Atticus finds new friends

It's the day after Christmas and we decided to sleep in. Yesterday the Lyme Disease was bad and I really struggled up the Mt. Kinsman Trail in climbing North and South Kinsman. It was a good day weather wise, changing from sunny to cloudy and back again two or three times. The winds were strong just before we crested out on top of the Kinsman Ridge Trail but weren't a problem for the rest of the day. As you can see from the above photo, we had a great view of Franconia Ridge throughout the day.

We'll rest today, do some minor errands and get organized up here at the Pemi Cabins and then be ready to hike tomorrow. Most likely Tom, Field and Willey of the Willey Range. We're watching the weather, as always, but it is unclear just what we will have come this weekend. Extended forecasts call for showers. Rain showers. It's almost January and there is very little snow on the ground, although some fell overnight. We want snow, as both of us would rather hike over snow than ice.

Last evening, just after getting in from our hike, we were surprised by a knock on the cabin door. Standing there holding a Christmas dinner for me and Snausages for Atticus was Steve Martin. He came in for a short visit and enlivened our otherwise quiet Christmas night. Steve was one of the three-person team to become the first people to ever hike all 48 in one winter (1994-1995). Both he and Cath Goodwin (another member of that 94-95 team) have taken a liking to Atticus and I'm glad they are around. We hiked with them (and many others) on the night of the Winter Solstice and then again on Sunday morning on Tecumseh.