Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Another Massachusetts Moron



Mason left the Appalachian Mountain Club's Pinkham Notch Visitor Center near Gorham at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday after telling staff there that he planned to hike 17 miles in one day along the Appalachian Trail, over the summits of Mount Washington and Mount Madison.

link

17 miles in one day over two mountains?

The article also said at one point he had to wade through *3 feet of snow*.

If it wasn't unseasonably warm (90 in Boston today, 85 or so on Saturday and Sunday), mightn't this dumb kid be dead?

Maybe he knew the forecast going in?

Whatever....I just don't see the risk/reward for this crap. Can't he tote a GPS device or a cell phone or something? Or would that be considered *cheating*?

It's one thing to risk *money*, quite another to risk *life and limb*.

See also - Unconscious Morons.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So when can NH taxpayers expect a reimbursement check from Mass taxpayers? I guess I won't be holding out any hope on that.
Kfell

Unknown said...

Ahaha, I completely Agree.
It's all of the MA weekenders that need rescuing.

And at what point did he NEED rescuing??
I think his mother overreacted, and that he was doing a fine job of finding himself, if not the trails.

There are plenty of cabins and convenience store like huts up there with hundreds of hikers on the mountain at any one time.

I think his greatest failure (other than NOT having a map???) was that he misjudged his timetable and left his mother to worry.

Also, never hike alone, not like that. Duh

Unknown said...

BTW - 17 miles in one day over 7 mountains is full traverse.
Very doable, just start at 4:00 AM and expect to finish late the next evening.