Hiking for a Cause

Day 1 – June 23, 2006 “The Longest Day”

With a restless and anxious night of sleep, 4:30am was when I awoke on this cloudy Friday. After weeks of preparation building up to this moment, I had both fear and excitement fill me for what lay ahead. This was the day of many firsts…first time hiking that was more than a few hours and involved a 30 lb pack on my back, first time in New Hampshire, first time not being able to access the internet and my cell phone since I moved to Boston, and first time that I would be with 53 other women and NO men. Yes, it was exhilarating and I was glad that I had taken that slip of paper off of the flyer at work just a month ago.

So after some last-minute gathering of gear, I was on my way. I picked up one of my hiker buddies to-be, Idit, on the way and both of us headed to the Riverside MBTA Station. We received a warm welcome upon our arrival and after everyone was checked in, we were inspired by an Elizabeth Stone House (ESH) resident who shared her story with us and how what we were doing was helping her and her son to be together. It was amazing to hear how she was recovering from a drug addiction and a life of prostitution and how being at ESH has helped her leave her past. She has even gotten the opportunity to finish a year in college. Standing amongst 53 other women, we were definitely feeling good about what we were to experience, and it was even more exciting when everyone gathered onto their buses. There were two buses with the four teams split on both buses. Our bus had the Zealand Notch crew along with the Carter Notch group. It was a crazy bus ride, with three bathroom stops and a round-about way that took us three hours to finally reach our trailhead. We had left the Riverside T station at 6:45am and arrived at 11:45am.

Due to one team leader falling ill, we decided to just split into two groups rather than three. It was amazing because two ESH women joined our team on the hike. Since the hike began 11 years ago, it was the first time that any ESH women has hiked. When these two women told us their stories throughout our trip, our initial motivations for doing the hike were enhanced by hearing for whose lives we were improving by doing this for.

There were 10 of us total on our trip (Jessica, Idit, Maia, Katherine, Vicky, Linda, Sue, Jo, Melissa, and me) and we were to meet two others (Carol and Chris) at the Zealand Hut. All of us agreed to go on the more challenging hike, by starting out on the Hale Brook Trail then summit Mt. Hale (4054 ft) and descend down the Lend-A-Hand Trail to the Zealand Falls Hut.

There is a legend about Mt. Hale (courtesy of Beth) that all of us hoped to follow. Supposedly, legend has it that Mt. Hale consists of a magnetic field that Native Americans thought was sacred. On the hike up, you are to think of three things that have burdened you and then when you reach Mt. Hale you are to leave that burden along with a personal belonging of yours in the pile of rocks, then circle the pile of rocks three times counterclockwise. This ritual is meant to lift that burden from you.

We arrived at the top of Mt. Hale at 3pm. It was steep and rocky getting up there. I know that I was definitely starting off the trip challenging myself at every corner.

On our descent, we were faced with even more challenges in dealing with the rocky terrain. One of the team members, Sue, encountered a fall and rolled her ankle, so it ended up that both of the groups merged to help Sue make it down to the hut safely. (Sue, you are definitely a trooper and I am amazed at how you still went forward and fought with the pain.) Upon our arrival at 6pm to the hut, we were just in time for dinner prepared by the most awesome hut “croo” and definitely craving our dinner. In joining Chris and Carole, we filled our starving stomachs with Chicken Pot Pie, Rice & Broccoli Soup, Salad, Corn, Mashed Potatoes, and yummy Mousse Apple Crisp. After dinner, the hut’s Naturalist put on a “Dragonfly” info session. With the diverse group of team members we had, a few women also celebrated Shabbat. Lights were out at the hut at 9:30pm.

It was great to see how all of us came together today and how we were able to help each other out. Today we did a total of 4.9 miles of hiking! Go Team Zealand!


Day 2 – June 24, 2006 “A Day Full of Wonders”

We were awoken by one of the “croo” members playing flute at 6:30am. I just kept thinking about being in my bed underneath the covers back in Boston…of how that seemed so long ago. Tasty blueberry scones, oatmeal, and scrambled eggs were served to us at 7am. I did not want to leave that table…whoever said that breakfast was the most important meal of the day is absolutely correct!

Shortly after breakfast, Chris and Carole had to leave due to a car accident that a family member had encountered. We prayed for them and the family member’s safe recovery. It was a shame to see them leave, but we understood their reasons.

After they left, the rest of our group split into two hiking teams and a group of women who wished to stay at the hut longer for more relaxing activities. My team consisted of 5 ambitious women (Vicky, Maia, Linda, Melissa, and me) who embarked on the journey of taking on the Twinway Trail to the Zeacliff Outlook and then to the Zeacliff Pond. We started another day again with a demanding hike where we started at 9:38am and reached the awe-struck Zeacliff outlook at 12pm which was incredible and definitely another feat that we were glad to have accomplished. Then we headed to the pond shortly thereafter. All in all, our roundtrip total mileage was 3.8 miles.

After reaching Zealand Hut at 1:45pm, 4 of us (Idit, Vicky, Linda, and me) left for another hike on Ethan Pond Trail, which was a lot more easygoing. We reached Thoreau Falls at 3:45pm and dunked our heads into the cool water. Our time at the falls was enjoyable and we wished we could have stayed longer.

We headed back to Zealand Hut just in time to slightly recover before eating dinner. We congratulated ourselves for completing 5.2 miles of hiking. Our dinner tonight was Ham with Rice and Vegetables, Salad, New England Pumpkin Soup, and delicious Lemon Squares made especially by Sue who helped out the hut “croo” in preparing the meal.

After dinner, our team leaders, Jessica and Linda, gathered all of us together for a bead ceremony. We were given a piece of string with 3 beads. The 1st bead stood for the 1st day of our hike...direction. The 2nd bead symbolized love…love for what we did today. And finally the 3rd characterized Earth…as in love for the Earth. This gift from our team leaders was a perfect representation of what the purpose of our entire hike was and I deeply cherish this gift.

Today the Naturalist put on a Beaver info session.

The things that I learned today were: 1. It is not fun to pee in the woods and get bitten by bugs as one hike mate claimed. 2. Watch where you place your hands, especially on trees, as some of us had nice encounters with slugs more than once.

We hiked a total of 9 miles today and were surprised that the day flew by so fast.

Day 3 – June 25, 2006 “The Final Hike”

We were again woken by the flute at 6:30am. At 7am oatmeal, pancakes, and bacon filled our tummies. We (Linda, Jo, Melissa, Idit, Katherine, Maia, Vicky, and me) head out at 8am minus two team members (Sue and Jessica) on our 5.5 miles hike to the Highland Center. All 8 of us first trekked through the A-Z Trail, which then merged into the Avalon Trail for the final stretch to the center. At about 11:20am, we reached the trailhead for the Mt. Tom (4501 ft) spur, so all of us except for Jo pursued the summit. There were quite a few bugs up there, but again we had another amazing view, and being up there with these other women made it even better.

At about 2:45pm, we were warmly greeted with cheers at the Highland Center, where the reception was being held. Each of the teams was able to share their experiences. It was incredible, and I hope that I may be able to do this again next year.

Luckily, the weather held up for us all weekend and we were greeted with the warm, hot sun and 70-degree temperatures for the most part of it. So, all in all, I did a total of 19.4 miles and summated two mountains which I can now check off in my AMC guide. I met 53 amazing women, 10 of which I can now say I have a great connection and bond with this weekend and who I hope will be with me in more adventures soon. These women helped keep me motivated to push myself in taking on all kinds of challenges.

So a brief summary of the kinds of women I spent the weekend with: 2 engineers (1 of whom needs to leave her job), 1 writer, 1 who works at MGH, 1 getting married in August, 1 who I am glad held up and stayed with us till the end, 1 who forgets about the stream crossings and now I know why it is so easy to, 1 who gave me hope of being a rock climber and a true leader to us all, 2 who left us early but were well-missed, 1 whose energy and laughter kept me going at every dinner, 2 strong women who I hope will one day realize just how strong they really are, 1 who was a great “buddy” to have, and finally 9 beautiful women who I would not have been able to do this weekend without.

Thank you all for your motivation and yearning to do more.