The Bonds, the Twins, a Brother and Two Friends

Since taking my full-time position as a salesman at Q Drinks (www.qdrinks.com)  I have become the poster child for a Weekend Warrior. Most work days last from 7am-6pm, followed by a few hours of work on business development for my kombucha company and, if I'm lucky, some social time.

As a tour guide Ray, on the other hand, is a Weekend Worker. Despite this fact we've still managed to spend a lot of time together this year. It helps that we have an overlapping peer group and still haven't found a way to get sick of each other.

Nonetheless, this past weekend I decided to leave Ray and NYC behind. Friday after work I hit the outbound traffic on I95 with two adventurous friends, Thea, Anna. Destination: the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Saturday AM, first light after a late night. Notice my expert sleeping posture. 

En route to the White Mountains we stopped at Kingswood Camp, a place very dear to both Ray and me that has been the subject of several blog posts. This is the first summer I have missed in 15 years and it was wonderful and nostalgic for me to visit.

Saturday sunrise over Mt. Moosilauke at Kingswood Camp

After a quick stop with the other early birds at the world-renown FLAPJACKS Pancake House in Lincoln, NH (squeeze bottles of real maple syrup at every table!) we hit the trail.

The team limbers up.

Then, as it is on the trail to Bond Cliff, Mt. Bond and West Bond mountains, we hit the views.

After about three hours we break tree line at summit of Bond Cliff

Bond Cliff is one of the most stark summits in the White Mountains

Anna the Storm Queen

Thea and the sky

The Bonds are one of the few mountain ranges in the North East where you can hike for nearly two days and see no sign of civilization 

So we spent a lot of time doing this

Looking at views like this

While still having just enough time for this.

Twenty-two miles, two great friends, ten pounds of Trader Joes just-add-hot-water Indian Food and the best weekend I can remember for a long while.

All made possible by a commendable commitment from Thea and Anna to follow through on the plan when staying in Brooklyn was the easy move.


Oh, and by the Man Van.

Rolling through the Whites in the Silver Beast

A truly wonderful trip!

A brother, proud Weekend Warrior 

Kingswood Camp!

Since 1999 Ray and I have been spending our summers on the shores of Lake Tarleton at Kingswood Camp in Piermont, New Hampshire.

Kingswood, an outdoor sports camp for boys, played a valuable role for us as children-- the camp allowed us to escape urban life and discover nature. The Kingswood Camp philosophy involves taking boys out of their comfort zones and challenging them to live independently in a new community in an unfamiliar place. As kids, our years hiking and fishing at Kingswood helped us develop the love for nature that we still cherish today.

The years haven't been so kind to Old Man Ray.

Sometimes when we tell people that we're heading to camp for the summer they ask us if we are campers. Sort of a funny question, since we're in our twenties. Ray and I are now on staff at Kingswood, working as counselors to boys ages 8-15, and mentors to the younger staff. Camp counseling is certainly difficult. If you don't bring energy to everything you do the activities fail and the kids leave disappointed. Ray and I talk a lot while at Kingswood about what we can do to be better counselors. But at a place as fun as Kingswood, it isn't hard to have a lot of energy. It's also easy to forget that we're at work. Besides, we're still campers at heart. 

Coach Ray gives his team an ear full. 

Captain Dave gives Taylor a head full. 

Ray and I spend our summers playing sports, planning skits, teaching music, hiking and fishing. We stay active, we entertain, we laugh, we teach. We talk about counselor theory, about boys who miss home or who act out or who simply aren't taking full advantage of their surroundings. Mostly, we spend our summers in an environment that encourages us to be ourselves, our personalities magnified by the excitement of our kids.

This is Kingswood 2013, a summer fifteen years in the making.

This is our office

Where days like this

Turn into nights like this

Where we share stories

About times like this

And guys like that

About how the first cast

The last

And the one that got away

Aren't as important as the memories

Because it's not just about the view

But the people you share it with

And the legends you create

Some people say we're too old for camp.

We're not so sure.

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!

Historic Unite #1 - Kingswood 2011

This summer Dave will make his annual trip up to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to be a camp counselor at our beloved Kingswood Camp for Boys.  For the second year in a row, I will be joining him. But this will mark only my 7th summer up at the camp on Lake Tarleton, pedestrian numbers compared to my brother. 

As the story goes, I was a camper too, just like Davey (as he was known back then), entering Kingswood in 1999.  Weird Al ruled my brand new Sony Walkmen and Courage the Cowardly Dog was clearly the best thing ever to happen to TV.

Dave and Ray unite after Ray wins a wrestling match (1999)

I stuck with it, returning each year for 5 years, but then I dropped off the radar.  Dave meanwhile, did not miss one summer.  For 14 years.  14 years!!!  Last year, he convinced me to come back and give counselorship a try.  Suffice to say, there were a lot of costumes involved. 

Unclear if intentional....

Definitely intentional....

 

Who's more convincing?

Dave and Sean.  Here Dave is dressing up as.....
Oh wait.  This is how he normally dresses.

 

I might have to say that the only thing that rivals the company you keep at Kingswood is the natural beauty.  When Dave and I find ourselves on fishing or hiking trips together, we invariably wonder: How can this be our job?  Looking forward to Kingswood Summer 2012.  Brothers Unite once again!

Clouds settle in the valley below Webster Cliff

Not a bad sunset over lake Tarleton.  Webster cliff in the background with Mt. Moosilauke behind it.