On the morning of Saturday July 14th I entered my second to last state - New Hampshire. As Coors and I walked along the road over the Connecticut River into Hanover we watched a running race go by. We cheered for them as they cheered for us. The trail walks right through town and we arrived right around breakfast time. Coors and I ate at the Skinny Pancake - Bird showed up and we all enjoyed a big breakfast. As we were leaving Strider arrived and we went across the street to Starbucks to charge our devices and use the free WiFi. Hanover is a college town - there were many Dartmouth Students around even in the middle of summer. They must be used to seeing smelly hikers because we didn't get as many gross looks as I was expected.
We were supposed to get rain all afternoon so it was hard to get motivated to leave and get back on trail. After waiting for some drizzle to stop we walked out of town at 1:30AM and were headed to Moose Mountain Shelter (AT mile 1759.7). During the climb up Moose Mountain I saw a porcupine! I scared him up a tree when I went to get a better look.
With a couple miles to go I was having stomach pains and had to take a few emergency trips into the woods. I arrived at the shelter at 5:30PM (16.8 miles for the day) and Bird, Strider, and Coors were already there eating dinner. Before I sat down to eat I had to use the privy - at least it had a view, there were no walls to it, but at least it had a roof. I was concerned about my stomach situation since there was no water around. Strider gave me an Imodium - I would pay for that later. I wasn't feeling great all night and didn't even feel like eating dinner, which was a loaf of pumpkin bread that I got at the food co-op in town. I was worried that maybe I had drunk some bad water, or maybe it was just the 'town food' that was upsetting my stomach.
I decided to sleep in the shelter that night. We didn't get rained on that afternoon but it looked like it might overnight. It was cool and windy, which kept away the bugs. I didn't get up the next morning (on July 15th) until 5:30AM - everything felt soggy. I found that a porcupine had chewed up the end of my bandanna which had been hanging by the edge of the shelter.
I didn't get hiking until 6:30 and was nervous about the day, I didn't know how my stomach would feel. The first climb was up to Holts Ledge - there was no water on the climb and it took longer than expected - the trail climbed about 1,100' in 1.2 miles. I stopped at Trapper John Shelter about 5 miles into the day and ate and collected water, even though the water source wasn't great. I really thought that when I got this far north cold, clear water would be flowing off the mountains!
At Grafton Turnpike, before the climb up Smarts Mountain, I found trail magic - soda, juice, clementines, donuts, etc. Ghost, Pacemaker and other previous thru hikers out for the weekend were hanging out and snacking. I started the climb up Smarts at 11:15 - Pizza, who had section hiked the New Hampshire portion of the AT previously told us that the climb up Smarts was very easy. I was expecting a nice walk up but the climb was steep and tiring, I was pouring sweat - it climbed from about 2,300' to 3,238' and was about four miles long with a flat stretch in the middle. I was ready for a break by the time I got to the lookout tower at the top. I found Ghost, Pacemaker, and the others at the top resting, drying their sweat soaked clothes, and enjoying the views. From inside the tower I could see views of the White Mountains, which was where I would be hiking in just a few days. I rested at the top for over an hour until Coors, Strider, and Bird arrived. There were only 5.3 miles to the Hexacuba Shelter and 3.8 of them were downhill, and only one good water source. More and more piles of moose droppings were appearing on the trail.
The descent down Smarts Mountain was a breeze - I strolled down, not having to use my trekking poles. That evening at the shelter I asked Pizza if she had hiked the New Hampshire southbound - she had. That explained a lot! Hexacuba Shelter was interesting - it had six sides (four walls and two sides were open). There weren't many good tenting spots so I slept in the shelter, the breeze again kept the bugs away. We had hiked 17.7 miles that day - the shelter was half the way up Mt. Cube so we at least got half of the next morning's climb over with.
I wanted to try to see some of the sunrise the next morning (July 16th) so I was up and out by 5:45AM and only had 1.6 miles to the top of Mt. Cube. It took me forever to get to the top and I didn't feel great and the bugs and cobwebs made me angry. The top was rock slabs with a nice view. I took the 0.3 mile side trail to the north to get a view of the White Mountains.
The descent took me longer than it should have - Pizza caught me, and then Coors. We were only hiking 15.8 miles that day so we weren't in much of a rush and I took my time all day. Sixlegs was meeting us at Jeffers Brook Shelter (AT mile 1793.1) at around 3:30PM.
It was getting warm and I was very sweaty - we stopped at most of the water sources for breaks. The Omelette Guy was at a road crossing about 5 miles into the day. For the past couple years he had come out to the trail everyday to make omelettes for thru hikers until about two days before we passed through - park rangers had shut him down but he still came to the road to provide trail magic - coffee, juice, donuts - and congratulated hikers on reaching the White Mountains.
Pizza, Bird, Strider and I stopped at the creek crossing before Mt Mist for about 45 minutes. It was an easy climb but I was still moving slow and still didn't feel great. We made it to the shelter by 3:30, about 15 minutes before Sixlegs showed up.
He had parked at the road crossing about 0.2 miles further up the trail. Coors and I walked up to his car to retrieve the beer in his car to share at the campsite. He also brought McDonalds, but since there wasn't enough for everyone the three of us decided that we should quickly eat all of it and hide the evidence.
There were a couple of SOBOs at the shelter that night - each with stories about how hard the White Mountains are and how challenging the rest of the trail would be for us. The last weather report we heard was calling for rain/storms the next day and we were trying to decide if we wanted to do the climb up Mt. Moosilauke if the weather was bad.
We were expecting to wake up to rain and decided to take a town day on Tuesday, July 17th. We woke up dry but the weather report was not looking good - we all piled into Sixlegs' car and drove into Lincoln, NH. First stop was at McDonalds, and then to the Price Chopper to get about two and a half days of food. We needed to waste time before we could check in to the hotel so we went to a couple of the outfitters in town - I was looking for a new pair of shoes, mine had lasted me since Boiling Springs, PA (around AT mile 1,100) but was hoping to get a new pair before entering the Whites - no luck. We dropped Pizza off at the Notch Hostel where she had reserved a room and had a package waiting for her. We were able to check in to our hotel rooms around noon - after a stop at Dunkin Donuts. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful - laundry, naps, more food. My stomach was still feeling rather lousy.
Wednesday, July 18th was day 100 for me on the trail. Since Sixlegs was in town for another day I decided to do a short 8.4 mile day up and over Mt. Moosilauke and return to Lincoln, NH. We ate hotel breakfast at 7AM before picking up Pizza from the hostel and returning to the road crossing near Jeffers Brook Shelter. Sixlegs hiked with me while Strider, Bird, and Coors took off up the mountain. It was about four miles up and was a steady climb that eventually got steeper with rock slabs. Once we were above treeline the trail flattened out for the last 0.8 miles. The wind picked up and I had to concentrate on standing upright. We found Bird, Coors, and Strider at the summit sign. I took a few pictures at the summit sign but didn't stay long because of the wind and the crowds of day hikers around. It cooled off significantly and I put my puffy jacket on and wore it to the next shelter, where I took a break and looked at the view of Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains - where I would be in just a couple of days!
The climb up took about 2 hours, the climb down took me almost 2 and a half. It was a very steep descent with sections of it on a slippery slope shared with a waterfall. I was glad we did not hike this stretch in the rain. Sixlegs had hiked down the other side, back to the car and driven around to the trail head a Kinsman Notch and waited for me. Somehow he had waited for me for about 45 minutes before I finally got down the mountain - I felt pretty awful. I was thankful that I was returning to the hotel to rest - the discomfort in my stomach was only getting worse. Bird, Coors, Strider, and Pizza continued north into the Whites and I would hopefully catch up to them in a few days.
Sixlegs and I spent the rest of the day napping, eating pizza, and drove to the Mt. Washington Resort for dinner. I was really hoping I would feel better the next day when I entered the Whites and would need to put in some big miles to catch up to my trail family.
With a couple miles to go I was having stomach pains and had to take a few emergency trips into the woods. I arrived at the shelter at 5:30PM (16.8 miles for the day) and Bird, Strider, and Coors were already there eating dinner. Before I sat down to eat I had to use the privy - at least it had a view, there were no walls to it, but at least it had a roof. I was concerned about my stomach situation since there was no water around. Strider gave me an Imodium - I would pay for that later. I wasn't feeling great all night and didn't even feel like eating dinner, which was a loaf of pumpkin bread that I got at the food co-op in town. I was worried that maybe I had drunk some bad water, or maybe it was just the 'town food' that was upsetting my stomach.
I decided to sleep in the shelter that night. We didn't get rained on that afternoon but it looked like it might overnight. It was cool and windy, which kept away the bugs. I didn't get up the next morning (on July 15th) until 5:30AM - everything felt soggy. I found that a porcupine had chewed up the end of my bandanna which had been hanging by the edge of the shelter.
I didn't get hiking until 6:30 and was nervous about the day, I didn't know how my stomach would feel. The first climb was up to Holts Ledge - there was no water on the climb and it took longer than expected - the trail climbed about 1,100' in 1.2 miles. I stopped at Trapper John Shelter about 5 miles into the day and ate and collected water, even though the water source wasn't great. I really thought that when I got this far north cold, clear water would be flowing off the mountains!
I wanted to try to see some of the sunrise the next morning (July 16th) so I was up and out by 5:45AM and only had 1.6 miles to the top of Mt. Cube. It took me forever to get to the top and I didn't feel great and the bugs and cobwebs made me angry. The top was rock slabs with a nice view. I took the 0.3 mile side trail to the north to get a view of the White Mountains.
It was getting warm and I was very sweaty - we stopped at most of the water sources for breaks. The Omelette Guy was at a road crossing about 5 miles into the day. For the past couple years he had come out to the trail everyday to make omelettes for thru hikers until about two days before we passed through - park rangers had shut him down but he still came to the road to provide trail magic - coffee, juice, donuts - and congratulated hikers on reaching the White Mountains.
Pizza, Bird, Strider and I stopped at the creek crossing before Mt Mist for about 45 minutes. It was an easy climb but I was still moving slow and still didn't feel great. We made it to the shelter by 3:30, about 15 minutes before Sixlegs showed up.
There were a couple of SOBOs at the shelter that night - each with stories about how hard the White Mountains are and how challenging the rest of the trail would be for us. The last weather report we heard was calling for rain/storms the next day and we were trying to decide if we wanted to do the climb up Mt. Moosilauke if the weather was bad.
The climb up took about 2 hours, the climb down took me almost 2 and a half. It was a very steep descent with sections of it on a slippery slope shared with a waterfall. I was glad we did not hike this stretch in the rain. Sixlegs had hiked down the other side, back to the car and driven around to the trail head a Kinsman Notch and waited for me. Somehow he had waited for me for about 45 minutes before I finally got down the mountain - I felt pretty awful. I was thankful that I was returning to the hotel to rest - the discomfort in my stomach was only getting worse. Bird, Coors, Strider, and Pizza continued north into the Whites and I would hopefully catch up to them in a few days.
Sixlegs and I spent the rest of the day napping, eating pizza, and drove to the Mt. Washington Resort for dinner. I was really hoping I would feel better the next day when I entered the Whites and would need to put in some big miles to catch up to my trail family.
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