Week 9

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Joni and I hiked up East Royce Mountain in Evans Notch on Sunday. I did a lot of work on that trail one summer years ago and spent many weeks living in the woods, camping off the trail. I had been back to it 7 or 8 years ago when my friend Kelly from college had come to visit with her husband Gary. Kelly is a hiker and Gary is decidedly not. The trail up East Royce is short, only 1.5 miles, but is fairly relentless as you get up to a beautiful view of the notch and the northern Presidential mountains. It seemed like a good way to show them the mountains without being a long hike. Gary had a very hard time and was exhausted by the time we got to the summit. Kyle and I were feeling mildly bad about dragging him up and relived when we reached the top. After recovering Gary disappeared off the ledges on the summit to pee and came back holding a live chicken. We were all extremely confused, and he nonchalantly told us he had spotted a chicken in the woods and caught it. We brainstormed about how it could have got up so high and took several photos of him holding it. Upon closer inspection it was not a domestic chicken but some kind of wild woods bird. When we got back home that day, we looked it up and learned it was a Spruce Grouse. The description in the Audubon book said the grouse are so tame and used to be in such abundance that backcountry loggers and woodsmen often caught them by hand for dinner. All in all, I think the grouse massively cheered Gary up and made for a very funny and unforgettable mountain experience. I sent Kelly a photo of Joni on the top this weekend and asked her to see if it looked familiar to Gary in his nightmares. He replied quickly that hiking with Joni up there was akin to child abuse and asked if we found any chickens.

In the share:

Please take 8 items and several red round tomatoes and PYO Zinnias

  • Eggplant

  • Sweet Peppers

  • Jalepenos

  • Green Cabbage

  • Red Cabbage

  • Green Beans

  • Parsley

  • Basil

  • Celery

  • Yellow Onions

  • Red onions

  • Leeks

  • Yellow Potatoes

  • Red potatoes

  • Chard

  • Beets

  • Kale

  • Summer Squash

  • Sungolds