Hey, Peoples! :-)

“how the hell is everyone?? :-) i'm back from my fantabulous Vermont Vacation extraordinaire, and extremely out of the loop!

me and Tarpy went to VT & NH over Thanksgiving week...hiked up Pico Mt. in Killington, and part of the way up Mt. Washington (several feet up, LOL...it was very icy). we camped out two nights, and i was colder than a giant witch's teat! B&Bs the other nights.

i'll show you pictures soon (if i can ever figure out how to post them)! the monkeys really enjoyed it.

how was everyone's Thanksgiving? :-)”

“Back on The Chain Gang, hmmmmmmm?

Cold? What's that?”

“Ummm, we're arguing over Bush's logging issue, who on the AFT trip is telling the truth, and various and sundry other issues of momentous import to the future of humankind.”

“WHere in Vermont?

Did the monkeys deal with the cold OK?”

“aahhhh, sounds just like normal, Geobeet!

we stayed at the Long Trail Inn in Killington, VT. it was da bomb...a pub right in the building, too!

i missed you guys! i may have suffered slight TT withdrawl. newgirl may be pleased to hear that i, too, have had a Walkindude Dream. i dreamed that all these people from here were emailing me (i remember him especially well), but i couldn't email back! i'm officially the biggest dork in the world.

but back to monkeys. they held up quite well...and we got a new baby! Schmoopy and Snowy think they did it, and that she's their baby. they really only kissed, though...it was just a strange coincidence that we found the New Addition when we did. LOLOLOL!”

“Yay, Lyra's back!!! Any frostbite?”

“hey, Sass!! :-) you said "yay," that's so sweet. no frostbite...i was wearing a kick-ass jacket!”

“SchhhMOOpy!”

“Some neighborhoods have "the cat lady", but lyra's has "the sock monkey lady". Welcome back lyra. I've missed you so...”

“i missed you too, bp. i'm "the sock monkey lady" of the neighborhood, huh? what am i, some kind of freak?? oh...cool.”

“lyra, glad you had a good weekend. I've hiked NH but never VT. It is on the list.”

“Tilt, thanks for posting that pic of me and Tarpy for me! i never can figure out how to do these things.

thanks, Fritz! they had more snow in Killington that week than they'd had at that time of the season in 30 years. we got lucky!”

“Hi Lyra! Glad you had snow, and a good time, and B&B's to warm up at, and monkeys, etc.”

“Monkeys in the snow... It's Just Toooo Weird!!!!”

“possibly the inn we stayed at in VT (if i can get this to work!):



the Long Trail was literally right there...very convenient!”

“Cool! I've read a lot about the Inn At The Long Trail on people's journals before, but it's pretty cool to see a pic of it. And in the snow, no less!”

“i don't see no STEEKING monkeys!”

“i don't see no STEEnKING monkeys!”

“yay, it worked! and here's one of me, on Pico Mt. (which was originally part of the Long Trail), across the way from the inn:



for some reason, Tarpy likes to "position" me before he takes the picture (like, "put your weight on your left leg...now, put your right elbow a quarter of an inch to the side") so that's why it looks like that, LOL!”

“the monkeys are forthcoming, don't worry, mon. ;-)

i wish i could make those pics smaller, but i don't know how...”

“Did you partake in any Long Trail Ale? Good stuff, glad to hear you had a nice time. Are you and Tarpy dating?”

“no, Tarpy's totally up for grabs. want me to give him your number?
;-)

we had Long Trail Ale last time, and i don't recall that i loved it...so this time, i had some other microthangs that i don't remember the names of.”

“she said . ."position me"

hehe hehe heheh”

“"microthangs"?”

“microbeers! or microbrewery-beers! whatnever! :-)

OH, and i almost forgot, we went to Burlington, VT too. it's a total stoner-fest!!”

“ummm...

How'd you melt all the snow behind you?”

“Catamount Brewery makes some nice brews in White River Junction.....I think.

There was a nice brew pub in Burlington.......its a happenin' place.”

“yeah, Tom T...we saw the big brew pub, but we went to a pizza place instead. we just drove up and hung out for a couple hours. lots of Hemp stores!

if i were crude, Violin, i'd say something about what i had for lunch...but i'm a lady, so i'll say the trail back there was wet and melted the snow (which is the truth!). did you have a good Turkey Day? how did you escape getting carved up? ha!”

“ha! is right!”

“Killington, VT:



Self-portrait at the campsite:

”

“Nice pix and nice pix. Love that snow scene.”

“lyra, where were you on Friday the 29th? I just read that two people died in an avalanche in Mt. Washington's Tuckerman Ravine that day.”

“i just read that thread too, Fritz! we were on our way home on Friday. we'd climbed part of Mt. Washington the day before! those poor people.”

“Did you hike up Tuckermans at all?”

“i'm trying to figure that out...duuuuuh. i know we took a trail that started behind the Visitor's Center, but i never remember the name of anything. i can't seem to find a good map... in any case, we only hiked for a couple of hours, so i doubt we were high enough for it to have gotten us, even if we'd been there on Friday. that's really creepy, though...”

“Lyra --

Behind the Visitors Center in PINKHAM NOTCH??

dark brown stained buildings . . .wide log type porch on the main one . . .

Did you go up a wide trail that left from immediately behind it . . .within a 1/4 mile it would have crossed a bridge over the CUTLER river?? and within a couple of minutes after that come to an overlook (that you had to climb up to) over a beautiful waterfall (I believe the SILVER CASCADE).

From there the trail climbs at a steady grade, up several switch backs, wide enough for a snow cat to climb.

At +/- 3 miles the trail reaches the Hermit Lake shelters. A dark brown wood structure with an open picnic table platform with two walls. (No roof, sort of just for windblock).

Before reaching the Hermit Lake area, you would have crossed the Cutler river two more times on wide wood brdiges and also passed a trail leading right for Huntington Ravine, and just before the last push tothe Hermit Lake area, a trail leading right to Lion's Head. (also Trail left to Boot Spur called the Boot Spur cut off).

The "lake" of hermit lake is a boggy area just beyond the platform that you skirt on a log bridge. Very small . . . a lake only by Mt. Washington standards.


Does any of this sound familiar???


Fromt he Hermit Lake ranger station area you would have been able to see the bowl of the ravine (weather permitting).”

“PS: The old name for the trail is "the Fire Trail"



But it has been known for the last 30 years as

"The Tuckerman Ravine Trail"


Which, of course, might have been your first clue that you were headed up to Tuckerman Ravine!!!

As would have been the Avalanche Advisory sign at the Trail head, and the Yellow Warning sign just after you get started "...many have died here from exposure . . ." etc.”

“oh, shut it, lee...LOL!! yes, that's the one. i saw the avalanche warnings, too...so all that does sound familiar, you smart-ass, you. ;-) it's the first time i've hiked around there, though, so i didn't know how many trails there were behind Pinkham Notch. also, i walk around in a dream-like state.”

“BTW .


Nice Green Eyes!!!!!!!”

“oh. Aside from the pure fun of being a smart-ass, I included all those landmarks for the hike up to the Ravine so that you might know how far you had gotten.

Did you make it up to the Hermit Lake area?”

“why, spankyouverymuch.”

“I'm glad you and the tarpster had a good time. Buddha Bear had to work extra hard to keep us entertained in your abscence.”

“wow, took me a long time to come up with that one! we didn't make it to the 3-mile marker, the shelters...”

“hey ped...did you have a Slappy Spanksgiving?? LOL! i just made that up...i kill me.”

“About twelve years ago a pediatrician from Randolph, Vt(our doctor at the time)was caught in an avalanche at Tuckerman's.

He was lookin' at one of my boys and I remarked on the wicked scar on his forearm.

He somehow(he doesn't know) "surfed" about 600 yards on the leading edge of the avalanche without going under.

There was a teenager about 30 yards from him when the $h!t hit the fan and the kid was untouched.

All he got was a 1" branch through his forearm.
It looked like a nasty gunshot wound.....clean through.

Yeah, nice pictures!
I can only hope my boys hook up with such a cute girl!


Well, not all three of them with the same girl!”

“wow, that's a crazy story, Tom! yikes-o-rama.

LOL! make sure your boys get that last part straight. ;-)

gotta jet! later, taters.”

“Does Tarpy have allergies or something?”

“Cool pics! That snow looks awesome!”

“That snow looks so fuc#en pimp!!!!!!!

8)”