August 5, 2018
With Susan Mutter
#27 Tom (4,051 ft.)
#28 Field (4,340 ft.)
#29 Willey (4,285 ft.)
Another hot August hike. This time I was prepping for a big hike in Utah to attempt King's Peak, the state's highest point. Susan fed a Canada jay by hand at the summit of Field, I believe (I posted a picture online and was chastised for violating Leave No Trace). On the way down she also slipped and fell on Avalon but wasn't injured. Not a memorable hike other than the heat and the illicit jay, as the summit pictures of three rockpiles attest.
September 20–21, 2014
With Clem Tucker
#39 Hancock (4,420 ft.)
#40 Hancock, South Peak (4,319 ft.)
Clem and I did this as his first 4,000er. We had been in Portland for the Northeast Speedcubing Championships (PR Pyra avg and 2nd in Clock) before visiting Pemaquid (Hawks Head Inn) and heading west for one night at the Highland Center, in Shapleigh. Clem was lucky and got the back room; I had to share the main room with some fussy 30-year-olds and their broods. The hike was hazy from Canadian wildfires but not too hot. The prelude is not terribly taxing but long and tedious at times. The climb up was sustained and steep, but Clem did exceedingly well. We were pestered into submission by a gray jay. One tried to steal Clem's peanut butter sandwich, and then I fed one a goldfish from my palm. The ridge was mostly fun, with some interesting blowdowns and dead areas amid the mossy ruts. After getting buzzed by a Bicknell's thrush on the summit, we picked our way down the wicked steep half-mile incline, made worse by loose scree on the top half. We then endured the crowds at Flatbread for a great dinner and then a LONG drive home in the dark with the crazies.
