Twice postponed because of covid, it was finally nice to see many of my old buddies. A wonderful two days, however the 6.5 hours driving each way, put a cramp in my knees, and a crimp in in my training. (I only managed 13+ hours, with 45k running, and 93k riding the exercise bike this week.)
Aside from swapping stories of big games, teachers, hijinks, and friends who couldn't attend or had passed away; one of my buddies shared some photographs of a trip we took prior to our senior year.
The year is 1969, and I am 17. My buddy proposes a trip to Vermont (inspired by Easy Rider perhaps?); so I borrow some rudimentary camping gear and we hitchhike from Manhasset to southern Vermont. We hike a chunk of the Long Trail for a week and hitchike back home.
I spend my senior year in high school classes dreaming about mountains. Toward the end of the next summer, I hitched to Colorado by myself, scrambled up multiple 14ers, saw several rock climbers on the Diamond from Chasm View (I had scrambled up the 5.2 route on Longs Peak), and vowed to myself, that when I went to college that fall, I would figure out how to become a mountaineer. The rest, as they say ... is history.
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