Date: 2005-03-06
To: AUTHENTICITY
Miles today: 0.0

We were officially the highest people in Vermont.      This was a much more difficult endeavor than we were expecting, but completely worth it. We altered our hiking team slightly, adding Alissa, and unfortunately losing Brendon and Kristen. Brian, as usual, was the team leader with the eagle eye. I mention this because it is very difficult to follow those Long Trail blazes in the winter. They are identical to the 2x6 inch white Appalachian Trail blazes, and we were also thrown off by the many side trails cut by riders and skiers.       Friday night was McKays 24th birthday and we closed the bar, so as you can imagine the group was pretty torn up. As we got started I noticed the dogs had a lot more energy than the humans. I could feel the vodka from the night before beeding up on my brow. The snow was also very wet and heavy and stuck to the shoes. McKay looked like she had seen better days because as I looked back she was taking deep breaths and hunching over her poles. The accent up the trail was very steep and in most parts not yet broken. At one point we saw Brian disappear as he fell waist deep into a sink hole with a running spring under it. I wondered why the spring was not frozen, but was a little to tired to think about it.      As the day went on I said bon-voyage to my hangover and fell into a rhythm. McKay seemed to have her groove back as well and we watched the trees shrink as we moved upward and onward in elevation. It took a few hours of really tough climbing, but we reached the 4 walled shelter that is .6 miles from the summit. The shelter was nicer than any I have seen so far and Alissa decided to hold up while the rest of us trudged on. At this point the snow became extremely deep and the path was completely un-broken. We moved very slowly and took turns falling into deep sink holes and helping each other out. I became worried when my dog Casey fell into one of these holes and momentarily disappeared, I rushed over and yanked her out. The group was essentially moving at a crawl but making progress when Brian said, "this is where we stop"!       At first I felt anger looking only a couple hundred feet up at the summit, but realized he was right. The wind was crazy, we were above treeline, and not following any sort of trail at this point, so we left well enough alone and called it quits. I did however note the fact that we were the highest people (and dog) in Vermont. We turned around and re-grouped with our seperated partner. To say the least the decent was much easier and we all had a great time. We reached the cars and agreed to meet at a local bar in Stowe, where we all reflected on the fun we had had. Throughout the past few days I have been thinking a lot about something I read about authenticity and the corporate structure we are surrounded by. The point I agreed with had to do with authenticity being anything that is NOT controlled by corporations, anything that is NOT devised and structured to make a profit, and anything that exists for its own sake. My last job was corporate and I hated what I saw. It is very hard to not be hypocritical when a lot of the things that I own where produced in corporate environments, but those are some of the reasons I can't wait to get away from it all and start hiking. I know that this is a little off topic but it was on my mind.                           14 DAYS AND COUNTING