesting to me

[01:32:41] they wanted to screen you

[01:32:43] they wanted to have a quick phone call

[01:32:47] you know to make sure that

[01:32:50] you kind of understood what it was about

[01:32:51] and you weren't

[01:32:53] they weren't going to give you a slot

[01:32:55] you know on the roster

[01:32:56] and then you'd show up

[01:32:57] and be like yeah this is not what I thought

[01:33:00] so there's a phone screen

[01:33:01] and then

[01:33:02] yeah

[01:33:03] I got the last slot

[01:33:05] on that winter

[01:33:07] winter lineup

[01:33:08] so 2017

[01:33:11] you know December 2017

[01:33:14] took this

[01:33:16] class

[01:33:17] for lack of a better word

[01:33:19] with the Aimssey New Hampshire chapter

[01:33:21] and

[01:33:22] from like literally the first

[01:33:24] hike that we did

[01:33:26] I just could not believe it

[01:33:28] there was

[01:33:30] I think it was December

[01:33:32] and we hiked

[01:33:33] the first hike was

[01:33:35] Believe Mount Musilock

[01:33:37] from Glencliff

[01:33:38] and there's already snow on the ground

[01:33:40] and it was

[01:33:41] it already filled in

[01:33:43] you know essentially the rocks

[01:33:44] and the roots and all that

[01:33:46] and you know once you got

[01:33:48] you know half hour

[01:33:49] from the trailhead

[01:33:51] it's like a sidewalk

[01:33:53] and it's just like

[01:33:54] what?

[01:33:55] this is unreal

[01:33:57] and you know we lucked out that day

[01:33:59] we got you know up on the ridge

[01:34:01] and Musilocky

[01:34:03] and there's

[01:34:04] there's undercast and

[01:34:05] you know I'm just like

[01:34:06] I can't believe this

[01:34:08] so

[01:34:09] I mean literally the rest of history

[01:34:10] we got another one

[01:34:12] we got another one

[01:34:13] oh my god

[01:34:15] I just

[01:34:16] I don't know as though I had been

[01:34:17] bitten

[01:34:18] like that

[01:34:19] in a long time

[01:34:20] by something

[01:34:22] so yeah I mean honestly

[01:34:24] the rest of the story just writes itself

[01:34:27] 4000 footer

[01:34:28] you know

[01:34:29] a year later

[01:34:31] I finished the 48

[01:34:33] in Mount Jefferson

[01:34:35] in December of 2018

[01:34:39] and

[01:34:40] I think it was

[01:34:41] maybe a year later

[01:34:43] or a year and a half later

[01:34:45] I finished the winter list

[01:34:47] and then the four season list

[01:34:49] trail ride 72

[01:34:51] gets snuck in there

[01:34:52] at some point you're just like

[01:34:54] what am I going to do now

[01:34:56] and like

[01:34:58] you know

[01:34:59] I don't know if anyone starts out

[01:35:00] saying

[01:35:01] I'm going to do the New Hampshire grid

[01:35:03] like I'm going to start today

[01:35:04] with like peak one

[01:35:06] I don't know

[01:35:08] I'm sure it has happened

[01:35:09] and I know that there are people who

[01:35:11] you know set big goals

[01:35:13] like that and

[01:35:15] you know

[01:35:16] and just start and just grind through

[01:35:18] for me it was more like

[01:35:20] kind of eventually

[01:35:21] like I guess I'm doing this now

[01:35:24] and it wasn't

[01:35:26] that I didn't want to

[01:35:27] or that was like oh my god

[01:35:28] I have to do this

[01:35:29] it was more like

[01:35:30] I'm going to keep hiking

[01:35:31] I'm going to hike every week

[01:35:32] if I can

[01:35:34] I'm going to hike every month

[01:35:35] and every season

[01:35:38] and

[01:35:40] you know

[01:35:41] the grid and just

[01:35:42] quick definition

[01:35:44] it's the 48 peaks

[01:35:46] in all 12 months

[01:35:47] you don't have to do it over one year

[01:35:49] you can do it over many years

[01:35:51] but

[01:35:53] eventually at the end of it

[01:35:54] you've climbed

[01:35:55] each of those 48

[01:35:56] in each of the calendar month

[01:36:00] and just like

[01:36:01] it just turned into a way to give me a

[01:36:06] you know sort of a framework

[01:36:07] that

[01:36:08] okay

[01:36:09] I'm going to hike Friday

[01:36:10] I'm going to hike Saturday

[01:36:11] you know whatever the day is

[01:36:12] what am I going to hike

[01:36:14] well

[01:36:15] here's a list of

[01:36:17] what I'm chipping away at

[01:36:18] and

[01:36:20] I need these you know

[01:36:21] 12 peaks for April

[01:36:22] or May or whatever

[01:36:23] and

[01:36:25] based on maybe what I

[01:36:26] have done recently

[01:36:27] or you know

[01:36:28] the forecast

[01:36:29] trail conditions

[01:36:30] a thousand other

[01:36:31] like little factors

[01:36:33] I'll say okay

[01:36:34] this is the one I'm doing today

[01:36:38] people that do the grid

[01:36:39] or they get out a lot

[01:36:41] we always have an assumption

[01:36:42] that okay

[01:36:43] they're local to New Hampshire

[01:36:44] and they have the luxury

[01:36:45] of being able to like

[01:36:47] get out there and hike

[01:36:48] like maybe they go after work

[01:36:49] or whatever

[01:36:50] but you

[01:36:51] it's like from the beginning

[01:36:52] so you live down in the Boston area

[01:36:54] so can you talk logistically

[01:36:56] about how

[01:36:57] you've been able to

[01:36:58] I guess when do you

[01:36:59] get up to hike

[01:37:00] and then what

[01:37:01] what do you do to allow

[01:37:03] that allows you

[01:37:04] to have the time to get out

[01:37:06] yeah

[01:37:10] so

[01:37:11] like I mentioned earlier

[01:37:13] you know sort of when

[01:37:14] I started coming back here

[01:37:16] as an adult

[01:37:17] with my own family

[01:37:19] you sort of relearn

[01:37:21] how do you get to the trailhead

[01:37:22] and

[01:37:25] what food places are around

[01:37:27] what you know

[01:37:29] what clothes

[01:37:30] this one closes at 7.30

[01:37:32] yeah I can only get

[01:37:33] a burger until

[01:37:34] you know 7.30 or 8.00

[01:37:36] or whatever it is

[01:37:38] you learn all this stuff

[01:37:41] and a big part of that

[01:37:42] is yeah

[01:37:43] figuring out

[01:37:44] the routine of

[01:37:45] getting up here

[01:37:49] in every month of the year

[01:37:52] you know for me

[01:37:56] the hike starts

[01:37:57] pretty much the day before

[01:37:59] with

[01:38:00] you know getting

[01:38:01] my gear prepped

[01:38:04] you know I might need to do laundry

[01:38:05] and all that sort of stuff

[01:38:06] but you know like the

[01:38:08] the hike might only be

[01:38:10] you know 6-7 hours

[01:38:11] or whatever

[01:38:12] but from the day before

[01:38:15] until sometimes

[01:38:16] you know the day after

[01:38:17] even

[01:38:18] you know I'm sort of

[01:38:19] in that hike mode

[01:38:20] so

[01:38:22] yeah I mean coming up from Boston

[01:38:25] typically

[01:38:27] if I'm going to come up

[01:38:28] for the day

[01:38:31] which

[01:38:32] probably 2.30

[01:38:33] at the time

[01:38:34] I'm just doing

[01:38:35] an out and back trip

[01:38:38] you know I'm

[01:38:39] usually in the car

[01:38:40] you know in the fives

[01:38:42] you know on the road

[01:38:43] you know 515

[01:38:44] something like that

[01:38:45] you know

[01:38:46] get up to

[01:38:47] my commute

[01:38:48] from

[01:38:49] my house

[01:38:50] to

[01:38:51] Lincoln Woods

[01:38:52] which is

[01:38:53] sort of my benchmark

[01:38:55] we moved house

[01:38:56] just as a side note

[01:38:57] in 2020

[01:38:58] we moved

[01:38:59] and

[01:39:01] whenever we were

[01:39:02] looking at new places

[01:39:03] I was always like

[01:39:04] just putting in

[01:39:05] the address

[01:39:06] like Google Maps

[01:39:07] like how long

[01:39:08] is the drive to Lincoln Woods

[01:39:10] priorities

[01:39:11] yeah

[01:39:12] you know

[01:39:13] and my wife

[01:39:14] was like why are you funny

[01:39:16] and then similarly

[01:39:17] on a side note

[01:39:20] when we bought a new car

[01:39:22] I had a tape measure with me

[01:39:24] just making sure that

[01:39:25] the hashback in the trunk

[01:39:26] is at least 72 inches long

[01:39:30] nice

[01:39:32] sales people

[01:39:33] why are you measuring the trunk

[01:39:34] don't worry about it

[01:39:36] but yeah

[01:39:37] so

[01:39:38] out in back

[01:39:39] you know

[01:39:40] you're up when it's dark

[01:39:41] and you get back when it's dark

[01:39:42] and

[01:39:44] you know

[01:39:45] I'll hike all day

[01:39:46] and in fact

[01:39:50] the thing is that

[01:39:51] after a while

[01:39:54] you know the hike

[01:39:55] you know

[01:39:56] if I come up to hike

[01:39:57] the Hancocks

[01:39:58] in the summer

[01:40:01] you know

[01:40:02] it's going to take less time

[01:40:04] than it took for me to get there

[01:40:05] and get back

[01:40:06] from a car standpoint

[01:40:07] from driving standpoint

[01:40:08] so

[01:40:10] and a lot of people do this

[01:40:11] but you know

[01:40:12] my rule is the

[01:40:13] yeah the hiking time

[01:40:14] has to exceed the driving time

[01:40:17] and in some cases

[01:40:20] I'll come up

[01:40:21] and do an overnight

[01:40:22] or you know

[01:40:23] so I can do

[01:40:24] I'd get a really early start

[01:40:25] or I know

[01:40:26] I'm going to be finishing late

[01:40:27] I'm going to stay over

[01:40:29] so I don't have to drive back

[01:40:30] and you know

[01:40:31] get home at 1am

[01:40:32] or whatever

[01:40:34] of course when I stay over

[01:40:37] that usually means

[01:40:38] that I should

[01:40:39] get another hike in

[01:40:40] so you know

[01:40:41] either the day before

[01:40:42] the day after

[01:40:43] so yeah it's really like

[01:40:44] trying to pack in as much

[01:40:45] as possible

[01:40:46] and it's

[01:40:47] it's gotten to be that way

[01:40:49] it didn't start that way

[01:40:51] but yeah it's gotten to be

[01:40:52] that way

[01:40:53] do you

[01:40:55] do you string together

[01:40:57] a similar route

[01:40:59] when you're doing

[01:41:01] the 4,000 footers

[01:41:02] month to month

[01:41:03] you always just say

[01:41:04] like alright

[01:41:05] I'm going to do a Z-Bond's

[01:41:06] traverse

[01:41:07] or do you sometimes

[01:41:08] switch it up

[01:41:10] just to get some variety going

[01:41:13] yeah I try

[01:41:14] to switch it up

[01:41:17] I think I've been

[01:41:19] trying to

[01:41:21] generally hike things

[01:41:24] so that

[01:41:26] you know like

[01:41:27] whatever hike I'm about to do

[01:41:28] is the one that I've done

[01:41:29] most

[01:41:30] least recently

[01:41:31] you know what I mean

[01:41:32] there's only one case

[01:41:34] I can think of

[01:41:36] where I did the same hike

[01:41:37] like two weeks in a row

[01:41:39] you know like

[01:41:40] end of April beginning of May

[01:41:41] last year I hiked

[01:41:44] Mount Isolation

[01:41:45] two weeks in a row

[01:41:46] other than that

[01:41:47] it's usually it's been

[01:41:48] a couple months

[01:41:49] so yeah that

[01:41:50] seems to keep it fresh

[01:41:51] and as far as the

[01:41:53] specific routes

[01:41:55] you know again

[01:41:57] that changes a little bit too

[01:41:59] it used to be

[01:42:01] you know okay kinsmen's

[01:42:03] and now

[01:42:05] more often than not

[01:42:06] I try to include canon

[01:42:07] so it's canon and kinsmen's

[01:42:09] similarly with

[01:42:12] you know like

[01:42:13] Tri-Pyramids

[01:42:14] and Whiteface-Pasicanaway

[01:42:18] you know I've done that

[01:42:19] traverse so many times now

[01:42:21] I know it really well

[01:42:22] I'd rather just knock out

[01:42:24] of those four

[01:42:25] in one go

[01:42:27] rather than making it

[01:42:28] two separate hikes

[01:42:30] and that's an out-and-back

[01:42:31] so you're not

[01:42:32] spotting a car

[01:42:33] when you're doing that

[01:42:35] well I've done it

[01:42:36] both ways

[01:42:37] yeah the out-and-back

[01:42:38] adds distance

[01:42:40] that would be

[01:42:41] the other things

[01:42:42] and I know people do this

[01:42:43] and I've

[01:42:44] cribbed a lot of notes

[01:42:45] from other people

[01:42:46] but you come up

[01:42:47] with little names

[01:42:48] for these routes

[01:42:49] so

[01:42:50] you know

[01:42:51] yeah Whitepass Tri's

[01:42:52] would be your sandwich traverse

[01:42:54] yeah I call it

[01:42:55] Whitepass with a side of Tri's

[01:42:57] that would be

[01:42:59] doing

[01:43:00] that's great

[01:43:01] that's the Whitepass loop

[01:43:02] from Furncroft

[01:43:03] with an out-and-back

[01:43:04] to

[01:43:05] the Tri-Pyramids

[01:43:07] over Cate Sleeper

[01:43:09] back?

[01:43:10] so if you really like

[01:43:11] Cate Sleeper trail

[01:43:12] like I do

[01:43:13] then it's gorgeous

[01:43:14] it's not bad

[01:43:16] but yeah

[01:43:17] that probably adds

[01:43:18] another like

[01:43:19] fourish

[01:43:20] miles

[01:43:21] versus just doing it

[01:43:22] as a traverse

[01:43:23] the traverse does require

[01:43:25] a car spot

[01:43:26] or a bike spot

[01:43:29] and I've done both

[01:43:30] yeah when you're

[01:43:31] gonna do this solo

[01:43:35] I'll come up with my bike

[01:43:38] drive to all there

[01:43:39] in Brook Trailhead

[01:43:41] drop my bike

[01:43:42] drive back to Pine Bend

[01:43:45] and

[01:43:46] do my hike

[01:43:47] or reverse

[01:43:49] usually I try to get the bike

[01:43:50] out done at the beginning

[01:43:51] but yeah

[01:43:52] there's all sorts of combinations

[01:43:54] I've done a lot of bike spots

[01:43:56] and obviously

[01:43:57] if you've got a hiking partner

[01:43:59] you can do a car spot

[01:44:02] what's your general strategy

[01:44:03] for the Carter

[01:44:04] Wildcat Mariah section?

[01:44:08] try to do them all

[01:44:10] you do that traverse

[01:44:12] yeah

[01:44:13] that was

[01:44:14] one, two

[01:44:16] two weeks ago

[01:44:18] I don't know

[01:44:19] two or three weeks ago

[01:44:20] yeah I did that traverse

[01:44:21] with a friend of mine

[01:44:23] you know

[01:44:24] when there's snow on the ground

[01:44:25] you

[01:44:27] use the pole cat trail

[01:44:28] on

[01:44:30] Wildcat ski area

[01:44:32] but

[01:44:33] yeah

[01:44:35] I mean you don't have to do it that way

[01:44:37] the other way would

[01:44:38] I mean I've done

[01:44:40] you know Carter and Wildcats

[01:44:41] as a traverse

[01:44:42] or as an out and back

[01:44:43] you park at 19 mile Brook

[01:44:45] go up 19 mile

[01:44:46] out and back to the cats

[01:44:49] go up Carter

[01:44:50] to Carter Dome

[01:44:51] loop around

[01:44:52] and you take that little

[01:44:54] shortcut

[01:44:56] the

[01:44:57] what is it

[01:44:58] camp dodge

[01:44:59] yep

[01:45:00] and then it's like a quarter mile

[01:45:01] road walk back

[01:45:02] so that's a way to just do

[01:45:03] cats and carters

[01:45:04] which I think is what most people

[01:45:05] most people do

[01:45:06] yeah adding Mariah

[01:45:08] adds a bunch of

[01:45:10] extra

[01:45:11] walking basically

[01:45:12] yeah

[01:45:13] that's a long day though

[01:45:14] those carters are just

[01:45:16] they're a grind for me

[01:45:18] I mean they are

[01:45:19] and they're

[01:45:20] they're really super rugged

[01:45:22] you know but again

[01:45:23] if you think about just like

[01:45:24] efficiency and like can I

[01:45:26] I mean the

[01:45:27] the cats carters is like

[01:45:29] 6,500 feet a gain

[01:45:31] I want to say

[01:45:32] and then if you

[01:45:33] add Mariah

[01:45:34] you're talking about like

[01:45:35] 72, 73

[01:45:37] so

[01:45:39] you know

[01:45:40] it's in terms of

[01:45:41] time on the trail

[01:45:42] it's you know it's more efficient to do that

[01:45:44] you just have to plan for

[01:45:46] a longer day

[01:45:47] and

[01:45:49] you know it's like

[01:45:50] bring more food

[01:45:52] make sure you've got

[01:45:53] a water solution

[01:45:55] that was a little tricky

[01:45:57] you know a few weeks back

[01:45:58] because

[01:45:59] nothing was really running

[01:46:01] we did find a little bit of water

[01:46:02] right

[01:46:03] I think it was right around

[01:46:04] Zeta Pass

[01:46:05] it was

[01:46:06] you know sometimes there's

[01:46:09] you know this

[01:46:10] running water

[01:46:11] this melt water

[01:46:13] available so

[01:46:14] we were okay but

[01:46:17] yeah

[01:46:18] you know

[01:46:19] there's a lot of planning

[01:46:20] you know stuff like that

[01:46:22] I could think

[01:46:23] of cases a few years ago

[01:46:25] where

[01:46:26] if I was going to do that with a friend

[01:46:29] you know we would be

[01:46:30] texting and communicating

[01:46:31] back and forth

[01:46:32] like for days

[01:46:33] you know like

[01:46:34] what like how

[01:46:35] like what are we going to do

[01:46:36] where are we going to meet

[01:46:37] you know

[01:46:38] what's plan B

[01:46:39] you know what if we need to bail

[01:46:40] whatever

[01:46:41] and

[01:46:42] you know now I think

[01:46:43] with the benefit of that stuff

[01:46:45] being having been

[01:46:47] discussed and sorted out

[01:46:49] now it's like hey do you want to

[01:46:50] do a WCM this weekend

[01:46:52] yeah okay

[01:46:53] what time do you want to meet

[01:46:55] you know 630 at Bangor Street

[01:46:56] okay and that's

[01:46:57] that's it

[01:46:58] that's like the extent of planning

[01:47:01] but

[01:47:02] you know because it's our

[01:47:03] the planning is

[01:47:04] it's already been done before

[01:47:05] it's not because

[01:47:06] we're not being careful

[01:47:07] you know

[01:47:08] so anyway I don't know if that

[01:47:09] answer your question

[01:47:11] but yeah the tendency has been

[01:47:12] yeah

[01:47:14] yeah

[01:47:15] yeah because that's

[01:47:16] that section there

[01:47:17] and then I think the other one

[01:47:19] I would assume in the warmer months

[01:47:20] like you're doing some kind of a

[01:47:21] Pammy loop

[01:47:22] or you're doing the

[01:47:23] you know presidential traverse

[01:47:24] to knock off like big numbers

[01:47:25] but

[01:47:26] the other one that always

[01:47:27] sort of trips me up is

[01:47:30] you know the twins

[01:47:32] and

[01:47:33] getting Hale

[01:47:34] and Zeland

[01:47:35] Don although

[01:47:36] Zeland Bonch

[01:47:37] reverse you get that knocked out

[01:47:38] but

[01:47:39] that's another one

[01:47:40] that I think is a little bit tricky

[01:47:41] Gale head

[01:47:43] if you're

[01:47:44] if you're doing that in the winter

[01:47:46] Gale yeah

[01:47:47] Gale has been

[01:47:49] a bad spot to combine

[01:47:51] with some of those other ones

[01:47:53] I really like the

[01:47:56] it's a twin Z Hale

[01:47:58] is what

[01:47:59] how I kind of

[01:48:00] shorthanded

[01:48:01] it's that loop

[01:48:02] you know you'd go in from

[01:48:03] North Twin Trailhead

[01:48:04] go up North Twin

[01:48:05] I guess you could do it either way

[01:48:06] but I usually would do it

[01:48:07] counterclockwise

[01:48:10] twins

[01:48:11] go down Twinway

[01:48:12] over to Gio

[01:48:14] it's

[01:48:15] really nice

[01:48:16] section of the Twinway

[01:48:19] and then continue along

[01:48:20] Twinway

[01:48:21] hit Zealand

[01:48:23] you get to Zealand Falls

[01:48:24] and then you basically got to

[01:48:25] do that climb back up

[01:48:26] and over Hale

[01:48:28] and then you exit Firewarden

[01:48:30] which is

[01:48:31] people know it's

[01:48:33] kind of

[01:48:35] quasi official trail

[01:48:36] it's like a weird dotted line

[01:48:38] I don't think it's on the AMC map

[01:48:41] all the app maps

[01:48:43] it's on other maps

[01:48:44] yeah the

[01:48:46] I don't know I'm blanking on the name

[01:48:47] but there's a really nice

[01:48:48] like printed

[01:48:51] you know laminated map

[01:48:52] you can buy the whites

[01:48:55] that's got it

[01:48:57] so yeah

[01:48:58] that's sort of one of my

[01:48:59] but yeah you don't get

[01:49:00] Gale head that way

[01:49:02] yeah now did you find

[01:49:04] April

[01:49:05] and being like the most difficult

[01:49:07] month to do the grid

[01:49:08] with the with the water

[01:49:09] crossings

[01:49:10] and the melt and

[01:49:12] I think everything else

[01:49:13] that comes with the mud season

[01:49:15] well the one of the things

[01:49:16] so it's

[01:49:17] it's like that

[01:49:18] pay now pay later

[01:49:20] as I say

[01:49:22] you know so

[01:49:24] other this first couple years

[01:49:27] it's super in style

[01:49:29] like when spring comes around

[01:49:30] for everyone to start complaining about

[01:49:33] you know the snow sucks

[01:49:34] or post-hold or

[01:49:36] you know

[01:49:37] the trail conditions are

[01:49:38] are terrible whatever

[01:49:40] and you know people do other things

[01:49:41] so yeah I

[01:49:43] did the bill not traverse

[01:49:44] and you know I did some other

[01:49:46] like little projects

[01:49:48] in other places

[01:49:49] and

[01:49:51] then

[01:49:52] unsurprisingly

[01:49:53] towards the end of my grid

[01:49:54] I was like I

[01:49:55] I've got

[01:49:56] a whole bunch of crap

[01:49:57] I have to do in April

[01:49:59] you know because

[01:50:00] I basically just put it off

[01:50:03] but

[01:50:04] you know some years are different than others

[01:50:06] the very beginning of April

[01:50:08] looks a lot like winter

[01:50:09] and the snowpack is

[01:50:11] you know just like winter so

[01:50:14] you know

[01:50:16] isolation

[01:50:19] is a good one

[01:50:20] to try to get done early

[01:50:22] because it just

[01:50:23] turns into

[01:50:24] a real mess

[01:50:25] and whatnot

[01:50:27] so yeah there

[01:50:28] you know yeah

[01:50:29] you figure out where the pitfalls are

[01:50:31] some trails are better than others

[01:50:33] when I did isolation in May

[01:50:35] I

[01:50:37] did an out and back

[01:50:38] from

[01:50:39] Bootsburg Trail

[01:50:41] so I was like so committed to just avoiding

[01:50:43] Rocky Branch

[01:50:46] and then you know

[01:50:47] you see people

[01:50:49] along Davis path

[01:50:50] getting close to the summit there

[01:50:51] that came up Rocky Branch

[01:50:53] and you know it's there like

[01:50:54] the first time that they've

[01:50:55] they've been up isolation

[01:50:56] and they might be

[01:50:58] you know early on in the list and they just

[01:51:00] they just look like so

[01:51:02] demoralized like haven't come up that way

[01:51:05] so yeah you figure that stuff

[01:51:07] out over time

[01:51:08] and

[01:51:09] you get smarter about it

[01:51:11] in terms of what's

[01:51:12] what's going to be

[01:51:14] you know like

[01:51:15] less work than other

[01:51:17] other possible routes

[01:51:18] or other possible timing options

[01:51:21] with your with your background

[01:51:23] in competitive

[01:51:24] or you know competitive cycling

[01:51:26] and it sounds like you're a cardio king

[01:51:28] type of guy in a

[01:51:29] similar background running

[01:51:31] and cycling but

[01:51:33] how do you stay motivated

[01:51:34] is it just

[01:51:35] is that something that you've always had

[01:51:36] where you've been able to just stay

[01:51:38] motivated with

[01:51:39] with interns

[01:51:40] activities or do you eventually

[01:51:42] get bored and you're looking to switch things up

[01:51:44] during the activity or like

[01:51:46] just as a

[01:51:47] like long arc project

[01:51:49] to get it to get out

[01:51:50] get out of bed and get in the car

[01:51:51] yeah I mean

[01:51:54] so you know my

[01:51:55] hiking

[01:51:57] schedule is

[01:52:00] you know it's sort of varied over the years

[01:52:02] there have been some

[01:52:03] periods of time where I've had

[01:52:05] flexibility to

[01:52:07] pick a day during the week

[01:52:09] and hike

[01:52:10] and then

[01:52:12] there's been other

[01:52:13] you know cases

[01:52:14] and now is a bit more like that

[01:52:16] where I'm mostly

[01:52:17] weekend hiking

[01:52:19] today notwithstanding

[01:52:20] but yeah you know it's like when

[01:52:22] you know

[01:52:24] the only day I have to hike this week is

[01:52:26] like this is the day

[01:52:27] and the weather looks like crap

[01:52:29] and

[01:52:31] you know like oh

[01:52:32] like I guess I'm gonna be

[01:52:33] you know looking at my list

[01:52:34] and what I need is

[01:52:35] oh I'm gonna hike Ossiella's

[01:52:37] you know again or whatever

[01:52:41] yeah there can be some motivation

[01:52:43] you know elements

[01:52:44] there's been only probably like

[01:52:46] one or two cases where

[01:52:47] I woke up and I was like

[01:52:49] I just can't do it

[01:52:50] right and that's usually been

[01:52:52] for some other you know like I just

[01:52:54] didn't feel well or whatever

[01:52:56] although

[01:52:57] there's been more cases that

[01:52:59] I got ready to go

[01:53:01] and I woke up and I was like

[01:53:03] I just I don't feel like

[01:53:05] I got felt fine it just was tired

[01:53:07] and I'm like I gotta do it anyway

[01:53:09] so

[01:53:10] and I have found even motivationally

[01:53:12] sometimes

[01:53:13] you know you're just like blah

[01:53:15] like I don't really feel like doing

[01:53:17] that at all

[01:53:19] and especially if it's been a little

[01:53:21] while like it's

[01:53:23] if I missed a week

[01:53:24] which you know happens

[01:53:26] occasionally

[01:53:27] and I'm like I could take it or leave it

[01:53:29] I actually know

[01:53:31] from experience now that if

[01:53:34] once I'm out there on the trail

[01:53:36] I'm gonna be so happy that I decided

[01:53:38] to go

[01:53:39] and that has always actually been the case

[01:53:44] I

[01:53:45] literally cannot recall

[01:53:47] ever having a bad hike

[01:53:49] but yeah I might have had to

[01:53:52] play a little bit of you know

[01:53:54] mind games with myself to get

[01:53:56] to get things going

[01:53:58] and of course some seasons like in the winter

[01:54:01] I mean

[01:54:03] it's

[01:54:04] you know I got up at 4.30

[01:54:06] I got to the trailhead at 7.30

[01:54:08] it's like it's still dark

[01:54:09] you know

[01:54:10] and then it's

[01:54:12] you know the sun's it's dark at 4.15

[01:54:14] you know so yeah there

[01:54:16] you go through some phases where you're like

[01:54:18] this seems weird

[01:54:19] like any normal person looking at me

[01:54:21] would say this is

[01:54:23] what the hell why are you doing this

[01:54:26] right exactly

[01:54:27] so I

[01:54:29] I don't know

[01:54:30] this is the opposite of fun

[01:54:31] yeah

[01:54:32] yeah

[01:54:33] so

[01:54:34] but you do you

[01:54:35] you do end up finding your people

[01:54:37] and

[01:54:38] oh yeah

[01:54:39] you know there is a group of

[01:54:41] crazy hikers you know you get to know them

[01:54:43] over time but can you talk about that

[01:54:45] a little bit like how have you

[01:54:48] have you been more of like a solo person

[01:54:50] or have you found your tribe

[01:54:52] and gotten able to

[01:54:54] have you been able to get out with it

[01:54:55] with a bunch of people

[01:54:56] and so I find like that's

[01:54:58] right now I found over the last

[01:55:00] probably year and a half two years

[01:55:02] that I did a lot of solo stuff

[01:55:04] and now that I've been there done that a bit

[01:55:06] it's gone back and forth

[01:55:08] and for me honestly people over the last couple years

[01:55:11] you know I talked about that winter hiking series so

[01:55:13] when I started really

[01:55:16] let's say more seriously

[01:55:18] getting into hiking

[01:55:20] I was doing I was doing these group hikes

[01:55:23] you know the first couple years

[01:55:25] especially in the winter

[01:55:27] I was doing you know

[01:55:29] random group what is it RGOH

[01:55:31] random group hikers you know which is like

[01:55:33] a long running meetup group

[01:55:36] northeast over 40 there you know there's

[01:55:39] probably three or four

[01:55:42] groups on meetup that do

[01:55:45] hikes year-round

[01:55:47] in addition to the AMC

[01:55:49] hikes which are also happening

[01:55:51] so yeah I was doing all

[01:55:53] sorts of stuff like that I mean

[01:55:55] dozens and dozens of those and

[01:55:59] I threw

[01:56:01] those interactions with other

[01:56:03] literally just like random hikers

[01:56:06] yeah I did meet other people who

[01:56:08] then became

[01:56:10] you know regular hiking partners

[01:56:12] you know not through meetups just

[01:56:14] stuff that we were doing you know on the side

[01:56:17] so I met people that way and

[01:56:20] you know met people through social media

[01:56:23] so yeah that's part of my background

[01:56:26] I think once I got into this like

[01:56:29] mission mode with

[01:56:32] the grid with we'll say G1

[01:56:35] grid 1

[01:56:38] there were a lot of cases where

[01:56:40] the hike that I

[01:56:42] you know wanted to do slash needed to do

[01:56:44] or hikes like if I was going to do

[01:56:46] two hikes in a day you know and the

[01:56:48] day a week that I had to do it's like

[01:56:51] the juice is like not worth the squeeze

[01:56:53] to try to find a partner so I just became

[01:56:56] comfortable honestly with

[01:56:58] being able to do some of these solo

[01:57:00] hikes

[01:57:02] and at this point

[01:57:04] like I'll literally just do anything

[01:57:06] you know solo or not

[01:57:08] you know

[01:57:10] I am generally

[01:57:14] you know doing the same routes repeatedly

[01:57:17] and just on a side note because that's

[01:57:19] something that people think about or talk about

[01:57:21] with you know the grid is

[01:57:23] you know so you're just doing the same thing

[01:57:25] over and over the same roots it's like

[01:57:27] I mean technically yeah

[01:57:29] and that's one way to look at it

[01:57:32] something that's become really

[01:57:34] important and sort of

[01:57:36] meaningful for me is the familiarity

[01:57:38] of the

[01:57:40] mounds up here

[01:57:42] they feel like home

[01:57:44] in a weird way and

[01:57:46] I know a lot of people feel that way

[01:57:48] other gridders you know

[01:57:50] there's a lot of people doing what I'm doing too

[01:57:52] just put that out there

[01:57:54] I'm not unique

[01:57:56] but yeah

[01:57:58] you know just

[01:58:00] really feeling comfortable up here

[01:58:02] as a place that I

[01:58:04] wanted to spend time

[01:58:06] whether I'm you know going sort of

[01:58:08] slow or fast

[01:58:10] you know want to be able to

[01:58:12] smell the roses proverbially

[01:58:14] listen to the birds and all that so

[01:58:16] yeah I think I just

[01:58:18] sort of got comfortable with being able to

[01:58:20] get the hikes done

[01:58:22] whether I had company or not

[01:58:24] and again

[01:58:28] I just like being here so

[01:58:30] I didn't necessarily

[01:58:32] need someone to talk to

[01:58:34] that being said

[01:58:36] and people who I hike with

[01:58:38] a lot will probably tell you

[01:58:40] I need to be entertained

[01:58:42] so

[01:58:44] so if I'm hiking with people

[01:58:46] like you better bring some conversation

[01:58:48] there's got to be some entertainment value

[01:58:50] otherwise I might as well just be hiking by myself

[01:58:52] yeah so

[01:58:54] and you know I try to bring it too

[01:58:56] I try to be

[01:58:58] you know

[01:59:00] honestly the hikers that

[01:59:02] we partner with for the most part

[01:59:04] are other solo hikers

[01:59:06] and

[01:59:08] so the philosophy

[01:59:10] is very similar

[01:59:12] and you know we

[01:59:14] get together and you know whoever it is

[01:59:16] and we connect and

[01:59:18] you know I think

[01:59:20] I also prefer hiking with

[01:59:22] ideally you know if I'm going to hike with someone

[01:59:24] with just one other person

[01:59:26] you know maybe two or three

[01:59:28] is okay

[01:59:30] but I'm not going in total

[01:59:32] or you know three or four people in total

[01:59:34] but yeah generally I'm not going

[01:59:36] in big groups

[01:59:38] but I have done that

[01:59:40] that is in my background

[01:59:42] and I have no problem with

[01:59:44] other groups

[01:59:46] but yeah for me personally

[01:59:48] being solo

[01:59:50] or in a small group seems to be my sweet spot

[01:59:52] and then as far as the routes go

[01:59:54] do you have any like weird

[01:59:56] out of the norm trails

[01:59:58] like Israel Ridge when you have to do like

[02:00:00] Adams and Jefferson or is there anything

[02:00:02] that sticks out to you as far as your

[02:00:04] your routes that you

[02:00:06] think people would hear and go oh wow I

[02:00:08] wouldn't have a thought to go that way

[02:00:10] okay well boot spray was a good example

[02:00:12] to get to isolation but is there any others

[02:00:14] right yeah

[02:00:16] um probably a whole bunch

[02:00:18] I mean

[02:00:20] yeah the boot spray

[02:00:22] and you can go up Glen Boulder trail

[02:00:24] out in back I've done that one too

[02:00:26] that's fine um I just like boots

[02:00:28] burr better than Glen Boulder

[02:00:30] um or slide peak I guess

[02:00:32] is the one that's close there but

[02:00:34] um

[02:00:36] yeah I mean I mentioned that

[02:00:38] you know white tri pass

[02:00:40] um you know the sandwich

[02:00:42] traverse is what people call it that one

[02:00:44] you know I've got different stories

[02:00:46] usually the

[02:00:48] when things get weird it's usually

[02:00:50] in winter conditions or spring conditions

[02:00:52] um you know

[02:00:54] uh

[02:00:56] and I've heard other people doing

[02:00:58] this too so this is not something that

[02:01:00] I invented but um

[02:01:02] when you when you if you're

[02:01:04] gonna go from

[02:01:06] well I guess in either direction but

[02:01:08] the issue is that

[02:01:10] the South Tri-Pyramid slide gets

[02:01:12] snow on it uh at a

[02:01:14] high angle it

[02:01:16] could be avalanche prone but

[02:01:18] it's definitely slip

[02:01:20] fall and go for a long slide

[02:01:22] uh prone and

[02:01:24] I've been both at the

[02:01:26] you know

[02:01:28] Kate Sleeper Junction trying to go west

[02:01:30] as well as it's top of

[02:01:32] South Tri-Pyramid trying to

[02:01:34] go east and looking at that

[02:01:36] you know slide and saying

[02:01:38] this doesn't seem good um

[02:01:40] long story short you can bush whack

[02:01:42] uh from the summit

[02:01:44] of South Tri-Pyramid pretty much directly

[02:01:46] down to Kate Sleeper trail

[02:01:48] um and that avoids

[02:01:50] the slide all together and

[02:01:52] it just makes it

[02:01:54] um much safer in my

[02:01:56] my opinion

[02:01:58] um and so that's

[02:02:00] I don't know if I call that a weird route but it's definitely

[02:02:02] kind of a hack um and again

[02:02:04] you know in the case where you're just

[02:02:06] gonna do all four um at one

[02:02:08] in one go if you're gonna do that

[02:02:10] in you know winter

[02:02:12] or winter conditions um

[02:02:14] that's really helpful to know

[02:02:16] that uh that's a sort of a cut you can

[02:02:18] take so yeah I mean

[02:02:20] there's lots of other examples I haven't

[02:02:22] done that atrial ridge um

[02:02:24] I did do castle ridge

[02:02:26] um

[02:02:28] my friend uh Eric

[02:02:30] um

[02:02:32] that's another thing is a lot of

[02:02:34] a lot of hikers up here named Eric yeah I noticed

[02:02:36] that um so

[02:02:38] yeah but anyway this is

[02:02:40] my other friend Eric um

[02:02:42] not sweet uh

[02:02:44] Eric Munch if people know him

[02:02:46] um

[02:02:48] but uh yeah I was like hey I

[02:02:50] think I needed Jefferson for my winter list

[02:02:52] or something and he said oh what if we make it a jam

[02:02:54] you know Jefferson Adams Madison

[02:02:56] and I said okay fine whatever and it was

[02:02:58] I think four of us were going and

[02:03:00] you know usually you would

[02:03:02] do some kind of a

[02:03:04] you know valley way maybe

[02:03:06] go down jewel trail or whatever but no

[02:03:08] he's like oh well let's

[02:03:10] let's go up castle trail

[02:03:12] well

[02:03:14] long story short in the winter yeah we

[02:03:16] broke out that whole trail from the

[02:03:18] highway it took us five hours

[02:03:20] from route two to summit mount

[02:03:22] Jefferson ten minutes

[02:03:24] after we get to the summit

[02:03:26] uh like a group of like

[02:03:28] high school kids come up after us

[02:03:30] like like if we had just

[02:03:32] waited to start

[02:03:34] later like they would have done all

[02:03:36] the work but yeah

[02:03:38] so anyway but yeah

[02:03:40] that's that's like a harder way to do that

[02:03:42] um you know so

[02:03:44] and there were other lessons learned there

[02:03:46] including that Jefferson snow field

[02:03:48] uh which people get hung up on but

[02:03:50] yeah I don't know

[02:03:52] this you know I think there's still

[02:03:54] a lot that I haven't figured out

[02:03:56] and I have left to learn and

[02:03:58] I kind of like it that way um but

[02:04:00] uh yeah you do

[02:04:02] figure out ways over time to

[02:04:04] avoid pitfalls and

[02:04:06] you know hopefully finish the height

[02:04:08] that you intended to

[02:04:10] um although there's been

[02:04:12] ones that I had to bail on for various reasons

[02:04:14] um

[02:04:16] but yeah

[02:04:18] so you had mentioned earlier

[02:04:20] when we were before we started recording

[02:04:22] that you had been doing some trail work today

[02:04:24] so can you talk about um

[02:04:26] the trail work that you've done and

[02:04:28] about the trail rights 72

[02:04:30] yeah yeah sure

[02:04:32] so the the trail

[02:04:34] work um well for me

[02:04:36] I think

[02:04:38] honestly the way that

[02:04:40] concept came up was

[02:04:42] you know you go through

[02:04:44] these AMC patch

[02:04:46] you know lists whatever

[02:04:48] and the four seasons list

[02:04:50] is

[02:04:52] has a twist which is you know you height

[02:04:54] the 48 in the four seasons

[02:04:56] um

[02:04:58] but then you also

[02:05:00] uh are

[02:05:02] required to do 48 hours

[02:05:04] of trail work

[02:05:06] and that would be you know sanctioned

[02:05:08] trail work for um

[02:05:10] a trail organization you know not just like going

[02:05:12] out in the woods with a saw um

[02:05:14] by yourself um

[02:05:16] so yeah so that

[02:05:18] was like oh well okay

[02:05:20] I didn't even finish the four seasons list

[02:05:22] I just knew that

[02:05:24] there's something I probably should start chipping away at

[02:05:26] and

[02:05:28] uh I don't know maybe this is

[02:05:30] just a personality issue

[02:05:32] with me but I was like well

[02:05:34] I just adopted trail and that way

[02:05:36] you know I can go out and do trail

[02:05:38] trail work whenever I want

[02:05:40] um so yeah a long story short

[02:05:42] that's essentially what I did

[02:05:44] it's not difficult at all

[02:05:46] to adopt a trail up here

[02:05:48] um

[02:05:50] for the white mountain national forest

[02:05:52] each district so

[02:05:54] you know Pemi district Sacco

[02:05:56] and Andrew Skoggin

[02:05:58] they each have their own trail adopter

[02:06:00] uh programs

[02:06:02] and you know just a side note

[02:06:04] for other people that might be interested

[02:06:06] um if you know you want to know

[02:06:08] oh gee I wonder if there's any trails

[02:06:10] that need adopt adopt

[02:06:12] um so

[02:06:14] um

[02:06:16] um

[02:06:18] um

[02:06:20] um

[02:06:22] um

[02:06:24] um

[02:06:26] um

[02:06:28] um

[02:06:30] um

[02:06:34] um

[02:06:41] um

[02:06:44] um

[02:06:50] um

[02:06:52] um

[02:06:58] I think discovered that he likes trail work more than peak

[02:07:03] back. And so when you see him out on the trail,

[02:07:06] he's working and he, he's like retired,

[02:07:08] but I think he's doing three or four days of trail work a week.

[02:07:13] So, you know, some people really get into it. And yeah,

[02:07:18] so I adopted this trail. This is in 2020. It's blueberry mountain trail,

[02:07:23] which is,

[02:07:26] uh, I would call a foothill of Mount Musilaki.

[02:07:32] It's in Benton, New Hampshire. Right? This is, um, you know,

[02:07:36] adjacent to like you list. Yeah. Exactly.

[02:07:42] And yeah, it's a, it's a sweet mountain. It's the trail itself is,

[02:07:49] there are two approaches like there's a northern and a southern terminus,

[02:07:54] that obviously both go to the summit. Um,

[02:07:58] the whole trail end to end. So, you know,

[02:08:01] from the south terminus over the summit to the north terminus is four and a half

[02:08:05] miles. So, um, when I do trail work and I'll,

[02:08:10] I'll talk a little bit about what that entails. But when I do trail work,

[02:08:13] I basically am, uh,

[02:08:16] driving up parking at the southern terminus and then I just hike out and

[02:08:21] back to the north terminus. So I summit twice, um,

[02:08:25] and that system actually works really well because I can,

[02:08:30] you know, uh,

[02:08:32] I can sort of gauge how much work I'm going to have to do on my way out.

[02:08:36] And then, you know, if there's 20 blow downs, like,

[02:08:39] I might not have the time energy or just will to take all them out.

[02:08:45] But by the time I get to, you know,

[02:08:47] that far trailhead, I've seen all,

[02:08:50] I've seen all the work that needs to be done and they're like, all right, you know,

[02:08:54] I'll take out these 10 or 12 or what it like the,

[02:08:57] the ones that are really blocking and then I'll leave some of these other ones

[02:09:01] for another day because those are stepovers. You know, like,

[02:09:04] no one is getting, uh,

[02:09:05] no one is going to create a herd path around that,

[02:09:07] that log or that, uh, that fallen tree. So, um, anyway,

[02:09:12] that's kind of the strategy. And yeah, it's a super nice trail. Um,

[02:09:16] the summit itself is like 2,600 feet. So it's not, um,

[02:09:21] it's not like a huge lift. Yeah.

[02:09:23] It's been on our radar for my wife and I. Yeah. Yeah.

[02:09:27] It's great hike for, I think it's a great family hike. You know,

[02:09:31] it's there's nothing that's really going to create problems in

[02:09:36] terms of footing. Um, it would be a great dog, uh, dog root.

[02:09:42] And yeah, it's got some nice views.

[02:09:46] It's sort of like it's kind of getting grown in. Like it may be one of those ones

[02:09:50] that I don't know, 10, 15 years from now, like it may,

[02:09:53] the views may be disappearing a bit, but it's a, um,

[02:09:58] it's a fun little hike. And I would assume in the winter,

[02:10:01] you're probably not getting that much traffic because I think that road's

[02:10:04] not accessible. So you have to walk down the road a little ways and, um,

[02:10:09] I would imagine it doesn't get on.

[02:10:12] It gets some, um,

[02:10:14] I've only been there in the winter one time actually,

[02:10:17] and it was two years ago and it was, you know,

[02:10:20] at the beginning of January and there had been a bunch of rain and

[02:10:24] I saw a trail report.

[02:10:25] Someone put up saying that there was no snow whatsoever on blueberry mountain,

[02:10:30] but there were a bunch of blow downs. So at the time,

[02:10:34] my January grid was in good shape. Um, and so yeah,

[02:10:37] I made a trip up there, um, in the winter.

[02:10:40] And I think I took, took out like 22 blow downs in that one.

[02:10:44] One trip. So that, yeah, it does get, uh, it does get some winter use.

[02:10:49] Um, there are some sections that, yeah,

[02:10:51] there's ledge sections and the trail is not

[02:10:56] full proof in terms of following it. So, um,

[02:11:00] and that I believe is even called out in Ken Mcgrays 52 of the

[02:11:05] view book that, you know, in the winter, you know,

[02:11:08] route finding may be a little more challenging. Um,

[02:11:11] cause you can't necessarily find the Kairns or the rock blazes.

[02:11:15] Yeah. I think even like when I did it in the fall with my daughter and my,

[02:11:18] my brother and sister-in-law, like we got turned around a little bit up by the

[02:11:21] summit too. Cause you won't, we will go, well,

[02:11:24] let's find the true summit and it gets a little confusing. Yes. So

[02:11:28] it's a little, yeah. The, the, it's sort of funny.

[02:11:32] I don't know how it ended up that way. But yeah,

[02:11:34] the true summit is actually not on the trail. Yeah.

[02:11:36] It's a slightly off. Yeah.

[02:11:39] Yeah. But that's blueberry mountain and, uh, yeah, I've done other trail work. Um,

[02:11:43] you mentioned, uh, you asked about trail rights.

[02:11:45] So trail rights is another trail work organization.

[02:11:51] Um, and you know, there's a whole bunch, right? Like I mean,

[02:11:54] I mentioned the, you know, white mountains, national forest,

[02:11:57] each district has their own trail adopter programs. Um,

[02:12:00] AMC has a whole trail adopter program. Um,

[02:12:05] you know, there's a Franconia Ridge even has its own trail group called West End

[02:12:11] Trail Tenders, which a lot of people don't know about. But yeah,

[02:12:14] there's like, I think four different, um,

[02:12:17] trail work organizations that all overlapping take care of the

[02:12:22] Franconia Ridge loop. Um, so a lot of work,

[02:12:25] like a lot of volunteer hours goes into that. Um, but yeah.

[02:12:29] And then there's a trail rights, uh, and trail rights is

[02:12:34] bills itself a little bit more like, you know, the, um,

[02:12:38] they're kind of like the, the trail work professors, uh, that,

[02:12:42] you know, really know all the techniques, not just for maintaining trails,

[02:12:46] but, um, doing like trail improvements and trail, you know, blazing trails,

[02:12:51] in other words, new trails, uh, or reroute things like that.

[02:12:55] So yeah, when you want to know, you know,

[02:12:58] if you want to know how to cut a blowdown,

[02:12:59] you don't need necessarily, um, a lot of instruction,

[02:13:03] but if you want to know how to build a water bar that's still going to be there

[02:13:06] in three years, there's a right way to do it. Um, and so at trail works,

[02:13:13] sorry, trail rights, uh, is first and foremost a trail work

[02:13:18] organization. They also have their own peak bagging list,

[02:13:22] trail ride 72,

[02:13:25] which is the New Hampshire 48 plus another

[02:13:29] you know, whatever 24, um, do the math, um, additional peaks.

[02:13:34] And they, the way they get those is, um,

[02:13:37] the New Hampshire 48 is the 4,000 footers with 200 feet of provenance.

[02:13:42] The trail ride 72 is the 4,000 footers with 100 feet

[02:13:47] of prominence. So that adds a bunch of peaks. Um,

[02:13:51] and in addition to the, um, you know,

[02:13:56] those additional peaks, uh, a bunch of them are trailer trail lists.

[02:14:02] So for example, you know, you've got your standard North Twin, South Twin.

[02:14:06] There's also Southwest Twin, which you get a nice view of from

[02:14:10] South Twin, um, but it involves a bushwack from the twinway

[02:14:16] that's about a mile and a half each way,

[02:14:20] which took me roughly three and a half hours to get to,

[02:14:25] um, so, oh, and then one other wrinkle with trail rights is you

[02:14:30] only allowed to count each peak. Sorry.

[02:14:33] You're only allowed to count one peak bagged per hike.

[02:14:38] So you can't string them together, but it's only one for each of it now.

[02:14:42] Interesting. Correct. Yeah.

[02:14:46] Um, and so that means that like, for example, the Wildcat

[02:14:49] Cardamariah range, which in addition to those peaks also includes North

[02:14:53] Carter and Mount Leafy. So what's that? I think nine, eight or nine total.

[02:14:59] You basically you're doing eight or nine hikes for that whole range.

[02:15:03] You can't do them in one go. Um, but yeah,

[02:15:08] with the trail maintenance, you do, do you,

[02:15:10] I'm most curious about this. Like we've talked with a couple of,

[02:15:13] like Rebecca Sparry has been on here. We've talked a little bit about it,

[02:15:15] but yeah, um, do you go into the day just saying like, okay,

[02:15:19] today is going to be a blowdown clearing day and then once,

[02:15:22] and the next time you go in and you say like, okay,

[02:15:24] today's going to be a waterbar fixing day or do you mix it?

[02:15:28] Do you mix them up? Um, no, I go,

[02:15:32] I go in with an agenda because it's going to dictate what I bring with me.

[02:15:36] Tools. Yeah. Tools. Yeah. So, you know,

[02:15:40] today was kind of like spring recon. I mean, I,

[02:15:42] I was there in November and I did all the, you know,

[02:15:47] the drainage clearing and kind of, you know,

[02:15:49] at the end of the fall when all the leaves are off,

[02:15:52] you go in and you try to make sure that once spring comes around,

[02:15:57] you don't have all these, um, you know,

[02:15:59] drainage devices that are just clogged with leaves.

[02:16:02] So I already did that in the fall and took,

[02:16:04] took out blowdowns then as well. Um, today was basically,

[02:16:09] you know, this will be like the first probably of three trips this year.

[02:16:13] Um, I wanted to just get in, do some, you know,

[02:16:16] recon, see, was there anything weird going on?

[02:16:20] Um, and yeah, and take care of blowdowns.

[02:16:24] There's a bunch of cairns as well that seemed to fall down by themselves.

[02:16:28] So I'm always rebuilding those. Um,

[02:16:33] but things were actually remarkably good today. Um,

[02:16:36] I have to say it was probably one of the easiest days I've had,

[02:16:39] um, doing trail work, uh, in this specific spot.

[02:16:43] And I think that's just because I did so much in November,

[02:16:47] and shout out to my friend, Rich, who came along with me in November.

[02:16:52] And I made things a lot easier for me today.

[02:16:55] But yeah, so today would be just the sort of basic stuff.

[02:16:58] The priorities, and I think this is true of most trail work organizations.

[02:17:04] You know, they say in order of priority,

[02:17:08] number one, drainage, right?

[02:17:11] Cause that's what causes erosion is when you get,

[02:17:14] you know, uh, water bars aren't working or, you know,

[02:17:18] something is not right and there's water all over the trail.

[02:17:21] And that's pretty much the worst thing that can happen.

[02:17:25] So that's first priorities. Yeah.

[02:17:27] Make sure changes are sorted out.

[02:17:30] Second would be your blowdowns and anything that's blocking the trail.

[02:17:33] You know, a big blowdown, people just walk around it because

[02:17:37] just basically people are lazy and, uh, and that creates herd paths.

[02:17:42] And yeah, so second priority would be, you know,

[02:17:45] make sure that people can just go straight down the trail.

[02:17:48] And then the third one, which I'll have to do sometime later this year is,

[02:17:52] things like blazes, you know, I've got yellow blazes on my trail

[02:17:58] and a lot of them are faded.

[02:17:59] So I'll go up there with a quote unquote paint kit,

[02:18:03] which is something that the, uh,

[02:18:05] Forest Service will prepare for me and it's got the,

[02:18:09] you know, I don't just go out and buy paint.

[02:18:11] You know, they have the specific paint, uh,

[02:18:15] color that is used consistently for, you know, my trail or whatever.

[02:18:20] You know, you got your blue, white, yellow, some mines, yellow.

[02:18:23] So yeah, those are sort of the three responsibilities, um,

[02:18:27] in order of a trail maintainer.

[02:18:30] Well, that's, that's impressive and, um, super cool.

[02:18:34] Yeah. Then we definitely need like an army of people.

[02:18:37] And I, the new England waterfalls.com has a good page that sort of runs down all the details here.

[02:18:44] And I think that they worked with Steve Smith to, to break it down.

[02:18:47] So it basically gives the list of the agencies that you can use to qualify for the trail

[02:18:52] rights as well as, um, the four seasons.

[02:18:56] And then it also gives a good breakdown of all the tools that you,

[02:19:00] you can use for the blow downs and the, uh,

[02:19:04] the water bars and drainage solution.

[02:19:06] So I'll link this in the show notes and, um,

[02:19:10] shout out to anybody that's doing this trail maintenance.

[02:19:14] And then, you know, if you're interested in, in volunteering, um,

[02:19:17] I think Bruce's email address that you had talked about,

[02:19:21] he's on there as well on this page, but I'll make sure they get his email on there.

[02:19:26] Yeah. Yeah. And I'll just add that, you know, I mean, I did the 48 hours.

[02:19:32] Um, so, you know, I'm still doing trail work.

[02:19:38] And I continue, I mean, I plan to continue to do it.

[02:19:41] I might, you know, decide that I want to try a different trail and let someone else,

[02:19:48] you know, sort of pick up where I'm leaving off, um, from Blooper Mountain.

[02:19:53] But, you know, you very quickly get this sense of, oh, this is my responsibility now.

[02:19:59] Like, and I want to make sure that, you know, you think of, uh, you know,

[02:20:05] some parent coming up the trail with a, you know, a baby carrier on their back and,

[02:20:10] you know, like, oh yeah, this is why I need to make sure that this

[02:20:13] blowdown is clear because they might not get over it or they might, you know,

[02:20:17] fall or, you know, I mean, just things like that.

[02:20:19] You, you sort of don't really look at trails the same way again.

[02:20:24] You know, when you have that, and it's been super rewarding and,

[02:20:28] you know, the sort of the vibe of coming up and spending a day doing trail work,

[02:20:35] is different. And therefore I think a nice refreshing kind of break or departure from

[02:20:42] peak bagging. But that being said, I like Blooper Mountain when I,

[02:20:51] when I saw what the options were to adopt and that was one of them, I said, oh, that's cool.

[02:20:55] It's on 52 of you. And it's across the street from Glencliff trailhead. So,

[02:21:00] you know, I can finish my trail work and then I can go across the street and

[02:21:04] bang out Moose Lock real quick. And that has happened a couple of times,

[02:21:09] but usually it doesn't because I'm just, uh, I'm kind of cooked from, you know,

[02:21:16] you know, using whole body to take out blowdowns and clear changes and stuff like that.

[02:21:21] But yeah, it's definitely would recommend it to other people. And there's,

[02:21:25] there's a lot of other trail work that's happening that you can volunteer for.

[02:21:29] You don't have to adopt a trail and like make this big commitment.

[02:21:32] It's actually not a huge commitment. But yeah, you know, you can sign up and just do a day,

[02:21:37] you know, with AMC or, uh, you know, with trail rights in the Belknap range,

[02:21:43] there's Bratz or Bratz at Belknap range. Uh, what is it? Trail tenders? I don't know,

[02:21:51] BRATT. Anyway, they're, yeah, they're, you know, Waterville probably WVAA, they probably have

[02:21:58] a list. So I think whatever is like kind of convenient or the place that you might want to,

[02:22:03] you know, get to know better, uh, more than likely you can find a trail that needs,

[02:22:09] needs someone to take care of it. Yeah, I think the, um, the Benton trail that I was on the other,

[02:22:15] other weekend definitely needs some love right now. But, but this has been great.

[02:22:20] I could probably talk to you for another two hours or so, but, uh, we've only got so many

[02:22:25] gigabytes that we can, we can hold in these files for the podcast.

[02:22:32] We don't want to exceed the gigabyte limit. Exactly. So I think I've learned about level

[02:22:37] 42. We've learned about trail maintenance. We've learned about how, um, you do all these crazy

[02:22:43] routes. So it's been, it's, it's been good, man. And you're, uh, you don't seem to be bored at all

[02:22:48] with this stuff, which is impressive. Yeah, no kidding. Remarkably not. You mean in this

[02:22:54] podcast or just in general? Probably. That was deliberately vague. Yeah. Now I,

[02:23:03] my wife can't figure it out that how am I not bored with this, you know, but, um,

[02:23:08] I think it just goes back to that one thing I said is, uh, just, uh, this is, I just like being

[02:23:12] here. So, you know, I'm going to be doing these hikes one way or the other. Yeah. And shout out

[02:23:17] to your wife too, because he, you know, oh my God, given you the, given you the,

[02:23:21] well that was the root autonomy. That's what I wanted to ask you about. Like,

[02:23:25] how does that work? What's that? It just family dynamics and hiking and yeah.

[02:23:30] Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm lucky. It's different for everybody. Yeah. I'm, I'm lucky that, uh,

[02:23:37] my family supports, uh, supports this, these pursuits. Um, and you know, I think probably

[02:23:46] I'm a better person if, if I hypothetically were to stop hiking for a period of time.

[02:23:53] I think people would be telling me, dude, you have to go hiking again because I'd be,

[02:23:59] yeah, cheaper than therapy. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So all right. Well,

[02:24:06] absolutely. Yeah. I think we're going to skip the search and rescue news. So we're out of time at

[02:24:11] this point, but Eric, this was great. We definitely want to have you come back on again. Um, we can,

[02:24:16] we can talk forever on this. So we didn't even get into like what you're doing with the 52 with

[02:24:20] a view or what you got put, you know, do you have plans to get out of New England at all?

[02:24:24] So we'll cover that next time we have you on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Next, next time you come on,

[02:24:29] you should come on when you haven't hiked for like a month and a half. Oh my God. Yeah.

[02:24:36] Well, we'll see about that. Yeah. Well, thanks for having me on guys. Yeah.

[02:24:40] It's been great. And uh, for the listeners, we'll catch up with you next week.

[02:24:44] Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed the show, you can subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify,

[02:24:54] pod beans, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to learn more about the

[02:25:01] topics covered in today's show, please check out the show notes and safety information at

[02:25:07] slasherpodcast.com. That's S L A S R podcast.com. You can also follow the show on Facebook and

[02:25:17] Instagram. We hope you'll join us next week for another great show until then on behalf of Mike

[02:25:23] and stop, get out there and crush some mega heats. Now covered in scratches, blisters and bug bites.

[02:25:33] Chris staff wanted to complete his most challenging day hike ever.

[02:25:37] Fishing game officers say the hiker from Florida activated an emergency

[02:25:41] vehicle yesterday morning. He was hiking along the Appalachian Trail when the weather

[02:25:46] started to get worse. Officials say the snow was piled up to three feet in some spots and

[02:25:51] there was a wind show of minus one degree. And there's three words to describe this race.

[02:25:58] The only one hell.

[02:26:01] Lieutenant James Nealett, New Hampshire fishing game. Who's ended thanks for being with us today?

[02:26:06] Thanks for having me. What are some of the most common mistakes you see people make when

[02:26:10] they're heading out on the trails to hike here in New Hampshire? Seems to me the most

[02:26:13] common is being unprepared and I think if they just simply visited hikesafe.com

[02:26:17] and got a list of the ten essential items and had those in their packs,

[02:26:20] they probably would have no need to ever call us at all.