Realizing, however, that we had to make tracks and get back down to Phuong, I put the camera away and headed on down, following our winding track back down to the base of the cliffs on Little Haystack. The climb up was indeed much easier than the descent, and in no time we were up, over, and down Little Haystack's knob. We climbed back onto the little knoll where we left Phuong and pulled out the radio, now that we had a good line of sight down into Johns Brook Valley. We got Phuong just as Jason had caught up to her, and they were having a chat. Things were going well for her (slowly, because she wanted to be easy on her knee), and she was on track for the warming hut, with no problems so far.
Back down to Little Haystack
Re-ascent of Little Haystack
The next couple of hours essentially involved as rapid a descent as we could make on snowshoes. Ewart, having driven up in his own car, insisted we go on ahead, and so we made best speed to try and catch up to Phuong. We managed to make it past Bushnell Falls by sunset, and about 20 minutes later arrived at the Warming Hut, where we were happy to see Phuong safe, sound, and enjoying the warmth inside. We stepped in for a bit and received the congratulations of the people inside, along with some complimentary hot cocoa. Can't say no to that!
