22 miles, 33 hours, 44 bug bites
Jul. 1st, 2002 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joflasherActually, I only did 20 of the 22 miles. The two miles I skipped involved climbing over 1500 vertical feet in a mile and then coming right back down. Whatever the view from Owl's Head Mountain, it wasn't worth that.
If you couldn't tell, we (Boy, S, A and myself) went backpacking up in the White Mountains. We decided that since we did 15 extremely vertical miles in two days last year, we could do 20 mostly flat miles this year. And we did but our feet weren't happy about it.
The first day was pretty good. We got up to the trail around 11 and started walking. Our goal was to get 9 miles in and we managed 11 before we needed to set up camp. Unfortunately, we had just entered the vertical section of our hike, which in the Granite State, means LOTS OF ROCKS. EVERYWHERE. The only place we could really find to pitch our tents was on a hill. No, we didn't sleep well, thank you. Got up early in the morning, ate yummy oatmeal and off we went.
I pitched out my sleeping mat at the base of Owl's Head and slept while the others climbed to the top. A, who's ankle was still bothering her, decided to be manly and climb with the guys. They all came back saying it was a waste of time and energy and were generally pretty pissed at the whole thing. Apparently the only view to be had was about 15 minutes up on a skree field and the top of the mountain was covered in trees you couldn't see through or over or anything. W
We then continued through forest and swamp and overly enthusiastic beaver ponds(not my phrasing, I blame the guild book). All in all, much fun was had. The last 5 miles or so really sucked though. A was limping pretty badly and all of us were foot sore and tired and bug eaten. We made it though and it felt pretty good to knock off one more hike from the White's. And it was really funny to watch Boy and S hop into the river we were hiking near. The water couldn't have been more than 40 degrees. I don't think I've every seen them scramble out of something so quickly.
Also, I now look throughly diseased. I tend to react worse than most people to bug bites, to the point of getting quarter sized red welts everywhere. My legs are covered and so are my shoulders. Little bastards managed to bite through a layer of pure deet and a shirt. Next time, bug net
If you couldn't tell, we (Boy, S, A and myself) went backpacking up in the White Mountains. We decided that since we did 15 extremely vertical miles in two days last year, we could do 20 mostly flat miles this year. And we did but our feet weren't happy about it.
The first day was pretty good. We got up to the trail around 11 and started walking. Our goal was to get 9 miles in and we managed 11 before we needed to set up camp. Unfortunately, we had just entered the vertical section of our hike, which in the Granite State, means LOTS OF ROCKS. EVERYWHERE. The only place we could really find to pitch our tents was on a hill. No, we didn't sleep well, thank you. Got up early in the morning, ate yummy oatmeal and off we went.
I pitched out my sleeping mat at the base of Owl's Head and slept while the others climbed to the top. A, who's ankle was still bothering her, decided to be manly and climb with the guys. They all came back saying it was a waste of time and energy and were generally pretty pissed at the whole thing. Apparently the only view to be had was about 15 minutes up on a skree field and the top of the mountain was covered in trees you couldn't see through or over or anything. W
We then continued through forest and swamp and overly enthusiastic beaver ponds(not my phrasing, I blame the guild book). All in all, much fun was had. The last 5 miles or so really sucked though. A was limping pretty badly and all of us were foot sore and tired and bug eaten. We made it though and it felt pretty good to knock off one more hike from the White's. And it was really funny to watch Boy and S hop into the river we were hiking near. The water couldn't have been more than 40 degrees. I don't think I've every seen them scramble out of something so quickly.
Also, I now look throughly diseased. I tend to react worse than most people to bug bites, to the point of getting quarter sized red welts everywhere. My legs are covered and so are my shoulders. Little bastards managed to bite through a layer of pure deet and a shirt. Next time, bug net
