White Mountains

Trip legs (latest at top):

14 Sep 04 - Hiking Pine Mountain - White Mountains, New Hampshire
Our first stop is the Androscoggin Ranger Station in White Mountain National Forest. They had nice displays on the CCC camps in the area. They also had background on Hayes and Dolly Copp, the first settlers in the area in 1831, for whom Dolly Copp Campground is named. After a long and productive life together on their homestead, they went their separate ways, with Dolly supposedly declaring, “Hayes is well enough, but 50 years is long enough for a woman to live with any man!” There are no quotes from Hayes, so we can assume that after 50 years, he still couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

After some shopping in the morning, we start hiking Pine Mountain about 2pm. We start on at the Pine Link Trailhead on Pinkham B Road, follow the gravel road for a while, then take the Ledge Trail. We have some really nice views from a sloping cliff face, and we quickly start to appreciate the beauty of the White Mountains.

Mountain Ash Berries
East from Pine Mountain
This was our introduction to the White Mountains, and the fantastic views we would see on our hikes. Looking east across the northern end of the Mt Washington Valley.
Dawn on Cliff Face
This gentle cliff on the side of Pine Mountain can be see from many other locations in the valley, including Imp Face.

Here is some video of the panorama from Pine Mountain: "C'mon Cletus, you part of the mountain?" View from Pine Mountain in White Mountains National Forest, New Hampshire, 14 Sep 2004 (16 MB, 59 sec)

Gorham from Pine Mountain
The town of Gorham, New Hampshire is the northern gateway into the White Mountains.

Later we stumble across the Horton Center, with a large conference building and cabins on the gravel road, and yurts in the woods. The Horton Center is an Outdoor Ministries program of the New Hampshire Conference United Church of Christ. That's a mouthful, but we like their message.

Horton Center Luminaria
Apparently the luminaria are the result of a recent workshop.
Bluebead Lily
A common plant we found in the UP also, but hard to photograph well.

15 Sep 04 - Hiking Imp Face - White Mountains, New Hampshire
We had to change campsites before the weekend, and our camping neighbors Laura and Ralph kindly helped us move all our stuff next door as they were vacating. Dolly Copp is pretty well-run by the concessionaire hired by the Forest Service, but their reservation system favors reservations, not those who show up in person.

Dawn Zazen
I'm tempted here to make a joke about "stream of consciousness," but the reference to "dawn zazen" is bad enough. This is Calhoun Brook, just behind our campsite at Dolly Copp.

Due to the late start, we aborted plans to use the good weather to hike Mt Washington, and instead we settled on a shorter hike, up to the Imp Face. This rock formation was named The Imp by Dolly Copp herself, due to the features she perceived from her home site. On the way up we use the Imp Trail from the Dolly Copp Picnic Area. The views were terrific from our lunch spot on top of the Imp Face, including great views of the entire Presidential Range. On our way down we follow the Imp Trail to the North Carter Trail and loop back to the picnic area. I got to meet some new mushrooms, and found a couple toads with amazing camouflage.

Waterfall on Imp Trail
Sue, Judy, and Jack
Older folks and dogs enjoying a day together in the mountains.
Fallen Red Maple Leaf
We were too early for the full color of autumn in northern New Hampshire, but we caught tantalizing glimpses.
Imp Face Hikers
Sue or Judy took this for us at lunch. Behind us is the Presidential Range.

16 Sep 04 – Dixie and Carl - Dolly Copp Campground
This morning we met new friends, Dixie and Carl. I had been attracted to their homebuilt truck camper the previous day, and had made arrangements to visit this morning. On the way down to their campsite, Dawn allows how she is not feeling too keen on meeting new people, so of course she and Dixie hit it right off. Dixie and Carl are a couple of characters, but so are we, so we got along just fine.

Carl's Home-built Truck Camper
Dixie and Carl
We made friends real quick-like with these two.

Carl runs a cleaning service in Conway, and this is his second camper he has built from scratch, no plans or nothin’. Dixie show us around inside, and they kindly answer questions for over an hour and share tea with us. They let us know about a Buddhist Sangha in Conway that sits on Sunday mornings, and fundraiser Saturday at which they are serving vegetarian chili. Dawn leaves with a very effective, soft-sell pamphlet from Compassion Over Killing, an animal rights group, and I leave with a photo of the license plate.

We don't realize until months later, that between the good examples of Sandesh and Deepali, Carl and Dixie, and our innumerable Buddhist friends, we are already heading down the road to becoming vegetarians.

Live Free or Die - Vegans
You won't see a license plate like this every day!

After lunch we visit the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, where $1.75 each in quarters buys us each a 5 minute and 15 second shower. Turns out that’s all the time you need for a shower, when that is all the time you have.

18 Sep 04 - Bark in the Park in the Rain - North Conway, New Hampshire
The sound of rain increases from an occasional spatter during the night, to a full-fledged steady rain when we awake. It rains all morning, but after breakfast we don rain suits and take a walk to the end of the campground, then a half-mile further along the Great Gulf Wilderness Trail to a nice spot on the Peabody River.

Peabody River
On a rainy Saturday morning.
Dolly Copp Campsite
Be it ever so humble....

In the late morning we drive south to North Conway, where we plan to find Dixie and Carl. The festivity is Bark in the Park, which raises money for the Conway Area Humane Society, and there is a dog show going on when we arrive. Of sorts. In the rain.

Gizmo
In the rain on a Saturday morning in North Conway, New Hampshire. I'm guessing one could call this "local color." Dawn hates it when she gets upstaged like this.

We find Dixie and Carl and buy our vegetarian chili, and while eating it meet their friend Laura. Laura is a devoted, if rather militant vegetarian, and before we arrived she had managed to be vocal to the point of having Dixie and Carl uninvited from next year’s Bark. This appears to not faze either Dixie or Carl at all, and Laura and I spend the next hour or so chatting and discussing her life in New Hampshire, and the ethics of hunting, vis-à-vis vegetarianism. Dawn spends an hour with Dixie chatting inside Carl’s homebuilt camper, getting warm and toasty. She still has a pair of Dixie’s socks.

Dixie, Laura, and Dawn
I tried for an action photo and this was the best I could get. In Dixie's camper trying to stay warm and dry.

19 Sep 04 - Sitting with the Conway Sangha - Conway, New Hampshire
Try as we might, getting up promptly at 6am and eating instant oatmeal, we still are 15 minutes late to Sunday sitting with the Conway Community Sangha. The sangha is small this morning as there is some respected teacher holding satsang a few hours away, and we are sitters #5 and 6. After two periods of sitting we have quick introductions, then read aloud from one of Toni Packer’s books, passing it around in a circle every few paragraphs.

In the discussion afterwards, the sangha leader Bill relates how he is working with a contractor and the finished product is unsatisfactory, and we all chime in on different ways he can view the situation. The feeling is intimate and cordial, even though Dawn and I are new faces, we have been accepted immediately into the group. I take the chance to photograph the altar, which is placed centrally in the room, with all cushions facing the center.

Conway Community Sangha Altar
Very understated and elegant. I don't know, maybe Touchdown Buddha would look pretty good here?

Bill invites us to lunch after sitting, and we share our experiences with sitting with various sanghas. Bill has purchased all the sitting cushions, and provides the sangha with a dedicated room in a small, commercial building he owns. He has been the driving force behind this sangha for 12 years, and I point out to him what a huge amount of work he has done. He has a video program scheduled at the library on great, living spiritual teachers, and recently gave two 6-week classes on meditation to 60 people in all. I feel he is doing great, great work, and Dawn and I make sure he knows it. Bill is happy to meet someone appreciative, as perhaps he is too close to all the daily difficulties to see the momentum he has started. Conway has a wonderful resource in its midst.

Conway Community Sangha Bill
Revealing the dharma realms in Conway, New Hampshire, darn near single-handedly. Some towns don't realize how lucky they are!

The remainder of the afternoon we spend on a short hike to Glen Boulder. On the hike up we are pelted with some remaining windy drizzle at higher elevations, but we are also rewarded with a full rainbow. We don’t make it all the way up to the boulder, but far enough to take its picture. Some stunning long shots on the way down, especially with the distant landscape going in and out of cloud cover.

Glen Boulder Trail Rainbow
I'm not big into omens, but I think good things are coming to Conway.
Mt Washington Valley
This is on the Glen Boulder Trail. The view is the northern end of the Mt Washington Valley. It's a bit cold out at elevation this damp Sunday afternoon.