› Forums › Flags on the 48 Information › General Discussion › Reports from the 48 Flagsites!
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#46742 |
Okay, let’s hear from each of the hill sites — how’d it go? How many flags could you see from your site? Anybody link up via ham radio? Anybody play music up there?
Anybody make it to the Woodstock Brewery, ahh Woodstock Inn?
Reflections, reviews and renewals?
Guido
What a fantastic day. I took my 5 year old daughter on her first 4000 footer up Hale Brook. The flag at the summit was her motivation. When we got to the summit, we held the flag for about thirty minutes. From the summit, we could also see flags on North and South Twin and on the Bonds. This was without a doubt, an experience she will never forget. A special thanks to the group at the summit that made this possible. You did a really great thing today.
God Bless America.
Scott and Meghan Hayman :beer:it was quiet a day. on the ride over in the morning to mt. monroe, i felt very sad thinking about that day and all the people we lost including 19 alumni from my high school. for the first time i was not happy to be heading to the hills for a hike.
shortly into the hike a rabbit came hopping down the trail and passed between my pole and my leg without breaking stride. when i looked up there was a jet black fischer that had been chaseing it. very cool.
about halfway up i met a nice couple who ended up staying up top with me for the two hours. Gary had brought a clarinet and he played “God Bless America” as i put the flag up at noon and took it down at two. he would also play for arriving hikers. we had about 30 folks pass by. a few did not seem too interested while others took pictures of the flag and posed in front of it with mt. washington, clay and jefferson in the background. one women commented that as she hiked up from the south, as the clouds covered and passed by the flag she was inspired and thought “… and our flag was still there.” that made my day!
we could see frodo’s flag on eisenhouer, and thought we saw the one on jefferson.
i went home feeling much better. i met some great folks and was glad to have done it. we must remember those we lost on 911.
thanks to frodo, greg and rj for all the effort.Had just a wonderful day hiking the Hancock loop and made it to South Hancock and had the flag up JUST as it hit noon! Ken met Craig and I there and a few others were waiting to help assist in putting up the flag, which was greatly appreciated.
We managed (or I should say, all the guys managed, because I was busy taking pictures) to get the flag up above the highest tree on the summit. It was attatched to a 15 foot snowrake pole and roped to the highest point possible of a tree and proudly flew strong for 2 solid hours.
We could clearly see Carrigain and North Hancock’s flags without binoculars and tried to see the flags on the Ridge and Garfield, but with the haze, we just couldn’t see them (though we tried to keep fooling ourselves)!
We swapped stories and answered passer-by’s questions for 2 fast hours and retieved the flag at 2pm and properly folded it for the hike out.
I was very proud to be a part of this event, and just knowing that there were 47 others out there on summits, doing the same thing was a really a cool feeling. Thanks for all the work putting this event together.
And I even got to meet a few of you at the Woodstock Inn, which was even cooler!
We also had a great day. Friends from Maine met us at Pinkham’s and we hiked up with Gail (finishing her 2nd round of NH 4K on Wildcat A). Dan and Dick helped Gail get her flag flying, whic was clearly visible as we trekked over to “A”. Tough spot to raise the flag, so we opted to fly it about 20 feet high at the Vista, which attracted much attention/curiousity. Only on quasi negative comment (“Are you leaving that here – that’s not right”) which was quashed with a quick explanation of our adherence to LNT. Max and Michael’s flag on Carter Dome wa a joy to see, flying high and proud. a great site. We thought we could see one on Middle Carter, but sadly, South looked barren.
All in all, a great day. Hung in the Pinkham lot waiting for Frank to finish his peakbagging day (Imp shelter to Pinkham). Managed a few brews in the lot before heading over to Woodstock where me saw Mary, Frodo, Shannon, Kathy, SilentCal (great name), Cheryl, Jane, Michelle and Frank. If I missed anyone, until next time!
Thanks to the organizers of this event. I felt very proud sitting there and just thinking about how lucky I am to be an American. The 9/11 tragedy was a very sad event in our history. I will never forget, but yesterday helped me feel that there the good in our world, at even the smallest levels will never let evil win.
Another thing I learned: awful nice to just sit at a summit and take in the views. That’s why we are there isn’t it? – SherpaK
😀
What a wonderful day in the Whites. We raised a 6 X 10 flag on Carrigain. Special thanks to Bob, Geri, Rick and Jess for their assistance in supplying such a grand flag. We were able (using binoculars) to see flags on N/S Hancock, Bond, Bondcliff and Eisenhower. Haze prevented more distant peaks from being visible. There was a good stiff breeze blowing the whole time, so the flag should have been very visible from surrounding peaks.
Most visitors to the summit were very enthuiastic about the event, some had read about it, others asked questions of us.
The 7 of us (Kris and Dan, Deb, Deb and Dave, and my 8 year old daughter Shannon) summitted Eisenhower at 11:40am under mostly sunny (windy) skies. We scrambled to put the flag pole together and hoisted it at noon with many guy lines, and spent another 10 minutes just trying to stablize it. After that, “Old Glory” was the dominate presence for the next 2 hours.
We had about 40 other hikers show up, many who had seen the flag from both Pierce and Monroe. Some people were pretty emotional when they arrived, but then again so were we. Lots of people had their pictures taken, and spent time talking and reflecting.
Mt Washington and Mt Monroe were both socked in with clouds when we arrived (everything else was clear). After about an hour, the clouds lifted and we saw a MASSIVE flag pole protruding off of Monroe. Several people also showed up and said “Garret says hi from Monroe”. We could clearly see the towering flagpole on Monroe and the one from Mt Jackson to the south. Awesome sights!
Shortly before we took it all down at 2pm, a large group from RI showed up and as they were leaving for Mizpah broke into “Bye, bye, Miss American pie…..”
We left the summit without a trace at 2:20, and met up with many other hikers at the Woodstock Inn/brewery later on to reflect and reminice. (even compared bushwhacking scars with Michelle, but she had me beat). Most people could see flags from other peaks, especially from Flume and Carrigain. Very memorable day, but all for a never forgetable cause…..
What a fantastic day. We never met up with the other group that was ascending Lafayette but had brought our own flag and long (10ft) pole. My husband and I have rarely hiked in the last twenty years, so we were a little concerned about our ability to complete this hike. We were accompanying my sister, Elizabeth Kovalcin, who lost her husband on the first plane to hit the towers on 9/11. David, her husband, was an avid hiker and Elizabeth and their chocolate lab, Marley, frequently went with him. This was a very emotional, yet uplifting, event. We didn’t reach the peak until l:20 but raised our flag, with the pole jammed between two boulders to stay upright, until about 2:30PM. The wind was constant and the flag was flapping noisily. It was a great vision for us as well as many others who passed by. Many took it as a great photo op. We even had a group of Canadian students stop to have their picture taken sitting on the boulders on each side of the flag. We’re a little sore today but feel the experience for all of us was once in a lifetime.
My group and I made it to East Osceola a few minutes past noon. Our flag was flying (actually hanging between 2 trees) proudly until 2:00.
Before the hike up and over Osceola we met up with Brian C and his buddy who were carrying the flag up to Osceola. We scanned other nearby peaks (Tripyramid, Carrigan, etc) with binoculars, but It turned out that theirs was the only other flag we could see from the east peak.
While on East Osceola we met several hikers who knew about the event and wanted their picture with our flag. Other hikers were surprised by what they saw and thought what we were doing was a good thing.
After the hike we had dinner at the Woodstock Inn, but left shortly after for the long drive home. Sorry I missed all the other hikers that may have been there.
If this event will be held again next year you can count me in!
I went with two friends of mine, hiking up Falling Waters and summiting Lincoln shortly after noon. One friend has never hiked before and the other has rarely hiked 4Ks, but both did really well with the steep trail and the windy conditions along the ridge. I gotta tell ya, it was one of the most beautiful days in the mountains — someone or some thing truly blessed us all on this solemn day.
We brought an American flag kite that wasn’t all that cooperative but managed to stay up in the air for a while anyway. We got not a single negative reaction or comment. In fact, quite a few people nicely asked what we were doing and why. I could only spot one other flag — the one on Lafayette — because of the haze. After a serious dive bomb by the kite, we retrieved it from the krummholz and moved on to Lafayette, where we hung out for a bit before heading back into the valley.
All around, it was an amazing, moving day. I was with a Brit who has since become an American citizen, and my other friend was one of the first people I spoke with after 9/11. The mountains are the best place, in my book, to spend quiet time (yes, even with the crowds on Franconia Ridge) and really reflect. It’s been a difficult, emotional year, and this really helped to soothe my soul.
Thanks everyone at AlpineZone for making this happen.
It was a great day! My sons bailed on me, so it was just my dog and I. The temperatures were just about perfect for the hike up and for a couple hours on the summit. I ended up making better time than expected so I wandered up Cedar Brook trail past the Hancock loop for a while before heading up to the summit. The only flags that I could really see were South Hancock and Carrigan (with a little strain, but without binoculars).
I had planned to duct tape my hiking sticks together and then attach them to one of the dead trees at the summit, but this wasn’t possible to do with having the flag flap against nearby trees. With help from one of many great people who hiked the loop that day, I found a good piece of wood on the ground and used that to extend the height of my makeshift flag pole. The response from other hikers that day was wonderful. Many thanked me for being there.
After the hike, it was great to meet a variety of fine folk at the Woodstock Inn.
Thanks again to all who planned, organized and participated! It was a honor and a pleasure to be entrusted with one of the 48.
As a footnote: I was quite careful about the LNT and even made sure to pack out the trash I found at the summit and some of the other trash I noticed along the way.
We joined Bob (AKA MaineGuy) on Mount Carrigain for what turned out to be a wonderfull day! Thanks to Rick who managed to obtain the use of a 6′ x 10′ flag we were able to greatly impress many of the 3 dozen or so hikers who visted the summit.
It was a pleasure to meet in person some of the hikers we have seen posting in this and other hiking forums. This was our 37th peak, but most impressive is young eight year old Cody for whom it was his 9th peak – and he just started hiking this year!
We have posted some pics of the flag and folks on the summit to share with all of you. We have a link on our Home Page (http://home.tiac.net/~rbhayes/) or you can go directly to them at
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291360287Hope to meet many more of you on the trails! God Bless!
Cannon Mountain
What a great day! Cathie and myself agreed to meet the rest of our hiking group at the Lafayette Campground around 8:30. We met up with Marianne and her group and after introductions and some joking around about the flagpole, we began our ascent up the Lonesome Lake Trail. We enjoyed getting to know the others in the group better and took in some nice scenery at a break by the lake. We then worked our way up to the Kinsman Ridge Trail and began our summit push. We arrived at the observation tower at about 11:40 after answering several questions from curious hikers along the way. We ended up wedging the pole into the rails at the top of the tower and used C-clamps to anchor it in place. At 11:59, amid cheers, we raised our pole and the Flag flew fully extended for the next two hours. The wind was whipping for most of the afternoon and was quite chilly for those tram users that came up in t-shirts and shorts. Many people though, asked questions and took many photos with the flag and the Franconia Range in the background. We for certain could see the flag on Mt. Flume and may have seen the Flag on Garfield at the concrete foundation and maybe the flag on North Kinsman. Did anyone see ours? We had a friend who parked along I-93 to take pictures and from the valley he said he could see ours and Mt. Flume with binoculars. Alas we took everything down at 2:00 and made our way down the mountain. The AMC SouthEastern Mass Chapter trail maintinance volunteers were working on the Lonesome Lake trail and we thanked them for the job they were doing and they thanked us for flying the flag. I guess we sort of helped each other out. Anyways we made it back to the campground and then we were off to the Woodstock Inn. There we swapped stories with several other groups and finally got to match some screen names with faces. This truly was an excellent event and I was happy to be a small part of it. Greg, RJ and Frodo (dear lord please don’t strike me dead for complimenting a Yankees fan 😛 sorry could not resist) all deserve a round of applause for making this event a reality. We got the chance to do what we enjoy doing and honor those who cannot be with us today.
What a fantastic day atop Carter Dome. Michael and I, with the help of some other hikers, were able to get our flag 20 feet in the air, well above the tree tops. We had maybe 12-18 hikers wander by who all congratulated us and the others for what we were doing, so kudos go to the organizers especially…we couldn’t have done it without ya!! We squinted through the trees and were not able to see SherpaK’s flag on Wildcat ‘A’, though he reported seeing ours fine. And we convinced ourselves that through binoculars, we could see the flag on Madison.
It was a great day to remember, reflect, and best of all to meet new friends. Thanks to Michael, Paul, Gail, and Paul’s group for a grand time. Wish I could have made it over to N Woodstock, maybe next time.
Max
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