In the words of Al Bundy...Let's Rock

The day of reckoning is here. I'm about to leave Queens and head up to Pawling to meet Asswrangler later this afternoon. Hopefully he can get his sorry ass out of work slightly early so we don't arrive in Lake Placid after midnight. If not, the mountains will punish him.

In recent developments, Asswrangler and I have selected "Good Ol' Boys" by Waylon Jennings as the official theme song of our adventure (for those lame asses out there, this is the Dukes of Hazzard Theme Song). The official motto of our adventure is "The mountain might get 'em, but the law never will." Feel free to use these themes in any press releases or related paraphanalia about our adventure.

Asswrangler procured for us suitable transportation last night in the form of a rental vehicle, a Ford Escort I believe. Its no General Lee, but it will do.

If we get the chance and we run into an internet connection during our travels, we will be sure to post an update from the road. However, I will make no guarantees as to whether it will be comprehensible or not as our sobriety is likely to be kept to a minimum during the course of this trip.

If I don't return alive, kiss my ass....
Love,
Nipplehonker

Baxter State Park Confirms

We now have confirmation from Baxter State Park on our site reservation there, meaning each night of the adventure has been booked and confirmed. We have walk in lean-to #2 in the Katahdin Stream Campground. I have updated the chart to reflect this latest confirmation. No showers at this campground, which fits right in with the Goodfellas low impact, minimal personal hygiene philosophy.

Nipplehonker

Nipplehonker Goes Solo

First off props to Asswrangler for exposing us to legal liability within 24 hours of launching this blog. We'll all rest easier now knowing he committed a massive copyright violation by attempting to pass off Dr. Evil's life story as his own. (Although local legend does say that Asswrangler ritualistically shaves his testicles in Titicus reservoir under each full moon).

Tomorrow my BarBri review class ends, so I'm going run up to the Catskills for a test run of some of my gear, some quiet bar exam study time, and to regain a small amount of sanity. My BarBri review class ends around noon, I'm going to leave straight from there, should take about 2 1/2 hrs to get to the Woodland Valley State Campground. I plan on studying for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

I bought a new pair of boots from EMS this week, so I want to make sure they aren't going to cause massive blisters and to begin breaking them in before we hit the road next month. Also, I've only used the solo tent I plan on using during the trip once before. I'm hoping for some late night rain to test its watertightness.

I'd like to be on the trail by 7AM Friday morning, tag the summit of Slide Mountain, and be back at the car and on the road back to Forest Hills by 1PM or so...then back to the grind of studying for 10 more days. I'll post a full trip report w/ pictures sometime over the weekend. Unfortunately this won't be a Team Goodfellas adventure as Asswrangler is busy working, Nipplehonker will be flying solo on this adventure.

I am Nipplehonker and I approved the contents of this message.

Nipplehonker & the 2 night minimum

The Chart

This is Nipplehonker here. Just to clarify, Asswrangler will be posting as well. He has full access to the blog and will post as he sees fit.

DISCLAIMER: Asswrangler is a bit more rowdy than I, so I assume no responsibility for what he writes here.

Onto the trip....the link above is the map for our 10 day journey taking place in late August. It is in Microsoft Word format with links available to most everything of interest. The idea for this little journey of ours was born in the cauldron of all great ideas, the shitter.

It was first going to be a casual tour of the general areas we are going to, and then it became a mission to hit the highest point in each of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine with some partying in between (thus the day in Montreal).

I spent most of yesterday plotting the 10 days out, finding out where we could stay, breaking up the driving, and doing some rough estimates on cost. This morning I got on the phone and internet and reserved pretty much everything. Smuggler's Notch SP and Dry River Campground both banged me for a 2 minimum when I only wanted to stay one night...they suck for that. Although I suppose that's my payback for all the late night arrival-early morning departure camping trips where I avoided the ranger collecting fees. I think the Goodfellas are still ahead of the game on that one.

On the first two nights we had planned to stay at the Wilderness Campground at Adirondack Loj, but it was booked, hence our two night stay at Whispering Pines (a serviceable alternative, but not as convenient to our route to Mt Marcy as the Loj Campground).

The only question mark is our reservation at Baxter State Park. The park has extremely limited access and as result most of the campgrounds are full. I called this morning and they have three spots left that would serve as a good launching pad for our attempt on Katahdin, but their reservation system is ancient. You have to literally mail in a form with a request. No online reservation, no reservations over the phone. So in keeping with the analness that has pervaded the preparation of this trip so far, I ran to the post office and sent our request Express Mail Overnight. I'll bet they don't see too many express mail requests to Millenocket Maine in the Forest Hills post office.

that's it for now...will post more as is necessary.