Five Before Chaos

Every fall, for the last, oh, 6 or 7 years, I make sure I go backpacking to Camel’s Hump around peak foliage season.  Sometimes I go with a friend, sometimes solo. The weather kept me away these last two weekends, but this weekend was perfect. I haven’t been hiking and backpacking as much as I used to in this past year or so due to being too goddamn busy with school and the house project, and I (and the dogs) were feeling the results of that on the trail, as we went up the long way via the Long Trail, coming up from the south, an incredible trail. But we made it. There were way too many people on the summit, so we stopped and rested on the Alpine Trail right after the treeline. I wanted badly to nap in the sun, but it was at a rather busy part of the trail and didn’t want to to do that. (you can click for larger pics)

It didn’t stop some of us, however:

Hop below the fold for more, including the plane crash story and dinner… More pics, too.

I headed down the Alpine trail to the plane crash site. For those of you not familiar with it, there was a plane crash right into the side of the mountain back in 1944, a truly momentous, rather gruesome affair, of which you can read the complete story here (it’s a .doc file). An excerpt:

The plane continued to cruise at approximately 215 mph. as Camel’s Hump rose to meet it. For several hundred feet it skimmed over the bare rock and scrub spruce trees.

Seconds later, the plane struck the bare rock 100 feet below the summit. The left wing and belly scraped first. Wilson woke to the sound of searing, scraping metal. The crewmen, even at this point probably had no idea of what was happening.

The impact forced the right wing to dip. Immediately, the plane clipped off several small trees and struck again. This time the plane impacted on the right wing and nose at the same instant as it nose dived against the mountain side. Wilson was knocked unconscious, the nose of the bomber disintegrated and the tail assembly was ripped for the plane and flung against a tree. Most of the crew were killed instantly. The instrument panel clock stopped. It was 1:58 a.m.

The plummeting plane bounded back into the air, parts scattering as the bomber disintegrated. One crewman was thrown clear and landed, curled in death, around the base of a small tree. Some of the bodies were thrown out of the plane where the nose and cockpit has once been.

The plane then bounded and skidded over their remains, mutilating them. the plane crashed down again. Finally, the remains of the fuselage were catapulted into the air, falling back to the ground and skidding several yards to a stop at the bottom of a steep embankment Still inside, was the unconscious top turret gunner Wilson.

54 years later:

I started to doze on a rock nearby, when I was simultaneously disturbed by an approaching couple, as well as a leg cramp. I headed back down the mountain to the Hump Brook tent sites. Usually, I have the place to myself, this time it was packed, mostly with Canadians. Damn them.

Funny story: I was up late the night before my trip getting my brand new ‘95 Corolla wagon ready for the trip (more on that in another post), so I didn’t get to prepare much. Being short on funds and time, as I was going through my camping closet, I found a bunch of military rations. I don’t remember where or when I got them, but it’s been at least five years. I grabbed “Spaghetti with Meat Sauce”, which is always good, and “Black Bean and Rice Burrito”.

So anyways, ya’ know the color of ancient paper?

When I ripped open the burrito ration pack, I thought I’d found a lost copy of the Constitution rolled up in there. I’ve never seen a tortilla with that hue before. I ate it anyways, and there were “beans” and “rice” in it. I’m still alive, if that tells you anything. It wasn’t very good, but I was too hungry to care. I can only imagine the poor unlucky soldier stuck in Iraq, after a day of combat and intense heat, opening up one of those things.  Yet another fucked troop.

After that and some good chocolate, I was in the sack before the sun was even down all of the way.

Anyways, it was a perfect weekend. I’ll keep doing it until my legs won’t get me up there anymore.

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Tags: backpacking, Camel's Hump, dogs

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