The Gathering

The First Annual Gathering of Northeast Hikers took place in Eustis, Maine during September 25-27, 1998. The event, which was organized by Bertrand Côté, aka Ridgerunner, was held at the beautiful Cathedral Pines Campground on Flagstaff Lake, near the Bigelow Mountain Range.

Over a dozen people converged on the campgound and enjoyed everything that the area and the company had to offer. Many mountains were climbed, hundreds of miles logged, we saw moose, deer, coyotes, had a near bear incident, and one of us is pretty sure he saw a wolf!!!!

In the middle of it all, the festivities centered around the great feast and subsequent party / story telling fiesta on Saturday night. Everyone strapped on the feedbags and enjoyed chips and salsa, carrots, vegi-burgers, peaches, beef stew and rice, roasted potatos, and Peakbagger and Rob Can Cook's delicious main course of pasta with two kinds of sauce.

The Pictures

The following pictures were taken with Chris Brown's digital camera during the Saturday night fiesta at Chez-Rob's:

The following pictures were taken by Darren Almeida during the gathering weekend:

What We Learned

Hiking is a learning experience. After each outing, hikers should contemplate what they learned on their adventure, be it an appreciation for a newly discovered element of nature or a simple lesson such as the fact that Olestra can cause gastrointestinal distention. Upon reflection of the weekend, the following lessons were learned:

The readers of the "Views from the Top" website and their friends are very cool people.

Ellen CAN hike in the woods without falling down. She just didn't feel it was necessary to prove it this weekend.

Stan and Eric are one of the best known father and son team this side of the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole.

It IS possible to hike 17 miles over 3 peaks, get your car stuck, and still get back in time for dinner.

You can improve your odds of winning a t-shirt if you buy it outright.

When driving down Caribou Valley Road, it is best to avoid the holes in the bridges.

Sara IS Snow White and the animals DO love her.

The bears in Maine are just as friendly as the ones in New Hampshire.

Moose are BIG.

When a large coyote is running at top speed, you are most happy if it is running away from you.

It's a long drive from Cape Cod to Eustis. The worst part is Caribou Valley Road.

Cantaloupe, shrimp, and lemon mixed together is a back-woods camp meal in Canada.

Food is good. Food with wine is better.

The Cathedral Pines Campground should provide topo maps to all visitors.

"The Gathering" is not the name of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

The next Gathering will not be held in Eustis (but not due to our choice).

Rob's picture has been posted in every campground in the Northeast and he has been labled as a "trouble maker with a lot of friends that make noise well past the quiet hours."

10 MPH means 10 MPH!

There ARE wolves in Maine. Maybe.

There are some foxes in the White Wolfe Inn. Rrroowwww.

You can not buy limes in Stratton.

When someone shows you their belt buckle for their ID, you better do what they say.