Episode 159 - Heather Harland-Wingate - AMC Huts and Volunteer Trails, Hot Weather, Lightning Advice - Search and Rescue News

[00:00:02] Here is the latest Higher Summits Forecast brought to you by our friends at the Mt. Washington Observatory. Weather above treeline in the White Mountains is often wildly different than at our trailheads. Before you hike, check the Higher Summits Forecast at www.mtwashington.org.

[00:00:32] Weather observers working at the non-profit Mt. Washington Observatory write this elevation-based forecast every morning and afternoon. Search and Rescue teams, avalanche experts, and backcountry guides all rely on the Higher Summits Forecast to anticipate weather conditions above treeline. You should too.

[00:00:54] Go to www.mtwashington.org or text FORECAST to 603-356-2137. And here is your forecast for Friday, July 12 and Saturday, July 13. Friday Mostly in the clouds under mostly cloudy skies with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon or thunderstorms. High around 60 degrees.

[00:01:23] Winds will be southwest at 20-35 mph. Friday Night In and out of the clouds under partly cloudy skies with a slight chance of rain showers with a low in the 50s. Winds will be west at 20-35 mph decreasing to 10-25 mph.

[00:01:43] Saturday In and out of the clouds with a chance of rain showers and thunderstorms rising into the upper 50s. Southwest winds at 20-35 mph switching to the northwest. Broadcasting from the Woodpecker Studio in the great state of New Hampshire, welcome

[00:02:45] to the Sounds Like a Search and Rescue podcast where we discuss all things related to hiking and search and rescue in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Here are your hosts, Mike and Stump. Alright Stump, welcome back to episode 159.

[00:03:20] We had a vacation from each other on a scale of 1-10. How, 10 being that you couldn't live without me and 1 being that you could care less. Tell the audience how much you missed me. Probably 7. Let's call it a 7. Wow, you really like me. I do.

[00:03:42] You're like a 2 to me. Yeah, I'll give it a solid 7. After I just said 2, do you want to change your score now? No, no. Okay, alright. You're such a nice person. People say I'm mean to you and I say yeah, you're damn right I am.

[00:04:03] You have to deal with people all the time, probably more than I do, so I get it. True, true. That is true. I deal with people and like my family says my other talent is I make white things turn yellow. Okay, is that a snow reference?

[00:04:24] No, they just say like I'm filthy, I'm dirty. They're always complaining that like my pillowcase turns yellow after I touch it. My shirts turn yellow when they're white. They're like you're very gross, you're a boy. That's hilarious. Yes, yeah.

[00:04:40] So anyway, but yeah we have a lot to get to here. We got a big show so welcome to episode 159 of the Sounds Like A Search And Rescue podcast. This week we are joined by Heather Harlan Wingate. So Heather is an experienced hiker and White Mountains volunteer.

[00:04:59] She has previously worked as part of the AMC hut crew and now works as a volunteer to help get the huts ready for their season and she's a trail maintainer for the Westside Trail in Mount Washington.

[00:05:09] So plenty to talk about so she'll share some of her stories and advice about volunteering in the White Mountains. Plus, we've got a 4th of July recap, we've got lots of rescues and craziness.

[00:05:19] So we had a cluster of I think four rescues in one day which is cool. Not cool but interesting, noteworthy. I guess it's cool if you're geeky like we are. So anyway, lots of rescues and craziness to cover including a mother and other topics.

[00:05:36] A mother and daughter trapped in a porta potty. It's like my biggest nightmare. A nude sunbather at Canobie Lake Park in Salem. A young hiker completes the 4,000 footer list. Seek the Peak is coming up next week. We got monster trucks, we got half dome climbing.

[00:05:54] Stomp has tips for avoiding heat stroke and lightning strikes. So I'm Mike. And I'm Stomp. Let's get started. Let's get started. All right, let's move into our hiking buddy spot and our friend Andrew Barlow will very

[00:06:27] elegantly give us some cool advice and then our friend Christina from White Mountain Endurance Coaching will also talk a little bit. That's right, you're going to love this one Mike. This is your favorite tip. What is it? It's the multiple headlamp tip. Oh, I like that.

[00:06:44] It's delivered by the posh fella. Okay, off to you Mr. Barlow. Here we go. That is it. This has been Pease from Hiking Buddies. We are a 501c3 nonprofit committed to reducing avoidable tragedies through education, impactful projects and fostering a community of support.

[00:07:09] You can find out more at hikingbuddies.org. We wanted to say thank you to those who have supported our mission and most importantly say thanks to those who speak up, who ask questions and who are willing to provide guidance and assistance on the trails when needed.

[00:07:23] You embody what it means to be a hiking buddy. And now for all my newer hikers out there, here's this episode's hiking buddies quick tip. Always carry two or more headlamps on every hike. Also make sure to have spare batteries.

[00:07:44] At least one headlamp should be battery operated, not rechargeable. Carrying multiple headlamps will make you a great buddy in the event that someone forgot one or for gear failure. Hi, Christina with White Mountain Endurance Coaching and I wanted to let you know that

[00:08:10] not only do I coach endurance athletes, I also coach hikers and mountaineers. I have plenty of experience in the White Mountains and would love to teach you how to start out whether you're a beginner, if you're more advanced, give you some more skills to transition

[00:08:24] from hiking to trail running and most of all teach you how to move safely in the mountains. So whatever your goals are, whatever your experiences, reach out coaching.christinafulsic.com. I'd love to help you. And we're back. All right. We are back here. All right, Stomp.

[00:08:45] So you've pulled a bunch of articles here, some good new stuff and some bad new stuff. So we'll start with a sad story here. So rest in peace to Brigadier General John Pogorek of the New Hampshire Air National Guard. I saw this story a couple days ago.

[00:09:07] So commander of the Air National, New Hampshire Air National Guard was killed in a hit and run in Rochester on Monday night. So vehicle struck Brigadier General Pogorek on Crown Point Road at 6 p.m. on Monday and the driver left the scene. That's right. So yeah.

[00:09:24] Yeah, I mean, we all know that the New Hampshire Air National Guard is such a vital part of the search and rescue community. And this is a huge loss for sure. So rest in peace, Brigadier General and you're all in our thoughts for sure. Yeah, yeah.

[00:09:43] This is a horrible story. And they did end up finding the driver was an 81-year-old Rochester man. The crash is under investigation, but just a terrible story. So definitely condolences go out to his family and all the members of the New Hampshire Air National Guard. All right.

[00:10:07] And then Stomp, we've got some more positive news. We just came off the Fourth of July holiday. So we are two years away from the 250th anniversary. Go America. Yeah, yeah. Go America. So did you do anything fun over the Fourth? I tried. I tried.

[00:10:25] As you know, it was a busy Fourth itself with a bunch of rescues. So that sort of tied up the day. But we've been doing a lot of floating and some small hikes. So it was nice. Definitely nice. Got to...

[00:10:38] Well, I was down in Sanburnton with family and that's when some of the calls came in. So it was like, ah, damn it. But beyond that, it's been nice. It's been a good summer. Nice and hot. How about you? You were away, right? Yeah, yeah.

[00:10:52] Speaking of hot, I was in Puerto Rico. So yeah, we did a little family trip because my... I had two graduations. I had a college graduation and a high school graduation.

[00:10:59] And instead of renting a tent and paying a caterer and all that whole stuff to do a graduation party, I offered the kids just the chance to just take a trip. So I burned some airline points and we went down to Puerto Rico and highly recommend going

[00:11:15] down there. It is a beautiful country. It was super hot, super humid, but it was no different than it would have been up here. So yeah, we just spent some beach time. We spent some time by the pool. We did a trip to the rainforest.

[00:11:30] And then I spent the 4th of July eating at some nice restaurants in old San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had some chicharron chicken and we had pina coladas, margaritas. It was a whole thing.

[00:11:45] And then the girls did like photo shoots of their beautiful dresses in old San Juan. So it was great. Nice. So what's your weight at the moment? Did you gain any weight?

[00:11:55] So I had gone on that diet last year and I got down to like 148, I think for about 170 and I'm back up to 160 last time I checked. But maybe Puerto Rico might've put two pounds on me. I don't know. Wow. Interesting. Yeah. Wow. I've lost four pounds.

[00:12:13] I know this is off topic, but four pounds. Oh, good for you. Are you doing anything in particular to lose the weight? Yeah. Avoiding beer at all costs, cutting down on sizes of portions for food and just getting out there a lot.

[00:12:27] Just trying to do like, even if I can, if I have like an hour and a half, I'll just hit Welch Dickey. That's like my background backyard gym now. So yeah, down four pounds. Good for you, Stump. I'm good, man. Yeah.

[00:12:39] Your head still looks kind of big, but maybe it'll shrink a little bit. That's hopeless. The German genes. I'll cover Puerto Rico in the recent hikes because we did do a hike and just, you're

[00:12:53] going to have to get the shame drop ready for that story for my daughter. Anyway, but yeah, happy 4th of July. There was a couple of crazy stories that happened over the vacation. So Stump pulled this. This is the shame drop. This guy needs a death penalty.

[00:13:11] So an 18 year old kid from Manchester, New Hampshire, we usually don't include names. I didn't include Aiden Studer, 18 years old from Manchester. A-I-D-E-N and his last name is Studer. S-T-U-D-E-R. And if any of his family are listening right now, you need to give this kid like, this

[00:13:28] kid needs to be shipped away. So Aiden Studer was charged after Manchester police said he tipped over a portable toilet in at Derryfield Park, trapping a woman and her four year old child inside in May. Studer was indicted for exposing the public to toxic biological or chemical substances,

[00:13:52] simple assault, criminal threatening and reckless conduct charges. So death penalty. That is outrageous. I can't imagine. So what drives somebody to do this? I've noticed a lot of these weird stories, just people unhinged, just doing crazy stuff.

[00:14:06] Yeah, I think my understanding is he was in an argument with the mother over something and he waited for her to go into the porta potty with the child and then knocked it over pinning the mother and the child inside the porta potty because they couldn't get

[00:14:22] out because the door was pinned against the ground. Got it. Yeah. Wow. That's horrifying. What the mother did in this case, like there's a four year old kid in there. Oh, you don't get, you never do that. That's so disgusting. Oh geez. Yep. Vacation craziness. Story number one.

[00:14:38] Vacation craziness. What else is going on out there? So next story takes us to Canobie Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire. Stomp, have you been to Canobie Lake Park? Many many times. I love it. Many many times. Yeah, I love it too. It's good clean New England fun.

[00:14:51] A 74 year old man was arrested on Wednesday after police said he was lying completely naked at the wave pool at Canobie Lake Park. Good clean fun. Yeah, so apparently this gentleman has some issues with alcohol and got a little bit torn

[00:15:08] up and decided he was going to nude sunbathe. And he's from Somerville, Mass. So again, Mass holes misbehaving in New Hampshire. How old is this person? 74. Oh, okay. That explains it. Nothing to lose. Yeah, he was so intoxicated he had to be taken into protective custody.

[00:15:29] He told officers he'd been drinking prior to even arriving at Canobie Lake Park. So somebody come get your grandfather please. You see what he says? In the statements at MUR, Caraballo said that it was extremely poor judgment on my behalf. Captain obvious. Wow. That's wild. Captain obvious. Yeah.

[00:15:50] He's a nasty crazy. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I was going to do a little bit of a history segment on Canobie, but I think we're stacked with topics at this point. So I'll save that for another segment because I think it's an interesting story about the

[00:16:05] whole development of Canobie and the fact that that place had some legit Hollywood stars. And then also I have an uncle who's an amusement park historian that has written a couple of books about amusement parks.

[00:16:18] Brief among it is Pleasure Island and Wakefield, which is formally was an amusement park that was built by the guy that designed Disneyland and had worked for Walt Disney. And then when Walt finished Disneyland, he moved, this guy moved on to build two other

[00:16:37] parks, one in Wakefield, Mass called Pleasure Island that is no longer in existence. And then another one in I think New York. And my uncle has written historical books on both of these parks and a little bit about this guy's background.

[00:16:50] So I will, I'll pull some history on Canobie eventually, but it's a fascinating place. Other than going on about Canobie Lake right now, Stomp, if you're a Taylor Swift fan, they have a Taylor Swift impersonator that is going viral on social media. Yeah.

[00:17:05] That people are lining up to see this person. So she apparently does a really good Taylor Swift. They always do a good job. I remember back in the day going to see like a One Direction. It was amazing.

[00:17:15] Yeah, they had Michael Jackson when I was there and he was amazing. Oh, they do a great job. So I'd love to see that. Yep. Amazing. All right. So now we are recording this on Thursday, July 11th, but Seek the Peak is coming up next week.

[00:17:32] So starting on the 19th, which is Friday and then on Saturday will be the actual event. We will be recording live for a future release. I guess we're going to stop and I will be there for the Friday evening event. There's an outdoor tent opposite the main stage.

[00:17:52] So we'll be over there if you want to come see us. We'll have stickers. I'll have some of the Valkluse frames if anybody wants to grab one. And then I'm sure we'll have some other stuff. Will we have the patches? Think we'll be ready by then, Stomp?

[00:18:07] I haven't had an update yet. So I'm sure they're getting near to completion, but not yet. Okay. And then Stomp, you had a reminder that Sunday is the Jigger Johnson 100 race. Yeah, that's right. So the White Mountain Endurance Arrivapa race.

[00:18:26] We know the cog was canceled due to crazy weather, but the Jigger Johnson is up and running for this Sunday. So maybe we'll see you there. And it's always a good race. Yeah, it looks like Sunday is going to be the pick of the week.

[00:18:39] Saturday's not looking great, but Sunday's looking fantastic. That's right. Yeah, it's been strange weather, but we'll get through it. Yes. Yep. All right, Stomp. We have a... I've seen a number of news articles and people giving a shout out to... I like this story, but it also...

[00:19:04] I feel like it deflates all of my accomplishments in some ways. So I'm torn about this. So Lydia Pearson, she's four years old. Yeah, little Lydia. She's super cute. She recently summited all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000 foot mountains, challenged... Saw her walk over 300 miles and climb 100,000 total vertical feet.

[00:19:31] So on June 16th, she trudged up the top of Mount Washington to finish her final list. I read around... So her mom is Whitney Pearson. She's out there. I think she's like... I don't know what she's doing. I think she's definitely out there gritting and banging it out.

[00:19:48] But I think I read that Whitney had carried Lydia up when she was little and had sort of done a round of 4,000 footers just carrying her. But then at some point in the last year or so, Lydia started walking and she's banged

[00:20:03] out all the 4,000 footers on her own. So very impressive. I think that Lydia should be super proud. And just like I said about Littlefoot, I feel like Lydia should tell her parents that it's time to take her to Disney World as a reward for all that hard work.

[00:20:19] Or just send her over to Nepal. She can just be a Sherpa for the rest of her life. True, true. Can you imagine? Four years old. The thing is, she's going to be... I mean, she'll probably have some memories, but she's still young enough where she probably

[00:20:31] won't have a lot of clear memories. So she's going to have to do these all over again to really remember them. True. Absolutely. It's quite an accomplishment. I do get nervous for these little kids though, cranking it out so hard.

[00:20:43] Hopefully the parents are being very cautious and careful. Yeah, yeah. I mean, my vibe is like the... I don't pay much attention to this, but I know some of the younger kids that have completed

[00:20:55] the 4,000 footers, my sense is that I've yet to see one of these kids that didn't have an absolute expert hiker that was guiding them along and had safety first in mind. So my sense is that it's the same case here.

[00:21:11] But yeah, there's definitely that fear that people are going to look at this and say like, oh, well maybe my four-year-old can do this and they don't have the experience and whatnot. But I think that take it slow.

[00:21:22] These kids that can do this stuff are like a one in a million type of kids at that age. So just use your judgment. I definitely burned out my two kids trying to get them hiking even when they were older

[00:21:33] and even to this day, they don't like to get out there. So you got to play that balancing act. But Lydia clearly is cut from a different cloth and congratulations to her and her family. Congrats. Excellent. Excellent. All right, Stomp.

[00:21:49] We got this other video sent over from Chris Wright, which is a Jetsuit paramedic. I think we've seen it. I've seen this video before. Yeah, I don't know. It seems fairly new, or at least progressed.

[00:22:08] So the SAR world is moving towards having paramedics fly up to victims as opposed to having people hike in or get dropped in. So that's pretty interesting. Just something to keep a lookout for. Just a little note, side note. Jetpacks.

[00:22:23] Yeah, we'll put a link in the show notes so that people can see this Jetsuit and jetpack. I think the link you gave me is broke, Stomp, so we'll have to send over another one. But yeah, I feel like jetpacks, people flying like that, quicksand is another one.

[00:22:39] Those are all things that based on Saturday morning cartoons I thought were going to be a very important part of my life at this point, but they've never really developed. True, but yeah, just got to give humanity a chance. We'll catch up. Yeah, the flying cars, all that.

[00:22:55] It's coming. It's coming, hopefully. All right, Stomp, so we've got a couple of these two, these are dog stories. Is that what's going on here? Yeah, yeah. The first one is an officer adopts a German shepherd he rescued on the job.

[00:23:11] Abby the German shepherd was left in a hot car with another dog who tragically died. She helped save herself and a cat by honking the car's horn. This is in Indianapolis. What a sad story, but a nice story. Death penalty to the person who did that.

[00:23:28] No mercy today, no mercy. Nope, nope. Oh goodness. And so that's a really nice story, and it does follow up on this other crazy dog story that is really sad. Somebody abandoned a dog in, what is it, Malibu Creek Canyon, and they put zip ties over its

[00:23:44] muzzle and neck. Fortunately, the dog was found, and people are just, in the comments, they're just outraged. They got to find this person and prosecute as a felony, blah, blah, blah. But the good news is, again, the dog was rescued. So a couple interesting dog stories out there.

[00:24:02] We've not heard any dog stories this year up on the whites that I'm aware of. I'm sure they're out there, but... Knock on wood. Yeah, this dog that got his mouth zip tied looks like another one of those German Shepherd dogs.

[00:24:14] The scarier part is they zip tied around his neck, which is, you know, that can really cause some... And it's tight, so I don't know what the hell these people were thinking. But yeah, I guess he's okay. Looks like an older dog.

[00:24:25] Hopefully he gets adopted and can sit in nice air conditioning for the rest of his life. As I speak, by the way, there is a missing dog. The town of Amesbury is absolutely freaking out at this point.

[00:24:39] There's a foster dog that ran away, got loose, and everybody's like, don't look for the dog, you're going to scare him away. But then people are like, we want to get a drone so we can look for the dog. And it's a whole thing going on over here.

[00:24:51] So I'll keep everyone updated to see. I was thinking about going out tomorrow morning and being the hero to find the dog, but we'll see. Yeah, why don't you gather up your troop of deer that you see every morning and go looking around.

[00:25:05] Could you imagine if I rescued the dog, Stomp, we would never hear the end of it? You'd be like... It'd be a five-part podcast episode. Did you know I have a podcast? Oh boy. Okay, so the next article here we pulled is Eastern Mountain Sports.

[00:25:24] So they're a friend of the show. They've been nice enough to come on. They have filed for bankruptcy. So yeah, interesting. So along with Bob's Stores, so Bob's Stores is shut down. I think most of the locations, but immediate funding is basically needed to make payroll.

[00:25:46] Eastern Mountain Sports operates six locations in New Hampshire. Bob's Stores only has one. I remember Bob's Stores at some point was everywhere. Oh yeah, they had their time. But PNC Bank says it's owed nearly $30 million with additional $27 million owed in unpaid rent and operational debt.

[00:26:02] So not looking good for Eastern Mountain Sports. That's such a bummer. Yeah, yeah, they tried. They tried to give it a go, but hopefully something will pan out. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Tough economy. It's a great brand name and great products, and hopefully someone will come in and save

[00:26:17] them. Yep, yep. Interesting local versus national. The other stores seem to be doing pretty well. And then there are the small, sort of niche-y ones like LaHoot's. They're still plugging along. So I don't know. Interesting story. We'll keep an eye on it.

[00:26:31] Yeah, speaking of interesting stories, Stomp, another interesting story that you pulled here is a conservation story. People may or may not be aware of this, but rhinoceros. So there's I think a black rhinoceros and a white rhinoceros. They are an endangered species.

[00:26:50] I think one of the species is down to like less than a thousand or so, but it looks like there's 15,000 of these white rhinos that are located in South Africa. But the challenge is that the rhinoceros horn is, I guess, valued in Asia for its medicinal purposes.

[00:27:18] So scientists have decided that they're going to implant radioactive material into the horn of living rhinoceroses. And what'll happen is that this will poison anybody who consumes the horn. So basically, they're implanting these radioactive isotopes that would be strong enough to set

[00:27:41] off detectors that are installed globally in airports and within these FedEx and UPS travel hubs to prevent nuclear terrorism. But they can basically insert these two tiny little radioactive chips into the horn. They pose no risk to the animal's health or the local environment, but they basically

[00:28:07] will kill humans. Yeah, so this'll be good. So if the rhinos do get poached for their horns, then at least the people that eat the stuff will die. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah. What do they eat? I don't get it.

[00:28:27] I think my understanding is they take the rhinoceros horn and they grind it up as powder and then use that to, I guess, season food or something. Calcium supplements. Yeah, something like that. That's so crazy. So hopefully it doesn't bleach into the horn.

[00:28:46] So maybe it's like a self-contained... Yeah, they said it doesn't harm the rhino. And they said that this horn can be worth more in weight than gold or cocaine. It's kind of a weird comparison.

[00:29:01] So can a little bit of uranium, maybe sell it off to Iran or something. Right, right. So that's a pretty good idea and hopefully the rhinos will survive. And now moving on to another topic, we've got monster trucks coming. How cool is that? July 27th.

[00:29:21] Yeah, so I'll put a link in the show notes here. Renegade Monster Truck Tour is coming to Lancaster Fairgrounds. This is something I'd watch. Oh, hell yeah. That'd be a lot of fun. Lancaster is such a great fairground for this too.

[00:29:37] So yeah, they got all the big trucks coming for a couple performances. Tickets are on sale at this website and it looks like a great time. Yep, yeah. You've got Shockwave. You've got Stinger and Lumberjack, Shredder and Crush Station, which looks like a station wagon. It's a Crusher.

[00:29:59] So very exciting. And yeah, every once in a while when I'm down in Florida, I'll just see a random monster truck driving around the highway. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. That's part of the place for them. They're just on the roads in Florida there. Yeah, no rust.

[00:30:15] Looking good, looking sharp. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. It's so off topic, but it is cool. Who doesn't want to see a monster truck crush things? Yeah, I don't know. I feel like our audience, the demographics match up. I don't know. Hey man. All right.

[00:30:36] I pulled this one for you because I saw this video the other day and I'm like, holy moly, what? Yeah, yeah. I've seen this before. And yeah, so basically Stomp pulled a video of... I had climbed Half Dome on Yosemite last year, I think in September.

[00:30:50] And essentially you come up from the valley and you've got to hike up the Mist Trail, which is a couple of these waterfalls. And then you get up into Little Yosemite and then you climb this lower section, which is a summit called Subdome.

[00:31:06] And then as you approach the top of Subdome, you go to the bottom of Half Dome, which is about a four to 500 foot climb that is on cables. And typically by June, those cables, they'll put these stanchions up. So it essentially is like a...

[00:31:23] They're guide rails that are at waist height with the stanchions poles. And it's pretty straightforward to hold onto the cables, but they take them down in October based on weather. But there's nothing stopping you from climbing, but the cables lay on the ground.

[00:31:40] So it's a very steep climb on basically just smooth rock and you can clip into the cables or you can just hold onto the cables without being clipped in. It's a little bit scary.

[00:31:53] The nice thing about the stanchions is that you can put your feet on them, it gives a little bit more comfort. The guy that is doing it in this video, he's actually using an ascender or some kind of

[00:32:06] a knot to anchor himself to the cable, which I think is pretty comfortable. And I would do this stuff. It's just, it does get a little bit tricky because there's eye loops in the cable.

[00:32:16] So you have to have like double ascenders to clip on one and then unclip the other one. Yeah. All right. All right. I'll take your word for it. It's hard to get the steepness or the grade of this video, but it looks terrifying. It's terrifying. Yeah.

[00:32:32] It's as steep as... Think about like the North Tri-Pyramid Slide or that fan section of Huntington, but for four or 500 feet of elevation. If you slip, you're done. Got it. Yeah. Well, no thanks. Yeah.

[00:32:52] And then even when you get to the edge, it's off-putting because if you get to the edge and you look down, it's literally like a 4,000 to 5,000 foot fall, which you don't have that level of exposure in the whites. At best you might get a 1,000 foot drop or something.

[00:33:08] Right. Even at that call at the base of the dome itself that people begin the ascent, is that a sheer drop on either side or a steep drop? Not really. I mean, it's like a curve.

[00:33:19] So yeah, if you go farther down that curved shoulder, like you would definitely... It's kind of like that section of Well Sticky where... Yeah. You go close enough, you're in trouble. You go close enough and you're going to start slipping. It's kind of like that on sub-dome. Yeah.

[00:33:34] Yes. All right, Stomp. So we pulled a search and rescue story that happened, I think, right after we recorded our last show. So this happened on Saturday, June 29th. Conservation officers were notified of an injured hiker on the Appalachian Trail on Kiddinsman Ridge.

[00:33:55] The hiker was a 34-year-old hiker from Virginia who sustained serious non-life threatening injuries to her leg. Conservation officers and 29 volunteers from PEMI Search and Rescue faced a daunting task of hiking three miles up Railbrook Trail to Kiddinsman Ridge.

[00:34:13] They then traversed Kiddinsman Ridge for two and a half miles to the victim, package her into a litter and carry her down. So call came in at 5.30 PM. They didn't get back to the trailhead until 5 AM.

[00:34:26] So the victim ended up getting transported via ambulance to Littleton Regional Hospital. But I mean, this is about as deep in as you can get for a rescue stomp. Correct. About six miles in. One way. Brutal. Brutal. Yeah. And if you remember, the forecast was downpours.

[00:34:44] It was just absolutely miserable conditions. Yeah. Yeah. It's brutal. And, you know, I guess the hiker's okay and, you know, lower leg injury, there's not much you can do. One thing I will say is I picked this up on social media, Stomp.

[00:34:58] I'm not sure if you're even aware of this or not, but this particular hiker, the interesting thing is that she had previously been involved in a search and rescue like two years before. This one was a little bit weird. It was down in Virginia, Shenandoah.

[00:35:16] And I think this one was just sort of like a situation where she didn't check in in time. So I think family members had indicated that she was missing and it triggered like a search for her.

[00:35:29] It might have been like a day or two search, but they did end up locating her. But it just described that she had like a one person Ozark trail tent, 65 liter backpack and a hydration pack. So she was on. So she's been on the AT.

[00:35:44] I don't know if she's section hiking or whatnot, but this is her second rescue situation on the AT, which is pretty interesting because we don't really repeat offenders that much. She's an offender, but it's it's noteworthy. I just haven't seen that very often.

[00:35:56] Yeah, I can't recall any others myself. Yes. Yup. So interesting. We all know that hiking a mountain can be hard at times. So here's a corny dad joke to help you get over it. But I'm bummed. Yeah. All right, stop.

[00:36:17] This is the part of the show where I do a dad joke. Oh, here we go. Buckle up. So all right. Why did the bike fall over? I don't know. Because it was too tired. Get it? Too tired, too tired. Got it. That was great. Yes. Good stuff.

[00:36:41] Are you going to give us a double? I got another. I'm going to give you a bonus one, too. What do you call an illegally parked frog? I have no idea. Toad. Oh, OK. That was legally parked toad.

[00:36:58] That's not with a T.O.W., but a T.O.A.D. Still. Shame. Shame. See what I did there? Yeah, that was good. So anyway. All right, stop. This is the part of the show where we are going to talk about a couple of our friendly

[00:37:14] sponsors here. And then we have a message here from CS Coffee. The podcast is supported by CS Instant Coffee, makers of eco-friendly instant coffee. It's perfect for anyone who loves the outdoors as much as we do. Great for backpacking, day hiking, camping and even at home.

[00:38:07] Learn more and get in touch at CS Instant Coffee or email us at info at CS Instant Coffee. Thank you, guys. Yes, Stomp. And CS Coffee is right. We do love the outdoors. But you know what else I love, Stomp? What's that? A nice tasty beer.

[00:38:28] Tis the season. Hey, hold on. I'm going to get a beer. I'm going to get a beer. I'm going to get a beer. I'm going to get a beer. I'm going to get a beer. I'm going to get a beer. Hey, hold my beer.

[00:38:38] It's time to find out what Mike and Stomp are drinking on this week's beer talk. What you got? I am drinking. So Mrs. Mike, she loves Trader Joe's and Trader Joe's apparently has like a good selection of IPA. So she got me something from Night Shift Brewing.

[00:39:03] This is called Friendly Neighbor, which is ironic because I'm in a war with my neighbor. And my neighbor is not friendly and neither am I to her. Oh, that's classic. So if Night Shift Brewing is listening, you should create one that's Unfriendly Neighbor

[00:39:18] and I'll throw it over the fence. So things have not thawed, huh? Yeah, no, Stomp. One of these days I got to... Yeah, well, I'll tell you the whole story. Okay, that's fine. It's a recording and everything. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay, well I'm enjoying again.

[00:39:38] I'm trying to avoid the beer. So this is Nature's Nectar, a traditional cider made from 100% fresh pressed apples. Comes in at 5% alcohol and this is by the Woodchuck Hard Cider Brewery. It's really good. It's refreshing. Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's great stuff. So wait a minute.

[00:39:56] So your theory is that you're going to lose weight by not drinking beer but you're drinking cider? Well, here's the deal. When I drink beer, I tend to get a little bit bloated and the IPAs, the double IPAs

[00:40:08] in particular are much heavier on the calories than something like this. This is 200 calories as opposed to like four to eight. So I think it makes a difference but yeah, beer in general for me is just sort of an odd response for my gut.

[00:40:24] I wasn't sure if the sugar content would offset the calories but... So far so good. Okay, that's good to know. Yeah, in terms of carbs. Yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of potassium too. All right, Stomp. Stomp is on a health kick. I'm turning.

[00:40:42] I knew we should have gone left back there. Stomp, don't worry. I know it's this way. I've got a feeling in my gut. Are you sure you're not about to have a bowel emergency? Totally. We got this. But I just blew out my hip.

[00:41:00] Fell down that gully with my 40-year-old micro spikes. Suck it up, Stomp. It's 4 p.m. We're at 3,500 feet. We got nine miles back to the parking lot. Your leg may be broken. We got no cell connection and we can't feel our fingers but we're finishing all of my

[00:41:15] list tonight. By the way, I need some water. I'm empty. I would if I could see what I'm doing but my headlamp batteries are dead. You gotta be kidding me. What a chump. This is the last time I hike with you. Whatever, mister. Do you know me?

[00:41:29] I have a podcast. Whatever. Let's find out what Mike and Stomp have been hiking. This is the part of the show where we talk about recent hike, Stomp. So it looks like you've gotten out so why don't you share with the listeners what you've

[00:41:47] been up to when it comes to hiking. Yeah, well, I've done a little bit of just more or less exercise hikes. Black Mountain via the Chippewa. I think I was out there. One of the listeners was out there.

[00:42:00] I think Mike was out there one of the same days but he went up the Black Mountain Trail as opposed to Chippewa. But it's miserable right now, man, with all the deer flies and the heat. Holy moly. And just a whole bunch of Welsh Dickies. That's about it.

[00:42:14] Geesh. I did get to go in towards Owl's Head on one of those mission responses. That was sort of cool going back in there again. And I will say that I can just talk about this because years ago when Mr. Stomp and I started

[00:42:27] hiking the 48 and we were newbies at the winter scene, we did the Black Pond Bushwhack in winter. And not knowing where the actual bushwhack was, which is like legitimately a trail now, I'm sure you're aware. Yeah, it's a trail. Yeah.

[00:42:44] We didn't know that and we couldn't find it or see it anywhere. So when we got to the northwest corner of that pond, we just stayed on a longitude and just kept on going straight north. It was fairly flat, but that bushwhack slash, quote, bushwhack is pretty steep.

[00:43:01] There's a lot of ups and downs on that thing. Yeah, yeah. There's definitely some... I don't remember it being steep, but I remember it being like a little bit of up and down for sure. Oh yeah. Muddy too. Yeah. I mean, I did it in...

[00:43:18] We did it last winter. I did it with the crew and it wasn't too bad. I mean, I didn't deal with mud. It was kind of low snow as well, but the Brutus bushwhack was incredibly steep getting up Owl's Head. But yeah, it's a little funky in there.

[00:43:37] You can definitely get turned around and there's a couple of routes that you can take on Owl's Head or on that Black Pond bushwhack. And I remember we went to the right when you're supposed to go to the left and got a little

[00:43:51] screwed up, but it was all good. Okay. Yeah, we went right as well. That worked out okay, I guess. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, that's good. So what you got?

[00:44:03] Well, one thing I would say, Stomp, for you is with the deer flies, it's this time of the year, so if you're going to be low, I always recommend to people that you should go on Amazon.

[00:44:11] Maybe there's some other products, but I use Treadnought and what they are is they're deer fly patches and they're super sticky. You got to be careful with them. So you just put safety pins into the patches and then pick a hat that you're using.

[00:44:26] I typically will put maybe one or two of these sticky things on my hat and then that takes care of the deer flies, no problem. Because they'll buzz you and they get stuck to the tape.

[00:44:36] I think I did the Kilkenny Traverse with the deer fly patches on and picked up like 20 of the deer flies. Really? How big is the square? Two by two? It's probably about this wide on your head and it's just a rectangle.

[00:44:55] But you just do it on the back of your hat and then it just picks them up because the deer flies, they tend to bother around your head. It's so wild that you're hiking with a bunch of dead flies in the back of your head.

[00:45:06] Yeah, yeah, it is kind of gross, but it's kind of funny. You don't even notice. It's really funny. Yeah, but the deer fly patches, I highly recommend them. Matter of fact, I'm going to hike in tomorrow and I'm going to have mine ready to go.

[00:45:22] Yeah, you need them. So Stomp, I did a little bit of hiking. I did a rainforest hike in Puerto Rico. So Julie Dahlbach, Jake and Julie, Julie had given me a heads up to go do that tour.

[00:45:41] So I booked a tour, took the kids into this shady Puerto Rican neighborhood parking lot to meet the tour guide. I was a little sketched out by that, but otherwise once we got there and we met the tour guide, it was all good.

[00:45:56] But yeah, you drive about an hour out of San Juan to go to this El Yunque rainforest. We were in this van, kind of go up these narrow roads and down these steep, steep roads and

[00:46:10] eventually you get to the parking lot and there's a thousand cars there and there's a bunch of different tour guides. So it's crowded, but it was interesting is first of all, there's no mosquitoes and no bugs in Puerto Rico apparently. I don't know why.

[00:46:25] And then you go up this very muddy, wet, they have that orange clay, wet kind of mud that you walk on. And my middle daughter immediately wiped out and got mud all over her arm and she's freaking out. And the lady's like, yeah, don't worry about it.

[00:46:42] That's not going to be the first time you get mud on you. But it was a whole thing. So she brought shame to the family. But then you basically hike up, it's about a mile, mile and a half hike to this, you

[00:46:55] follow this drainage and eventually you get to this section that looks like, it's kind of like Diana's bath is essentially this. We went to Puerto Rico's version of Diana's bath, but in a rainforest.

[00:47:05] It was like a thousand people in there and they had like this natural slide that you can slide down, which was fun. Then they have a cliff jump that you can jump off of, but there's like a thousand people watching you jump.

[00:47:17] So I immediately like I had to show off and I ripped a flip and landed perfectly. But then yeah, it was basically just swimming and hanging out, but it was nice. Apparently they say like if tourists that go in there by themselves, they get lost.

[00:47:32] Some people never come out alive. I don't know what the deal is, but it didn't look that scary to me. Oh boy. Yeah. A lot of stray dogs. A lot of stray dogs. The kids wanted to save a dog. But yeah, but it was fun.

[00:47:46] I definitely highly recommend it if you go to Puerto Rico, El Yunque Rainforest. It's definitely worth it to check it out. Yunque, what's that mean? Do you know? No idea. No idea. You know what was cool too about the trip stop is the Olympic basketball qualifying

[00:48:03] tournament was going on in Puerto Rico and the Hilton Hotel that we stayed at was hosting all the teams. So you had Italy, Lithuania, Ivory Coast, some other countries. I can't even remember. Italy and Lithuania and Puerto Rico have like legit NBA players.

[00:48:28] So there was two NBA players from Lithuania and then I think one or two Italian guys too. And yeah, so we were like, I was like watching them the whole time and they're like walking up to the beach and they're hanging out with their wives.

[00:48:41] And then we saw the one guy that plays for the, I think the Sacramento Kings. He walked every day to Old San Juan. So me and Mrs. Mike would see him and his wife and we'll, you know, I was like, there's the NBA guy.

[00:48:54] So it was pretty interesting. That is cool. They were down there playing, huh? They were playing. Yeah. I guess apparently this is like the final opportunity to qualify. So Puerto Rico ended up winning the tournament and qualified for the Olympics. Wow. That's great.

[00:49:09] So yeah, so it was fun time. That's cool. Yes. You know what else is cool Stomp? Our backs because of Folkloose gear. Exactly Stomp. See, you're getting, I'm teeing them up and you're hitting them out of the park. All right. Does your backpack not provide enough ventilation?

[00:49:26] Does your back sweat too much when backpacking? As you know, sweat can be extremely uncomfortable on the trails. Plus sweat is a serious risk factor in both hot and cold climates. As your clothes get wet, your core temperature can dramatically fluctuate and this can result

[00:49:42] in hypothermia, heat exhaustion and dehydration. And let's not forget just very uncomfortable. Today's your lucky day because we have good news for you. There's a piece of gear that solves the sweat and ventilation problem, making your backpack more comfortable. Folkloose gears ultra light backpack ventilation frame.

[00:50:00] This ultra light frame is a backpack accessory that easily installs in your favorite pack sizes 15 liters to 45 liters and creates a ventilating airflow gap between you and your pack. It's also ultra light weighing around three ounces and that's equivalent to roughly a pair of wool socks.

[00:50:16] Whether hiking in hot or cold temps, the ultra light backpack ventilation frame from Folkloose gear is a real game changer regarding airflow and ventilation. So visit Folkloosegear.com to order an ultra light ventilation frame today. Use promo code slasher S L A S R to enjoy a $5 discount.

[00:50:36] Plus let them know that Mike and Stomp sent you. Bubby get down. Daphne's on the DJ mixer being fresh. Oh speaking of Daphne, I apologize. We missed her. Um, we didn't, didn't we have a birthday celebration or a celebration? That's right. Four years. A little stinker.

[00:50:56] A little four years. I can't believe it. She still a little tiny sprite. She runs around causing mischief everywhere, but she, she protects us. She growls at cars that come into the parking lot and uh, keeps all the intruders away. Good for her.

[00:51:10] It's very cat like for her. It is. She's a sweetie. It's time for Slasher's notable hike of the week. If you want to be considered for the hike of the week, simply tag Slasher on your social media post. All right.

[00:51:33] So Stomp, um, this is the part of the show where, um, we do Stomp's favorite thing, which is notable hikes of the week. Stomp, I feel like I didn't promise somebody. I feel like I promised someone I was going to give them a notable hike of the week.

[00:51:48] Oh no. All right. Maybe it'll ring your bell here when I run through these. Jesus. All right. Ready? So Karen 220 did Whiteface and Passaquan away for 33 and 34 out of the 48 4,000 footers. Justin Benz, uh, did a dad venture, uh, on Gale head with the crew and they did, uh,

[00:52:07] was it 26 out of 48? JKN Boba adventures. Baby's first 52 of the view on Mount Stinson. That was a really cool, uh, pickup there. Nice job guys. Um, Mike Devia, uh, did black mountain as I had mentioned and, um, see Gothberg hiked isolation for his 48 out of 48 finish. Congratulations.

[00:52:32] That's super cool. Hiking feeds my soul and Mr. Connelly hikes Owl's head. Um, for 39 out of 48 for miles, I actually crossed paths with them. So it was nice to meet you guys out there. Yeah, it was nice. Uh, let's see.

[00:52:45] Jake's drew was on the Kendron flume trail to Willie to the AZ trail out Avalon. So I do not, I've never heard of the Kendron flume trail. I've heard of that. Have you? Have you now? I have now. Okay. All right. Well, it's out there. Leanne runs.

[00:53:07] Oh, and overnight in a wild river wilderness covering a multitude of trails, including the rainbow trail and black angel. Nice work. Teddy toes height, Mount Cabot, Mount Wombat, white face, Passaquan, while cats in Hancock. I believe that was over a span of a few days.

[00:53:25] I would hope more than the mountain finished gritting the six wilderness areas in the white mountain national forest. Now that is super cool. As you know, the white mounds do have wilderness areas as opposed to the other, you know, the forest itself.

[00:53:40] And they run by slightly different rules and they have a definitely a remote and more rugged field than the rest of the wilderness. So that's awesome. Mountain ginger hiked noon peak in Jennings and was in the neighborhood and didn't say hi. Shame. Cindy chess.

[00:53:57] Yeah, shame drop for sure. Cindy chess hiked Mount Tom and field for 12 and 13 out of the 48 4,000 footers. Karen 220 and Melissa start 13 hiked Owl's head for 35 out of the 48. That says 49, but I'm not going to fall for that one. Brady girl one. Oh, let's see.

[00:54:21] We have some travelers here. So the cliffs of Faroe Islands in Denmark. It's pretty, pretty epic. Beautiful. Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's exotic. It sure is. Jake skis 603 did the Franconia Ridge counterclockwise. Jennifer Collins 5678 hike North moat for 48 out of the 52 of the view.

[00:54:44] And then this dude, man, this dude, Dave shits in the woods was harassing me all week long or for like the last three weeks tagging me for Ireland pictures like a million of them. If I got another one, I would not share that. They were great.

[00:55:00] Yeah, but they were a bit over the top. Don't you think? Like just like every single day, new new Irish picture. Like come on. I'm happy to see pictures. I'm keeping them. Keep them coming. Yeah, just bust me a Dave.

[00:55:11] And but on top of that, he did do the Mount Lowell via a bushwhack. So not the shooter or anything like that. But he was whacked from he walked up Sawyer. He may have biked and then bushwhacked up and pretty gnarly.

[00:55:25] I had a bail on him on that one. So I probably deserve a shame drop. But yeah, so good work, Dave. And then we had a couple more here. Eric CJ 72 did a Zeebons traverse.

[00:55:38] Lauren Samson 54 hiked Cardigan via the West Ridge Trail for 12 out of the 52 of the view. And then Duchess 3663 did Tomfield and Willie. So there you go. All right. Man, man. So Justin and the DadVenture crew. Yeah.

[00:55:56] They've done some good stuff, but they got a little ways to go. So I'm going to hook up with them and do some hikes with them, but we'll get there. You get you got Dave Schitt's in the woods who literally traversed the entire Ireland

[00:56:10] of Ireland with the South. We get the Denmark person. I like Mr. Conley. I just like that name. I don't know. It's like he's our gym teacher. But I think I'm going to go with Karen 220. I had a nice conversation with online.

[00:56:25] So maybe, yeah, I'm going to go with Karen 220 because her and Melissa are banging things out right now. So they did 3334 and 35 and she's sort of like this will give her the motivation to really wrap up the 4000 footers hopefully in the next couple of months.

[00:56:41] So Karen 220, your wish is granted. You get the notable hike of the week. Congratulations. All right. You should create like a sound effect that's like you use the crowd sound effect of like cheering. It was much rejoicing. Yes. Yeah. Slashers hiking topic of the week. All right, stop.

[00:57:13] So we're going to move into segment one here, which is stop is going to give hot weather hiking tips and lightning safety tips. So what do you have to share with us? I know we've covered this before, but my New Year's resolution, I know it's a little early

[00:57:26] for New Year's resolutions, but I want to always circle back to the new listeners that we may have. So this is the season for lightning strikes and hot weather and all the things that can happen in hot weather.

[00:57:39] And this really got me started by this article that was sent in by Johanna Parker, and it was about a mother who passed out while hiking in summer heat with the husband and the kids out west, and she ended up dying.

[00:57:55] So these reports are coming in fast and furious now, and a lot of these heat-related incidents can be avoided if you're cautious and you're aware of some of the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and whatnot. So let's just review some of these.

[00:58:16] If you're out in hot weather, be aware of heat exhaustion. That would be the first thing that you should be aware of. Usually you're looking for fatigue, heavy sweating, faintness, a weak rapid pulse, muscle cramps, nausea, and headache.

[00:58:35] That's a good old list of the first signs and symptoms. If you're pushing yourself well beyond those initial symptoms, hiking out in the hot weather, that can lead you to what they call heat stroke. This generally occurs when your body temperature rises to 104 degrees Fahrenheit or more.

[00:58:58] This is where you can damage your brain, your heart, your kidneys, your muscles, and the longer that treatment is delayed, the greater your risk of serious complications or even death. So it's no joke.

[00:59:13] In this prolonged two-week span of weather here, you really have to be on top of these signs and symptoms and be aware of what you can do to prevent it. I also think from a math perspective, Stomp, and I don't know how correct I am on this

[00:59:27] or whether there's a calculator, but when I was out west in Arizona, essentially my experience was a four-mile hike in that heat was the equivalent of an eight-mile hike around here even though the elevation wasn't as bad. Just that amount of heat pounding down on you, it's crazy.

[00:59:50] Absolutely. No doubt about it. There's a subcategory here, hyponatremia, which basically means low sodium. Sodium is an important electrolyte that works for your muscles, your cardiac rhythm, all of it. When you're sweating diffusely in hot weather, your sodium can drop so low that it can lead

[01:00:08] to big trouble. So that's why people suggest IV fluids, the Nunt tablets, Gatorade, all that stuff to get those electrolytes and salts back into your body. So what can you do about it? Things to be aware of. Some basic strategies. Hike earlier in the morning.

[01:00:27] Get out before 10am, before that sun really cracks over the horizon, or later in the afternoon and into the evening where you have less of the heat, less of the direct sun. You can dress in lighter, breathable wicking clothing as opposed to hot cottons or heavier materials.

[01:00:46] Obviously you want to bring enough water. If you're packing for a longer hike, make sure you know where your water sources are. Make sure if you do have the water that you're bringing the electrolytes along with the water

[01:00:56] because water does not contain these electrolytes, which are super important. And it brings back one of those rescues recently, a couple years back, where somebody tried to replenish their hydration by drinking a ton of water and she created hyponatremia

[01:01:12] by just diluting her electrolytes and her water balance so much. So make sure you're balancing the two. Know the signs. We went over a couple of them. Fainting, confusion, altered mental status. They're all early signs for pending trouble. Check your peepee. Check your peepee color.

[01:01:34] If you're yellow, you're probably dehydrated. You want to make sure that your urinary color is a lighter color to make sure that you're hydrated. I added this one because if you are in the situation where you have to end up stopping

[01:02:01] for whatever reason and you're stuck in the middle of that heat, bring a tarp or something that you can create shade or a shelter, or even when you're just resting. Just so you can stop, you can throw something up above you, create a little bit of shade

[01:02:14] that can really help cool you down. Yeah, if you're above treeline, I think my experience with the umbrella on trail recently on Gale Head, like I thought that was pretty easy.

[01:02:21] Like the bang for the buck as far as like how heavy it is versus the benefit you get. You know, I wouldn't hesitate to throw an umbrella in my pack and just use that if I was going to be above treeline for an extended amount of time.

[01:02:34] For sure. It doesn't take much. You know, if there's a little bit of breeze going and you're in the shade, that can really cool you down, get you back on your feet. Let's see. And if there are bodies of water around, utilize them.

[01:02:46] You know, dogs always jump in the water and just sit there and bathe for a few minutes while they're hiking. Do the same thing. Just take your shoes off, cool off, get the water on your pulse points, under your arms, behind your head. Different strategies there.

[01:03:02] Yeah, and especially if you're doing longer hikes, like pick your hikes. Like I think to me, like I'm trying to think, Stomp, what are some good long hikes that sort of go along drainage for a long period of time?

[01:03:14] I think the Great Gulf to me stands out as number one because you can hop in, you can go four or five miles in and you're still going to be hitting drainage. I think Owl's Head, Carrigane is another one, like with that long road walk.

[01:03:27] And then you still got drainage pretty far up onto Signal Ridge. 19 Mile is another one. Correct. So if you're doing like a Wildcat Mariah, I was just going to mention that. If you're stuck up on the ridge, you have no water for that entire duration, maybe a

[01:03:43] spring here and there, but you'd have to descend to get down to a water source. So again, it's just knowing where those water sources are. Yeah, or at least plan it out so that at the beginning and the end of a hike, you've got

[01:03:55] cold water that you can jump into. I think Valley Way is a good one that stands out to me. It's like, you can go a mile up Valley Way, hop in the river, go hike and then come back down, hop in the river at the end.

[01:04:09] Bald Face is another one with Emerald Pool. So there's a ton of them that have water at the bottom. Yeah. And the huts, the hut system have water for hikers passing through. So make sure you know where the huts are. Make sure you know where the springs are.

[01:04:22] They're all listed in the AMC books and you should be good to go. Yeah, yeah. And just keep an eye on if you've got kids with you, if you've got dogs with you, just don't assume that your tolerance matches their tolerance.

[01:04:34] Like having an ear on the side of safety and don't stretch your dogs, don't stretch your kids out too much in this weather. That's right. So moving on to the second topic here, lightning, lightning basics. This weather has been so wild.

[01:04:50] We just had the hurricane blow through and there was lightning everywhere. It seems like we've been fortunate this year to have advanced notice on most of these storms. So check the forecast.

[01:05:00] There are occasions obviously where these things can pop up out of the blue and catch you off guard. And you really should know some of the basic things to do if you are stuck in a lightning storm. So check the forecast as you're out, check the sky.

[01:05:15] The sky can tell you if something big is coming. You're going to see the dark clouds on the horizon making your way generally west to east. So know that the basic cardinal route here for north, south, east and west before you go out the door.

[01:05:29] Plan your route, know where the exposed areas are going to be and what time you're going to get there and just see if it lines up with the forecast for the day. Open areas would include ridges, summits, etc. Stay informed, keep an eye on the weather.

[01:05:45] Adapt your plan. If you have to bail out, bail out. Just get down, get down trail. The Wildcats always remind me of this situation because Mrs. Stump and I were stuck in a storm up there and we didn't bail out.

[01:05:56] We stayed up on the summit of the top of the ski place and got stuck in the storm. I remember that day. Dude, yeah, that was wild. We've talked about it before. You tipped me off that it was coming because you were stuck in it. Take cover! Hardcore.

[01:06:09] But we opted to try to find shelter as opposed to bailing. But bailing is a solid option. Just get off of those high points. Watch for signs of lightning. If you see a flash of lightning, count the seconds until you hear the thunder.

[01:06:26] This is a classic thing to know. If the time is 30 seconds or less, the storm is close enough to pose a threat in terms of lightning strikes to you personally. And then take shelter if you're caught in a storm.

[01:06:41] Seek shelter in a low-lying area such as a valley or a depression. Avoid tall objects such as trees. I love that one. That's sort of tough to avoid. But yeah, little depressions or calls even should be much better than the higher points.

[01:06:59] I think this is another scenario where I think you should have an umbrella with you, particularly like a metal-tipped umbrella. And then if you are stuck in lightning, what you want to do is give the metal-tipped umbrella

[01:07:12] to the person in your hiking party that you like the least. Have them hold it. Tell them that it's protection from the rain and then they'll get struck by lightning and you'll be safe. Oh my god.

[01:07:24] It's so funny you mentioned that because later on here it says use a lightning rod. So it's true. If you have a lightning rod, if you're in a group of people, you can use something larger to distract the lightning or attract the lightning instead of to the people.

[01:07:43] But yeah, multi-purpose. If you're hiking with a lady who's got long hair and her hair starts rising with static electricity, then you know you've got to get away from that person. That's absolutely right. Some of the other basics you probably already know about avoid metal objects,

[01:08:00] fences, poles, camping gear, anything that can conduct electricity. If you're stuck and you've got no place to go, you're out of time, crouch low. Get down as low as possible with your head between your legs, your fetal position. Get down as low as you can.

[01:08:16] It'll reduce the risk of being struck. Avoid standing water as that's also an excellent conductor of electricity. And yeah, the group thing is interesting. They suggest traveling with a group because when you're with a group, you can spread out

[01:08:32] and avoid clustering together and it reduces the risk of multiple people being struck. Lightning roulette. Exactly. So there you go. So some heat exhaustion tips and some lightning tips from yours truly, Slasher. Good luck. I'm exhausted from your heat exhaustion advice. Don't worry.

[01:08:56] Winter's going to be here in a couple of weeks. Yeah, right, right. All right, Stomp. So now we are going to... So Heather Harlan Wingate was nice enough to join us and we're going to go into a segment

[01:09:09] where she's going to talk about some of her experiences in the volunteer world for the White Mountain. So let's go into this segment here and then we'll catch on the other side with Search and Rescue. Beep, beep, beep. It's time for Slasher's Guest of the Week. Very cool.

[01:09:49] Very cool. All right, Heather. So now anything you say is officially on the record. Okay. All right. So thank you so much for joining us. So we are here with Heather and I think, Stomp, why don't you kick this off to give a little

[01:10:15] bit of background on how did we get connected with Heather and how did you convince her with your charm to join us? Oh, sure. Well, all the credit goes to Agent Sweezy for this connection. Apparently, Heather and Lynn, our behind the scenes... She does everything for us.

[01:10:38] She's great. She's been such a resource for us. So Lynn definitely sent you our way and thank you, Lynn. And thank you, Heather. Yeah, this is great. Any hesitation when Lynn said, look, I know these two guys and they got a podcast and

[01:10:56] they want you to come on? Well, I had listened to your podcast before, so I was aware of who you were, but I've never been on one. So I was a little bit like, oh, do I want to do this? Yeah.

[01:11:06] Well, we appreciate you joining, but why don't you start off? Can you give a little bit of background about your early life and how you got connected into outdoor activities and hiking and all that fun stuff? Sure.

[01:11:17] So I grew up in Connecticut and I was right near a state forest that I used to go walking with my family all the time. And then when I was 12, in 1983, I came up with my youth group and hiked Mount Lafayette

[01:11:32] for the first time at age 12 in my tree-torn tennis sneakers. You know, this is 80s. Nobody had hiking gear. But we would come up for a week and camp on the Kangamangas at Jigger Johnson and do hikes.

[01:11:47] And so Lafayette was my first experience and it was really cool because I didn't know Greenleaf Hut existed. I didn't know Huts existed at all. And I remember popping out of the woods and being like, wow, there's a building up here and people get to live here.

[01:12:02] I want to do this someday. And then nine years later, I worked at Greenleaf. And how did you, did you just apply for the job when you were in college? Yeah. Yep. I applied and spent a summer working at Pinkham first. All Hut crews had to back then.

[01:12:19] Do you remember what the application process was like? Yeah. So it was basically just showing up and being like, hey, I want a job. And they were like, okay, Huts are for people who have worked at Pinkham first.

[01:12:31] And I talked to Mike Waddell, who was the Huts manager, and he referred me to the Pinkham manager. And they were like, yeah, you can work front desk for a summer and then go up to the Huts. So I did that in 1990. And there's no internet.

[01:12:49] So you're knocking on doors. You're showing up to the person. Can I talk to the personnel department, please? Right. I mean, you literally showed up at Pinkham. I remember on my spring break, my mom and I drove up from Connecticut.

[01:13:00] I was going to school in Boston, but we drove up together and just went and talked to people. Yeah. Do you remember? So like I talked to my kids about like, oh, it would be great to work for the AMC.

[01:13:12] And then they're kind of like, oh, I need to make a little bit more money. And I'm like, yeah, you can make a little bit more. Do you remember what was your thought around like, okay, what's the, I guess, what is your

[01:13:21] thought just overall on the balance between like, okay, I want to make money over the summer versus I want to do something that's going to make me happy. And maybe I won't become a millionaire doing this, but it's good experience. Yeah, it was definitely for the experience.

[01:13:34] I mean, I'd spent my summers in high school waitressing at a Friendly's restaurant down in Rhode Island, and it was super, super busy. You made good money, but I didn't want to do that.

[01:13:43] And I had just sort of been exploring the mountains more, and I really wanted to spend my summer up there. And so I didn't care. I honestly, I would have done it for free. Like it was such an amazing job.

[01:13:53] And so, and I was fortunate that I was in college and I needed some spending money, maybe money for books, but I wasn't like trying to make it on my own. Yeah, I mean, you had that Friendly's money probably packed away too. Yeah, exactly, all those quarters.

[01:14:09] Oh my God, I used to love going to Friendly's. Like that was, I mean, back then that was where you went out to eat. Like that was a night out. And we were right near the ocean in Westerly.

[01:14:18] So it was definitely all the beach traffic was there nonstop. Wow, wow. And were you like, was there any nervousness or hesitation around like, okay, I'm going to be living in Pinkham Notch and I'm going to be working the front desk? Or are you just excited?

[01:14:32] I absolutely loved it. And I spent every spare moment that summer going up to all the huts, getting to know all the hut crews, because back then the hut masters and assistants helped with the hiring.

[01:14:42] And so I was basically a brown noser and schmoozed and I'll do dishes, I'll clean the bathroom. So I went up and just sort of stayed over on my days off. And I also explored a ton of trails because I wasn't from this area.

[01:14:55] And I had hiked some before I came up, but I hadn't hiked a lot. So here I am giving trail information right at the desk. So I went out and explored everything. Yeah, because you want to know what you're talking about. Yeah, exactly. What was the dynamic?

[01:15:07] Was there a lot of like, was there a lot of people? Did you able to make like your little crew within the crew of Friends? Yes. So wonderful friends. Most that I stay in touch with still to this day.

[01:15:19] Pinkham Summer was amazing getting to know kids from all over the place. And they're all actually a whole bunch of folks are coming in two weeks to my new home in Twin Mountain for an OH reunion, for having a 90s get together.

[01:15:34] So friends I've had for over 30 years. I want to go to a 90s get together. Yeah, no, it's going to be awesome. Can't wait. We're going to tight roll our pants and we're going to wear like, you know, striped shirts. It's going to be fun. No, that's awesome.

[01:15:51] And then so you do that for summer in Pinkham and then like the deal is, is like if you do well, then you got the opportunity to actually work at the work at the hut. Yep. So then I went up in 91 to Lakes to the Clouds.

[01:16:04] And that was a really amazing experience. I had one of my fellow roommates from Pinkham was on my crew. And then other folks that I had met the summer before because they were working in the huts. I met them.

[01:16:19] Actually, two roommates from Pinkham were up at Lakes with me. So yeah, it was a really, it was a great experience to finally be in the huts. Lakes is super energizing. Like it's an amazing, like the biggest hut. It's the highest hut. It's like, I don't know.

[01:16:33] It's pretty badass. I love Lakes. In fact, I did that for two summers and a fall season because I loved it so much. What's the shift again when you're up there? Are you, are you off at all? Yeah. So you're on for 11 days and off for three.

[01:16:47] And you usually leave on, well, there's different sets. So throughout the week, different people leave. But I remember one set of days off started on a Sunday and you had off until pack day on Wednesday. So you left after breakfast and the hut was cleaned and all that.

[01:17:05] And so you had like a half day Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and then you had to be back by dinner basically Wednesday with your pack load. And when you were just going back to when you were working at Pinkham,

[01:17:15] would you ever go up to the huts and help them resupply at all? Or were you not responsible? No, I didn't pack for them when I was just, but I would just go around on my days off and just go. And I would help do dishes.

[01:17:27] I would help serve. I would help clean the bathrooms the next morning, whatever. But yeah, I didn't actually pack until I worked at Lakes. And then of course you're packing down from the summit of Washington. Yeah. Did you have any anxiety about that?

[01:17:40] Were you like, oh no, I don't know how I'm going to do this. And were you okay? You're like, I'm both seasoned at this point. I was like, bring it, you know, here we go. Here's a challenge.

[01:17:48] And back in that, those days there were a few less crew at each hut. And so we had a crew of eight, I believe now it's 10 plus a naturalist. And so we routinely packed 80 pounds, you know, every pack trip

[01:18:03] and you got really good muscles and you got really buffed and strong and you know, it's amazing shape. So, you know, it, you just did it. I actually would prefer to cook on a pack day because I loved cooking.

[01:18:17] And packing was just something that you did cause you had to, but it wasn't like, yay, it's a pack day. I get to pack and the weather's really crappy and we're going to be out in like really high winds and rain.

[01:18:27] And Washington had a lot of really crummy weather. So as we know, so it was not my favorite day, but you know, on a beautiful day, you felt buff and strong and you're like, here I am.

[01:18:39] And you got lots of attention from all the guests and all the day hikers. Oh yeah. And it still happens now. You're like, oh no, they're coming up. Everyone get out of the way.

[01:18:46] And a lot of them are in the zone, you know, they don't want to talk. Yeah. You feel a bit like this celebrity because everyone wants to talk to you. And of course by August, you're like, just get out of my way.

[01:18:55] I just want to get to the hut and get this off my back. Right. So, and then, so you're, so you're working at Pinkham and then you get an idea of, okay, this is what to expect with the hut.

[01:19:04] And then they get to test you out to make sure that you're gonna, you're going to be a good fit. So how much training is involved when you first start at the hut? Yeah. So before you get to the hut, there's a week long orientation called Gala

[01:19:17] and they still hold that. And there was, oh gosh, all kinds of training. But I remember Forest Service coming in talking about, you know, different things. And there was, Solo would come and do wilderness first aid. There'd be all these different aspects and all the different, you know,

[01:19:33] bigwigs from AMC would come and talk about their, you know, education and research and, you know, trails and all the different things just to kind of fill people in on what was new or going on in the AMC world.

[01:19:44] And then you went up to the hut after Memorial Day weekend and usually had about almost a week before Friday night, like you'd go up on Monday and you'd have till Friday

[01:19:55] to kind of bond as a crew, do inventory, get things set up the way you want them and, and train. And a lot of training happened, you know, basically on the job. So you can't anticipate how to serve 90 people dinner until 90 people are sitting in your dining

[01:20:10] room and you're serving them dinner. So, you know, there was some pre-training before the guests actually came, but it was a lot of on, you know, on hands-on and, you know, but cooking, you know, your hut master and assistants would

[01:20:27] be there the first couple of sessions, helping you like plan things and time it. And I mean, cooking for 90 is an all day affair. Yeah. And so you had a little bit of food service experience, at least from the Friendlies gig,

[01:20:38] but did you, were you actually doing the cooking or in the planning for the food and everything? Yep. Yep. So you basically would do the main course was always determined. So Tuesday's chicken night, Thursday's lasagna, whatever, you know, we had fish back in the day,

[01:20:57] which was nasty, but ham and turkey dinner and stuff. So the main meat basically was determined, but you got to decide, do I want to do barbecue chicken? Do I want to make this? Do I want to make that?

[01:21:07] And then you decided your bread, your soup, your dessert, you know, what starts you served, what vegetables, whatever. So you had a lot of creativity and back in the day, you had a whole shelf full of great cookbooks.

[01:21:20] So Fanny Farmer was a really, you know, sort of big one for pancakes and things and then and baked goods. And then there was Moosewood and Enchanted Broccoli Forest and all these really cool, funky cookbooks. And that's kind of done away with now it's more streamlined.

[01:21:35] And so they have like a hot cookbook and, but I remember pulling out Fanny Farmer and just sitting in the cook's chair and being like, what do I want to make? And it was just so creative because there was so much food in the, in the upstairs.

[01:21:47] And I remember pulling out one that was called Huntington Cake. And of course, Mount Washington's right near Huntington Ravine. And so I remember like doing all the math and be like, all right, if I want four big

[01:21:56] pans of chocolate cake, how many times do I have to multiply this recipe? And then I just sit there and figure it out. And so it was a lot of fun, sort of creative cooking. And that was the only place I really started cooking.

[01:22:08] Like I'd done a little cooking with my mom as a kid and, you know, at Friendly's I was scooping ice cream and waitressing, I wasn't cooking. So this was like a whole new world. And I've really enjoyed that part. Wow.

[01:22:20] And then as far as the, the arrangements for sleeping and things like that for the crew, is that, do you get a roommate or how does that all work? Well, you get all, you know, seven roommates. Okay. So they're all in together. Yep.

[01:22:34] There's one crew room and I didn't grow up with brothers. I had one sister and it was a whole new experience to have a whole bunch of brothers all of a sudden. Disgusting men. Oh, disgusting. Yeah, gross.

[01:22:45] Shut the lights off to go to sleep and there's, you know, burping and farting and everyone's like, you know, just pulling all kinds of junk. So it was, it was fun, but it was- Stomp does that when we go backpacking to me, so I understand.

[01:22:58] It was a mess. It was very stinky and it was, I don't know, dirty clothes everywhere. So it was, you know, it is what it is. You have to be ready for that experience to be living and working with people, you know, your whole 11 days.

[01:23:12] You never have alone time really, unless you're out hiking, which on nice days, if you weren't cooking or packing, you were out hiking and just sort of away from the fray. Yeah. And then what about guest engagement?

[01:23:24] Like I know that, like I haven't stayed, I've stayed in the winter overnights, but I haven't done like a summer one, but like there's some kind of, my understanding is, is that there's entertainment and like, if I'm going in the summer, I expect a show.

[01:23:38] So what's going on there? So, so basically, as far as the entertainment piece, in the morning, there's a thing called a blanket folding demonstration or a BFD. And there's a whole trunk of props and clothes and all kinds of fun stuff, like mostly like

[01:23:56] seventies polyester wild, you know, dresses and wigs and all kinds of stuff. And you put on a skit basically to tell people how to fold the blankets because at lakes, there were 90 beds. Now there's 96, I think. And each bunk had three blankets, so that's 270 blankets.

[01:24:14] And if the guest just left them in a huge heap on the bunk. It's a nightmare for you guys. We have to fold them all. So it looks tidy for the next round. So we do all these entertaining skits and they would just, it was oral tradition.

[01:24:24] It was all passed on from, you know, crew to crew. And sometimes a new one would be developed, but it was a lot of, you know, sort of traditions. So it was really, really, that was one of my favorite parts of the huts was doing the

[01:24:36] blanket folding demonstrations. Honestly, so much fun. Like, are you, are you really good at making beds now? Yeah. So, um, you know, but it was just really fun to get, you know, and it's all like, as breakfast

[01:24:51] goes out, you've got like two minutes to run in the crew room, decide what skit you're doing. Who's going to play what role and pick out an outfit and get out there while the guests are eating their breakfast.

[01:25:02] Because once, you know, their pancakes are done, they're out the door. They're not going to sit there and listen to you. So you had to do it really quick. Soon as the pancakes went on the table or the eggs or whatever, you were out, you know,

[01:25:12] trying to get yourselves together. A lot of impromptu. Yeah. And then what about the through hikers? So I think that obviously the volume of through hikers back in the early nineties wasn't as heavy, but you still have the through hikers coming in. What was the policy generally?

[01:25:29] My understanding is like in busy season, like you can take a couple that will work for stay, but for the most part, like sometimes like they just got to move on if it's too crowded. Right. Yeah. So it's pretty much the same policies we had.

[01:25:41] You know, it was, you know, for the smaller huts, you could take two and for lakes, I think it was four. And basically if they came in before like three or four o'clock, you're like, okay, you know,

[01:25:51] got to get going unless it's like a huge storm or something, but we weren't encouraged to take people at like 10 in the morning. You know, it's like, okay, you got to get going.

[01:26:01] But, you know, later in the day, we had a whole list on the fridge of like through hiker tasks. So, you know, things that they could help with. And so you would get them working either in the afternoon or sometimes have them help like

[01:26:15] sweep the bunk rooms in the morning and help fold all those blankets and stuff. But there was a list of chores for them to do. And we met a lot of great people. I mean, it was really fun. Oh yeah.

[01:26:25] The variety of folks and their experiences and their journeys. And, you know, and then honestly in terrible weather, you know, maybe we weren't supposed to, but in terrible weather, I mean, people stayed on the floor. Yeah.

[01:26:38] I mean, you were either going to have them sleep on the floor or we're going to go out and rescue them later. So, you know, it just depended on the circumstance really. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:26:47] In my early time, like when I first started hiking, like I would, you know, I'd talk to people and you'd hear people say like, oh, the AMC, they're just grabbing money and like this, that, and the other.

[01:26:57] And like, now that I've got a lot more understanding of the history of the White Mountains and sort of the development of the trail systems and how the huts actually, the people that develop the trails that we all use.

[01:27:08] Matter of fact, we did a segment like last week or the week before about like the early trail builders. And like part of their focus was they were partnering with Joe Dodge to build out the hut system.

[01:27:18] So, there was always this intent from the framers of the White Mountains to build these hut systems. And one of the things I always say to people when they say like, oh, they're just out there for money grabbing.

[01:27:27] I'm like, I can't tell you how many times, you know, we've gone through search and rescue stories where it's like, okay, AMC crew members arrived at the scene or they were the first ones out there.

[01:27:39] So, can you talk a little bit about like were you ever engaged to just be first on the scene for rescues? I have to imagine yes, when you're at lakes. Yep, definitely. I mean, we had the second summer I worked at lakes, we had a wilderness first responder

[01:27:53] on our crew, which was great. And I mean, he'd be the one to run out with the fanny pack and assess the situation and stuff. But you know, at different times in different huts, I did litter carries and I was on days

[01:28:04] off from Greenleaf when a guy had a heart attack and died on the ridge. So, my crew carried out a body, which I was sort of glad I wasn't there for that because I would have been traumatic.

[01:28:12] But yeah, we dealt with a lot more folks coming in unprepared, mostly that had driven up the auto road and walked down in flip flops. And you know, hey, they looked over the edge and saw a little building.

[01:28:25] So, they hiked down in their flip flops and then, hey, the clouds blew in and the weather is now crummy. And so, you know, we had folks that were hypothermic a lot.

[01:28:35] We used to have a little propane heater actually in the crew room as a, you know, sort of way to help folks and ourselves if it was like, you know, you were in hypothermic mode from packing or whatever.

[01:28:45] So, you know, we did a lot of hot tea and a lot of blankets and, you know, it was mostly people that just weren't prepared for the weather. And I still see that today when I go up in May and open the hut.

[01:28:58] Like, it's insane how many people do not respect the mountains and have no clue what they're getting into. ISKRA Yeah, yeah. And do you still get out and hike a lot outside of just the volunteer work? Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, I hike.

[01:29:10] I mean, that's why we just moved up to Twin Mountain. We built a house up here because we were spending two hours each way driving from the lakes region for the last 22 years coming up here to hike.

[01:29:21] And it, you know, got to the point where we're like, okay, maybe we should think about, you know, building a house up there to retire eventually. But, you know, so we're literally 10 minutes. We picked this place in particular because we're 10 minutes from all our favorite trailheads.

[01:29:33] ISKRA Yeah, it's perfect. Yeah. Yeah, so excited. Wow. And then so you I think you've kind of answered this, but like do your favorite hut is it lakes? I have to say yes.

[01:29:43] I mean, I have a really soft spot for Zealand because I spent two summers there and my last full service season was at Zealand and I planned my wedding from Zealand with no cell phone. So I love that.

[01:29:57] And I, you know, wrote my vows out on the, you know, falls with my husband and so a lot of really fun memories there. But yeah, I also I worked at Greenleaf and really loved Greenleaf. But I'd say lakes. I mean, just the high intense energy.

[01:30:11] It was really cool. And just, you know, cooking for all those people. I loved the challenge of cooking for 90. And there's nothing like serving a meal that you busted your butt for.

[01:30:22] Like I would make, you know, fresh pies or, you know, all kinds of things that were kind of above and beyond. And you'd go out when you introduce the crew, the cook is last and the crook comes out and I'd get a standing ovation.

[01:30:34] That was like, that was incredible. That was such a high for this like 22 year old kid to be out there, you know, getting a standing O for food that she spent all day cooking. It was up at 5am cooking breakfast for the folks before them.

[01:30:47] Yeah, no, that's fantastic. And then when you so when you stop working for AMC and you had to go out into sort of the real world, do you feel like you were like more prepared than some of your contemporaries

[01:30:59] based on the work that you had done at AMC? Yeah, I mean, I pretty much went right from AMC to getting married. And when I left in 95, I went to grad school at UNH.

[01:31:11] And so I got married and started grad school and went back for one more spring of 96. I was like, I really want to do one more season. My husband's like, well, maybe not a whole summer, but you could caretake in the spring.

[01:31:23] So I did MISPA as a caretaker for a month. But when I got out of grad school, I was getting ready to decide where I was going to send my application and stuff because I went for education.

[01:31:36] And my husband came home from work one day and was like, hey, do you want to keep job searching? Do you want to go live in France for a year with my job? That's a no brainer, right? That's a no brainer.

[01:31:45] So we had a year long honeymoon in France while he worked his job there. And we came back expecting our first child. And I did not actually enter the workforce as a traditional job for pay sort of thing.

[01:31:59] I was and have been a mama of five kids for 25 years. So in a homeschooling mama. So that's my occupation. Oh, well, I'm sure that having 90 people to cook and manage like that definitely prepares you for the kids. For the family of seven. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[01:32:18] And I did a lot of entertaining and would have host holiday parties for like 80 people and cooking all that food was no problem. Yeah, yeah. So that's wow. So that's something else. So also the other thing is so you currently now you volunteer to help open the hut.

[01:32:34] So I will say I have like a Memorial Day weekend tradition where typically on the Alton Weigel Day, which is the Saturday Memorial Day, I go up the auto road.

[01:32:44] I usually run it or this year I hiked it with my friend and then I make my way down to Lakes. I'll see what's doing. Sometimes I'll go up to Monroe and then I come back down Bootsburg. So I've done that the last three or four years.

[01:32:56] Sometimes it times out where you're opening. Sometimes it doesn't, you know, but this year I was there. Yeah, we did. I think a matter of fact, now that I see you, I think you were sort of you were in the kitchen

[01:33:09] but it's interesting because I don't recall ever seeing it in full prep mode. Essentially, there's supplies that are delivered via helicopter is my understanding. I talked to one of the people there and then there's bags of flowers and there's all kinds of canned goods and things like that.

[01:33:28] You essentially got all of that material, all that food and stuff. It's not in storage yet. It's out on the tables and you've got to pack everything up. Yeah. So basically I talked to the construction crew guys. We thought it was about eight tons of food.

[01:33:43] He's like, Heather, I think it was way more than that. So like let's say 10 to 12 tons of food, helicoptered in. Typically the front door is not uncovered yet with the snow. Yeah. So they bring it in through the end of the hut.

[01:33:57] So all the food this year was down in the farthest bunk rooms from where it needs to go. So my team, because I'm the coordinator of the weekend at this point, I took over three years ago from a guy that had been doing it forever.

[01:34:15] But anyways, so my team brings all the food to the dining room after the dining room's been cleaned because you have to scrub every square inch of that hut. Like it gets really moldy and this year was like the worst year I've ever seen it.

[01:34:26] But we spend all weekend, almost 20 people scrubbing every square inch of that hut. Once the dining room is clean, we bring all the food in and separate it out. So here's all your flour, your rice, your sugar, your oats, your teas and coffees and

[01:34:44] maple syrup, everything that's canned goods and non-perishable items. And once it's all separated and the upstairs is empty, because first you have to clean the kitchen because all this stuff from the kitchen is upstairs in the attic.

[01:34:59] So once the kitchen's cleaned, everything comes down and we wash 96 plates, bowls, cups, spoons, forks. It's incredible, all the pots and pans. So all that gets cleaned and put on the nice clean shelves.

[01:35:11] And then the upstairs gets swept and cleaned so that all the food can go up there and we organize it as best we can. And Stomp, the crazy thing about this, I don't know if you've been there, but idiots like

[01:35:24] me are walking around and we're going to go to the bathroom and then we want to talk to the crew. Everyone's got a great story and then dogs are walking in because the front door is open and they're so patient with everybody. But it's chaos.

[01:35:39] Yeah, it's chaos, but it's fun. We wouldn't want to spend our Memorial Day weekend doing anything else. It's really fun. I've been doing it for nine years, opening the hut. And like I said, three years ago, I took over as the coordinator.

[01:35:52] And so it's just a really special weekend. I mean, we do a lot of really hard work and really nasty work, cleaning all this stuff. But by four o'clock, we're all outside if it's nice weather, having happy hour and everyone brings fancy charcuterie type things.

[01:36:10] And we're on the mountain by ourselves. And so we're watching incredible sunsets. We're seeing the Mount Washington Hotel send off the fireworks. And I have some really amazing pictures from that. And one of our teammates the last few years who's come, he's a photographer.

[01:36:25] And so he does this whole weekend's worth of amazing pictures and then sends them out to all of us. So it's a really fun group of people. We always have some new folks join us each year because some folks can't come.

[01:36:37] And we try to aim for about 20 folks. And we're there, my team is there Friday to Monday. I've been coming up the last few years, had the opportunity to come Thursday. And that's when Lynn and Eric Sweet came this past year.

[01:36:50] And they helped me just attack the kitchen so that I can also, I'm the cook. So I want to provide an amazing lunch as soon as my volunteers come in. So I'm making fresh bread and soup and then I'm making all sorts of yummy things for dinner.

[01:37:06] So I wouldn't want to do anything else. And I love talking to all the folks who come through. We had a few through hikers this year who are early and came through.

[01:37:14] Yeah, I ran into one that as I was coming down Dave's path, I ran into him, one of them. They're great to talk to and they're great for eating up leftovers. We love through hikers. And day hikers. We were passing out, I didn't want any leftovers.

[01:37:29] So, you know, once in a while. And that Saturday, I don't know what the weather was like the other days, but you got a 10 out of 10 day on Saturday, which was unbelievable. And we typically, part of our thing is that we work really hard Friday,

[01:37:43] Saturday and then by Sunday people have time to go hike. So you're basically able to go, some people go out to isolation, over to Jefferson, whatever, like they, out to Eisenhower. So people hike and have fun and then Monday they hike out.

[01:37:57] But this year, because the weather was going to be better on Saturday by lunchtime, we're like, take the afternoon off, go do your hike now. And then we'll put the food upstairs tomorrow because it's too nice out. So as long as the work gets done, I don't care.

[01:38:11] And they're very good. Yeah, and when you're not busy volunteering for the huts, then you also do trail maintenance on the West side trail. So a funny story here. When I had put the script together, this is a story for the listeners.

[01:38:28] I don't know who it was, but I had said the West side trail. So I had assumed that Heather was talking about the West side trail, which is on Mount Shakora, but this is the West side trail that basically cuts off.

[01:38:39] This is basically the bailout point in the winter. When you're coming up Ammonusic, you hit lakes of the cloud, you come up to Crawford path, not Davis path. And then you can basically take a left and go down. You bypass the summit and connect with the cog.

[01:38:55] But I did some research, Heather, and there are three West side trails in the White. There's a West side trail on Shakora. Yeah, and there's a West side trail near Ethan Pond. And then there's the... Yeah, and that trail, I think doesn't have a space.

[01:39:15] And then your West side trail does not have a space. So it's West side is one word. So, but your trail is about a half a mile long and all above tree lines. So you're talking about like it's sort of side hill cairns.

[01:39:29] And I would assume that you get a fair amount of runoff on that trail. Well, interesting. We started adopting trails back, I don't know, 12 years ago. And we did the Zealand Trail, which was one of my favorite trails.

[01:39:42] And there was tons of water bars and tons of brushing. And we were coming up with small children up two hours to maintain this trail. And we could do the water bars fine. But then the brushing, my gosh, because it's low elevation,

[01:39:55] it just you clean it and then it's like it's there again. And so it got to be too much. And West side trail came up and I was like, oh, I'd love to be above tree line. No water bars and no brushing, right?

[01:40:06] So we adopted them simultaneously for a couple of years. And then we let the Zealand Trail go to another adopter because it was too much for our family at that time. But the West side trail is great because we literally play with rocks on the rock pile.

[01:40:19] Like we help rebuild cairns. And so we did a class with the AMC because Forest Service did not provide that. We did a class with the trails department over by Alpine Garden in Huntington. We did a cairn building class and that was really cool.

[01:40:35] And my husband does the heavy lifting. I sort of take pictures and look cute, like I just threw a mascot. Right. But we have a fun time and we bring our kids, whoever can come. They're all grown now, teenagers and adults. But we really enjoy it.

[01:40:52] My husband really loves perfecting the cairns and stuff. And it really touched my heart because every time we build one, I think I forget, we've counted them before. I think there's like 80 some cairns in that. I think it's 0.8 miles.

[01:41:05] And it really touched my heart because when we build one, I always say a little prayer for someone that this may sometime help them. And this winter, one of the rescues up at lakes in the dungeon, the team was brought up the cog and let off at Westside.

[01:41:22] And that's right. That's right. Terrible storm, terrible, terrible weather that the rescuers in the interview I read online said that they couldn't see anything. And so they were doing this leapfrogging type of thing. And the cairns are what like saved their life.

[01:41:41] Trying to get to this person that they saved their life. So it was very touching to know that we're up there on a gorgeous day. We always pick a nice day to go up and do this and our work.

[01:41:51] And we're not up there when the horrible storms are because I've been there, done that. I don't choose to hike in terrible weather anymore. Yeah, same with me. Yeah. And so honestly to know that our work made a difference when I read that.

[01:42:08] And they said the cairns on the Westside were what really helped them get to their person they were trying to save. And so anyways, it's very rewarding work. And I find rocks for my husband and go around and pick them up and stuff and bring them to him.

[01:42:23] But he's the real, the person who does most of the work. And sometimes we'll bring our kids, like I said, and they'll help too. But it's a really fun thing. And I think trail adopting is just such an amazing way to give back

[01:42:39] because I'm out there all the time on the trails. And I'm always amazed at all the wonderful, you know, I noticed, you know, the drainage and stuff. And I'm like, oh yeah, someone was out here clearing out. How great.

[01:42:48] And you know, the brushing and then trails that are in really bad shape. You're like, wow, I wonder if this is on the orphan trail list because it's not being maintained. And I know professional trail crews have so much to deal with,

[01:43:01] especially with all the erosion from recent storms in December and stuff that, you know, they just can't get to all the brushing and water bar clearing. And so that's definitely a volunteer position. Yeah.

[01:43:13] And we'll post the, we've posted this a bunch of times, but we always post whenever we talk about trail volunteering, we have a bunch of resources that people can follow up with if they want to adopt a trail. Yep. No, and AMC does it and Forest Service.

[01:43:26] Our trail is through Forest Service, but AMC does a whole adopt a trail program. I actually wrote down stuff because I didn't know if you would have that, but we also are doing stuff with the old bridle path restoration. Oh yes.

[01:43:37] Last year we did an old hutman's day where OH folks were invited to come. So our family went to that and we signed up to do it again this year, but they're doing, you know, a bunch of dates.

[01:43:49] I mean, there's still one, two, three, four, five, six, like seven more dates coming up. Yeah. And I've shared that volunteer information and I'll share that in the show notes as well for old bridle.

[01:43:59] Cause I think that's a, they put out a call for volunteers cause they definitely need more. They need plenty of people there. Yeah. They were saying they could use like 15 to 20 folks each Saturday that they're doing it.

[01:44:10] And there's like a whole form you just fill out and choose which day you can come. But it was, that was very rewarding as well. It was a long day.

[01:44:16] It was nine to three and it was hot, but we did a lot of work last year starting to cut some new trail and I guess we're working in that same sort of area this year. So yeah.

[01:44:28] And I'm curious, did any of your kids take to hiking like an outdoor activities like you have? Yes. So they had no choice when they were young. Okay. All right. Well, I tried that with my kids and some of them went away.

[01:44:39] They're like, I'm not hiking ever again. So at one point my husband and I each had a baby pack, you know, cause we had our kids sort of close together. And so we got our kids out there.

[01:44:49] I mean, I had my first child out there when he was a couple months old. And the youngest that we took one of our kids out, our last child, we took out at six weeks old. She did not Washington. From the summit.

[01:45:01] We drove up the auto road that year cause we had five kids and a dog. And I just was desperate to get up above tree line on 4th of July. And we had her in the little front pack and we carried her down.

[01:45:10] And so all the kids got out hiking. I have very fond memories of, we didn't do a lot of big peaks when they were young, but we did Zealand a ton. All of them took their first steps out of the backpack on the Zealand trail.

[01:45:22] So that's why it's such a special trail for us. And we went up to loans them a lot and, you know, just little things. And as they got older, well, my middle child, actually, we called him mountain goat because at age three he did Eisenhower.

[01:45:37] Like he was just like, he had one little like piggyback and that was it. Like he was like, boom, let's go. So he used to enjoy, he was a June baby and so Solstice. And he enjoyed, he always wanted to do a presidential on his birthday.

[01:45:50] From the time he was six, he did Mount Washington and Lafayette. So, you know, and some of them like to still hike, some don't. I did the 48 with my oldest for his high school homeschool gym credit. So the two of us did all the 48 together before he graduated.

[01:46:08] And that was really, really special to share all those peaks with him. And some I had never done. Like I was amazed. I always, I was like, oh, I don't want to do a list. Like, you know, whatever. I'm not into that. I just hike my own hike.

[01:46:20] But it was, I was actually really glad we did them together because I'd never done, you know, I worked at Greenleaf and did Lafayette a ton, but I'd never been all the way over to Flume and Liberty, believe it or not.

[01:46:30] And I'd never been up Moose to lock, which I absolutely put on repeat all the time now. And, you know, so I think it was, you know, in some, I don't choose to do again because they weren't my favorite, like Cabot and Owl's head.

[01:46:44] Yeah. I can relate to those. Yeah. And I've done the 48 again with my husband when we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary several years ago, we decided we'd do them together. He's like, oh, a lot of peaks we've never done together.

[01:46:56] So we did them all in a year for our anniversary, which was kind of fun. So we talked about doing a third round, I know another round and I'm like, yeah, I think I'm all set. I just have my favorite peaks and I just keep repeating them.

[01:47:07] Yeah. Yeah. Well, this has been, this has been great. And I appreciate all the work that you do for volunteering. And, you know, maybe you don't notice when you're in the mix of things, but like,

[01:47:18] I remember going into the Lakes of the Cloud and seeing the buzz and seeing you guys all working. And I was like, you know, people do appreciate it. It seems hectic at the time, but like it's without the work that you do,

[01:47:33] even the people that aren't staying at Lakes, like rely on that for like, all right, a five, 10 minute refresher. And now I can go, I can finish my hike. So it's definitely appreciated. Thanks. Yeah.

[01:47:43] And I've really enjoyed, I mean, I did from the time I left the huts, I did also go in and do full service volunteering. So for, you know, crew nights out and different things. And my kids loved working in the huts that way.

[01:47:56] Like we just had the best times like filling in and cooking and doing everything and seeing what mom did when she was a kid. So it was a way to reconnect with my youth and I really enjoyed that.

[01:48:06] We haven't done in the last two years, but we did that from 1996 until 2022. So, well, I think if you need anyone to carry bags of flour, Stomp is your man. Yeah. The Sherpa, Sherpa of the podcast. Yeah, exactly. So, but Stomp, any questions? Did I miss anything?

[01:48:27] No, well, I was just a little curious about the pack day. So you have the helicopter bringing in the majority of the material, but what are the pack days? Are they, is it for trash? Is it for supplemental food or water or what? What exactly is happening there?

[01:48:40] So we pack out all the trash and recycling and the dirty aprons and, you know, things like that, the money, you know, all that kind of stuff. All that hut reports they're called. So that- You don't want to tell the listeners you're packing out money.

[01:48:55] No, well not money, but like, you know, just the hut report, which has like, basically credit card slips. But so we'd pack all that up to the summit at lakes or down to the pack house,

[01:49:04] you know, and we'd meet, someone had to meet the truck to get all that stuff to them. And then they would give us all the fresh foods. So all the, you know, the turkey and the chicken and the bacon and the, you know,

[01:49:15] cheese, because they'll fly in some to start with. We used to pack eggs. We'd pack a box with 30 dozen eggs and you could hear each egg kind of roll as you packed. So we packed eggs and we packed, gosh, fresh vegetables for salad every night.

[01:49:31] And that's a lot of salad for 90 people. I mean, cases of lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers and stuff. So, you know, there was, it was all the fresh food. And sometimes you ran out of stuff too, like, you know, towards the end of the season,

[01:49:47] you're running out of, you know, maybe salt or some random thing that you need. And so you're packing that. And so, you know, it just, it was mostly fresh food though. And it was, I mean, we packed really 80 pounds every time.

[01:50:02] And I mean, I did a hundred, I did a century load once and my knees still regret that decision. You cows must have been jacked by the end of the summer though. Yeah. I mean, we were in great shape and I just, I remember one time serving dinner

[01:50:17] and these gentlemen were like, so do the men pack and the women cook? And I just flexed my big muscle now. I was like, what do you think? That's probably a smart thing to do. So we're really fascinated by the logistics. So what about the privies?

[01:50:33] How's that all managed? Yup. So back in the day, some of the huts had flush toilets. So there was a leach field and then there were tanks, you know, like your septic tank that the construction crew at the end of the season,

[01:50:46] God bless them, would get in there and shovel it all out into barrels and it would get flown out. Other huts had barrels under the toilet seat was a barrel. And so we would have to winch it up when it was full, put a cap on it.

[01:50:58] It was called snapping a crapper. And then we'd sit in this sort of wooden frame to carry out to the backyard where it would sit until it got flown out at the end of the year. So they all, oh gosh, after I left the huts, probably 20 years ago,

[01:51:14] they all went to composting toilets, which is a much more, you know, much more efficient way of doing things in these fragile environments. So they all have composting toilets now. And I think they have to do something like we always get these big bales of

[01:51:28] wood chips and stuff that gets flown in. Some it's for compost, but I think the shavings are for the, they have to put down the toilet or something. So it's a whole different. Any issues with pests? Mice? Oh yeah. Beer, anything like that? There's mice.

[01:51:43] There are, there are bear cages around the compost, even at lakes. I mean, there's bear cages to protect that because the huts do a lot of composting. That's where all the food scraps go. Oh sure. Yeah. So those have cages around them, but there are mice.

[01:52:00] I mean, we were trapping mice up at lakes this year. I mean, you know, they, they're, they're everywhere. And yeah, back a long time ago, they used to have cats that, you know,

[01:52:11] people, crew would keep a cat at the hut and then the health service was like, nope, can't have cats. So I guess mice are better than cats. I don't know. But, but anyways, yeah.

[01:52:21] So, you know, but we, we trap and I remember at Zealand, we'd find them in the sink every morning and I would put on my gloves and just take them out and wing them over the hill because I didn't want to kill them.

[01:52:29] And there were snakes over the hill all the time. So. They're coming immediately, they're coming right back. I know pretty much. I mean, that's what my roommate said, but I wasn't into killing. I get it. I get it. So, all right.

[01:52:42] Well, Heather, I think the snapping a crapper is definitely going to be a new favorite term for me, I think. So that's what I've learned here. There's a lot of good terminology for sure. Like it's a whole culture. It's a whole culture. I like that.

[01:52:56] And you know, but you make lifelong friends and I can't wait to see all my friends in a couple of weeks. It's gonna be great. Yeah. I may sneak into the nineties party, but I appreciate you taking the time to talk to

[01:53:06] a little bit more about the culture of AMC. And thank you so much for the volunteer work that you do both at the hut and on the West side trail. I will say like, I mean, that trail is a critical safety trail when you're winter hiking from

[01:53:20] the ammo side. So thank your husband for us as well. And you know, that trail has been used, not just that case, but I'm sure it's been used multiple times for people bailing out and they're in trouble. So thank you so much.

[01:53:32] And you know, we'll stay in touch. And like I said, stops available for Thursday night opening up and carrying food around. No problem. Perfect. Yeah, no problem. All right. We'll take care. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. All right, stop. So that's pretty cool. Heather's a very interesting person.

[01:53:54] Absolutely. It's so great. I mean, it's one of the things I wish I could have done over the years is just spend time up in the huts and volunteered and even reading some of like the Joe Dodge history and all that stuff. It just sounds romantic. Yeah, great.

[01:54:08] Yeah, yeah, it's very good. So all right, stop. So this is the part of the show where we do a sponsor here. So we got Fieldstone Kombucha. That's right. So Fieldstone Kombucha is New England's premier craft kombucha company.

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[01:55:34] Very good, Stomp. Very good. So this is the part of the show now where we cover search and rescue news. So we have, let me count this up. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight articles and one of those articles has also

[01:56:33] 12 incidents over the last week and a half or so. That's a big uptick. Yeah, yeah. We are right in the middle of it right now. This first one is a hiker assisted from the Jackson branch of the Webster Jackson Trail. So this happened on Saturday, June 29th.

[01:56:51] This was a Garmin inReach SOS beacon activated on the Jackson branch of Webster Jackson Trail about 2.2 miles. There was no indication of what the emergency was. Prior to rescuers arriving at the trailhead, the hiker who activated the device arrived out at like 6 p.m.

[01:57:14] So I guess he explained that he had activated his device for his hiking companion who was still up there. So the hiker, 70-year-old from Wakefield, Mass was approximately 1.8 miles up the trail. So rescuers provided, got up there, provided him with food, Gatorade and a headlamp.

[01:57:35] I guess he was too weak and exhausted to continue. Wow. So they assisted him down the trail. It took six and a half hours to go two mile stomps. So two in the morning, they got him out of here. So. Wow. He did have lean gear.

[01:57:51] I wonder if it was hot. I think it was one of those hot days. Yeah, I think so. He had everything, but he had not hiked in several years and was not physically prepared for the rigors of a hike of this magnitude.

[01:58:04] So he did have a hike safeguard though. So yay for him. There you go. That's great. Yeah. So yeah, but that's it. Don't bite off more than you can chew. If you're 70 years old and you haven't hiked in a while, like go to Mount Willard. Or Major.

[01:58:21] Mount Major. Yes. Or Agamenecus. Lots of options. Yes. Or speaking of Mount Major stomp, same day. June 29th was a cluster day. It was a busy day. Oh, wow. Yeah. So conservation officers are notified of a hiker in distress who had lost her glasses and was off trail.

[01:58:41] So. Interesting. Yeah. 28 year old hiker from Cambridge, Mass. I guess around six o'clock they called Alton Fire and Rescue responded on their six by six utility vehicle and made contact with the hiker in the woods about 400 feet away from the Blue Trail.

[01:58:59] It's about a quarter mile from the peak. The hiker, again, 28 year old female from Cambridge, Mass was located. And a quick interview when she returned to the trail. Interesting. Yeah. Was located. And a quick interview when she returned to the trail.

[01:59:19] It was discovered that she dropped her glasses off the edge of a cliff, scrambled down to get them, but could not find them. She's Mr. Magooing around over there trying to locate the trail and it didn't go well. So she called for rescue. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

[01:59:36] You see the last paragraph here? So she dropped her glasses off the edge of a cliff and scrambled down to get them, but could not find them. And then she attempted to locate the trail and started to descend one she came upon and

[01:59:48] quickly realizing she was not on the same trail that she had ascended. Yeah. It's a little tricky. Interesting. Yeah, sure. Yeah. There's a lot of trails over there, so I get it. Oh yeah. So I don't know how I'm going to categorize that one stomp.

[02:00:03] I guess I just do loss, but I very rarely lost my eyesight. I'm curious if the vision was that bad that she just couldn't see or if she just got off trail and could see, but I don't know. I'm nervous.

[02:00:18] If I didn't have my contacts in or if I didn't have glasses on and I was outside, I would have to be right up close to the trail sign to read it. Interesting. Yeah. But you can see-

[02:00:28] There's no way I could read my phone or a regular map. But you could see a blaze 20 feet away? I could see a blaze, but I couldn't read a trail sign unless I was right up close to it. I'd be screwed.

[02:00:42] I wouldn't be able to read a map at all in my phone. No way. Got it. Wow. I do carry an extra pair of contacts in my first aid kit, though, just in case. That's smart. All right.

[02:00:58] Monday, July 1st, Fishing Game responded to a call of an injured hiker on the Wentworth Trail in Mount Israel. 60-year-old hiker from Lancaster, Pennsylvania was hiking with a friend when she slipped and fell and injured her leg. I feel like we get a fair amount on Wentworth.

[02:01:12] I know in the fall, that's got a lot of leaves. It does get slippery. I don't know what it's like this time of the year. But this hiker was unable to stand or walk, so her hiking companion called 911. This activated sandwich, Center Harbor, Tamworth, and Moulton Fire Departments,

[02:01:31] along with Lakes Region Search and Rescue. What did we do before Lakes Search and Rescue was in existence? Yeah, it's a good call, huh? Yeah, a lot of the front country services like the fire EMS would help out, and if need be,

[02:01:48] PEMI would go and whoever else, mutual aid. But yeah, they're filling a void. Oh, big time. Big time. Very good. So I guess the victim was assessed stable. So they responded to the call.

[02:02:02] The call came in at 11.50 AM, and they had to go in two miles to the trailhead, and they assessed her, stabilized, and transported her via rescue litter. And she arrived at the trailhead at 5.20, and then they transported her to Lakes Region Hospital in Laconia for evaluation.

[02:02:24] No further info is available at this time. So yeah, it's a long day. Yeah, sure is. Most of them are. Yeah, for sure. So this next one happened on Monday too. Busy weekend. I mean, busy period.

[02:02:37] And Monday, July 1, Fishing Game notified of an overdue hiker that had left his residence in Pierremont and had not returned as expected. So this was an 81-year-old male hiker. He left his residence at 12.30 that afternoon to clear some trails along his property. We do hear this sometimes.

[02:02:58] These old-timers get out there. And luckily, he was wearing a Zoleo Global Satellite Communicator that allowed him to send his wife the GPS coordinates of his location. Never heard of it. Yeah, never heard of it either. But Zoleo. So it looks like a spot. It's like $199.

[02:03:21] Yeah, satellite-driven, affordable. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, this is, yeah, my friend Tom used this. I think it connects to your phone and you can send messages. So yeah, okay. Yeah, so it's like that other device there by Motorola that I have.

[02:03:38] That was handed to us. Yeah, same idea. So those are pretty popular. So it's like a hotspot, essentially. Yeah, yeah. So he had sent a location at 4.43 when he hadn't returned by 5. His wife and two other neighbors went to search for him by 6.30. They couldn't locate him.

[02:03:58] And then his wife decided to call for assistance, which is the right call because it's getting late. You know, you had a little bit of a window to get him before it got dark. So fishing game, New Hampshire State Police and the local police department responded.

[02:04:13] He was able to alert his wife two additional times of his location just as rescuers arrived. They used an ATV on a portion of an old logging road and hiked the remaining seven tenths of a mile to his location. They got to him by 9.15.

[02:04:29] He was exhausted but uninjured and they gave him a headlamp and then they got him on the ATV and got him out by 11.15 or so. So he has a hike safe card and yeah, he had everything he needed. It just took him a while. Wow. Interesting. Cool.

[02:04:46] It's nice having those devices as backup. Yes, yes it is. All right Stomp, so this is a, we had a cluster event on the 4th of July. So this was four rescues that happened and then I... Super busy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[02:05:06] And this is like, this triggered, I had like, I got to stay off social media, but this triggered like another one of these like social media things where someone was like, rescues are getting out of control and, you know, they're busier than they've ever been.

[02:05:19] And it's like, eh, not really. I mean, your anecdotes or, you know, one day doesn't make a pattern. So when you look at the data, it's pretty much steady year over year for the most part.

[02:05:33] Like there's spikes for sure and there's clusters, but there's been like these crazy cluster of rescues where there's like three or more rescues. I've totaled up like one, two, three, four.

[02:05:44] Since 2019 there's been five, now six days and I'll have to look at July 1st, that may be number seven. But there's been six total days where there's been three or more rescues. And the most interesting one was last year on August 19th,

[02:06:01] there were four separate rescues in and around Mount Washington all at the same time. So they do happen. Well, what I think happened here was you had the fourth being a Thursday.

[02:06:12] So I think a lot of people just decided, let's just make it a long weekend or take the whole week. So there was just tons of people. I mean, I can attest to Exit 32 in Lincoln. It was a mob scene. Anyway, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[02:06:27] And when you look at these where they were, you know, for the most part, they're in busy, busy areas. So the first one happened on Lonesome Lake, 15-year-old suffering from a medical emergency. I got to assume it was a heat exhaustion situation, but it doesn't specify.

[02:06:44] But essentially like the state park personnel were able to get to this youngster and mobilize quickly to carry him to the trailhead. So I guess the call came in at 1130 and then they had been able to get him to the trailhead

[02:07:05] a little bit after 12 o'clock and get him transported to a hospital for evaluation. Wow. So that was 1130. At 1201, a call comes in from 911 reporting an injured hiker on Lincoln Slide in Franconia. So this is not a good spot to need a rescue.

[02:07:27] So a 57-year-old male was reported to have a lower leg injury. The party had hiked back to Franconia Ridge to make the call. So Lincoln Slide is, it's like right past Mount Lincoln.

[02:07:40] I think, I forget what the name of that sub summit is as you're going towards Lafayette and then you've got to connect down to the slide. Lincoln Slide is like this big giant loose slide that you can see from Owl's Head Slide.

[02:07:51] I've gone down there a couple of times. Matter of fact, I got that on my list of places to go pretty soon. But it's slippery and it's sort of like the South Tri-Pyramid. It's got that scree field monstrous, so not a good place to get injured.

[02:08:07] But whoever he was hiking with, I think that this is a pretty experienced crew. I forget the details. But one of his party went back up to Franconia Ridge to get cell connection, called 911, and then PEMI Search and Rescue along with conservation officers went in from the Lincoln

[02:08:27] Woods side because the hikers, this was a good call on their part, is get him to Lincoln Brook. So they must have cut through the drainage, made their way to Lincoln Brook Trail, and then that way they could meet the responding rescuers.

[02:08:41] That's a better way to go in because you can get some ATVs in there pretty deep into the, at least up to the wilderness line. So volunteers from PEMI Search and Rescue got there.

[02:08:52] They were ready for like a five-mile carry out, but they were able to get to Lincoln Brook and Black Pond, met the hiker at the trail, and they were able to assist him to waiting ATVs at the Black Pond Trail.

[02:09:05] And I guess he got the last couple of miles by ATV and arrived at Lincoln Woods around 530. So that's not bad. Not bad. Yeah. Camped in New Hampshire, a hiker, and he's very experienced. He had a hike safeguard. Oh yeah. All good there.

[02:09:20] So good for them for getting, that could have been a brutal one, but they at least, he kept moving, which is good. That's right. So then as that's going on, 130 a call comes in, 27-year-old female was injured on falling waters.

[02:09:34] So that's on the other side of the drainage. So a conservation officer who was working on the Lincoln Slide Rescue now has to go to falling waters to render aid and assistance. So the hiker was getting some help from passerbyers. I'm assuming there was a huge crowd there.

[02:09:52] So safe bet. Yeah. So the conservation officer gets to the location and provides first aid and assist the hiker down the trail. They got there at like four o'clock. So this was a Pennsylvania hiker who was ascending,

[02:10:10] was doing the Mount Lafayette loop when she fell on steep and wet sections coming down falling waters. So they were experienced, well-equipped hikers and they got out. So then 30 minutes later, another call comes in. This one up in Mount Tom, the 24-year-old hiker,

[02:10:31] lower leg injury on the AZ trail near the spur trail to Mount Tom, no cell coverage. So her hiking companion had to go back up to Mount Tom to call for help. This was a Rhode Island hiker

[02:10:43] and Fish and Game are already dealing with two other rescue calls. So one conservation officer was pulled from another rescue to get volunteers from PEMI Search and Rescue and Andrew Scoggin Search and Rescue to carry this hiker off Mount Tom.

[02:10:58] So by 430, they had hiked up to her about two miles in and then they got her off by 730 and she was transported via a friend to get medical evaluation. So crazy from 1130, 12 o'clock, 130 and then two o'clock. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's just insane.

[02:11:22] And there's a note here at the bottom. So more than 30 volunteers took part in the rescues on this one day alone. Crazy. It goes to show you how important volunteer search and rescue is for New Hampshire and how much they offer and can help. They're so appreciated.

[02:11:40] Crazy day. Crazy, crazy day. And then there's a couple of other ones here. There was a missing hiker on Mount Monadnock, 22-year-old from Massachusetts. This one also happened on July 4th. So this is another one. This one actually got a lot of traction on social media because

[02:12:03] this was a case where he had been hiking with a group. I think they were on White Cross and the group basically was like, see you later. You're hiking too slow. So they left this 22-year-old hiker. 22-year-old hiker disappears. So friends can't find him. Triggers a search.

[02:12:21] Some of the rangers on Monadnock ended up connecting with Fishing Game and Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team. And eventually this young man emerged at the state park headquarters. But not a good sign that his friends took off on him. So always stay together. Always, always, always, always. Yeah.

[02:12:45] And then there's a fatality here of a Dartmouth student stopped. This one happened on July 7th. So Fishing Game was notified of a missing student. Student had last been seen at 930 the previous evening. I feel like there was another incident with a Dartmouth student that disappeared,

[02:13:00] but maybe I'm wrong about that. But I feel like there was. I guess this student was with some friends. They had been at an informal social gathering at the docks near the Dartmouth Boathouse. And then the following day, the student did not show up for an engagement.

[02:13:18] Student was identified as a 20-year-old student from Middletown, Delaware. Conservation officers responded to the scene. Hanover Police Department along with Lebanon, Hartford, Vermont, fire departments did a preliminary search in the area, which included divers searching near the dock.

[02:13:35] Items found near the dock indicated that Chang hadn't left the river area. So with Game underwater sonar team, they began their search utilizing the remotely operated underwater cameras that they had. And at approximately 725 PM, they located the victim's body in the Connecticut River

[02:13:59] by the underwater camera not far from the dock. No additional information is available, but yeah, he must have fell in. That's awful. Terrible news. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Good and the bad here. Yeah. Been an interesting week or two. Yeah, it's crazy. It's going to be another hot weekend.

[02:14:16] I think Saturday does not sound like it's going to be great. Sunday looks really good. Yeah. I'm getting out tomorrow. Stop on Friday. I'm gonna, I got a day off, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna do some hiking. I don't know where yet.

[02:14:29] Yeah, yeah. I might be helping Nabi out on Saturday, but we'll have to check the forecast and see what happens. Okay, everyone stay safe and stop. It's great to be back and we will catch you next week. All right. Later. Thank you for listening.

[02:14:46] If you enjoyed the show, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to learn more about the topics covered in today's show, please check out the show notes and safety information at slasherpodcast.com. That's S-L-A-S-R podcast.com.

[02:15:11] You can also follow the show on Facebook and Instagram. We hope you'll join us next week for another great show. Until then, on behalf of Mike and Stump, get out there and crush some mega peaks. Now covered in scratches, blisters and bug bites,

[02:15:29] Chris Staff wanted to complete his most challenging day hike ever. Fish and Game officers say the hiker from Florida activated an emergency beacon yesterday morning. He was hiking along the Appalachian Trail when the weather started to get worse.

[02:15:44] Officials say the snow was piled up to three feet in some spots and there was a wind chill of minus one degree. There's three words to describe this race. It's the only way out. I only want help! Lt. James Neelan, New Hampshire Fish and Game,

[02:16:00] presented thanks for being with us today. Thanks for having me. What are some of the most common mistakes you see people make when they're heading out on the trails to hike here in New Hampshire? Seems to me the most common is being unprepared.

[02:16:11] I think if they just simply visited hikesafe.com and got a list of the 10 essential items and had those in their packs, they probably would have no need to ever call us at all.