Post-Christmas 2-Nighter & Rock Bottoms

I'm getting pretty psyched for the upcoming south Harriman 2-Nighter. We're doing this one old skool style-- no name, no plan. The only thing we are planning ahead is where to stay. First night will be in the Cladius Smith area, second will be at Stone Memorial. The route in between will be a game-day decision.

This will be a 'Rock Bottom' trip-- For those of you who are not in the know, we formulated the 'Rock Bottom' label to solve a certain problem we encountered in trip planning. We really wanted to stick with the Fight Club mantra, "Free to all." On the other hand, it's a major downer when trips have to be downsized or cut short because some people got in waaaaaaay over their head. We are all for people hitting rock bottom, but I realized everyone has a limit. We want to push the limit, but the limit is still there at the beginning. Enter "Rock Bottom:" The designation is a good way to alert potential campers that the trip will likely be >20 miles, incorporate difficult terrain, and/or have lousy weather and trail conditions. "You decide your own level of involvement."

Ss, this will be a Rock Bottom trip. I intend to make this a 30 mile trip. We'll probably bow north towards the first circle and the Phantom Shelter during the full-day hike. More to come. We're just 2 weeks out.

Plane disappears in Harriman

This morning, the news announced that a plane near Harriman might have gone down into the woods. The search and rescue have yet to find any evidence of where it "crashed". So be on the look out on the next camping trip for small planes, pilots, and those little packets of peanuts.

You can read the article here:
http://wcbstv.com/cbs2crew/small.plane.missing.2.1272755.html

LP Overnight, Sweatshirts, the Chef

Sweatshirts ARE IN and are being distributed. Wear em to the Long Path shelter this weekend if you are coming out for our overnight.

I plan attempt to complete the Chef hw assignment. I'll need to coordinate a meal with a few of you guys.

Sweatshirts

The sweatshirts have been ordered and may be here by the Halloween trip... If not they will def be in for Thanxgiving V.

Suggestions for Halloween Overnight?

We're working on putting together our first Halloween overnight from Fri 10/30-Sat 10/31. It's not really in honor of Halloween, its just that things happened to work out this way.

I'm hoping to go to a shelter we haven't been to in a long time. The one that comes to mind is the unnamed shelter on Long Path (aka what we call the Long Path shelter). We've actually only had one overnight here ever, so many of you need this one for your 'the Pioneer' homework assignment. I intend to try and complete 'the Chef' on this night, so I'll be talking to 3 of you about a meal.

Any suggestions/ideas or this trip? Route suggestions? The shelter is west of Fingerboard, so parking at the Boat Launch, Tiorati, or Kanawauke are most plausible.

97-091003: Timp Hike - A Modest Proposal

Saturday's trip to the Timp was full of nostalgia and new history for me. It hearkened all the way back to trip 12--"The Rattlesnake Trip." Our route up T-T and the Dundenburg Spiral Railway followed the route of that early trip so many years ago--this was the first trip in that area of the park since then.

Trip 97 started off in much the same way 12 did--being unable to locate the trailhead! We wandered around this time for almost 1/2 mile on the unmarked trails and railway grade before finding T-T to our south. Also like trip 12, this trip took much longer than expected. It took about 3 hours to cover the 3.1 miles to the Timp. It was a little rainy to start but the precipitation gave way to mere fog and by the time we arrived at the summit it wasn't a half-bad day.

Of course the highlight for me was finally proposing to Lori! It was quite tough to keep it all a secret until the last minute. Thanks to Getti and Andrew for all the help organizing it and thanks to Lori for making me the happiest Harrimaniac ever!

Congratulations - Neal

Those of you CORE members already know, but I wanted to make mention that Neal has become the first recipient of the Human Sacrifice Award for 'surviving' his rock bottom experience on 19-041200: West Mt. Overnight! I am sure you are all familiar with the details of 'the Neal Trip.' The award will show up on his advanced stats on the next revision.