Air Show: Part I

I'm still incredibly back-logged on pictures so I'm going to separate the air-show into a separate posts while I try to get caught-up.  Try to guess the theme of the first installment...

Presidential Range Hike (cont.)

So like any idiot, I decided the best thing to do while recovering from illness was to do an 11-hour hike across the Presidential Range, tagging Mt. Monroe, Mt. Washington, Mt. Clay, and Mt. Jefferson before turning back.  In addition to the shot posted yesterday, some pictures from the trek are below:

The famous cog-railway up to the summit

At one point, hikers were taking pictures of the cog boxcar while passengers on-board were taking pictures of us hikers

The trails were well-kept

Looking up to the summit of Mt. Washington from the route up Clay

Prandtl-Glauert Singularity

Check back later for more, but for the time being, here is a vapor cone forming around an F/A-18 Super Hornet as it nears the speed of sound.

Blue Angels Practice

Still trying to get better but was completely unable to sleep Thursday thanks to the constant roar of F/A-18s flying over my house while the Blue Angels practiced at a nearby airfield.  Took a back-road to a field overlooking their runway which put me directly beneath them the whole time.

That is a flock of birds they are flying directly into...

Sunflower Field

This makes for a very long 24 hours, especially after I made it to this field only to find all the sunflowers dying.

We found a baby squirrel at a friend's pig roast which appeared to have been separated from its mother. It didn't roam far from its new homemade bed (fashioned out of a paintball box and cut-up t-shirt, complete with food dishes made out of soda bottle caps).

First thing it did was bite me to determine if I was edible.  After that it tried to crawl up my pant leg to get to know me better.  This marked the exact moment that the nearby onlookers decided their young children had seen enough and briskly shuffled away.

Read/Write Head of a Hard Disk

Still no time... here is another shot from one of the storms in Nebraska.

Absolutely no time for photography today; hopefully more time this week.

New Rule...

New Rule: IQ tests are required for anyone trying to purchase spray-paint. 
 

...Well, good thinking.  It's also going to cost you another $1,000 when it dawns on you that you just spray-painted every surface of your truck in a rainbow of colors.  Any local kids who miss the "20 foot" part of that are also balling their eyes out when they see the local rednecks are gunning for their Santa Claus again.

The only thing that would make this better is if this isn't that guy's truck to begin with, and next week there is another vehicle parked next to it reading, "$1000 reward for the arrest & conviction of the @$$hole who spray-painted my truck."

The Wildcats in B&W (mostly)

Didn't really see anybody out until late in the afternoon.

Well, that's not entirely true...  

I was about four hours into the day, peacefully reading on a ledge.  Birds and butterflies were flying about me, the sun was beaming down, warming my tired spirit, and there wasn't a single sound disturbing the peace in the air. 

Suddenly, I heard a small rustle behind me.  

Then some twigs cracked.  Alarmed, the birds had grown silent and flown to higher ground.  

Then I heard what could only be described as an explosion of incoherent grumbling as the forest behind me was being completely annihilated.  I stumbled (cutting my leg) before jumping up--positive I was about to be rudely introduced to my first bear--only to find an utterly defeated (semi) thru-hiker who had emerged out of nowhere. 

His rugged appearance and inability to maintain contact with a clearly marked trail practically demanded his first line to be an exhausted, "what year is it?!"  Instead, eyes glazed and speaking only in a cracked whisper, he recited the phrase, "what were we thinking" about ten times, cushioning each recital with as much profanity as his drained lungs could pour out.  I'll add that he was alone and I never ran into anyone the rest of the day that would prove the use of 'we' to be correct.  That said, his pack was really nice, and considering mine broke and I had used rope and tape to tie it onto my back, I was quite jealous.

By the time I backtracked to the 4th and 5th peaks of the Wildcats, I ran into the tourist trap one would expect on a mountain aided by the convenience of a Gondola - people shuffled out of the vessel, rushed a picture of themselves to mark their achievement, and then jumped back on to ride down the mountain with such pleasantries as air conditioning and tinted windows.  

When I emerged from the woods--walking directly through the crowd, covered in mud, blood, and with a backpack taped and tied to my body--I could feel all their eyes turn towards me as a stillness suddenly flooded the air.  I imagined them whispering to each other, "You mean, he actually walked up here?  But...but...how?  And why!?!? I can't even send a text message - there's no signal!"  

I wonder what hiking will be like in 50 years...

I almost stepped on a squirrel.  Woulda been a first for me.

Relaxed and read on cliff-face looking over to Carter

Eventually found my way out of the woods for a clear view of Mt. Washington