Date: 2006-08-10
From: NH 25 (Glencliff, NH)

To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning the weather was nice and we were able to start the day with a hot breakfast, a cup of coffee, and a shower. It doesn¢t get much better than that. We headed back down the road toward the trail at 8:15 am looking forward to the next section of trail over Mt. Moosilauke. It was a steady climb starting at NH-25 up to the peak gaining around 3400¢. The uniqueness of this summit is it will be the first time that northbound hikers will experience going above the tree line. With this said we were excited about the climb and pushing forward harder than ever. The trail to the summit wasn¢t blazed that well but the trail was definitely established as it turned from a dirt path to rock. Just before reaching the top the trail split and to one direction was the south peak and the other was the north peak. The AT followed the north peak trail and at this point the trees were already dwarfed to about 6¢-8¢ tall. The further I went toward the peak the shorter the trees got until they were all gone. At this point all the way to the summit was 360-degree views that cannot be explained. Also at this point without the protection of the trees it became very windy. Just ahead I could see the summit sign painted bright orange that read Mt. Moosilauke 4,802¢. The trail at this point had turned entirely to rock and without trees to paint the white blazes on there were rock cairn to mark the trail. Rock cairns are piles of rocks that mark the way. This made for an interesting picture of the summit as the trail wined itself across the ridge and down the other side. Also from the summit were great views to the north of our next big adventure into the White Mountains. The Whites as they are referred to are noted as some of the most scenic sections of the trail. After some pictures with the summit sign I started my descend down the back of Moosilauke. This section was scenic and followed a stream that turned into a waterfall due to the steep grade of the mountain. The trail started presenting challenges as our hike quickly changed to a crawl as we scurried down the mountain. Some sections of the trail was so steep that the local trail club had installed rebar into the rock and attached wooden blocks as steps to aid in the descend. Along this steep section was a side trail that lead over to Beaver Brook Shelter. We decided to stop for a break since the mountaintop earlier was way too windy to eat. To our surprise the front of the shelter presented us with a post card view of the mountains to come and gave us the needed momentum to continue on. At the base of the mountain was Kinsman Notch where we read up on the regulations for hiking in the White Mountains. This was our official entrance into the Whites and there were some important notes to know. A few unique things about this area is it can snow any month of the year, lightning storms above the tree line are frequent, and camping is limited mostly to established sites. It was only 3:00 pm so we decided to push on to the next shelter before nightfall. Mother Nature challenged us on this decision because as soon as we started up Mt. Wolf it started to lightly rain and the cloud cover thickened. Before we knew it the sky had turned dark and the temperature dropped off rapidly. Our group split up on the ascend and the further we climbed the worse the weather got. Before I knew it the trail was flooded with puddles, the wind was blowing pretty hard, and the clouds were so thick visibility was down to about 25¢ ¢ 30¢. At one point about an hour and a half into the climb I stopped to let Jangles and Shasta catch up. Everyone was starting to have slurred speech and we were all wet from head to toe. From the guide book the shelter was still about three and a half miles away and we still had to cross the east peak of Mt. Wolf. This section of trail ended up being one of the most miserable sections to date and we all compared it to the experience back at Mt. Rogers in Virginia. We summited the top and started down the other side all while the weather continued to worsen. The only landmark before the shelter was a set of power lines and once you got there the shelter was still two tenths of a mile further. When I got to the power lines it was pretty much dark and Shasta and Jangles had fallen behind once again. The section of trail just past this was extremely hard to find and very poorly marked. I hung my bandana on a tree limb as an indicator to alert the rest of the gang and set off for the shelter. To make the day even longer the next section to the shelter was much further that the two tenths of a mile listed in the book. When you are already miserable it makes the hike that much further. You start getting paranoid that you missed the turn to the shelter and will have to backtrack at some point for a place to stay. Just before crossing Eliza Brook the trail to the shelter turned to the left. Eliza Brook Shelter was pretty old from what I could tell at this point and with the wind and rain I decided to set up my tent out behind it to help protect me from the blowing rains. I dropped all my gear in the shelter to keep it as dry as possible while I set my tent up. Shortly after Jangles and Shasta showed up and we were all three miserably cold. Our main agenda was to get some dry cloths on and to eat something warm. It was already dark, wet, and the temperature was still dropping so after eating we all got in our sleeping bags and called it a night. Tonight at Eliza Brook Shelter; Jangles, Shasta, H-Bomb, Baro, A section hiker, and I