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Enjoying a Frozen World
- University Press of New England
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Diane Duggento Sawyer Enjoying a Frozen World Tom Sawyer, always a fellow with restless feet, is never happy unless he has a list on which he is working; Tom was the first and perhaps only person to have completed all the 3,000-footers in New England in winter. I go along for exercise, camaraderie, because I don’t want Tom to go alone, and to experience nature up close—at times too close! Many times we’d have a snowy, icy ride to a destination and once, in Maine, we just missed hitting a moose on a dark road! Our routine was to leave each Friday after work. During Christmas vacation we would prepare our Mountain Smith sleds for a weeklong camping trip. After arriving at an icy logging road, chains would be put on the van, then an hour would be spent chopping and shoveling a space well off the road in which to park it. Wearing headlamps, we would sled to the base of a group of remote mountains and set up base camp. We would check each other frequently for frostbite on cheeks and noses, use face masks or, if the wind was really ferocious, stay in the tent. Later, we might move our tent to shorten the trips we needed to make each day. These treks were our transition from the hectic, mind-spinning work world and the tranquil, frozen, timeless world we were entering. Here our minds and souls would rest and heal from the bruising of the week’s work and worries. Here we would return to the past, to the lives led by our ancestors, the simple struggle for survival that focuses one’s attention on the meaning and value of life. The weather tended to gloomy days and beautifully stormy winter skies, with temperatures during late December ranging from the single digits to –15 degrees Fahrenheit, then growing colder as the winter wore on. Lots of moose, deer, snowshoe hare, otters, and grouse—along with the occasional fisher cat, bobcat, or lynx—roamed in these remote, deserted areas, shy of people. Camping out at 20 or 30 degrees below zero, getting mired in spruce traps, snowshoeing 20 or more miles per day, in the dead of winter, led us to some unforgettable experiences. For example, we made it a point to travel by moonlight after dark; even a half moon’s glow provided more than enough light to find our way off a mountain. If conditions were very overcast, or if we were stumbling or 268 pe a k e x pe r i e n ces slowing down too much, we might use artificial light—but we resorted to this reluctantly and rarely. At first, I was nervous in the dark; I couldn’t relax and enjoy what it had to offer. It took many trips before I learned that the darkness is not a scary time, but one filled with wonders not known or explored by many. Today I’m comfortable hiking at night, when we often talk about things that seem to come up after dark, things that frighten us or leave us confused—why things work out the way they do, or the sadness we feel about things in our lives we can’t control. Of course, it’s not always easy to hike in winter. I developed ocular rosacea after my eye tissue may have frozen. How does one get frozen eyeballs? Try hiking for 10 hours at –40 degrees, in howling wind and blowing snow, with ice collecting on your face. I have completed the Northeast 111 peaks in winter, 80 percent of the New England 3,000-footers in winter, and Vermont’s Long Trail in winter, but now, in cold and wind, I am susceptible to blurred vision and even temporary loss of vision, so I’m careful to use goggles when out in adverse conditions. Back problems have made me think I’d be unable to carry a heavy pack again, but by using a large fanny pack—which can hold an amazing amount—I can still carry a small load. On one trip to Maine’s Colburn Gore area, near the Canadian border, the weather forecast predicted record cold. After climbing some peaks, Get a dogsled! Photo by David White [3.145.60.149] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 23:25 GMT) 269 o d y sse y s Tom was tired and wanted to stay where we were, 10 or...