Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship by Tom Ryan is published by William Morrow. It tells the story of my adventures with Atticus M. Finch, a little dog of some distinction. You can also find our column in the NorthCountry News.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Tripyramid Slide Show Is Up

What a day on the Tripyramids. We had the good company of Jeff Veino for the entire day and of a blue sky for the first 2.5 miles of our hike. Then the clouds came in. Then came a little snow. The original trail breakers missed a turn but I didn't see it, due to the fact that my head was down and I was feeling ill. How ill, well, I sat down twice, got down on all fours at one time, and had an unpleasant, rib-rocking case of the dry heaves. On the improvised route we climbed about 900 feet in a half mile. A thousand in a mile is considered a workout. The combination of the new route and my physical condition turned this 6 hour hike into an 8 hour hike. The photos you see of Atticus and I are taken by Jeff. I wasn't feeling all that creative today so I gave him the camera a couple of times and asked him to capture some shots of Atti and I hiking since I have so few of them. He got us in the sunshine in the beginning, then in the tortuous climb up the ravine, then later in the day on each of the summit. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better. For now, the Little Bug is snoring and I plan to join him. The slide show is up and can be found here. Anyone in the mood for some jazz? We're still looking for a winner of the current music contest. Remember, if you contributed, you're entered, just figure out the names of seven songs and the artists who performed them (unless otherwise noted).