The Council Room

[Tom Rawson]

Was just remembering training (and qualifying?) for the Jr. White Mountain Hut Trip. We stuffed daypacks with rocks and trekked up and down the trails between camp and the lake. Mike Freeland was the leader. Andy Harris, I think, was there too. He said, "you guys are gonna fly through the mountains", this because presumably we had way more weight in our training packs than we would actually have on the trip. No sleeping bags required, so all we had to pack was socks, underwear, and rain gear. The actual trip had fifteen boys, two counselors and one JC or JA, can't remember which. Mike was in front, Andy in back, and the JC/JA right in the middle, so nine boys ahead of him and nine behind. Every so often Mike would holler, "One!" This was the beginning of the count to see if we were all still alive and on the trail. The first boy in line would then holler, "Two!", the next one, "Three!", and on down the line until we heard the very melodic and rhythmic "Eight-teen!" from Andy, always rising on the "eight" and falling on the "teen". First night was Lonesome Lake, second was Lake of the Clouds. We stumbled across a pile of snow coming down from Lake of the Clouds, and of course had to have a snowball fight.
_________________
1963 C-5 Walter Scheirer
1964 C-2 Bill Sloane
1966 J-4 Dave Clemens
1967 S-1 Garth Nelson

[Mike Freeland]

Hi Tom,

That brings back a lot of memories. You might have been on one of the first Junior Presidential Range trips at Wyanoke. When Garth and I took over the trip program, those trips were for Seniors and JAs only. We expanded the trips to include Juniors (who were probably in better shape than the Seniors cuz they didn't weigh anything), and opened up territories beyond the Presidentials including the southern Pemigewasset and north to the Mahoosucs. We also brought backpacking with tents into the picture. We were out of camp almost weekly for some years there.

I'm trying to remember what trip you're referring to: Lonesome Lake Hut is in the Franconia Notch, about 35 hiking miles from Lakes of the Clouds. So, you were either on a Lonesome/Greenleaf (Mt. Lafayette) hut trip, or on a Presidential run to Madison Springs (North end of the Presidentials) and on to Lakes, then down Tuckerman Ravine, where there was usually a snow arch that lasted into August. Seems to me (50 years later) that you were on a number of trips so I can see how you'd mix them up.

Lonesome Lake was the least desirable of the huts, in my opinion. It was (is) in the woods at low elevation and limited views, and it always seemed damp and buggy.

Andy Harris and I came through the ranks at Wyanoke together - hell of a good guy. There's some great footage of him on the DVD on the flanks of Mt. Jefferson at Edmond's Col Shelter eating an orange or something. I think we were about 14 at the time.

I remember coming back to camp in 1973 or so on a break from my grad geology field work, and leading a Mahoosuc trip. The notorious Mahoosuc Notch is the most difficult mile on the entire AT, and we hit that on day two.

I popped on a pack full of stuff and damn near killed myself running around the Wyanoke property. Even though I'd spent most of the summer in the Wyoming mountains, I was WAY out of shape. The kids were better off than I was! And the old Firewarden's Trail up Old Speck, a brutal straight-up no-swtichback mile or so, and the first part of a 3-night shelter/tent trip was nearly my undoing. I was in better shape after the trip, believe me. The biggest challenge was not letting the kids know that I was at death's doorstep for 4 days.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Tom Rawson]

Hi Mike--

Yes, it was Greenleaf, not Lake of the Clouds. And yes, I remember that that year (1966) was the first year of Jr. hut trips. The Jr. Franconia trip was two nights (Lonesome Lake and Greenleaf). The Sr. Franconia, which I did the next year with you, was three nights, Greenleaf, Galesomething, and Zealand Falls. The Sr. trip route up to the Franconia ridge went up Flume Mtn I think? It bypassed the big rock covered with spring water we'd seen the year before. I think it was called Mirror Rock or something like that. I never did a Presidential trip at Wyanoke, but hit those huts a few years later hiking with my father and uncle.

The year I was in Sr camp, I was in Garth's tent. I was not on the Presidential trip that year, but Garth was, and so was Tom Sweeney from our tent group. If I remember correctly, the last night of their trip Garth left the hut to join a search and rescue mission for hiker who suffered a heart attack (and, I believe, didn't survive). Garth was out on the trail, if not all night, at least most of it. The next day, on little or no sleep, Garth had yet another unexpected event when Tom Sweeney sprained or broke something in his foot or leg and had to be carried down and taken to a hospital. I remember the bus arriving very late and BMB greeting a very tired leader and his tired charges.

I never went on the Sr shelter trip. That required sleeping bags, food, stoves, etc, yes?

I did do the Saco twice, and both the Jr and Sr canoe-for-several-days-on-Winnipesaukee trip.

The trips usually departed on Sundays, yes? Back on Tuesday or Wednesday so as not to miss parade? Did they leave before chapel on Sunday--I can't remember.

As you can see, those trips were very memorable for me. Big thanks to you and Garth for running them. Tom Falcon too. He was the Saco guy, yes? Actually, if I recall correctly, there was a Saco trip just about every week, so there must have been lots of counselors who did them.
_________________
1963 C-5 Walter Scheirer
1964 C-2 Bill Sloane
1966 J-4 Dave Clemens
1967 S-1 Garth Nelson

[Mike Freeland]

Paragraph at a time.

Yeah the Sr. Franconia trip went up through the Flume itself (no longer open to hikers), then up the Flume Slide Trail to the summit of Flume and the Francolia Ridge trail, Mts. Liberty and Lafayette to Greenleaf hut. Next was Galehead and Zealand Falls, as you said. Funny, I don't remember the rock with the springs.

The night the guy died, Garth wasn't leading that trip, and I think Tom Sweeny's accident was on Wildcat Ridge. I wasn't there for that one. Garth will remember. I don't remember who WAS leading it, but I don't think it was Garth.

Both Garth and I were on that rescue. It was one of those times that we took a busman's holiday day off and hiked up to Mizpah Springs Hut, where a Wyanoke group was spending their last night of the trip. We did that a lot - lead trips all week then take a day off and climb Washington again.

It was a lousy, sloppy-rainy evening and they were just wrapping up dinner at the hut and the cribbage boards and matchsticks were all out when an exhausted-looking older fellow sort of staggered through the door and said that one of his party had collapsed a little over a mile toward Mt. Jackson and the Jackson Cliffs. Kent (Kenny - Damn, his last name escapes me, and we knew him pretty well - Garth will remember), Mizpah's hutmaster, Garth and I high-tailed it across the ridge with the hut's radio and some food, to find a man lying supine and not breathing on the ground, and maybe 4 other men, all "older" and quite shaken. It rained like hell to make it just perfectly miserable.

CPR wasn't invented at that point, so we did mouth-to mouth and "heart massage", similar to CPR, I guess, on him. One of my strong suits in those days was that I could light a fire (and a cigarette) in almost any situation, so I got one going, boiled up some water for tea, and the rest of the man's party huddled around it until we got word by (huge) radio that a rescue party was headed up the Jackson Cliff trail with a litter.

It was clear the guy was dead, but Garth and Kenny worked on him while I led the rest of the party back to the hut in the dark, where da croo had soup and hot chocolate waiting. It was close to midnight. Kenny and Garth showed up about an hour or two later.

The reason I know Garth wasn't leading that trip is that we were due back at camp by reveille after a day off, and of course we weren't going to hike three miles out to the highway at 2:00 AM and drive a few hours to Wolfeboro (though we did do that once, getting back just in time - a whole 'nother story altogether), so we spent the night at Mizpah and arrived at Wyanoke around 10:00 or so. The trip guys got back on schedule. The AMC had called Mr. Bentley and explained what had happened so we didn't get fired or hauled up in front of the committee. That was quite an experience. The full impact of what we'd just done didn't hit us til a good deal later. We found out in time that it was a heart attack. As I recall, he was 65 or so.

Yeah, the shelter trips required all that stuff, and usually tents as well. We never counted on having the shelters to ourselves, though we were pretty lucky most of the time. Those were some big, heavy packs.

I loved the Saco trips and led a few myself. Tom was the king, though. No. There really weren't too many guys leading those trips. It wasn't like running the Colorado, but knowing the river was important, where you could camp and all that, so you had to come up through the rank and get some experience before you were turned loose with a load of kids and canoes. Except for those cushions with the straps, we had no personal flotation devices! And somehow we all survived. Wow.

Nowadays you couldn't do what we did then. All that skinny-dipping on those beaches along the Saco would have the banks lined with offended nay-sayers with binoculars. (We actually skinny-dipped in the pool at the base of Glen Ellis Falls in the early 60s. That's a public tourist attraction!) The saco in that stretch seemed like vast wilderness, but was always pretty close to a road.

We usually left Sunday after Chapel, but we convinced Mr. B that that gave us sometimes critically short times to reach our destinations, so eventually we got to leave early in the morning.

I'll goad Garth into correcting my memory and adding details I've forgotten.

I'm glad those trips were memorable for you. They sure were for me, and to this day, the White Mountains are my favorite places on earth. I've suggested to the family that they drop my ashes on the Presidential Range, hopefully on a bright, clear August day when the ridge is bristling with hikers. They'll all sneeze and wonder where the hell all the dust is coming from.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Tom Rawson]

Wow--That's some story. Mountain rescue is something I hope I don't ever have to do. Although I sort of did it once. My uncle and I came across a couple on Mt. Ascutney in Vermont (no part of the the trail is more than a few miles from a phone). He had hit his head and passed out. She didn't know what to do. My uncle, who was an MD, first instructed me not to tell anyone he was a Dr. Then he gave whatever first aid could be given. Someone else must have gone to town and phoned for help because awhile later a rescue crew came. The guy ended up fully recovering, we learned in a letter his wife sent to my uncle, addressed to a Mr. Larson instead of Dr. Rawson. Apparently my uncle gave his real address and a false name.

The shiny rock face was on on the side of Mt. Haystack? If you come from Lonesome Lake to the ridge you pass it.
_________________
1963 C-5 Walter Scheirer
1964 C-2 Bill Sloane
1966 J-4 Dave Clemens
1967 S-1 Garth Nelson

[Mike Freeland]

OLSEN! Kenny Olsen! Maybe Olson, I don't know. Kent, actually. It finally popped into my head just now. He went from hutmaster at Mizpah to become the head of the whole hut system, then, I think, into the board room at 5 Joy Street.

He was the guy who Garth stayed with while I and the rest of the "old man"'s party went back to Mizpah.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[DavidAyars]

W. Kent ("Ken") Olson.

http://ohcroo.com/database.html
Select O, then Olson, Ken for a possibly-1964 photo of him at Lakes with list of other croos he was on.

With John Nutter he recently published an article on hut history that appears on pp. 4-9 here:
http://ohcroo.com/pdf/Spring2013.pdf

The main webpage http://ohcroo.com , under Hut Croos in the column on the right side, has croo rosters for each hut going back many years. Probably some other names there you'll recognize.
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Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975