Get OUT! Not Brandon Newman--
from Malindi's kindergarten class????
Her first LAN party???
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Monday, September 8, 2014
from Sept. 7 NOBOs are slow-go's
Spent last night at joe dodge lodge. Great ayce ( all you can eat) supper and breakfast. This morning I went up the wildcats . It's a good trail to go UP it is really steep. But there were lots of people. I was now a nobo and had to readjust my brain. Most of the NOBOs I met were just poking along. I hiked with a fellow from Ireland aka “Ireland. He said that if some one wanted to vacation in Ireland they shoul stay right in northwest Donegal near the ocean or if they wanted more of a city experience Belfast and Dublin were exquisite.
37° Mostly Sunny
44.2494° N, 71.2505° W
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Sunday, September 7, 2014
Towel-less AND out of memory: Sep 6, 2014
So in the morning the weather looked threatening enough to send anyone who wasn't set on doing AT miles to the shortest route down. A few of us went back up to Lafayette and along the ridge to come down the liberty spring trail. We almost got above the clouds and as it was, we could see them blow up and over on the windward side but sometimes on the leeward side they would boil up right to the ridge and trail but then fold back on themselves . It was like watching our own weather front. Wonderful views all around. This is one of the most popular loops in these White Mtns. True to form, once you get up above treeline ,it's a pretty easy go. It's just getting there that's all the work. Peter, the fellow from NY with a British accent, and I hiked together along the ridge. At Liberty Spring campground I used probably the fullest and most used toilet I have seen. No wonder these place have a caretaker living right here and charge you to camp. We were both headed for the shuttle stop and a 2:55 pickup. Peter was headed to the highland center for his car and I was transferring to get to Pinkham. I had a couple minutes to walk around this AMC "resort" --pretty dang fancy place I'll tell ya. Somewhere in the transfer I lost my maps and AWOL guide. They are working on finding it sort of , disappointingly, half heartedly. Oops I seem to have left my half size pack towel at my last swimming hole. Crap.
I see a lot of NOBOs (and weekend warriors) that seem either to have a clock ticking in their head ( to get to Baxter before it closes) or they are so laid back they don't know where they are.
I see a lot of NOBOs (and weekend warriors) that seem either to have a clock ticking in their head ( to get to Baxter before it closes) or they are so laid back they don't know where they are.
Took lots of video up here and even got a message that I was running out of memory. Met a volunteer ridge runner here and LOTS of weekend warriors . The was a group of Dartmouth freshmen-two dressed up as Scooby Doo. The wind was a howling
At every hut you get the same speil. At supper they tell you why there are no napkins - so the crew doesn't have to pack out the trash and that it's family style serving. The toilets are all Clovis composting which can do special toilet paper. There are no towels at the sinks. Soap and Purell but no towels. Eat what you take otherwise it's compostable scraps that has to be packed out by the crew. Leftovers still in the pot are either fed to the work for stay thru hikers or sold at lunch time the next day for anyone passing thru. After breakfast you get the 0700 weather report from Mt Washington - for what it's worth. And then the crew gets dressed up in costumes and puts on funny skits to teach you how to fold your blankets. Once lengthwise and twice the other way. How to carry out all your trash, so they don't have to and how to stick $20 bills into the crew tip box.
At every hut you get the same speil. At supper they tell you why there are no napkins - so the crew doesn't have to pack out the trash and that it's family style serving. The toilets are all Clovis composting which can do special toilet paper. There are no towels at the sinks. Soap and Purell but no towels. Eat what you take otherwise it's compostable scraps that has to be packed out by the crew. Leftovers still in the pot are either fed to the work for stay thru hikers or sold at lunch time the next day for anyone passing thru. After breakfast you get the 0700 weather report from Mt Washington - for what it's worth. And then the crew gets dressed up in costumes and puts on funny skits to teach you how to fold your blankets. Once lengthwise and twice the other way. How to carry out all your trash, so they don't have to and how to stick $20 bills into the crew tip box.
70° Mist and Fog
Franconia, NH, United States
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Friday, September 5, 2014
Clueless in New Hampshire--Sep 5, 2014
Only in the White Mountains going up Mt. Lafayette do they call this mess a trail.
Left Galehead hut and climbed Mt Garfield. A pleasant little spike not! And then made the slog up Lafayette. The weather report is for rain so when I got to the top of Lafayette I considered keeping going right along the AT to the road - where I'll be going tomorrow. But I took the one mile down detour to Greenleaf hut. That means tomorrow in the rain I'm going to have to go back up before I can continue south on the AT. There's a fellow from NY doing the same hut to hut that I am on the AT. There's also a young couple and another father son team all doing the same thing. We just made a PACt to hike throught the bad weather together. We all want to make the 2:55 shuttle at the liberty springs trail head. We should be ok. I must have seen a hundred hikers today and about 40 NOBOs . This place is crawling with people. One nobo I spoke to was "mailman" . He and "slowgo" stopped and chatted for a long time. They were a little weary of the trail/ mailman said his friends were going to bring his mail carrier satchel for him to make his ascent on Katahdin with. I was reading a book at one of the huts about lichens. There was a side paragraph about Edward Tuckerman. A Harvard instructor and expert on lichens. He even named a couple. There was even going to be a society for those lichen lovers called Tuckermania. No lie --it's in a book. Yes THAT Tuckerman.! So it was hard to make this one mile detour DOWN just to turn around tomorrow morning and go back up. I got to rinse out my socks shirt and shorts so I may be wet tomorrow but I'll be (sort of ) clean. Once again I am amazed at the lack of any sort of blazes but they sure make good road signs at all the trail intersections, and there are a lot of intersections. There's going to be about 30 people at this hut tonight. It's one of the more accessible huts and 30 isn't near full. There are so many people hiking that just don't have a clue!
79° Sunny
37–277 Colby Rd, Whitefield, NH, United States
Left Galehead hut and climbed Mt Garfield. A pleasant little spike not! And then made the slog up Lafayette. The weather report is for rain so when I got to the top of Lafayette I considered keeping going right along the AT to the road - where I'll be going tomorrow. But I took the one mile down detour to Greenleaf hut. That means tomorrow in the rain I'm going to have to go back up before I can continue south on the AT. There's a fellow from NY doing the same hut to hut that I am on the AT. There's also a young couple and another father son team all doing the same thing. We just made a PACt to hike throught the bad weather together. We all want to make the 2:55 shuttle at the liberty springs trail head. We should be ok. I must have seen a hundred hikers today and about 40 NOBOs . This place is crawling with people. One nobo I spoke to was "mailman" . He and "slowgo" stopped and chatted for a long time. They were a little weary of the trail/ mailman said his friends were going to bring his mail carrier satchel for him to make his ascent on Katahdin with. I was reading a book at one of the huts about lichens. There was a side paragraph about Edward Tuckerman. A Harvard instructor and expert on lichens. He even named a couple. There was even going to be a society for those lichen lovers called Tuckermania. No lie --it's in a book. Yes THAT Tuckerman.! So it was hard to make this one mile detour DOWN just to turn around tomorrow morning and go back up. I got to rinse out my socks shirt and shorts so I may be wet tomorrow but I'll be (sort of ) clean. Once again I am amazed at the lack of any sort of blazes but they sure make good road signs at all the trail intersections, and there are a lot of intersections. There's going to be about 30 people at this hut tonight. It's one of the more accessible huts and 30 isn't near full. There are so many people hiking that just don't have a clue!
79° Sunny
37–277 Colby Rd, Whitefield, NH, United States
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Judd's Sep 4, 2014 entry --word missing: you fill in the blank
Coming into Galehead hut.
Arrived about noon time so have had a good sit talking to all the thru hikers and school groups. Dartmouth freshmen came thru and wYnefleet and a bunch of others. I got confirmation today that the famouse T- Rex is still on display at the Montshire in VT. I just may get to see it. I was thinking today that rather than come back to hike Gorham to the Bigelows I might just save that stretch for my culminating slog. It would be nice next summer to end my journey on a mountain inline. I sat beside a couple old boys from Topsham who have been doing a hike like this for the last 28 years . I must have seen about 5 groups of 6 thru hikers in the last couple of days, all nobo. I have been ______hike if with a small group who are doing a hut to hut thing. Tomorrow I head to agree leaf but. To get there you leave the summit of Mt Lafayette and the AT and hike down 1.1 miles. That means to get back on the trip in the morning the first thing you have to do is hike back up to Mt . Lafayette . Great! The hardest part of all this hiking is getting up to 4000 feet. Once you get up there the trails are pretty easy hiking but the inevitable vertical ascent to get there is really tireing. The view from the front porch of this hut looks right down the Pemigewasset Wilderness with Loon Mt. Sitting way out there at the end. A couple days ago I passed a silver haired lady taking a rest. She had sectioned hiked the AT years ago and she was now returning to collect all the 4000 footers. She said she could kick herself for not taking all those side summit trails when she had the chance. So I've been taking the time todo just that and collect at least a few of the 4000 footers. Because , really it's all this up and down getting there that hurts.
77° Sunny
Franconia, NH, United States
Arrived about noon time so have had a good sit talking to all the thru hikers and school groups. Dartmouth freshmen came thru and wYnefleet and a bunch of others. I got confirmation today that the famouse T- Rex is still on display at the Montshire in VT. I just may get to see it. I was thinking today that rather than come back to hike Gorham to the Bigelows I might just save that stretch for my culminating slog. It would be nice next summer to end my journey on a mountain inline. I sat beside a couple old boys from Topsham who have been doing a hike like this for the last 28 years . I must have seen about 5 groups of 6 thru hikers in the last couple of days, all nobo. I have been ______hike if with a small group who are doing a hut to hut thing. Tomorrow I head to agree leaf but. To get there you leave the summit of Mt Lafayette and the AT and hike down 1.1 miles. That means to get back on the trip in the morning the first thing you have to do is hike back up to Mt . Lafayette . Great! The hardest part of all this hiking is getting up to 4000 feet. Once you get up there the trails are pretty easy hiking but the inevitable vertical ascent to get there is really tireing. The view from the front porch of this hut looks right down the Pemigewasset Wilderness with Loon Mt. Sitting way out there at the end. A couple days ago I passed a silver haired lady taking a rest. She had sectioned hiked the AT years ago and she was now returning to collect all the 4000 footers. She said she could kick herself for not taking all those side summit trails when she had the chance. So I've been taking the time todo just that and collect at least a few of the 4000 footers. Because , really it's all this up and down getting there that hurts.
77° Sunny
Franconia, NH, United States
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That takes Mizpah: Sep 3, 2014
Mizpah Hut heading for Zealand Falls Hut
It was a pretty easy day even with the 13 or so miles. All except for the mile just before crossing rte 302. I had hoped to pass the Wiley house. It was listed in my guide book and it looked like a kind of way station from Webster cliffs. I was hankering for a piece of pie but I think it was actually just a info stop for cars.
It rained like crazy last night and in the morning everything was soaking wet --rocks were really slippery. The biggest hazard was the wind. Almost lost my hat. The 0700 weather report from Mt Washington called for gusts up to 50 mph. There seems to be quite a bubble of nobo's coming through . The trail into Zealand falls was either planks or boards. As I passed the trail leading off to Thoreau falls and the one leading off to Ethan pond shelter I have a wicked déjà vu recollection if planning a winter hike to do this loop. I don't recall the trek being particularly successful or anything but cold. There may have been frozen sardines involved. That was when my blue mummy EMS sleeping bag was brand new. I still have that bag in the cellar. I got to the hut around 430 and immediately jumped in the River and washed everything. My socks are still damp. The place was packed and there was some bunk reassignment to accommodate someone's discomfort over coed bunk spaces. Which by the way are stacked 4 high. The top one actually having more room to spread out wet clothes. On my midnight sojourn to the clivus toilets I was amazed at the stars from the front porch. And sunrise was a great show too. There's all kinds of odd people hiking. One fellow was carrying about a five hundred pound pack. It was humoingus. He said he was doing it to fix his back and get off pain meds…. The people you meet in the huts are the same people you'd meet on a schooner ride out of Camden. Nice enough but sort of cut from the same tourist cloth.
Today should be interesting. I think it is less than 7 miles to my next hut but everyone says it is a difficult transit. Even Madison was 1 mph I can't imagine what this could be. And my pack is only about 20 pounds. The heaviest item is water. I just can't bring myself to open that jug of peanut butter and tortillas for lunch. I've been doing pop tarts bars and crackers and snickers bars and prunes for my midday meal.
It was a pretty easy day even with the 13 or so miles. All except for the mile just before crossing rte 302. I had hoped to pass the Wiley house. It was listed in my guide book and it looked like a kind of way station from Webster cliffs. I was hankering for a piece of pie but I think it was actually just a info stop for cars.
It rained like crazy last night and in the morning everything was soaking wet --rocks were really slippery. The biggest hazard was the wind. Almost lost my hat. The 0700 weather report from Mt Washington called for gusts up to 50 mph. There seems to be quite a bubble of nobo's coming through . The trail into Zealand falls was either planks or boards. As I passed the trail leading off to Thoreau falls and the one leading off to Ethan pond shelter I have a wicked déjà vu recollection if planning a winter hike to do this loop. I don't recall the trek being particularly successful or anything but cold. There may have been frozen sardines involved. That was when my blue mummy EMS sleeping bag was brand new. I still have that bag in the cellar. I got to the hut around 430 and immediately jumped in the River and washed everything. My socks are still damp. The place was packed and there was some bunk reassignment to accommodate someone's discomfort over coed bunk spaces. Which by the way are stacked 4 high. The top one actually having more room to spread out wet clothes. On my midnight sojourn to the clivus toilets I was amazed at the stars from the front porch. And sunrise was a great show too. There's all kinds of odd people hiking. One fellow was carrying about a five hundred pound pack. It was humoingus. He said he was doing it to fix his back and get off pain meds…. The people you meet in the huts are the same people you'd meet on a schooner ride out of Camden. Nice enough but sort of cut from the same tourist cloth.
Today should be interesting. I think it is less than 7 miles to my next hut but everyone says it is a difficult transit. Even Madison was 1 mph I can't imagine what this could be. And my pack is only about 20 pounds. The heaviest item is water. I just can't bring myself to open that jug of peanut butter and tortillas for lunch. I've been doing pop tarts bars and crackers and snickers bars and prunes for my midday meal.
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