Date: 2008-07-02
From: Liberty Springs Tentsite

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The longest day! Well, considering the length of the trip I¢m surprised it didn¢t happen until this morning, but it did¢¦I took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong mountain!A long day ahead but one filled with some of the best view the White¢s have to offer. On the docket today; Liberty, Haystack, Lincoln, the bumps on the humps before Lafayette, Lafayette South and North peaks, Garfield, South Twin, and finally the cribbage game at Guyot Shelter! All was well planned, all I could ask for, then I asked for more. I got out of dodge quickly as the tent site filled up quickly after the wind started. I wanted to be first (or second) on the ridgeline before the day-trippers clogged the photos. I relay my goodbye¢s and good lucks to Glider as he flies past me thinking the same thing. Ten minutes later I¢m off for breakfast on top of Liberty. Wonderful cloudless views, no bugs, nothing but pure serenity! I sit for some coffee and oatmeal, a few Power Bars, and any odds and ends I can stuff in my face and it¢s time to go¢¦I can see Glider topping Haystack and a few folks behind him. The masses are invading my mountains! I don¢t know what causes disconnects in the brains of men when it comes to directions. In my case, a few concussions, a family history of dementia and Alzheimer¢s, toss in 7 days on the trail, and NOBODY writing the ¢L¢ and ¢R¢ on my shoes! Evidently (as the evidence proved correct) I took a right off the trail instead of the left to head to the ridge. Twenty minutes later I¢m still heading downhill wondering where the sign was for the tent site. It ¢was¢ .3 miles from the summit. I¢m thinking with my nose to the trail rock hopping I blew past it. No big deal, there is only one trail on the ridge. I look up and see a pointy peak a mile ahead. Wazzup with that¢¦Haystack is round and bald, been there and done that many times. My eyes must be toying with me¢¦must be Lincoln behind it. Yeah, that¢s it¢¦Lincoln! Dumnass¢¦I finally after many minutes summit the peak and go over. I look far and wide, I see Lincoln alright, Lincoln New Hampshire 10 miles to the south of Franconia Notch! I went the wrong way!!!So after my mouth stops ranting a young Indian woman named Jasmine (pronounced Yazmin) asks why I¢m so upset. I guess in India the men are pretty much the same as here¢¦always lost somewhere. She laughs and we are off. Since she is all of 25 or so we hike together till the ups start and I bid her adieu. So let the fun begin¢¦Liberty again, Haystack, (blow past Jasmine on the way down), and the bumps on the humps to Lincoln when I run into the fattest hiker I¢ve seen! Damn, he¢s standing in a pool of sweat at the base of a hand over hand 30 foot wall that needs to get climbed. He has a very large pack on and a hip belt that can¢t be tied. Seriously when I say this man didn¢t push himself from the table in 20 years. My hip belt will fit a man with a 48 inch waist. That¢s fat. He can¢t use his. Oofah!!! I get past the man as I¢m well aware of what happens when a tractor trailer tips on a highway exit¢¦this looks remarkably familiar in a strange way.So, up and over Lincoln and finally South Lafayette Summit, or ¢Lafayette¢ as most folks know the high Lafayette peak where I sit and relax and make a few phone calls. A bite to eat, Jasmine arrives, mote chit chat, trail notes for her on Garfield and her desire to get to Guyot that night (not going to happen¢¦read on). We are off. As we descend I get my ju-ju on and fly like an F16 down North Lafayette. It¢s already 3pm thanks to my wrong turn and I give up on getting to Guyot since it¢s a 2 mile off-trail trip and I¢ve already added 3 miles of wrong turn to this one. 20 miles are not in this guys plans¢¦ever! I decide it¢s lunch time. I stop at the bottom of the saddle between North Haystack and Garfield. This afternoon it¢s a dinner for lunch¢¦I¢m tired and figure I¢m hanging at Galehead or stealth nearby if I can¢t get a work for stay and out the next day. A few minutes as I¢m cooking here comes Jasmine looking all the worse for wear. She has the look poor Cindy did a few weeks back near bonking on the way back from an excursion to North Twin. Kind of tongue dragging, spacey-eyed, beaten down puppy look. Fortunately all she has to do is eat and a half hour later she¢d be back waking. Unfortunately, she goes against time tested advise (eat, drink, eat again, then walk) and decides to wait till Garfield. I take a look-see at her equipment and notice it¢s all pretty clean. Her boots¢¦brand new. Uh-oh, I get it, rookie mistakes! I tell her one more time she¢d better eat and she refuses again. Oh well, her problem, not mine. Just then my two other trail pals, a pair of thru-hikers from Chicago and Hanover NH doing the full AT stroll by. They see me eating, see her sitting against a tree with that foggy look, ask what I¢m having and the nearest water hole (they know I¢m local) is at. One look at her and they ask her why she¢s not eating. Me¢¦I hear the same thing from two separate people I¢m starting to think. Oh well, like I said, she is not my problem, especially so in the summer. Dumb people die in the winter, dumb people learn lessons in the summer. It¢s obviously lesson time. Me, up and over Garfield for the 3¢rd time this year. Climb is getting faster/easier each time. I stop for water at the shelter stream and stroll down to the zoo that is Galehead Hut. I get there to find the two amigos having already bagged the two work-for-stays; where you get to eat leftover supper and breakfasts for a free spot on the porch for the night and an hour of working in the morning. I discuss with them if I should try for a 3¢rd in case another thru-hiker stops in since these are reserved for thru-hikers, not the section folks. They agree it¢s OK (I don¢t want to step on toes) and the caretaker reluctantly agrees. No food issues for me any more! We are all psyched until another thru-hiker, the young Harry Potter look-alike Ishmael strolls in. The four of us immediately have a sit down and I tell him right off to go for a work-for-stay and if they refuse to take mine. I have enough gas left to get to Thirteen Falls before dark and food for the day. After an initial ¢NO¢ from the caretaker she relents after dinner as there is enough leftovers and we spend a pretty nice night under the stars. So, we are now done with dinner and Harry Potter pulls out a cotton skirt. Yes, a cotton skirt. As the three of us look quizzically at the lad and start to chuckle we ask the obvious¢¦¢what the hell are you wearing?¢ ¢Well¢ he answers, ¢I was in town looking for something to keep the bugs off my legs. It was either an $80 pair of pants at EMS or a $20 skirt at some store in Lincoln. Seemed the skirt gave me the added benefit of not having to pull down my pants on the trail to do to the bathroom and really guys¢¦isn¢t it just another oddity you see on the trails?¢Like he said¢¦just another oddity you see on the trails!