Subject: berkshire tripoint try instalment 3<br/>
Date: Apr 17, 2005 @ 22:28<br/>
Author: aletheia kallos (aletheia kallos &lt;aletheiak@...&gt;)<br/>
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<br/><br/>
<div id="ygrps-yiv-936816549">continuing from the beginning made in<br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/message/17364">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/message/17364</a><br/>
& followed with<br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/message/17409">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/message/17409</a><br/>
i proceeded to drive back up to berkshire school<br/>
& then <br/>
thinking to catch the mentioned elbow trail <br/>
proceeded to the top of the maintenace road <br/>
where i parked again at the foot of the cascade <br/>
& reassessed the situation with fresh eyes<br/>
<br/>
here are the topo & trail map again <br/>
since you may need them to understand the delicacy of<br/>
the situation<br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4663171&e=629336&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25">http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4663171&e=629336&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25</a><br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/mt-washington800.gif">http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/mt-washington800.gif</a><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
my first rude awakening today was to learn so late<br/>
that the trailhead i had reached was in fact not for<br/>
the elbow trail at all<br/>
hahaha<br/>
as it was clearly marked by a different name<br/>
<br/>
so much for assumptive reasoning<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
for any purpose whatsoever<br/>
hahaha <br/>
<br/>
but especially for filling in the blanks on incomplete<br/>
maps<br/>
hahahaha<br/>
<br/>
& anyone who uses this mode of navigation deserves<br/>
whatever they get<br/>
hahahaha<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& i also realized almost simultaneously <br/>
that i actually had no idea whatsover <br/>
of where exactly i had passed & lost the true elbow<br/>
trail<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
yet <br/>
i was still finding myself in a place that i liked for<br/>
the approach try<br/>
even if i had to sawanabori & or bushwhack the rest of<br/>
the way up<br/>
i thought <br/>
almost shouting it for joy as well as to even hear<br/>
myself think<br/>
<br/>
& my first impulse was to try to cut a beeline as<br/>
directly up the mountain as possible just to the left<br/>
or north of the ravine<br/>
& soon managed to get my truck roof to look like a<br/>
postage stamp beneath me<br/>
before i was literally rejected by the 60 degree climb<br/>
over loose scree & dry leaf litter in my bedroom<br/>
slippers<br/>
& pushed by gravity fairly rudely once again back down<br/>
the mountain<br/>
<br/>
so next i looked a little closer at the ravine itself<br/>
where i could at least hope for some better footholds<br/>
on the naked tho wet mossy boulders<br/>
& i relished actually climbing the shower to some<br/>
extent<br/>
but was soon forced to conclude this way wasnt really<br/>
viable<br/>
& that it would be better to try the only remaining<br/>
option that there was at this trailhead<br/>
which was to take the freakin trail itself<br/>
wherever it went<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& it wound & climbed well enough <br/>
but well to the south or right side of the ravine<br/>
which was the wrong side of it for my purpose<br/>
but no matter<br/>
especially as this viewing angle let me stand back as<br/>
it were from the object<br/>
& behold it in a better & more panoramic perspective<br/>
as an artist might<br/>
<br/>
& steep is what it was<br/>
<br/>
& moreover i finally had to admit to myself that i<br/>
wasnt getting the sense that the topography was really<br/>
matching the topo of where i imagined i was<br/>
oops<br/>
another kaka papago type of perplexity <br/>
except lost in the woods now rather than the desert<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
<br/>
& it was good to be on any trail at all at that point<br/>
<br/>
this trail however<br/>
by the time the truck looked like a postage stamp<br/>
again<br/>
took a hard left away from where i meant to go<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
so i repaired directly back to the ravine & found the<br/>
going surprisingly much better at this higher<br/>
elevation<br/>
& enough so for a very effective & rather wet<br/>
sawanabori to continue & even deposit me on the north<br/>
side of the ravine again on a viable slope that i<br/>
fancied would lead me directly due north to the target<br/>
in short order<br/>
<br/>
i was even enthused enough at that point to fantasize<br/>
& expect the pleasure of accomplishing the rare tour<br/>
de force of a completely dead reckoned class a<br/>
 <br/>
just over the next horizon i kept telling myself<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& kept clambering up onto my own by then noonish<br/>
shadow<br/>
til i caught sight of the spectacular schenob valley<br/>
to the east<br/>
& a faintly blazed trail possibility toward the north<br/>
where however there wasnt supposed to be any trail for<br/>
a long time yet<br/>
oops<br/>
& again had to admit the topography wasnt at all<br/>
cooperating with the map<br/>
but figured why not keep climbing due north anyway as<br/>
far as i can <br/>
& maybe i will get lucky & somehow figure out where i<br/>
am <br/>
as well as which way i need to go<br/>
<br/>
so i pressed on but mostly up<br/>
til i began running out of both water & candy<br/>
& was beginning to wonder if i wasnt already in over<br/>
my head<br/>
when <br/>
while recovering & resting again after another of my<br/>
many slip slides<br/>
i inadvertently kicked my camera down the mountain<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
i kid you not<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
<br/>
at first i saw & heard it rolling over slowly & wished<br/>
it would stop already<br/>
but it continued rolling & then banging repeatedly off<br/>
of things & dropping out of sight below me<br/>
& after a while the diminuendo it kept sounding<br/>
suddenly stopped too<br/>
so i had to figure it was either still recoverable a<br/>
few hundred feet below<br/>
or had fallen off a still more vertical cliff & out of<br/>
my hearing<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
all of which was probably a lucky thing to have<br/>
happened at that point<br/>
since i should have been a little more careful about<br/>
everything & was now already in at least quite a<br/>
peculiar fix<br/>
<br/>
but as any true adventurer knows <br/>
it is actually quite good to reach the point where you<br/>
believe your life is on the line<br/>
which it was indeed my vivifying experience to have <br/>
at that point<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
but anyway <br/>
what to do<br/>
<br/>
do i try to save my camera or my life<br/>
hahaha<br/>
<br/>
nahh<br/>
<br/>
i figure <br/>
let the camera go & let my life continue to hang in<br/>
the balance<br/>
as i continue to climb<br/>
still expecting to somehow get lucky & make my point<br/>
sans camera<br/>
& then to also somehow find my way to & down the elbow<br/>
trail <br/>
& somehow also back to the truck<br/>
<br/>
where i had more drinking water<br/>
<br/>
which was by then actually becoming the main issue<br/>
<br/>
since i was now no longer even in earshot of the<br/>
cascade<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
but soon i took another slide<br/>
which finally knocked some sense into me<br/>
to realize that the way i really needed to go at that<br/>
point was down <br/>
& not up<br/>
or in other words that i needed to suspend the try<br/>
forthwith<br/>
& save myself<br/>
in order to live to try again<br/>
& conveniently <br/>
as it happened & i realized at that point<br/>
maybe even recover my camera too<br/>
if i am lucky enough to slide down the mountain<br/>
straight after it <br/>
but without bouncing in my case<br/>
<br/>
which i was <br/>
<br/>
& soon spotted it <br/>
but could recover it only much later<br/>
after another series of carefully controlled slides<br/>
executed only with the help of passing trees<br/>
who aided & abetted & counselled me all the way down<br/>
as i tried not to break their branches in return<br/>
<br/>
& then came some barky dogs followed by a freakin<br/>
chorus of runners <br/>
since berkshire is actually a music school<br/>
<br/>
& tho i was still so far above them that they never<br/>
even saw me<br/>
they provided the greeting & the portent that told me<br/>
i would make it out ok now<br/>
& also pointed out exactly where the exit trail could<br/>
be met<br/>
<br/>
& eventually i recognized something that told me where<br/>
i was<br/>
in relation to the truck<br/>
etc etc<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
so <br/>
much relieved as well as envigorated<br/>
i proceeded to refresh myself & drive down the<br/>
mountain <br/>
while again looking for the real elbow trail trailhead<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
which i never did find on that pass either<br/>
but did catch sight of a person i eventually managed<br/>
to wave at & reach<br/>
& who turned out to be the football coach <br/>
& the chemistry teacher <br/>
& indeed one of the deans <br/>
& it seemed to me <br/>
even before he introduced himself by name<br/>
one of my former latin students from nova caesaria<br/>
over 30 years ago<br/>
but who didnt recognize me or my name when i gave it<br/>
in return<br/>
& who had already called the police on me<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
since<br/>
as he explained<br/>
he had previously spotted me & checked me out as best<br/>
he could<br/>
because it was highly unusual for anyone to drive<br/>
halfway up the mountain on that poor road like that<br/>
even tho the hiking trails are public<br/>
& he felt i was suspicious in an academic environment<br/>
like that <br/>
etc etc<br/>
but was glad enough to finally meet me & to also<br/>
answer all my questions about the elbow trail etc<br/>
& to inform me that i wasnt even in the ravine i<br/>
thought i was in<br/>
but a different one farther south & which i still cant<br/>
quite believe<br/>
<br/>
& all the while he was still looking at me<br/>
suspiciously <br/>
but now i think because he may have been beginning to<br/>
recognize me<br/>
& finally ran back into the house <br/>
as he explained <br/>
to call the police off<br/>
hahahahaha<br/>
hahahahahaha<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
so i soon found the real elbow trail trailhead &<br/>
parked again<br/>
<br/>
but noticed this time it was my radiator that had<br/>
overheated<br/>
& thinking it needed more attention than i could give<br/>
it<br/>
which it actually didnt since it was just low on water<br/>
this time<br/>
i decided to suspend the try again & drive directly to<br/>
my mechanic<br/>
while also getting out of massachusetts as quickly as<br/>
possible <br/>
in case i was still a hot item on the police blotter<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
so i can only conclude this 3rd instalment by<br/>
observing how lucky & honored by my objective entity i<br/>
feel i really am<br/>
i mean <br/>
to have even survived <br/>
let alone almost completely intact & undiminished<br/>
but i gotta figure i must still not have the name of<br/>
the point quite right even yet<br/>
or i think i should have bagged it by now<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& come to mention it<br/>
i finally do realize now that the difficulty with the<br/>
name was just that i chanced to learn mount washington<br/>
was indicated by mw on the tripoint monument<br/>
so naturally i adopted the mw diglyph<br/>
rather than just sticking to my regular practice<br/>
which is <br/>
when in doubt<br/>
just use the first 2 letters of each constituent name <br/>
whatever they may be<br/>
hence not mw for mount washington in this case but mo<br/>
aha<br/>
<br/>
& so finally i really think i do have it right <br/>
not as egshmw or egmwsh<br/>
but<br/>
egmosh<br/>
aha<br/>
& now everything should go swimmingly well<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
so thanx for your patience so far<br/>
since i have probably never had more fun in my life<br/>
& i am glad to be able to tell you of it & to report<br/>
that the try will continue again from where i left off<br/>
again<br/>
probably as early as sunrise tomorrow<br/>
now that i definitely do know what i am doing <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
		<br/>
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