Tumbledown Mountain; May 28, 2007

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. I hope you all had a great one. Jennifer and I went hiking on Monday way way up in Maine. We took the scenic route there and it took 6 hours, although the direct route home was only 4 1/2, it was a long day trip but would be great for a weekend trip if you camped somewhere near Rangely Lake. We climbed up Tumbledown Mountain, on a very steep rugged trail and Jennifer did great on it. One part has a cave you climb up through on iron rungs and she got through it easily. The sun ducked behind some clouds when we summited East Tumbledown but was out the rest of the day. The views were great of the surrounding area. The mountains aren't real tall, just over 3000 feet, but they are rocky and there's a really cool pond to see too tucked in a saddle between the peaks. We had great weather up there but the Black Flies were out too, so the wind up higher helped keep them away. It was a great trip, click here or on the picture if you'd like to see more.

5-19-2007; Mt. Tecumseh

Ryan and I went on a quick hike up Mt. Tecumseh Saturday. It is the shortest of the 4000 footers, at 4003 feet, and the trail is only 5 miles total but is has a good amount of climbing (2200) feet so it's still a workout. It was an enjoyable hike on a rainy day except for the rash I got from the waterproofing on my windbreaker. I have never been so itchy in all my life. It felt like a thousand mosquito bites all over and even rinsing off in a cold stream didn't help. My eyebrows looked swollen like a cave man and my fingers were too swollen to get my wedding ring off. It was a miserable half hour to the nearest store to get Benedryl and half an hour more until it kicked in. Thank God for Pharmaceuticals. Click here or on the picture for more.

Picasa works! Now for some pics.

So, this is going to be easier than I thought. Now I can put up dozens of pictures on each post rather than a select few. Assuming something doesn't go wrong again in cyber space there should be lots to see here soon. If you wanted to see more from any of the previous posts there's a lot more for most of them. I'm also going to scan some wedding pictures and stuff, even though it's old, there was a lot I didn't put up because it took too much time to load more than 15-20 pictures. I'll start with all the stuff that got erased because it's going to take a while to scan the wedding pics. So, without further delay, here's the hiking trips to start with, Click on the photo if you want to see more from that trip.

5-13-2007; Mts. Lincoln & Lafayette

5-5&6-2007; Owls Head
4-22-2007; Mt. Carrigain
4-14-2007; Mt. Garfield
4-11-2007; Short Hikes to Waterfalls
3-25-2007; Mts. Starr-King & Waumbek
3-11-2007; Mt. Isolation
2-18-2007; The Hancocks
1-30&31-2007; Mt. Willey
11-25-2007; North & South Kinsman
11-5-2006; Carter Dome

Well I think I have this Picasa thing figured out so here goes. I'll start with the 30th birthday pics and work on it from there. Click the link below to get them

http://picasaweb.google.com/drf19772/DerekSSurprise30th

and here's the link to Brett's pictures from the party also

http://picasaweb.google.com/brett.walker.30/DerekS30th02

Missing Pictures

This is why I hate computers. They are the tool of the devil in case you didn't already know that. All my pictures have disappeared for no reason! Don't know if they'll show up or not so I may try the Picasa way if I can figure that out. Sorry there's nothing here to see right now, check back soon. I hate computers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise 30th Birthday Luau!

Thanks to all of you who showed up, sent regards, cards etc. I had lots of fun and hope you did too.














Hard to believe we're 30 years old already! Jennifer and my Mom put on a great surprise party. It had everything!

Lots of food...

Decorations...

Drinks...

a really cool cake...









Dancing girls...




















and for those who stayed long enough to catch it, a hilarious late night comedy show!



















Lot's of family and friends too including the sisters



















Grammy and her new wheels


















The Baron's showed up


















Here's the Grammys hangin' out








Paul and Charlene























Uncle Paul and Denny



















Party in the yard complete with tiki torches







Jen and my parents who put on the show



















My dad and Uncle Gary all decked out in Hawiian gear












Even Bundle got into it










Here's us with our sippie cups Brett got us



















That's 90 combined years of experience in that picture




















Me and Uncle Dan with his cigar he got the day I was born.



















Charlene and her baby boy. Danny was there too but there are no pictures of him


























I gave the piece of cake with my baby picture on it to my mom




















Our lovely ladies having fun













And I would say my dad had fun too

Last but not least, me and my wonderful wife, who even though I said no party, went all out for me.

5/5-5/6 Owl's Head; 4025 ft/18 mi.

Owls Head is the furthest 4000 footer from a road. It is 9.2 miles one way to the summit but we figured it would be pretty easy and snow free for most of the way so we chose this perfect weekend to tackle it.

Here's Greg attatching Ryan's sleeping bag with a bungee cord because Ryan decided it would be best to leave his large comfortable backpack at home for some reason.

This is us on the suspension bridge near the Lincoln Woods ranger station.

The start of the hike is on old train tracks so it is wide and straight. You could see 1400 yards dead straight at one point, give or take a few steps

The old pillars of the RR bridge are still there and have a bridge for hikers into the official wilderness area

Check your bikes at the door

No more bridges once you're in the wilderness. This is one way to cross small brooks

This is Owls Head at sunset, seen over a beaver pond that flooded the trail

And this is another way to cross the brooks and stay high and dry

Finally we came to a river that was too dangerous to cross in the dark and it was getting cold so we set up camp a few hundred feet off the trail

Then we saw the no camping sign but it was a little too late and we couldn't go any further in the dark

We made a small fire pit and cooked Bratwurst and Kielbasa's

And torched a perfectly good book we had brought in case we needed dry paper

We didn't really need it but we burned it anyways

This is me with our emergency bear repellent

Our camp in the morning. It was only 32 degrees at 6 AM

That's Owls Head and it's namesake cliff. Does that look like an owls head to anyone?

One of our more industrious attempts at crossing the river wasted 45 minutes building a bridge to the rocks. After Greg dunked one leg I took my boots off and waded across. I'd rather have cold numb feet for a minute than wet feet all day

The next crossing was too wide and we all had to take our boots off and walk across. I took the right way, they got stuck and had to come upstream to where it was shallower

Cold, but kind of refreshing

Finally, eight miles in, the start of the rock slide and the climb to the summit. It's the only 4000 footer without an official trail to it

The open slide gives good views of the Franconia ridge. Here's Mts Lincoln and Lafayette. The rock slide there is similar to the one we we're on only more recent

Mount Liberty from the slide

Near the top it turns from loose rock to ledges

Then gets steep and covered in snow...

...icy, crusty knee deep snow that slices at your legs when you posthole

The summit ridge was a tangled mess of downed trees and thigh deep soft snow

Which made Ryan and Greg give up about 100 yards from the summit so I was the only one there for the summit photo

Greg picking his way down. We accidentally dislodged several large rocks that could have ruined someones day if they hit anyone but there was nothing we could do about it

...and then he climbed Owls Head

On the way back we just walked through the rivers and brooks, boots and all. Very very refreshing for the feet and saved a little time too

A few miles of wet feet and it was back to "civilization" and only three more miles to go

Along the way there was a great view out to the Bonds up the river

These are two of the three 4000 footers I have left to climb

And finally back to the parking lot on the Kanc