Taking Flight

I have been (slowly) working on the Terrifying 25 list, which is the list of the most difficult/scariest hikes in New Hampshire. On that list, everyone agrees that the big daddy, the most difficult and scariest hike of all, is the Huntington Ravine Trail. I do a lot of solo hiking, but I wasn't going to attempt to solo hike this one. Thus, when I saw that the Random Group of Hikers put up a group hike for Huntington Ravine, I jumped on it immediately. Leading the group would be Conor, who is an older guy but still very active in climbing and hiking, and the first thing I noticed when I met him were his very muscular arms and legs. He's probably twenty years older than me, and could probably outdo me in any hiking or climbing pursuit. His knowledge of the White Mountains was about as encyclopedic as my friend Steve's. In fact, it later turned out that Conor and his wife Margie are friends with my friends Steve and Andrew, and were going to have dinner with them the day after...