Going to be a mountain man

Discussion in 'General' started by cheebaa, Aug 8, 2007.

  1. Hey City,

    Just wanted to let you all know I will not be around from the rest of today till either Sunday night or Monday afternoon. I will be hitting the white mountain region of New Hampshire with fury- yes thats right with FURY.

    Haha-

    But I am excited about this trip, I just do not want to be attacked by a bear or something at night- thats about the only thing I am worried about. Other than that fear I am so excited.

    I also am bringing a new knife with me on this- it was my uncles when he was in a different division in the army (before he became an engineer). Let me tell you though- the army does not fuck around with knives- this thing is rugged. The irony is though- made in onterio

    SO,

    I will hopefully return with a bunch of photos and stories.

    If not- :confused_2: Nice knowing you haha.


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  2. Have a great time.

    Are you going alone or with others?
     
  3. That's cool, cheebaa. Have a great time and take a gazillion pics for us. I doubt you'll be attacked by a bear but I'm in the mountains so I know it could happen. Don't leave any food out and definitely make sure you be careful of where you dispose leftovers.

    Again, have a great time!!! :D You'll be missed!
     
  4. If you dont come back at least we'll know what happened to ya...


    haha jk man. have fun out there, we all love nature here :hello:
     
  5. I envy you ...you have no idea cheebaa.how long you going for?my extended family ( brother inlaw and sister inlaw)are backpacking in oregon for a month in a couple years before we move out there.....there is nothing like being in the mountains.bring back the peace and keep it with you.
     
  6. have fun man...but dont steal images from deviantart.com i have a few friends who run that site...claiming art-work/still-shots that arn't yours is NOT COOL...

    anyways have fun be safe....
     
  7. First off, none of those images are hosten on deviantart. And secondly; where in his post did he make the claim that those photos were taken by himself?
     
  8. Hey stop pretending to be Bill Gates
     
  9. Have yourself a fun time cheebaa. Taking any bud with you?
     
  10. Have fun man! I'm waiting for the day my son is old enough to go on a backpacking trip with us! We used to go all the time. Nothing drastic though. I have a couple of friends that did the AT the whole dang thing. Took them 2 months I think maybe 3. That was back in 2003 so I can't really remember how long. But dang, I should've did something like that b4 I had my child!
     
  11. First just wanted to say thanks for all the luck you wished...

    Secondly I wanted to let you all know that cheebaa is alive & well, a little bit more of a man, and with a whole new perspective on things.

    I also think I have found a state I wouldn't mind living in- although I still need to explore more of the country/world before I make a crazy decision like that.

    The trip was amazing, I ended a day early due to poor planning- but it was my first "expedition" of its kind. NH is an amazing place- full of so much life. People there live it up and seem to enjoy the simplistic side of things.

    Also one thing I find amazing is how well their trail system is maintained- I know its probably due to the fact that most places charge you $1 or $2 to hike- but thats so rediculously cheap who would complain about that???

    And tax free living is another thing of beauty, beer at gas stations is also wonderfull.

    About the trip-

    My plan was to setup camp wednesday around 4pm, that didn't happen till 7pm due to traffic in Boston.

    The first night was really scary- I was at a state forest but there was no one around. I had a very limited amount of wood and kindling due to heavy rain the night before- so getting a fire going was difficult (flint) as well as maintaining it.

    I cooked a meal around 8:00pm and had to eat rather quickly as night had set. At around 8:15 armed with nothing but my knife and flashlight I hiked into the woods to hang up the food (about 100yards or so- very nervous about doing that).

    During the night I heard lots of life moving around- it kept me awake in my tent all night my candle light reading a book. During the night I watched the sky through a small clearing in the trees- I was amazed at all the stars that I could see in such a small section (maybe 15' across).

    I managed to get a couple hours of sleep total. Cold at night.

    I was going to hike Mt washington thursday- but due to the lack of sleep I decided it best to save that for the next day. I slept a few hours in the morning and awoke around 9:30.

    I ate breakfest (some cereal)- after locating my bag which I had hung up the night before.

    During the day I hiked a trail with 5 summits of more that 2,000 feet between Pilsbury & Mt. Sunapee. The first being 1900' or so, Mt Sunapee being around 3,000' or so.

    I setup camp around 4:30 and rested until 7:00. I had more wood than last night and more kindling. I chose not to eat tonight due to the late hour and the lack of wanting to wonder off again.

    Tonight the fire lasted till about 3am. During the early hours I heard the familiar sounds from the night before- I believe they were owls and other rodents in a struggle of survival.

    I slept once the last of the wood was loaded. Again cold at night.

    The morning (Friday) I awoke to rain- I think I heard it start around 4:30am or so. Stayed in tent till rain passed at 12:00 in the afternoon. I foundd out the rain fly works perfectly.

    Today I decided not to hike due to very rocky trails and the wet conditions- being by myself one wrong move is all it takes to split yourself wide open.

    While sitting around camp I noticed someone had thrown a metal stake for a tent into the woods. I grabbed it and sat around thinking "what can I do with this?"

    After 15mins I started to cut a groove into a fire poking stick, placed the stake in that (with the angled end out) and fastened it using some wire. Using this I was able to manuever the logs on the fire a lot easier.

    Started fire around 8pm tonight- again no dinner. Slept from 10pm-5am waking up every hour on the hour to stoke the fire and throw another log on. Felt good to sleep tonight even if it was an hour at a time. Cold as well tonight.

    Awoke at 5am. Cooked breakfest- some Yams and veggies and toasted bread w/peanut butter. I was very excited today was going to be the day for Mt. Washington.

    I packed up campt around 7am, waited for the fire to die and a shirt to dry off till about 8am.

    Left around 8:30am- and I didn't make it to Mt. Washington before 2pm. So much traffic it was rediculous.

    WTF??????

    I was so pissed. I didn't get to hike the one thing I went up there for.

    I ended up hiking on some APT trails while I was in the area- but Mt. Washington needs more time than I had that day.

    This was my first trip of its kind- so of course it was not planned as well as it could have been. With this knowledge I am setting up a trip back there to hit Mt washington from the 9/14-9/18.



    I will post pics tomorrow- I just do not feel like going through all my gear to find the memory cards at the moment.







    By myself.



    Yea, I almost made a mistake that first night- no bears though. Whenever I heard something I thought was larger than a rodent I clapped though haha.

    Better safe than sorry.



    Of course- nothing better than smoking in the tent. Its like a pop-up hot box.



    I want to hike the whole appalachian trail soon- maybe in a year or so.




    EDIT::

    And fire is an art and a skill.

    My right hand was burned so many times getting that fire going I lost count.

    A bowl burns faster in the cooler weather (which my hypothesis is the denser the air the more air in a smaller volume is delivered, making the hits bigger- like how a bong works).

    There is no shame- everyone does #2 in the woods. hahahahahahahaha

    Daddylong legs love my tent- I had to keep kicking the same two bastards out 3 times one night.

    Lewis & Clark journals is a must have on the trail.

    A shower is supposed to feel amazing- remember that even if we are lucky enough to take one everyday.
     
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  12. So one memory card is MIA right now- I think it could be in a pocket in the pants I was wearing, which have been washed and are in the dryer.

    I'm gonna feel stupid if thats where it is, I would have rather lost it in the forest. But I am sure I packed it.

    I wonder if it will still be readable.

    Anyways I have a few pictures from another memory card I took with me, and some stored on the camera itself.

    This the set of mountains I hiked. There is actually another peak just to the left and off further to the right. The smallest being 1900' the largest being 3000'. The only thing that sucked was to get back to camp I had to hike back over two of them- a 3000' and a 2500' until I reached a semi flat running trail.

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    This is a typical rocky NH trail

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    I wish I had a better map- I reached this mountain and hiked up it. If I were to estimate, it was more that 3500', judging by how long it took me to hike up that one and how long it took me to hike up the others. The grade was similar- it was more uphill though, you see the dip to the right? Yea, the trail went all the way down then back up.

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    This was home for the time, it was nice to keep it open (no rainfly) until I was ready for sleep, just so I could lay back and view the stars. Like I said, they were incredible. (Can you see my stash box- the fossil case in the bottom right corner haha).

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    Smoking in the "Live Free or Die" State just felt so right.

    EDIT::

    One thing I made a point doing in this trip was to observe nature. I saw owls at night, I saw something white running on the forest floor I still cannot identify (it did not move like a rabbit/hare), huge catapillers, like the size of my pinky, salamanders- the list just keeps going.

    Even little differences like how the daddy longs legs there are HUGE compared to the ones in RI, also the ones in NH you can pick up by the legs and they do not detach as easily as here. Same thing with catapillars legs, the suctioned ones. I felt so bad after I did it, but there was one crawling on my so I picked him off, when I did his suctioned feet were so firmly attatched I ripped one off! That never happens here. I felt so terrible.

    One thing I found odd was the lack of little birds- just cause I am so used to them around here, I heard a few- but not like in RI, CT, MA. Lots of crows though.
     
  13. I just wanted to say one more thing, and maybe its just me or for people like me.

    But,

    If you feel lost, kinda not connected to much, or if anything is going on in your life that you want to just leave behind for a bit- take a trip for a few days of your own. No distractions, nothing to influence any thoughts you have- and you have the time to work them all out.

    I've felt connected to nature and things like that- but not so much to family or friends. After spending this time out there I learned that I am connected to them. I wanted to get back safely to them, and they wished me all the luck while I was out there to return safely.

    I think the trip into the woods was a learning experience, I learned a lot about myself. Which is why I cannot wait to get back.

    I found it very peacefull and a guiding experience. It helped to reveal that there is a lot more to life than the bullshit we all must go through on a day-to-day basis.

    It also gives me s much hope for a simplier life.

    One day......
     

  14. you're definately on the right path. I'm planning on trekking (mountain biking) across Wyoming or Colorado that would be a journey worth taking. I'm glad you enjoyed your nature trip. Too many people get stuck in the "I have to take a vacation to another city and do touristy stuff" yet in many people's own backyard is a vast world which manifest vibes true to love and is very beneficial for the upbringing of one's own character, in my opinion. Good luck on all your other journeys you decide to take!
     
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  15. So I found a few more pics on an 8mb card I had brought with me as well. I didn't think I put anything on it- till I went hiking today and brought it and my camera and tried to take some pics.
    As for my 32mb card- it wasn't in the clothes in the washer/dryer, I have no clue what happened to that one. :mad:


    But it's ok- I will be heading back up there from September 14-18, I cannot wait.

    So heres the pics-

    A small water fall (only about 8-10 foot drop), you can tell it was man made however- still cool though:

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    A closer look:
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    This was taken on the trail with the 5 summits:

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    From the same trail:

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    I was glad when I hit drier ground- but I was not expecting to have to hike through a feild of grass like this:

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  16. the reason the trails are so well maintaned is the volunteer work done by the AMC (appalachian mountain club) they do some intense work, i did a volunteer program one sumer, we built 25 "bog bridges"* in one week

    * bog bridges are the simple bridgess that are 2 2x4s nailled to a log that keep your feet dry ovver muddy or swampy areas
     

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