Ebright Azimuth (Delaware Highpoint)

This weekend, after my interview at Air Products in Allentown, PA, I visited Josh Probert, a good friend of my mine from my BYU folk dancing days. While there I had this thought, "Delaware isn't that big. The highpoint has to be near by!" As it turned out, it was about 15 min away. Josh entertained my odd hobby and drove me to the highpoint.

Once we were there it took us about 10 min to find the USGS marker, snap a few pictures and drive off. Easily the shortest hike (20 feet) I have had in order to reach a highpoint.

Rock Canyon - Snowshoeing

My folks got me my first pair of snowshoes for Christmas.... unfortunately, they were the wrong size! No problem, while I wait for the new ones to arrive, I rented a pair from the rental shop on campus and headed up Rock Canyon with Rand Blair (MBA classmate).


It was my first time snowshoeing and I showed my amateur behavior by putting the shoes on wrong for more than half of the hike. Basically, I strapped my feet in too far forward and my toes, hitting the front of the shoe, were keeping the binding from swiveling as I took steps. I felt kind of stupid but at least I know how it works now! Besides, with a beautiful day like this it is hard to have it spoiled.

Squaw Peak

A view of Timp from Squaw Peak

The Utah winter has been pretty mild so far this year which means I had a chance to summit another local peak without wearing snowshoes. So yesterday, Dustin, Ben and I left at 6:00am for Squaw Peak. I could tell it was going to be another glorious day for hiking because the stars were out.

The hike was pretty straightforward because of the easily distinguishable trail and the lack of snow. We started at the Rock Canyon trailhead heading east along the trail, eventually leaving it to head northwest and follow the trail up the First Left Fork drainage. This trail dumps into a beautiful meadow as you reach the Squaw Peak Ridge.

View of Timp from the meadow at the top of the First Left Fork trail

From there is was a short hike to the southwest and the summit. We reached the top around 9:30am. As expected, the views were spectacular. I especially liked being at the peak as the sun rose above Provo Peak.

View of Rock Canyon from Squaw Peak. You can see the parking lot and the Provo temple near the top of the photo.

Sunrise over Provo Peak from Squaw Peak

I would have liked to hang around some more but I had a team meeting to work on a couple of projects for school at 1:00. We headed down the trail and got to our cars around 10:30. I had a great time. I am feeling comfortable with the terrain to the east and am feeling more confident about attacking the bigger mountains just to the east of my last three climbs. The challenge is that real winter weather is coming. I am afraid I may have to wait till next summer to hike the big ones. Snowshoeing anyone?!

Maple Mountain

It is getting cold here in Provo. Snow has already fallen in the mountains to the east a few times and I decided I had to get up there before winter really set in.

I decided to go after Maple Mountain. It is just over 9000' and stands directly to the east. One big challenge with this particular choice was there are no trails to the summit..... and I underestimated how much snow was still on the ground.


Originally I was going to hike by my lonesome but decided late to post a general invitation to people in the MBA program to join me if they wanted to. Dustin Cook decided to join in. We headed out from my place at 6:00am, climbed up to the Y and continued up through Slide Canyon to Bear Flats. Starting at Bear Flats the ground was entirely covered with 6-12" of snow and we were hiking on terrain neither of us had ever hiked. We were able to follow animal tracks and occasional footprints up to Apache Flats but from this point on there was no trail and no foot traffic to follow. We bushwhacked up to the ridge running northeast from the peak and stomped through the snow making it to the peak just after 10:00am.

The peak of Maple Mountain.

The views made the tough climb more than worth it. This was my first real view of all the mountains to the east of Provo that Y Mountain and Squaw Peak hide. I could also see Provo Peak, Freedom Peak, Cascade Mountain and a number of the big peaks to the north and south including Timp, Lone Peak, Nebo, and Spanish Fork Peak.

View of Provo Peak (left) from Maple Mountain

View of Cascade Mountain from Maple Mountain

As you probably guessed, the whole experienced whetted my appetite for more. My guess is that I won't get a lot more in this winter but I may be able to go after a couple of smaller ones (i.e. Squaw Peak) on snowshoes.

Crawford Notch Campground

Well I woke up at 5:45 and it was cold! Boy did it get cold last night. My bag kept me warm but my nose was chilly. The cold air made it hard to put my damp clothes on but I did just the same because the sky was completely blue! I don't think I have ever appreciated seeing blue sky so much.


I probably was hiking by 6:30 and was loving the views. I made it past Galehead Hut before 8:00 and then up South Twin where I was finally rewarded with the views I had been waiting for. The view may very well have stretched as far as the Adirondacks in NY and definitely included Mt. Washington to the NE.

I was very grateful for such a beautiful vista. I have enjoyed the whole experience with the rain and clouds but having this morning was a special reward. It is a good thing too because it didn't last!

I stopped at the Zealand Hut for hiker soup (leftovers from last nights dinner), some gingerbread, and lemonade for $5. I ate until I almost felt sick and then took off around 12:45.


I decided then that I was just going to hike out instead of staying at a campsite tonight. The hike down from the hut to the road was pretty amazing too because it flattened for miles! I think I may have even hit a 3 mile/hour pace for a few miles. ..... that was definitely a first. Not only was it flat but the trail was like crushed stone... heaven to walk on!


The only problem was.... it started pouring around 1:00. Ah.... all good things must come to an end. It was almost funny for me though because it was like the trail's farewell. The AT wanted to make sure that I was literally rained on every day! After making it to the parking lot, I met a guy named Mike who was waiting for his buddy Dave but was also doing some trail magic while waiting. I enjoyed a banana and gatorade and conversation and then I walked the final 1/2 mile to 302 where I was able to quickly get a hitch to the campground. The guy was a tourist from Boston and I was grateful for the ride which saved me from a 3 1/2 mile hike on the road.

After checking in I found that Cranky Pete was already there. He had hiked pretty far yesterday and finished the short hike to Crawford Notch today. Later on Mike, Dave, Pinenut, Half Ounce and Pogo all showed up. We have had a great time chatting, joking around and we all threw together a grill night of burgers, dogs and kielbasa.

I feel kind of wierd leaving the trail. I know it has only been 2 weeks but I feel like I am abandoning the people who are pushing on. They don't need me but there is definitely a sense of community. I feel like many have accepted me largely because of the large section I have been doing. It has been fun meeting them and sharing in their journeys.

That being said, I am ready to go home. My personal journey is back at home with Anne and the boys and getting my MBA. Staying here longer would be too self indulgent. I am grateful that I could come and that Anne supported me. Now it is time to go home and help support her. Kurt was nice enough to head up to get me early so I will be heading to RI tonight. I still have the goal to finish this trail and I will be back next year.... I don't know which section but I will be back!

Mileage - 17.4 miles on the AT

Garfield Ridge Campsite

Snake Whisperer, Shelter Monkey, Cranky Pete and I all caught Dutch's 7:30 shuttle back up to the bike path at the Franconia Notch State Park visitors center and took off. Would you believe it started pouring as soon as we got there? So much for the sun in the forecast! We split up soon after hitting the AT trail because it began its steep climb to Franconia Ridge. I felt very strong today and powered up the climb to Liberty Springs Campsite. Not too long after that I crossed above treeline and onto Franconia Ridge.

Now they say optimum hypothermic conditions are 40-50 degrees, cool breeze, and rain/mist. Unfortunately those are exactly the conditions I found all the way up to Mt. Lafayette.


So it was good that I felt strong becuase my body heat is what was keeping me from getting in a dangerous situation. I realized this and made it a point to never rest for very long. I was beat when I reached the summit at 11:45 and I began descending a little dissappointed that the forecasted sun had never arrived. That being said, hiking in the clouds above treeline was almost ethereal/other worldly. It kept reminding me of a scene from Lord of the Rings.


Luckily during my descent and then climb of Mt. Garfield, the clouds parted and I got my first real views of the trip. It was outstanding.

Because I was worried about being hypothermic, I had not stopped to eat or really rest this morning at all and by the time I reached the campsite at 2:30-3:00, I was feeling weak and kind of cold. I tore into my food and got out of my wet clothes and all was well.

During the long afternoon I had to kill, I chatted with the caretaker, Claire. She thru hiked the AT in '03 and was cool to chat with. In the offseason she manages the waste disposal and recycling operations at a science station at the South Pole! Sweet.

The rest of the time I read The Brothers Karamazov (or at least part of an abridged version) and chatted with the few others who came to the shelter. It started to get very, very cold so I crawled into my sleeping bag early. I bet by the time we went to bed it was in the lower 50s and probably will get into the 40s during the night.

I still haven't decided where I will hike to tomorrow. We will have to see if I want to stay at Ethan Pond or spend a 2nd night at the hiker hostel at Crawford Notch.

Mileage - .7 Franconia Notch State Park to the AT, 10.3 miles on the AT

Lincoln, NH

To say the rain is getting annoying would be an understatement! However, I would be lying if I didn't say today was a great day in it's own right. The day started early again (around 7:00). Our shelter had been full with only 5 hikers (Pond Scum, Cranky Pete, Professor, Blazing Socks and I). I knew it was going to be a short day for me so I told the guys who were interested that I would catch a shuttle from Dutch with them at the bottom and took off by 7:30.

I totally understand how hard the Kinsman Peaks would be but I must have been looking towards Lincoln too soon. The climbs were very steep and even a scramble at times in both directions. By the time I made it down to Lonesome Lake Hut my knees were screaming! I had got myself in front of the group of hikers so I stopped to wait in the cafeteria area of the hut. These places are pretty cool. You are way up in the woods and bam! there is a mini hotel. This particular one had enough space for 48 customers. Amazing. The only downer was that the staff wasn't really all that friendly. My guess is that they are tired of seeing thru hikers or something. Unfortunately, my overall impression of these AMC huts was that they are a cool, overpriced concept with unpersonable staff. Oh well! Not a great first impression but my mind could still change. I will have to see how things go the next time.

Anyway, I left because I didn't really care to hang around any longer. The lake was pretty cool thought. About 1/2 mile down the trail... guess what happened?.... it started raining! I didn't really care but it certainly is the continuation of a theme. I finally made it down to US 3. I wrung out my shirt and sat down and waited for some others to show up. Cranky Pete finally showed up and we walked to the Flume Visitors Center... you guessed it.... in the pouring rain.


After a reuben and french fries, Dutch came and picked us up and dropped us off at Chet's. After showering and doing laundry we headed into town (a short 1/2 mile walk) where I finally replaced my busted belt buckle and then we had pizza before heading back to Chet's. Today's theme has been getting to know people on the trail....

Chet's Place

My home for the night.

Cranky Pete - oldest of 4 boys plus 3 other adoptees. Lives in NJ near the high point. Graduated with an undergrad in marketing and is still sorting out what he is doing next in life. Went to Syracuse. Grandparents live in Peru, VT.

Professor - Went to Bowdoin College. Undergrad in Chemistry. Starting grad school in chemistry next month.

Blazing Socks - Undergrad in mechanical engineering. Recently married (I can't believe he is out here). Started on the trail in Virginia.

Dutch (trail name) - Has been yellow blazing (driving) and hiking sections as she goes for years. She is currently shuttling people around in Lincoln. She only charged Pete and I $3 for the ride. She wouldn't accept more than that. Just the cost of gas and that is it.

Grandpa Joe - Undergrad in Computer Science. He workds at US Steel making internal online apps. He is starting school again in 15 days and is probably going to miss the last 100 miles of the trail (that stinks)

Foot Note - From North Carolina. The only other LDS person I have met on the trail. I picked up on this when I heard him talk about his daughter going to BYU. He is writing a book about his trail adventures.

Chet (short for Chester) - The guy is amazing. In 2001 he had an accident with an MSR stove that left him badly burned and 7 years later he is still fighting the effects. His sight is still severly damaged. He really only sees flashed of light that apparently fire as his nerves continue to grow. is story includes 8 flatlines and many organ failures. Basically it is more than one miracle that he is alive. Anyway, his determination and outlook on life are inspirational. He basically now just loves to be part of the AT community and loves having us all here. He doesn't charge a dime but does accept donations from us. I have him $20 for his hospitality.

Well it was a good day on the whole. Not much for pumping out miles but great nonetheless. I have a 7:30 shuttle lined up for tomorrow and believe it or not the forecast is for .... sun! It couldn't have come at a better time because I am hiking up Franconia Ridge and above treeline tomorrow morning!

Trail Names - One Gallon, Grandpa Joe, Chet, Dutch, Snake Whisperer, Shelter Monkey

Mileage - 8.8 miles on the AT, 1 to the Flume Visitors Center