home again, home again, jiggety jig...

...home again, home again, jiggety jog! sead is over--or at least the students have gone home and i don't have to stay in hanover anymore. it was good to see pam's little red fit in the drive when i came around the corner saturday afternoon. she was just home from her own trip up to the white mountains resting and hiking with old amc friends, cami and jenny. we made an alternative version of the black rice salad i experimented with earlier this summer and enjoyed a mellow dinner out on the back porch. as we ate we planned a hike for sunday morning. when i woke it was raining but by the time pam got up it was looking better. as we took off for cardigan, we decided to try the west side parking lot even though on most summer weekends it is full. i figured maybe the rain would slow them down some and we were still early. to our luck, the lot was pretty empty.

we started out on the ski trail, taking the first two sections skirting a few larger groups. back on the west ridge trail and most of the way up, just before clifford's bridge, we turned onto the skyland trail, cutting over to the south ridge. i was pretty sure pam had never been on it and also convinced she would love its moss covered surrounds. the light was slanting through the fog and trees, lighting up the green covering all the fallen timber and the rocky ledge that sticks out. the pictures below give one a bit clearer taste: the left looks uphill to the east, and the right looks downhill to the west.

it was also really quiet as there were enough kids on the mountain to fill the bus we saw parked down below. while adults can be really noisy when hiking, youngsters will likely be, especially when in large groups. with impeccable timing, we popped out onto the rock on the south ridge and heard a bunch of young girls coming up that trail.

fortunately that group was stopping, and we kept going. passing the fire warden's cabin down the eastern flank, we hit the steep, open rock and started flexing the calf muscles, climbing on our toes, for most of that last section. at the top, but still below the summit, i sat and waited for pam. some folks passed going down and said something to pam as she came up. "it seems like you are coming up over the edge of the world." i knew that would get a response from pam. "oh, don't say that. i can't look back." she made it without falling off any "edge", and we rested there, deciding not to go the last 100 yards and avoid the other half of that large group of young girls along with other hikers already up there.

going up cardigan is a fairly regular thing for us and after today, i bet the skyland trail cutover to south ridge becomes a favorite of pam's.