Summer 2001: Randolph

In July we flew into Boston for three weeks up in Randolph, with some side trips to various other spots. The weather pretty much socked us in for the first week, but was beautiful for a day on the Maine coast, where I managed to tick a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Randy, Cindy, and their whole crew stopped by at Uncle Hank's for a short visit, hadn't seen them for quite a while, and Jon Stoddard made it up for a few days. The weather cleared enough for a some hikes, up to Glenn Boulder (where I got a Bicknell's Thrush, almost the main reason for our trip), Mt. Crescent, a nice walk out to the Pondicherry Wildlife Preserve near Jefferson, Lafayette and Franconia Ridge with Jon, Mt. Jefferson via the Caps, also with Jon, and a very pretty sunset hike up Pine Mountain. We hiked out to Carter Notch, my first trip there since the late '50s. (It was on that trip way back then when Sandy said, as we trudged over from Wildcat Mountain, "I sure wish somebody would invent a hill that was all downhill!") Patti and I made the requisite trip to the Plaque Site on Lion Head: we surreptitiously dropped over the edge the ashes of Ma's dear dog Bridget, along with one of her favorite tennis balls (Bridget's, not Ma's). On the way back we stopped for a night at Peter and Sarah's in Cambridge, good to see them and learn all about the newest member of the Folsom clan, Mai Ly. We caught a plane back to Seattle the next day.

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