Flying Flags, Paying Tribute

When 9/11 struck last year, one of the first people I spoke with to seek some solace, to try to sift through the incomprehensible, was my friend, Kathleen. On that fateful day, we each tried to help the other make sense of it all.

So when a group of hikers decided to hoist flags atop all 48 4,000 footers a year later to pay tribute to those who lost their lives, she was one of the first people I said to myself that I wanted on this hike. Another friend, Basil, who hikes but rarely ventures to 4,000 footers, joined us at the last moment; fittingly, he's a Brit who became an American citizen about five years ago.

The genesis of the flag tribute was borne a year ago. The Saturday after hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the world as we know it fell apart, several hikers took to Mt. Liberty to hoist a stadium-sized flag in rememberance of one hiker's college professor who was killed in the attacks. The moderators of http://www.alpinezone.com were inspired to organize all of us to adopt each of the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire for a repeat performance a year later.

I chose Lincoln, named after my favorite president. It's also one of the 4,000 footers I have left on the list to notch off.

We hit the trail around 8:30 a.m., going up Falling Waters Trail. I had been somewhat spooked by the trail description in the AMC's White Mountain Guide (what else is new!) and by a friend's experience, who had to come down this trail in the dark without a headlamp and told a harrowing tale of her trip.

It was quite beautiful and not nearly as steep as I anticipated. I found only one spot slightly tricky: a large boulder that forced me to stop and think a few minutes on how I would climb over it.

But when I hit the ridge, I was glad I had done this hike. It was absolutely gorgeous! And the weather couldn't have been better. Despite a thick haze, we still managed to take in some amazing views into the Pemigewasset Wilderness on one side and across the highway and over to Mt. Cannon (4,100 feet) on the other.

When we hit Mt. Lincoln (5,089 feet), we pulled out an American flag kite. The wind patterns were a tad odd, and it took a few kamikaze-like dive bombs, landing at one point in the krummholz. Basil valiantly retrieved it, getting scratched up and bruised in the process.

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