GEORGE

I took a very long and wonderful hike on a beautiful sunny day, and didn’t find the benchmark but came away with some great memories. I’d planned only to walk from my house down to Ore Mine Road, do some exploring and then hike back home. But as soon as I reached the road, I saw that George was only two-thirds of a mile away, so I decided to go for it. Hiking straight up the mountain in snow that was soon over my knees was both exhausting and exhilarating, and at times I really had to push myself to travel more than a tenth of a mile at a time. I finally made it to the spot, though I’d realized long before that I’d probably have trouble locating the mark under two feet of snow. I did probe a bit with my trowel, but I hit more ice than rocks and found nothing of much interest. The view from the top was pleasant, though, and I had to call Rich to tell him where I was. He advised me to walk out Ore Mine Road to Lake Scranton and walk home from there, which was a good idea, and that’s what I did. As soon as all this snow melts, I’ll be back.

Update (March 9, 2003): Station and reference marks still not found … but they’re here somewhere!

Imagine my surprise when my father announced his plans to hike in the mountains near Montage with some of his coworkers. I was more surprised when I found out that “George” was their goal. I volunteered to go along because I had so much fun on my hike in January and wanted to revisit the area. (I also hoped there might be a little less snow this time.)

Six of us met at MetLife at 8:00 AM and began our trek by sliding down the first hill toward the brook (conditions were just as snowy and almost as icy this time). A bad knee forced one member of the team to turn back early on, but the five remaining members continued with a minimum of complaints (at least at this point). After a stream crossing that was uneventful for everyone but me, we made our way along Ore Mine Road to the base of George’s mountain. Up we climbed, led by Rich’s GPS and stellar sense of direction, through deep snow. (Some of us endured taunts because we were able to walk on top of the snow more often than we sank down.) Dave brought up the rear, but enthusiastically; he’s learned to wear something other than jeans next time.

Once at the top, the MetLife boys went off to celebrate with a beer or two, and Rich and I shared a blueberry Tastykake pie and poked around in the snow for the benchmark and reference marks. (Now, of course, we’re aware that our packs were sitting right next to George and that we cleared off the boulder next to the rock holding RM 2.) As is obvious, we found nothing that day, but we did take some photos of the MetLife boys with their office building in the background as proof of the success of the venture (although I’ve heard there was still some disbelief among coworkers). The walk back was easier, wasn’t it, guys?!”