Team Wildcat was ten strong, nine of the human variety and Tucker. We met at the parking lot at 7:45, and started up the Nineteen-mile Brook trail promptly at 8. The first 3.6 miles are reasonably gentle and allowed plenty of opportunity to converse and enjoy the day. Tim, our nine year old trail leader and pacesetter, got us to the Wildcat Ridge trail in 2 hours and 15 minutes – about half an hour faster than book time. The trail turns sharply upward for the last ¾ mile, but Tim led us up that last section in about 40 minutes. When we turned upward, the hiking poles came out, the conversation subsided for most – except Betsy, our ten year old mountain goat, who did this section without even taking her hands out her pockets. Darn those young legs.
When we got to the summit we faced three challenges.
1) Exactly where is the summit?
2) How are we going to construct the flagpole and get it up through all those trees?
3) What exactly are we going to do with those 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies?
After wandering around for a while looking for something that might indicate a summit, we were fortunate to meet up with a hiker (with a small flag in his pack) with a GPS. He assured us that we were within a few feet of the summit.
We set to work constructing the pole and then weaved it up through the trees. After a couple of false starts with the flag getting tangled in the limbs, we were able to raise the flag up through the trees. I think that the top was sticking out, but I’m not sure that we got the whole flag into the open. Our flag was flying by 11:50.
Challenge three was solved easily enough. We had two or three dozen visitors. All were more than happy to help us solve this problem as they joined us at the vista overlooking Carter notch. We could easily see the flags on Carter Dome and South Carter from our vantage point.
The flag came down at 2:00, and we hiked back down to the parking lot and were back by 5:00.
We were blessed to hike with a great group, most of whom we didn’t know before starting out. I have always found that hikers are generally a friendly lot, but one of the great things about this event is that the camaraderie of those brought together by common thoughts on this day of remembrance is unparalleled.
