[at-l] AT tentsite/shelter caretaker for a night

[Arthur Gaudet]

I'm just back from an interesting experience, I was volunteer caretaker for the
Ethan Pond shelter in the White Mountains on Monday night July 30.

After a short training Monday morning I headed in to look around the tentsite &
shelter and take stock of the caretaker's tent, read any notes he left me, etc.
The caretaker at this location has his own cooking area: for privacy and food
storage, it's located well away from the tent. About 1 PM 3-thruhikers came by
just to look at the pond and have a snack. I had a bunch of plums from the
morning run to the grocery at Glen and they downed them with many thanks. They
said other nobo hikers were surely behind them but they went by the tentsite,
possibly heading for Rt. 302 where the hikers have been heading S to the private
campground, or N to the hostel at the Highland Center.

About 5 PM the caretaker has to monitor the radio for messages relating to
changes in organized group hikers that make reservations, and also in the event
of search & rescue activities. My group of 10 arrived on schedule - 8 boys &
girls and 2 adult leaders. I gave them the run down on where to cook, get water,
pee etc. The kids were really well behaved, well in control by the leaders.
(I've heard some horror stories!) A single guy grabbed one of the tentsites, 3
guys from a Maine summer camp took the shelter, and a French-Canadian woman
limped in for one of the tentsites. She looked OK but was in obvious pain, in
broken English (hers) and broken French (mine) we figured she could get
comfortable enough and we'd decide what to do in the morning about getting her
to the road. She had managed well from Franconia Notch until the big descent
from Garfield Ridge, just before Galehead Shelter. Severe knee pain in both legs
...

Supper came and went, I sat by the eating area after 8 PM and started telling
stories about long distance hiking. I think the adults were more interested than
the kids. The group leaders did their best to keep them interested though. After
dark we could hear the beavers slapping tails across the pond. No bear activity
but it's common at this spot.

Next Day:
7 AM - radio call for the daily weather report - it gets posted in the shelter
7:25 - the caretaker at Guyot shelter/tentsite calls down to Ethan to ask for
any messages. (Ethan is in a hole, mountain-speaking, very hard to reach using
handheld radio equipment. At other locations the caretakers have to hike some
distance to reach line-of-sight locations for these radio calls. The caretaker
at Speck Pond, for instance has to hike over to Mahoosuc Arm each morning and
evening.)
7:30 radio messages are relayed all over the Whites keeping the hut masters and
caretakers informed of daily changes. Some are just changed reservations,
cancellations but additional personal messages as well. Lasted until about 8:10.

(This radio system is what enabled AMC to find me on my thruhike in 1997. My
father had died while I was in the woods and family was trying to contact me,
they knew I was in the Whites somewhere. Sure enough, the morning I walked into
Galehead looking for leftovers the staff asked me my name and I got the message
to get to a phone and call home. After a few minutes I decided to walk the rest
of the day towards RT. 302 and then head to a cabin where I had a key/could use
a phone. Once the crew knew my plans they packed me a free lunch and pushed me
out the door. As I reached Zealand Hut, for a snack and water, the crew already
knew what I was doing. They fed me some soup & bread (again free) and told me to
get going. I managed the 16+ mile day with their help, got to a phone and back
to Boston for Dad's funeral the next day.)

Later in the morning, I caught some spare time to bird-watch - a wood thrush,
boreal chickadee & hairy woodpecker. And then as the hikers were leaving I
scouted around the place to pick up any trash (was none). The French woman
thought she could manage the 3-mile trail if she could use my hiking poles and
we managed the down-hill trail in a little over 2 hours. (this was a slow walk,
even for me <g>!)  Lots of moose prints along the way, and a good sighting of a
male spruce grouse just sitting quietly along the trail.

So I give myself a B- for handling all the chores. I marked myself down for some
of the radio work, the caretakers say it's the most stressful part of the job.
(the yuckiest part of the job is the moldering privy duty which I avoided...)

No one went swimming at Ethan Pond even though it was about perfect for a swim.
The 4-inch leaches near shore may have been discouraging, but from experience I
know they don't hurt, come off easily and don't drink much!

All in all I had a nice time & I enjoyed the opportunity to see the AMC from the
inside. --RockDancer

Here's a borrowed email tagline:
"One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul, and yet no one ever comes to sit
by it." - Vincent van Gogh