gronkyco - just because

I lived in Newburyport for twenty years, and spent a good portion of my teenage years working on a farm in the north-end of town. Having access to the farm was great because it abutted the 400’ish acre Maudslay State Park on like three sides, far at the back-end of the park – away from the main entrance and most of the foot traffic. This allowed my buddies and me to ride our bikes around the park almost every day, getting more and more familiar with the trail system from the inside out. In fact, I even used to drive Hay Rides in the park during the late 80’s and early 90’s.

I have a lot of history in the park, and a lot knowledge about the park itself. People have actually joked with me about giving tours around the park because I spit things out like “Hey, that’s the fairy garden,” or “If look down here you will see the old well,” or “The Castle sat right on the hill here, you can see the steps over there,” and a bout hundred other interesting facts about the park. Well, at least interesting to me…

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I have been a fairly avid hiker/ outdoorsy person for years. Unfortunately, living where I do (New England Seacoast) presents challenges when it comes to getting out on the trail with any regularity. It seems like I need to drive a couple hours north before I can really get out into the fresh air, on decent terrain, away from roads and crowds of people to do some hiking. Right?

Well, not so much…

It’s obvious to me that hikes in the White Mountains are superior to anything around the seacoast area, but I’ve been saying for years that Pawtuckaway State Park is as good as gets - outside the White Mountain National Forrest - and it’s only a scant 20 mins from my driveway! I recently did a “morning” hike on Pawtuckaway’s Woronoco trail. I emphasize “morning” because I was able to do drive there, do the hike, come home and shower before lunch… thats completely awesome.

Thus it was time for a pic story; My trip to Pawtuckaway!

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Someone recently asked me “What’s the most terrifying thing has happened while hiking?” I thought about that for a bit and there is one instance that clearly stands out as the most frightening, but I was camping, not hiking. I thought I’d share.

Five or so years ago I drove down to Pocono Pennsylvania to watch the NASCAR Pocono 500. We had camped about six or seven miles from the track at a little campground that seemed to cater to race fans. (Actually, everything within ten miles of the track, or any track for that matter, caters to race fans)

It was Sunday night and we were partying at the campsite following the race. Our plan was to stay there Sunday night and drive home Monday morning. That way we would beat the race-day traffic. If you have never been to a NASCAR race, the traffic leaving the track can be simply incredible. It’s not uncommon to sit in traffic for three or four hours if you stay until the checkers and not duck-out early.

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A few friends and I decided to go camping up north this Labor Day weekend to relax, drink a couple pints, and take in some mountain air. After a little consideration, research online, and a recommendation from a friend, we decided on the Tarry Ho campground located in Twin Mountain, NH.

My fiancée and I had recently bought some new gear (including a bigger tent because our last one barely fit our 20inch thick queen size air mattress) packed the coolers, stopped at the packy, and were all charged up for this weekend. There were nine of us total heading up, with drives ranging from 2.5 to 4 hours in length. During the week, a few of us had talked among ourselves and it was obvious that we all needed this break.

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Well, I went to the Tripoli Road camp ground this weekend with a couple friends. We left after work on Friday and pulled in around 9:30pm. After finding the people we were looking for, we found a decent spot near everyone and set up camp.

Our spot was on one of their “hill sites” about a mile in from the gate on the left. There was a short climb to the spot we picked that ran for a distance of about 200 feet, and elevation gain of no more than 50 or so. Not too bad, but just enough to get me panting as I carried our huge, beer laden cooler(s) up to the site. All in all it took us about 30 mins to get everything set up and ready - so far so good.

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