A pair of uncles owns some property in Lunenburg, Vermont I’ve started using as a base camp of sorts for my hikes. Luneburg is old fashioned small town Vermont complete with one building
down town area and wooden covered bridge. Camp is 6 miles into the woods with beautiful views of Franconia Notch and a ridge that the dawn crests over every morning. There is a trail through the woods that my uncle Larry calls “Mirkwood” after the forest in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”
Mt. Carrigain as a climb, along the Signal Ridge Trail, was relatively easy. Add in the extra 2 miles we had to hump from the parking lot to the actual trail head, turning a 10 mile hike into a 14 mile hike and by the end of the day Dan and I were exhausted. But it was well worth it.
The views atop the summit were just as promised; some of the most spectacular in the Whites. The old fire tower sitting on top of the summit gives you an unobstructed 360 degree view of the entire region. The wind was whipping a bit and the temperature probably dropped a good 20 degrees even from the top of the Signal Ridge Crest where we got great views of the rock slide of the face of Mt. Lowell; so lingering any longer than to rest up, re-hydrate, and get some much needed calories in us wasn’t in order for the day.
My new climbing partner, Dan the Man, was a trooper. He helped me figure out some very important things about hiking – left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot; walk straight ahead seems so simple until you have to do it for 9 solid hours in the heat, and then the cold, in mud, on rocks, up and down, on ice, over rivers, watching every step. The physical exertion is the easy part ( did I mention that my 10 year old son just did a 14 mile hike up a mountain almost 5,000 feet tall?) it is the mental part of this sport that is now even more curious to me.
This song is for Dan the Man, the new Mountain King:
