Wildcat A

Before I get into the details of our trip up to Wildcat A for the fifth-annual Flags on the 48, I just want to extend a huge thank you and appreciation to the crew that joined me. You each did significantly more work than I did even as the peak coordinator, and it would not have been as successful _ or enjoyable _ a venture had you not joined in on the trek to Wildcat A.

Now onto the details!

A gang of eight: me, AMSTony, SteveHiker, Christa, Rich, Sue, Bobby and Eric took off up the 19 Mile Brook Trail around 9 a.m. The first 3.8 miles in are relatively flat, a wonderful walk in the woods. The weather was stunning when we took off _ bright sun, reasonable temperatures, the slighest of breezes.

We had scored a nifty flag pole of PVC piping from Dirt Girl. It comes in three pieces, but we opted to bring just two, figuring this peak _ unlike Zealand for which it was made _ wouldn’t have the kind of tree cover requiring a huge flag pole to hoist the colors above the treetops.

Right around the turn off for the Carter Dome Trail, we encountered a mini problem with the various pieces in one section of the pole poking through the Duct tape covering the hole. Rich and Sue, using their smarts, performed a little “surgery” _ using medical tape, gauze and a small plastic bag _ to fashion a trap at the end that prevented the pieces from falling through.

In the middle of this surgery, Steve entertained us with his impression of Daffy the Duck, sporting Pringles in a duck bill and hamming it up. He’s a talented one, that Steve!

After a mini break here, we continued down the trail.

We got to the trail junction that heads to the Carter Notch Hut in about 2 hours, took a small break _ where Christa and AMSTony tried their own impressions of ducks with the Pringles. Steve’s antics are contagious!

Now, the real fun begins: the slog up to the summit. It’s only another 0.7 miles to the top _ but it’s steep steep steep! Sue and Tony were the speedsters in the group while Bobby and I took up the rear. Between all of us, we got the flag pole and flag _ a giant one that Tony got from work _ to the top. It was “fun” to figure out how to put the pole together (this was our first experience with the pole, which in years previous had been used on Zealand), but we managed to get it done and hoist the giant flag over our peak.

Tony donned a T-shirt that was in tribute to New York Police Officer James Leahy, his brother’s partner in the New York City Police Department. Leahy, stationed at the 6th Precinct in Greenwich Village, went with Tony’s brother to the World Trade Center after the first plane crashed into the North Tower. Tony’s brother got out but Leahy’s remains were later found on what had been the 9th floor of the first tower that collapsed.

We spent the next couple of hours watching the increasingly grey skies zoom in and occasionally taking hope in the few patches of blue we could see. We were lucky in that the two hours of covering our peak, however, we had amazing views toward the Carter-Moriah Range.

Around 2 p.m. Steve, Christa, Rich and Sue took off to continue their trek. Destination: Wildcat D, and then the ski trails down to the valley.

Bobby, Eric, Tony and I packed up the pole and flag, and headed back down 19 Mile Brook Trail. It started to drizzle a bit as we left, and we donned our jackets for the hike down the steep trail, taking care to maneuver carefully along the slippery rocks.

By the time we were back to the trail junction that heads toward the hut, the sun appeared again _ only to give way yet again to rain, this time buckets of the stuff, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

We boogied down 19 Mile Brook Trail, and I for one was thankful this was the trail we were on: relatively flat and sheltered by trees.

Pix will be posted in the pictures section of this Web site… :flag: