33 years and holding strong

John about 1 July 1979

I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday but I remembered that it was the 33rd anniversary of my first meeting my husband, John Langhans.  Liz and Rick Fitzsimmons and I were meeting a group of Connecticut Chapter AMC paddlers in Medway, Maine.  The group was organized to take a multi-day canoe trip on the Machias River.  I had no paddling partner but Bill and Barbara Cushwa, the trip leaders, said I was heaven sent as a partner for John.  This picture was taken a day or two later, somewhere along the river.  John was 34 years old to my 32 and had recently been dumped by his girlfriend-- I had a boyfriend for whom I didn't care a single bit-- he was just to keep me in a holding pattern.  The rest is history.

Liz and Rick Fitzsimmons looking down at the Bowl

Today, fittingly, Liz, Rick, John and I took a superb hike up at Acadia.  We parked at the Tarn and hiked up the incomparable Beechcroft Trail to the summit of Champlain Mountain.  It was very hot and the trail is exposed but we took it slowly as doddering old folks have license to do and there was enough breeze to give relief.  After a restful lunch on top, we headed off on the North Ridge Trail toward the Beehive and the Bowl.  The trail down to the Loop Road from the Bowl has been beautifully relocated and is now a series of comfortably situated log steps...very enjoyable.  I looked longingly at the people scrambling up Beehive high above me but we can keep that for another day-- I have already done it more times than I can remember.

Thanks to L.L. Bean and the Island Explorer bus, we were able to ride in comfort back to our car.  When John and I climbed Champlain in May the bus was not yet running so we took the Ridge Trail (formerly called Bear Brook) down toward Jackson Labs, then walked more than a mile back to our car.  It was dreadful on my lumpy feet and I vowed never to do that again...my plan in future, if no available bus, was simply to retrace the Beechcroft Trail.   The way we did it today was much nicer.

Darby cooling off in a small pool at the Summit of Champlain