flatlanders... funny people, eh?

I almost got my family killed

     Seriously.  We came close to not being here today.
     I read "Yankee Magazine" religiously.  We had a subscription and I read every issue cover to cover.  That's one reason we built a New England saltbox design.  Jackie loved the architecture we saw in Massachusetts.  That's why I have a lobster trap.  Love New England.
     At one point  in my life I thought we could move there.   I would buy a small weekly newspaper and be happy living in Vermont, or New Hampshire or Upstate New York.
     After we camped in the White Mountains, we headed for the owners' picnic at Vermont Castings.
     But Yankee Magazine almost killed us.  There was an article on the "Most Climbed Mountain in North America" and it was called Mt. Monadnock.
     I decided we would climb it.  The magazine article said it was an easy climb, a couple of hours,  and for all ages.
     So we stopped.  It was about 10 a.m.  We got out of the car and started walking up the well marked and very busy trail.  Walked past the ranger station and its collection of maps.  Walked past the trail maps posted near the parking lot.
     About half way up there was a natural spring, and we filled a canteen with water.  We met a man who must have been 85 who was coming down the mountain carrying a little boy on his shoulders. (He really wasn't that old.... but he was in his 50s or 60s, at least)
     So we asked the usual questions.  No, it's not far.  Maybe 30 minutes.  Yes it's beautiful. Oh, you're from Illinois?  Not many mountains there.  You should take the White Cross Trial, it's the scenic route.  Oh no, not much longer.  But prettier.  And all of his part of the conversation lacked rs......
     So I led Jackie, Julia and Emily on the White  Cross Trail.
     And it was pretty.  You could see small ponds, houses, a town.
     The route was marked by white dots on trees and on stacked stones.
     After an hour, we lost track of the white markers.  And stones.  It seemed like we were on a trail, so we kept going.
      We reached a point where the trail met a sheer cliff with a ledge about two feet wide, 15 feet long and  spanning a drop off.  A big drop off.
      I volunteered Jackie to go first.  She carefully shuffled along the edge.  Just about when she hit the half way point, I noticed the path behind the ledge.  The girls and I quickly scampered safely around as she reached the other side.
      At two hours, we drained the water and finished the bag of GORP.  By three we had no idea where we were, or where we had been.  The temperature was starting to drop.
      Headlines flashed through my mind:   "Crazy Illinois family lost on mountain...survive by eating grass and bark; or "Flatlanders dead...film at 11."
      I was really concerned...but also determined.
     At about 4 we finally reached the top.
     We stood there, enjoying the beauty.  The quiet.  Quiet?  Where were all the people?
     I don't know who said, "Look at those funny trees way over there...they are moving."
     The funny trees were very small people.  A lot of very small people.  And they were far from us.
     I seriously wanted to cross the top to reach them but the troops mutinied.  They were hungry.  They were tired.  They were thirsty.  Yada,  yada,  yada.
     So we went back down.
     The fastest way we knew was to sit on our butts and slide down until we hit a trail.
     And we did.  We slid, and slid, and slid....and finally hit the White Cross Trail, which took us back to the spring and water.  As we sat there, tired, dirty, hungry, a family of four passed us heading up.  They also got water and asked where we were from.
      I told him and I swear, the guy said to take the White Cross Trail up because it was really pretty.
      We got back to the car a little after 5.  Yes....7 hours.
      On our way to the next campground we saw a motel and I was ordered to pull in and get a room or regret it for the rest of my life.
       They had one room left, with a single bed.
       I slept on the floor.......and I was lucky they even let me stay in the room.