#2 : Lodge, Peak, and everything else in between

Just got back from a wonderful weekend up in the White Mountains, where we (thankfully!) didn’t camp for a change, rather stayed at the beautiful AMC Lodge at the base of Mt. Cardigan. Part of AMC’s Winter Hiking Program, the trip gathered some 65-odd hikers just like us and involved numerous hikes, a bonfire, bunk beds, fireplace happy-hours and lots of delicious food that we didn’t have to cook ourselves! Still a newbie, I often get overwhelmed by all the gear required for winter hiking as opposed to 3-season – numerous layers, crampons, snowshoes, micro-spikes…etc etc.. As a result I was a little frazzled by the time we hit the road on Friday evening after work. Driving in the dark through winding mountain roads is also disorienting, so by the time we reached the Lodge I was feeling somewhat lost and tired. It was only while driving back this afternoon, that I realized what a scenic drive it was up to the Lodge! Anyways, we checked in Friday night, claimed our beds, marveled at how cozy and clean the Lodge was, and went to bed early. Well, or so I thought – for the next hour I desperately tried to blank out the three snoring men (including Abhi) who slept all around. Of course, he vehemently denied the next morning that he was  one of the culprits -  rather his sleep was sooo disturbed by the snoring of the rest of the dorm-mates (including me!!). Nonetheless, after a hearty breakfast we quickly chose between the trail options to select the challenging ascent up Mt. Cardigan. There were 5 hikes in all and our group ended up with 14 hikers. The lodge was consumed with the frenzy of so many people packing their gear, putting on layers, filling up water bottles and meeting at assigned trailheads.

It was a beautiful day- a light snow was coming down and one could clearly see the shapes of the snowflakes, gather like dust on all our clothes. Abhi & I didn’t have micro-spikes so the early part of the trail was a little slippery, especially as it got steeper. Almost 1 mile in, we decided it was getting too dangerous to go on without any traction, so out came the crampons! It took a while to put them on, but thereafter no more slipping or sliding (or atleast less of it!). The trail got even more steep and exposed, and as if things couldn’t get any more adventurous,the leaders realized that we had lost our way! To get back on the right trail we ended up bushwhacking (that is literally stomping and squeezing through not-so-friendly bushes and branches). I was sure that something or the other, carabineer-ed all around me was going to rip off during this detour but miraculously it all stayed in place. More astonishingly, none of us actually fell off the steep rocky ridges as we hung on to frail tree roots for dear life. There was a lot of tush-push (new trail vocab!) at challenging spots and thankfully after a grueling 45 minutes we were back on track. To add some spice to the experience, Abhi’s crampons decided to misbehave right through the bushwhack. They were mistakenly set to be a wee-bit longer than required and needed to be taken off, re-adjusted and put back. Unfortunately, there was no time to take a break and do all this. Once back on track he did get a chance to fix them, and was a lot happier and less grumpier from there on . We were soon at the summit of Firescrew Mountain, which had breathtaking views despite cloudy weather (can’t imagine what it would be on a clear day!). Further up the ridge we could see the summit of Mt. Cardigan, unmistakable with its ice-capped fire-tower. It was very windy and cold up at the top and we couldn’t stay for too long due to fear of over-exposure. Therefore after quickly conquering the summit we headed down a steep slope to ‘High Cabin’ where we ran into another group of hikers who planned on staying there overnight. The remainder of the trail was less strenuous though fatigue was quickly setting in. I ate like a hog all through the hike and was amazed by how much food & water I ended up consuming. We were back at the Lodge after having been out for almost 6 hours and I was quite ready to settle down by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate. And that is precisely what I did as the dinner table was being set up.

After dinner all the groups did a little song n dance describing their experience. Ours involved some choir-singing, a short skit, a bear, and believe it or not, a lot of swearing in Hindi and French! We walked out to sit around the bonfire for a while and were soon ready to call it a day. Surprisingly, I slept really well the second night – oh yeah, they were all still snoring – I was just too tired to notice! The second day we did a shorter, albeit really scenic hike through the woods and got to use our snowshoes. Back at the Lodge by 1pm, we soon hit the road for Boston. Once out of the hills, our phones came back to life and lo & behold! to our utmost shock there were almost 30 missed calls & as many voicemails on them! Unbeknown to us there had been a great deal of anxiety over our disappearance back in India a la desi-shtyle, with both sets of parents trying to reach our phones. Not being able to get through the dead zone, they had called up almost all our US friends and relatives stopping just shy of launching a full-blown search-and-rescue mission!! Parents, parents, parents..sighhh. I must admit it does feel really nice to think that atleast someone will notice if you fall off the face of the earth (literally) although at times you wish just not so much . Thank God they are not yet on Facebook! So now everyone knows we went hiking this weekend and how irresponsible we were to have not called home(Yikes! -I really thought the Lodge would have phone range, really!)….nonetheless, it was all so much fun..including listening to all the chiding, and making ten phone calls to India at midnight IST! For all of them and everyone else --this blog hopefully fills in on the details