From Tripyramids to Trenches

Week of 9/17 - 9/23

As we close out the this week which is 2 weeks before Grindstone, we reflect on a great past weekend. We had a Wolf Pack Weekend in NH at "The Wolf Den".  I was so happy to get my invite from AM to attend this weekend.

I took off on Friday (day off from work) and headed up to NH to tag Owl's Head which was a really great run.  There were two major water crossing of branches of the Lincoln Brook.  In spots or based on the line I took the water was nut sack high and moving enough to move you if you took an unbalanced step.  I had to cross those points twice.  There were several other minor stream crossings but enough to keep your shoes and socks wet all day.  I took only a handheld for this 18ish mile day, I originally thought 13 o'well.  I did good with only a handheld but was definitely getting hungry went I hit the Franconia Brook trail on the way out.  Backing up a little the slide up Owl's Head was per the usually crappy, lose stuff, wet stuff and just steep.  I sort of just walked around for a little up top and said screw close enough to this stupid summit and bombed back out.

Friday nights dinner was spectacular, for some, one other was left to fend for himself at either Subway, Burger Joint or Golden Arches or all three.  It was a lengthy "dinner run" which leaves things in question.  Saturday was the Tri's via Sabbaday Brook Trail to Livermore to Greeley Ponds, to Flume Connector back to Livermore and out via a two car set up along the Kanc.  AM and MB were in attendance for this event.  Irene's damages are still seen as the Sabbaday Brook trail about 1-2 miles in is pretty much blown out were you need to cross the stream.  If not completely hockey rink frozen in the winter this would really suck.  I took only a handheld for this 17 mile day as well and utilized all the river water for refills.  The river crossings, steams crossings played the same tune as they did for Owl's Head wet feet all day.  We had a great viewing of a 1800lbs Bull Moose coming off of South Peak.  MB missed the photo opportunity but learned how to set the timer on his camera.  AM was his normal self - quiet, talkative, miserable, quiet, talkative and then normal and happy to push 5k pace on the exit.  He won a pair of MH winter momentum gloves in a river crossing bet.  I bet he wouldn't go over waist deep during a crossing and he did for a free pair of gloves.

After dinner at Common Man we hit the "trenches" to eradicate a varmint that had plagued the crawl space at "The Wolf Den".  AM was in his "work" uniform, why he would even put this on knowing it would end up on the blog I have no clue, see below.  We cleaned out all the pinecones that the varmint left, I vacuumed everything down and MB took the role of supervisor. We chicken wired a big section measuring 25 inches to stop the entry point into the crawl space.  It is still TBD how the varmint is getting to that point from the outside.

AM wearing his Mickey sweatshirt

Prior to varmint eradication we each had some ice cream from Ben and Jerry's some took it too far and took down the entire 1120 calories, will not mention any names.

Evidence

All in all a great weekend.  For those "members" of "The Wolf Pack" that did not attend some questioned commitment to "The Pack".

2 weeks until AM and I depart for Grindstone 100 down in Swoope, VA.