DAY 0: The Drive Up
The day of departure came. We packed the cars to the rim and started
the pilgrimage to Millinocket, Maine. A few days before, I had reserved
a room to crash in at night, sort out the gear, and pack the sleds. I
recommend this option since it gives you full confidence that
everything will be packed, and gives you a chance to double check on
gear. The alternative option (which we might use another year); is to
do the full gear check and pack the sleds in Boston, drive up, and
bivy at the parking lot.
The drive up proved to be very long. Under optimal conditions, the
drive to Millinocket Maine from Boston is 5.5 hours (340some miles);
We were greeted by a snowstorm that made that drive rag on for about 8
hours. We almost lost two of our members. Since Robert needed to pick up
his gear at home; Mike and I in one car were going to wait for Bill and
Robert at the first government sponsored highway stop (rest area, liquor
store or toll booth) in New Hampshire. Mike and I arrived at the first rest
stop in New Hampshire (which coincidentally is right on the state
line, so this is actually a good place to meet on I95; for the record,
there is a liquor store and a tollbooth few miles down). They were
one hour late due to the closing of Route 1. I had worried because
Mike and I had just seen a car on the opposite direction splash into
the median. This was going to be a winter trip in all respects.
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Our next stop was for gas; in addition to gas, we obtained
one crucial piece of mountaineering gear: THE MUG. For just two
American dollars we acquired "Mr. Mikes" insulated mugs with a free fill of
coffee or soda. These Mugs being of 16 ounces capacity, with a lid that
can be easily opened and closed, are vastly superior to the meager 12
ounces of the REI mugs that some of us (I) had. I strongly recommend a
high capacity Mug as a winter eating container; as it is well-known, plates
or bowls do not fare well in the winter since food goes cold at a very
rapid pace due to the higher surface area exposed to the wind in
comparison to mugs.
We arrived at the Big Moose Inn at around 10pm. I love Rural America:
I had made the reservation (basically gave them my name) two days
before. I called them up from Burger King on the way up, telling them
that we were going to be late, they said alright, and gave me
directions to the cabin were we would be staying. The night we
arrived, I knocked on their door and met Bruce (the inn keeper), and
he just showed me to the cabin. We stayed there, and the next day
just paid cash; we never signed anything nor checked any ID!!!
The amount of snowfall and ice-cold conditions made our thoughts of
the next day 12 mile cross-country ski-in terrifying. The first thing
our snow expert Robert did as soon as he got off the car was to
touch, feel, grate, smell, and sense the snow; he turned around
and did not look too thrilled; we were in denial. Would we have to
ski on deep snow with a thin layer of ice crust on the surface? Bruce
mentioned to us, that rangers go up the road (that we would ski on)
and groom the trails every so often with snowmobiles. With this
information we decided to move our alpine start from being at the
trail head at 7am to 9am.
In the cabin, we unpacked everything, repacked all the food. I was
actually impressed with all the group gear we had. 96 pounds in all:
18 in tents (2 normal 2 person tents, and one small tent for day trips
as a bivy shelter), 33 food, 21 fuel, 7 stoves+pots, 15 in small
climbing gear (just in case we did knife edge or some ice climbing), 2
for the shovel (very convenient) plus miscellaneous. We packed the
sleds. Robert, although not holding an engineering degree, I must
say, had the best packing and design technique. His sled looked very
trimmed (it boggles my mind how he managed to obtain no bulky group
items...). Mike, on the other hand, got the short stick. His sled
looked like Mad Dog from Backpacker magazine, with a bunch of big stuff
strapped onto it. His sled must have been two stories high. I
thought I had my sled well packed; but I was proven wrong on the first
500 feet of the ski in.
back next
The day of departure came. We packed the cars to the rim and started
the pilgrimage to Millinocket, Maine. A few days before, I had reserved
a room to crash in at night, sort out the gear, and pack the sleds. I
recommend this option since it gives you full confidence that
everything will be packed, and gives you a chance to double check on
gear. The alternative option (which we might use another year); is to
do the full gear check and pack the sleds in Boston, drive up, and
bivy at the parking lot.
