The weekend before last, I took my mother for a tour of Rumney with my step dad. She just found out she was sick a few months ago, so may not be around very long, so after driving them to Vermont to see some things, I swung back through NH to show them where I had spent so much time over the years. They got the climber's experience of guerrilla bivying nearby, then borrowing a table to cook up some breakfast at the Calm Post, since Katie wasn't up yet to serve us as I had hoped, then got an early start hiking before the crowds. She had always been very vigorous and enjoyed hiking, but in her frail state I wasn't sure how far we could go. Anyway, we managed a full circuit up to the Main Cliff, Bonsai, Waimea, Jimmy Cliff and over the top to Orange Crush and down via the Kennel Wall path. They loved it, and recognized the magic of the area.
One thing though, that I was grossed out and embarrassed by as a climber (and person in general), was the amount of shit paper and crap below the Main Cliff. What the hell is wrong with people? Some of it was just below the cliff and literally 10 feet from the trail, under an overhanging boulder, in plain view from the trail. If somebody was sick, OK, I could understand them having to run and drop their draws, but come on!, Clean up after your self and bury everything. There is no excuse for such disgusting slobbery. There was more than 1 sick person could account for though. It is really disturbing to me that there are that many completely out of it people at the cliff. Unfortunately, I find that a lot of the paper is from women who wipe themselves after peeing and then just leave the paper there thinking it will biodegrade, so it is all right. Please people, get it together!