Brothers Hiking at Kingswood

One of the roles Dave and I fill at Kingswood Camp is Master Fisher/Hiker or, in latin, outdoorsmanius extraordinairus.  On one of the first days of the session, I was sent with a group of campers up Mt. Adams, the second highest peak in the Northeast after Mt. Washington.  Like Washington, Adams boasts the meteorological maxim of "The Worst Weather in America" and in true form, our ascent was quite similar to the Washington epic that Dave, Adam and I survived earlier in the summer. 

Trudging along in white-out conditions at around 4,500 ft.

When sporadic rain showers and dropping temperatures didn't deter us, we quickly lost almost all visibility in the complete fog.  Then, as we approached the summit, the freezing rain picked up and quickly completed its phase change to all-out hail.  We breezed by the summit without even stopping in search of an Appalachian Mountain Hut we knew to be nearby for shelter.  But on the descent the weather relented and we finally got a few spectacular, albeit ephemeral views. 

The valleys of the White Mountains appear behind a canopy of clouds.

Group shot!  The background disappeared in the time it took me to put the camera on a timer and run over...

The following week, Dave and I were thrilled to be assigned Kingswood's most challenging hike, the 3-day.  For this trip, we headed up to the furthest reaches of the White Mountains, the North Woods.  Despite the fact that my brother and I have each been backpacking for over half a decade, this was to be our first ever overnight trip together. 

Brothers Unite! To do dishes.

Dave takes in the views from Roger's Ledge in the early morning.

We had a great group.  I'm amazed that they put up with the double dose of McGaughey Brothers.

Can't complain.

3-Day conquered, on to the next one.

Our final outdoor adventure as a tandem took place the following day after the North Woods hike.  Dave and I teamed up with legendary angler Nate White for a fishing excursion to the world-famous destination Indian Pond.  After helping the campers and launching all the canoes, we counselors got to take a few casts of our own. 

2nd Session's Fisherman Greats: Dave, Ray and Nate

Smooching my prize of the day

Dave switches is up to fly-fishing

Viva the outdoors, Viva Kingswood!

Road Trippin' With My Two Favorite Allies

On the road again! The brothers set sail from a spectacular Cousin’s Reunion in Cape Cod north to beautiful Piermont, NH to pick up our summer counselor recruit Adam, a great friend of mine from school and head out into the hills. 

Adam joins the team

The Plan: a week backpacking throughout the New Hampshire White Mountains. 

The First Stop: the summit of Mt. Washington. 

As we arrived at Kingswood, our summertime home away from home, we received a rather rude and unexpected weather report. 

The Weather: thunderstorms, Monday-Friday with highs in the low 70’s.

Weather be darned, we said! We’ve hiked in the rain before. Heck, we went to school in the Rockies. We’ve hiked in worse. Well, not all of us. As a matter of fact the summit of Mt. Washington would be Adam’s first peak ever. As I said, weather be darned!

The weather, however, was not to be so easily darned. With dark skies covering the sunset and rain forecasted throughout the night, we revised our First Stop to swing by our aunt Mary Lou’s house in Littleton, NH. I believe Mary Lou is officially our first cousin once-removed but she feels a lot more like our aunt. And, with storms brewing on our horizon and an imminent trip to Spain brewing on hers, she took us in at a moments notice so we could start our trip with shelter. Mary Lou’s lovely hillside home was a much better base-camp than the gravely side of a Mt. Washington mountain road.

The Brothers surprise Mary Lou, our unexpecting aunt, with an inconveniently timed visit!

Early up and early out. Washington here we come. 

Mt. Washington: four hours up, including 25 minutes at the Lake of the Clouds hut for a brief respite from the horizontal rain. On our way up we encountered clouds, torrential rain, hail, white-out fog, blistering winds, a significant temperature decrease and a fleeting moment of sunlight, all of which combined to produce a summit with a 32 degree windchill, lightning to the east and west and the spectacular view of ten feet in every direction.

Amazing views....NOT.

Hiking Phase Two: Brother’s New Knits

Unclear what's going on here..

Hiking Mt. Wash – success. Hiking one more step – a wash. 

After a second surprise trip to visit Mary Lou, this on the eve of her departure, we decided, freezing and drenched as we were, to retire our hiking boots and satisfy our urge to conquer with whole new challenges of guile, grit, commitment, and a delicate attention to detail. Thrift stores, anyone?

After a grueling four town – five thrift store ascent through treacherous Northern New Hampshire, we stopped to conquer the biggest mountains yet—massive decked out burgers and fries at a hamburger joint in Lincoln. If we had learned anything hiking it was that grizzled mountainmen like us can only survive on the barbaric paleodiet of our ancestors. With guacamole on the side. And a beer to wash it down.

Hiking Phase 3: Enjoying the View

After a wonderful excursion through the White Mountains, we headed down to explore a city with a longstanding sports alliance with New York.

Bahston.

Baaaahhston.

Boston.

Enough of the woods. Back to the concrete forests to visit Ray’s great high school friend Nick Murray and more Huntington allies—Caleb and Mima!

Sorry no photo of Nick.  But Adam's faces continue to amuse us.

After an eventful night visiting Nick we made our way over to Caleb and Mima’s to see their mystical playhouse home. While there we pitched the only tent of the whole trip…on their roof...

Camping out...Boston style