Team Hike Fall 2005  (October 21 – October 23):  AT in Salisbury CT. 

There seems to be two guarantees associated with Team Hike.  One there will be rain at least one night and two Boner will be there but very late.  We went into this hike with many of us taking Friday off and a weather report that boasted 100% chance of rain on Saturday with periods being heavy.  There were two teams that were going up together early on Friday.  Spugs and Chet were meeting Gramps in Wayne at around noon while Popper, Hummer and Boner were supposed to meet in Hoboken at around 11.  As it turned out Spugs got caught up at work so sent Gramps and Chet on their way at a little after one.  Boner went out the night before and didn’t get to Hoboken until after three.  Chet and Gramps rolled into Millbrook NY at around three and saw signs for wineries so since it made no sense at all they decided to check one out.  They followed signs for the Millbrook winery but then got sidetracked to the Clinton Winery.  Bad choice, the wine sucked and there wasn’t any reds.  There was a pretentious woman working there who was about sixty and was dropping names like nobody’s business.  “This one is Hillary’s favorite”… Whatever.  Gramps took this opportunity to dump in the small bathroom in the winery then they got a big kick watching a girl go in after him.  They left and found their way to Salisbury.  Once in Salisbury they proceeded to drive right past the Plateau parking lot.  Once they looked at the map they realized the parking spot was about three miles behind them so they turned around and found the lot.  Spugs was on his way at this point and about one hour behind.  He would have been closer except he got off the turnpike and made a left instead of right.  At this point Spugs was told exactly where to look for the parking lot once he passed through town.  Boner and crew were about 2 hours behind and in separate cards.  Hummer needed his car to leave on Saturday so Popper jumped in with him and Boner was driving alone.  Boner also got the landmarks for the parking lot and seemed to be confident with his directions.  Chet and Gramps headed into the woods and immediately saw the Plateau camp spot.  No wonder people get tickets for fires in Connecticut, the designated legal camping spots are so close to the road that the rangers barely have to get out of their cars to write you up.  The no campfire rule is ridiculous anyway…  This spot would not do so they walked further along the trail.  After a few minutes they noticed a ridge on their left, took off their packs and started to climb uphill to see what they could find.  At the top they found a large field that was private property.  This would be great except there was an access road pretty close and if there was a fire they could easily be found.  They made their way back to the packs and continued for a few more minutes.  In total the hike was about 15 minutes from the cars and not the uphill that was feared.  The trail was very well maintained and you had the feeling that you were alone.  Well alone except for the people whose yards you parked between and the enormous structure you passed at the bottom of the hill shortly after the Plateau camp site.  To the left was the ridge was still there so they checked this area out.  Perfect.  The top of the hill flattened out and there were actually craters to pitch tents and have a fire.  It was impossible to see this area from the trail and you wouldn’t hear people talking either.  This was home for the night!  They set up their tents and scouted an area that would be good for the fire ring.  Chet found rocks and got a fire started while Gramps walked down to the car to restock food and beer and meet up with Spugs.  Just as Gramps made it to the trailhead Spugs was pulling in.  Why was Spugs so late?  Well it seems even with the landmarks he drove right past the parking spot and continued into Massachusetts.  What would Team Hike be without Spugs getting lost?  Spugs and Gramps restocked their packs and headed into the woods.  When they made it back to the camp spot Chet was waiting for them with a crack sausage.  The fire ring was set and a small fire was burning.  A little while later Boner, Popper and Hummer made it into camp.  Boner proclaimed he found the parking lot no problem after Hummer pointed out how close they were to Massachusetts.  Seems like Boner didn’t share the info with Hummer and Popper and they followed the same route as Spugs.  Seems fitting that at least someone would follow Spugs the wrong way.  They pitched their tents and got settled into the party area setting up more beer in coolers and everyone went on a wood run.  Gramps started cooking chicken Marsala and the eating and drinking began.  After a couple of plates of food was passed around we heard shouting in the distance.  Sears rolled in alone and was looking for us.  A search party went out to find him and the others stayed behind and got to cooking more food.  After a minute the search party returned with sears, his mini backpack his daughter’s tent and a cooler stocked with Coors Light.  Everyone welcomed Sears and helped him find a suitable place for his tent and set it up.  After the campers continued eating Chicken Marsala and then turned to apple crisp for desert.  Popper came in with a brand new saw that he bought during the week.  As usual he was sawing wood at an alarming rate.  The fire was blazing and it was good because the night turned cold.  After being around the fire for a while Boner led an exploration into the field to have a look around.  The moon was huge and the stars were out.  It was raining in Jersey but not in Connecticut.  Going back to camp was a little bit of a pain, literally, as you had to walk through picker bushes that grabbed you and tried to trip you.  Boner and Popper tried to get everyone out to the field for one big trip.  The two of them went out and thought they were hiding until the people meeting them out there (Hummer, Humpty and Chet) walked right up to them and said “what’s up”.  Gramps told them that he was going to meet them in the field but went to bed instead.  Spugs couldn’t talk because he was so wasted but basically walked to his tent and tried to make himself puke.  He stuck his finger down his throat five times but got no relieve.  He wound up going to bed with his head outside of the tent.  Popper started sneaking around and walked up the field.  He actually came within feet of a farm house but pictured a redneck with a gun shooting at him and retreated.  After the field the still standing crew went back to the fire and Popper started trying to chop down trees with the saw.  Chop down, not saw down.  He got a couple of trees to fall but wound up breaking his new saw.   

Friday night

Boner

Spugs

Chet

Popper

Gramps

Hummer

Humpty

Memorable moments:

·        Gramps & Gramps went up first found a camp spot and Chet set up fire ring.

·        Boner, Popper and Hummer were originally slated to come up and start hiking early afternoon but things can quickly change.  Boner had Popper do all the food shopping, food prep and then sent him out for booze.  They were on the road about 4 hours behind schedule   

·        Spugs drove up alone and met Gramps in the parking lot.  He was late and his pack was not ready so he packed rapidly while Gramps waited.

·        Sears came up alone and started into the woods not knowing where to meet us.  He started screaming and the search party went out for him.  Spugs got his air horn out but because it was so cold it only made a sound like a duck’s mating call.  There was a response from ducks in the distance. 

·        There was a little rain at around 7AM when everyone was still sleeping.

·        It got pretty cold, it was in the 30’s.

·        There weren’t enough forks to go around until Sears showed up with plastic ones from Wendy’s.  Then there were a lot of broken forks all over the place.

·        Food was crack sausages, chicken marsala over pasta, apple crisp and drink was tons of beer and chalice of Jack and Coke and Red Bull and Vodka.

Saturday night

(Left that morning)

Chet

Hummer

It was a cold morning and the rain came at 7AM pretty hard.  Most of the campers were discombobulated and didn’t really know if it was raining in the middle of the night or morning.  The rain didn’t last too long and by 8AM Gramps was up and getting the fire going again for breakfast.  The fire ring was a huge mess of beer cans, food rappers, food and dirty pots, pans and plates.  Chet woke up early too and started breaking down his gear, he had to get home so he could go to a christening the next morning.  Gramps walked down to him and realized what a sorry state he was in.  Sitting next to his pack Chet asked Gramps if he could help him take down his tent.  Gramps understood this meant doing it for him and complied.  Chet then leaned over and puked a few times.  He found mushrooms in his puke.  Unsure how he was going to make it home Chet put on his pack and started towards the trail.  This was more then a hangover, this was the flu.  Chet complained on Friday that he wasn’t well and this hike was the cherry on the Sunday.  He later confirmed that he made it home after feeling a little better and even stopped for a cup of coffee on his way home.  Two weeks later however Chet is still sick.  Gramps returned to the fire and cleaned up the camp spot.  For two hours he passed the time by adding wood to the fire and cleaning the pans.  Finally at ten Hummer woke up.  He came out and asked if everyone had left.  Gramps pointed out the five other tents that were set up around his and said no.  He thought that everyone was gone because Boner wasn’t snoring anymore.  Hummer broke down his tent and gathered his gear.  He refused anything to eat, grabbed some garbage and made his way home so he could go to work in Philly the next morning.  At around 10:30 the rest of the crowd woke up.  Still very cold the skies began to grow darker and more threatening.  Breakfast was cooked, spam on bagels and oatmeal and everyone tried to warm up around the fire.  Finally around eleven they started feeling raindrops and began to break camp.  They made sure the fire was out, broke up the fire ring and made sure everything was clean.  Then they started breaking down their tents and that is when the rain started.  It didn’t seem to be raining hard but everything was getting wet.  They made their way back to the cars in the parking lot and mulled over whether or not they should go in for night two.  They decided to go into town and find a bar to talk it over and review what their next move would be.  The bar turned into McDonalds and they used (blew up) the bathroom, ate fries and some burgers and reviewed what their options were.  They would have gladly gone to the bar but there were none around.  Boner was pushing pretty hard for Montreal but no one else was really on board with that move.  Everyone later admitted that if someone suggested that they just go home they would have gone along with it but none of them wanted to make the suggestion.  Finally they agreed that if anyone was going to drive up that night they would stay.  Turns out Rocco and Cenzo were ready to jump in their cars and head on up so the crowd went to the grocery store and liquor store right next to McDonalds.  We stocked up and drove to where the second night crew was supposed to hike in from which was the Lion Head trail.  As we packed the cars the rain let up and there was some hope among the crowd that the rain had passed us.  Could our luck be so good?  Packs full and heavy the five started out on the trail.  This would be a short hike, only 1.7 miles but we would be going straight uphill for most of it!  It was definitely much harder because of the asinine amount of food and liquor.  The Lion Head trail was another nice trail, they really do a nice job taking care of them in CT.  Steady uphill but not the worst that we’ve ever done the Lion Head trail met up with the AT.  The AT continued up for a little while then leveled off where the trail book boasted great views.  When we reached the top of the trail is when the rain started again.  Walking along the ridge which should have had the great views became challenging because the rocks were so slippery.  The visibility had to be at least 14 feet!  The rain wasn’t coming down too hard and after an hour of humping heavy packs we reached the lean-to.  It was a good shelter but a little smaller then Wildcat which we have grown accustomed to.  The steps up to the shelter were thin logs that were shaven on top and pretty damn slippery.  There was also a weird design to the lean-to where there was about a one foot platform after the steps then a hole for your feet to dangle from then about six or seven more feet to the back.  In the entrance the opening was about eight feet tall but in the back there was only about two feet.   The roof was very good though and it was dry inside.  The opening of the lean-to had a tremendous view of a valley below.  It was too bad the weather was so bad though, the clouds only moved out of the way twice so we could see what we were missing.  A day hiker Digger came up and joined us for about 20 minutes.  He was a queer fellow and didn’t really know what to make of us.  He signed the registry and left after he had a snack.  We of course had to add to his entry making some very gay remarks about him.   Boner and Spugs decided to go on a hike and explore the trail a little more.  Shortly after they left the rain really started coming down.  Popper, Sears and Gramps were freezing in the lean-to and were wondering if they kept hiking or if they found a place to hide from the rain for a bit.  They looked around and debated about getting a fire ring together although you aren’t allowed fires at all at this shelter.  They decided it was raining too hard and just retreated back to the shelter and out of the wind and rain.  The drinking had already started at this point.  When Spugs and Boner returned soaking wet yet impressed with what they had seen we realized it was time to bunker down for the night.  We hung a huge tarp in front of the opening of the lean-to and a smaller one to use as an exit/entrance.  This helped with the wind and warmed us up quite a bit.  We hung our headlamps from the rafters and started thinking about cooking.  Boner broke out his stove and since we didn’t have a proper lunch we broke out hotdogs and beans.  Delicious!!!  Next a bottle of wine was gone and the chalice started making its rounds.  The warm buzz in the shelter almost sort of allowed us to forget about the conditions that were outside.  Next up was some great t-bone and filets that seasoned in an Asian sauce.  We all know his girl made it but we’ll give him the props on Team Hike.  We followed this up with roasted potatoes and chocolate cream pie with butterscotch chips.  While we were hanging out in the shelter we got a call from Cenzo.  Seems he drove all the way up, looked for us and couldn’t find us, turned around and went home.  Rocco went home after work and fell asleep on his couch and didn’t bother making an attempt to come up with all the rain.  That night we slept on the shelter floor shoulder to shoulder.  Humpty and Gramps used their tents as a bivy sack.  Sears and Boner were snoring in harmony and Spugs said he punched each one at least 28 times.  It is still unclear if Sears ever make his canned ravioli he brought up?  Hmmm….  That night as we were sleeping the rain was pounding the tarps and the wind was really blowing.  It had to be in the thirties again.  To cap it all off there was a bad thunder storm that rolled in early in the morning.  The next morning the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy as hell.  We were up by nine cleaned up and headed down the trail with much lighter packs.  It took about 45 minutes to get to the cars.  Spugs and Gramps stopped in a diner in Salisbury for a marginal meal and everyone was heading south.  By the time we hit south NY the skis were much nicer and it was warming up.  Oh the luck of Team Hike! 

The award for rookie of the year has to be handed out to Sears.  Not only is this by default but Humpty did the least amount of complaining out of any rookie hiker ever to go.  In fact he pointed out that now he knows what to ask for when Christmas rolls around.  Looking forward to having him on future hikes!!! 

Memorable moments:

·        Cooking in the lean-to on Boner’s stove.  Of course when he lit it he almost burned the place down.

·        Messing with Diggers entry in the trail book.    

·        Boner and Spugs took a lover’s stroll in the woods and found themselves in some cold heavy rain.

·        Cenzo came into the woods and couldn’t find us so went home.

·        Sitting in McDonalds for hours just getting warm and figuring out what we were going to do.

·        After Digger warned us about the mice and bears in the area we all committed to hanging extra food outside the hut.  By the time we passed out we not only left food in the lean-to and our packs but also in our pockets.  Needless to say no animals came and found us. 

E-mails for this hike:

To all Team Hikers,

Tell your wives, girlfriends, and your cheats, you are going away on team hike. Who needs to hear "honey want to go the movies, honey take out the garbage, want to cuddle, ". It's a mans weekend of great drink and gramp's food feast. We are trying a new area of the AT in Connecticut. It was strongly recommended by one of my friends. The hike I planned looks fairly easy. Hiking mileage is low. Camping will be on top of a 2000 ft ridge. It's going to be a great trip. Gramps and I will probably go up early to explore the area and try to pick up some local chicks for Friday night entertainment. If you get lost, call me on my cell. Below are the driving and hiking directions. Looking forward to a great turnout. Write back with your RSVPs.

spugs (rob espuga)- 908 447 7902 (cell)

Team Hikers for Saturday Night,

• However you get to the NY throughway (rt 87North) and team extreme (Hermit Lakes shelter near Greenwood Lake), you want to head in that direction.
• You can either take the Garden State Pkwy North all the way till you see signs for 87north (not 287/87 Tapenzee Bridge), then follow these directions from I-87 (step 13 below). Or, you can get on 287North from Wayne, Rt 78, Rt 24, etc.
• For me ( exit 137 on GSP), I would take GSP all the way North to rt 87 north. Then follow the direction below. Map quest says from ex 137 Cranford, it is 140 miles, 2 hours 51 minutes. I say it's not that long.
• Once you get to the last mapquest direction, you take Bunker road to the end. Park and head North LION HEAD TRAIL, not AT trail. Sounds like the trail will be BLUE BLAZES.
• Hike:
• Start at Lion Head Trail and finish at Riga Lean -to . Once you get to the top (1738ft), you will be on the Applach Trail (white blazes and hiking north). Your hike is about 1.7 to where we should be camping for Saturday night. I suggest calling us to see where we are when you get to the top of the ridge or just follow the stench. The hike is fairly short but starts low and gets up to a nice ridge.

Team hikers for Friday night group:

• Follow all the directions below to you get to #24. You do not want to turn right onto Washinee. You want to keep driving straight .
• Then the road splits for rt 41 and rt 44. You want rt 41 north.
• Park at PLATEAU CAMPSITE parking lot. Parking lot is on the right hand side of rt 41.
• Then start hiking north on AT. Gramps and I will be scouting out a site probably about 1 mile in on the AT.
• Our hike is fairly easy. Looks like Saturdays hike will be 3.4 to Riga Lean- to. Then we can take packs off and continue to check out the trail north.

Guess who’s back.  Spugs is back!  Spugs is back. Spugs is back. Spugs is back.  Spugs is back!   

In case you hadn’t heard the “Godfather” Spugs is stepping up like the old days and has planned us a good hike.  He also has his eyes on the future and is talking Mt. Washington in the Spring and the Grand Cannon in the near future. 

Anyway we are still on for 10/22 and we’re wondering who out there is going to join us.  I’ve heard some feedback here and there but I’m looking for some people to step up and scream from the rooftops that he is in!  The hike should be in pretty prime season, we’ve got the leaves changing colors, the weather should be cool for good hiking but not cold for good partying and we haven’t gotten rain in months (as long as you don’t count the ten day stretch we are in).  We’ll send out a follow up e-mail with more specific hike information for Friday and Saturday as well as some good directions.  I’m taking off on Friday to head up early, find a good campsite and start cooking beans for anyone who comes up later (“can we get some more beans Mr. Tagert?”).  Hopefully some of you will do the same!  Here is the info from Spugs and like I said keep your eyes open for more info…     

To all my fellow team hike companions,

I reviewed the Connecticut AT section and also got feedback from some guy who hikes that area a lot. The area or town is called Salisbury, Connecticut. Only draw back is no fires permitted anywhere. Whatever. Elevation starts around 0 to about 1800-2000ft at the top. We will be camping on the ridge top with great views. Sounds like there some streams along the way. I put together a pretty cool hike which will have to get reviewed by the board over the next two weeks before final plans.  Trip looks like:

Friday night group-
Friday - Let's see if some people could cut out early that day and possible work half day so we can check out the area

Friday night- parking available in lot, and hike about .5 mile into the woods

Saturday- hike about 3.6 straight up hill to camp site. drop gear and crash if you want, or leave gear at site and continue North a little more for site seeing.

Sunday- hike either 2 miles down to the cars left by the Saturday group or take the other trail 3.4 back to another spot

Saturday group-

Saturday- hike about 1.7 straight up a different trail to meet us at the campsite

Sunday- hike down the same trail to their cars, or take other trail 3.4 down to the Friday group's cars

spugs

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My cell phone is (973) 493-6371.  Call me anytime!

Spugs, Chet, FFW and I will be leaving Wayne at around 11:30 or 12 on Friday.  Anyone who wants to meet up feel free.  We can leave cars at my place if you want and carpool up.  It sounds like this Hike is coming together nicely!!!  I also hear Rocco and Flush are heading up Friday a little later (?) call them if you want to hook up and go with them...  

"No Fun Gump" and "DUI Carlo South" are actually teetering on this one because of the drive.  Boo Who, suck it up once in a while and try to recapture some of your old form!  (Not you Carlo, we are still working on your form.)  Shermer, in the spring you told me you were not going to miss this trip, don't do it!  Cenzo, call him up and use some of your South Jersey mind tricks on him.  Shoes, fire up the diesel and get up there!  Herb, you are dealt in, common!!!  Bill, if you start having chest pains we'll carry you to safety, I promise!  Sears, Kooze, one day I'm sure we'll see you on a hike, why not this one? 

Seriously I hope all you slackers are going to see us up there!!!