The Carrigain croo, eleven strong, met at Signal Ridge Trailhead parking lot at 7:00 a.m. as planned. We parceled out the gear to distribute the load and were on the trail at 7:30 sharp just as planned. As we made our way up the trail, we did have some views on the notch on the right with some unnamed peaks in view even fairly distant peaks. But alas, it was not to be a 100-mile view day. As you will see in our photos, the background for the photos was the same in all directions. Seems the clouds decided to hang around at our elevation and so it was for the entire afternoon while our flag flew. The good part was that the breeze was perfect to have the flag waving for the entire time.
There was a good crowd at Carrigain through the time we were there. On our croo, there were three celebrating their 48th peak for the 4000-footer list. And as we spoke to the various groups passing through the observation platform, there were about 4 or 5 others all celebrating no.48 and one hiker celebrating his birthday. His group lit a candle on a whoopee pie and sang Happy Birthday as well as a clever congratulatory song for his day.
The trip down was uneventful and the croo split to their various paces. All arrived safely back at the parking lot to celebrate yet another “Flags Hike” to remember our fallen victims from the 9-11-2001 attacks. Bless the warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan who stand brave for our freedoms.
