Date: 2016-07-09
From: Smart Mountain, NH

To: Ore Hill Campsitre, NH
Miles today: 12.8

Day 7612.8 miles in 10 hours Fire Wardens Cabin (1770.4) to Ore Hill Tentsites (1783.2)Weather: Sunny/partly sunny, 70s, drierDinner: Mushroom tomato pesto orzoHikers: Solar and Riser at the campground, passed by at least eight NOBOs, passed as many SOBOsWildlife: Moose footprint, grouseTurns out Tuna Roll, Janel and Soft G were camping nearby after all. They came to the cabin in the morning to eat breakfast out of the wind. The cabin also ended up being a nice haven from an unexpected shower that rolled in the night before, right around 10 p.m. Not that I can't be outside in the tent as in rain, evident by the previous night's decision. As usual, I was the last one out of camp after savoring a delicious cup of instant coffee and doing a little writing. From the cabin, it was a four mile gradual descent to a brook and road crossing. I saw moose prints about a half mile down that clearly were fresh. No other hiker boots overstepped them. I looked around, but no moosies. Mices. Moose. The rest of the hike down was uneventful. The hike up to Mt. Cube was another thing. More awesome views threaded between pine woods. I was taking a break by a small ledge when I met Eric, out for a day hike with his Jack Russell ¢Pepper¢ and we hiked the remaining 1.5 miles together to the summit. He pointed out the little speck of the fire tower way in the distance where I had started that morning and you could see the descending ridge line the trail follows. I spent a good hour eating lunch on the exposed granite rock in the warm sun, along with some other SOBOs and day hikers. Even though it wasn't nearly as muggy as it had been the past few days, I stopped at a brook that had a few shallow swimming holes. A really nice four-star brookside stealth site, well hidden from the trail, or so I thought. I didn't want to scare any kids. And by kids I mean 20-somethings in denial about what time and gravity will do to their bodies. I stripped off my 5-day old clothes and took a dip. It was too early to stop for the day, so on went the dirty duds. Turns out the trail did switchback above my hidden swimming puddle, but still mostly out of site. Continued on for 3.5 miles, passing more gorgeous pine needle carpeted stealth sites. Then, I swear, it was all up hill, until I stopped at this sub-star mosquito-infested camping area. I. Do. Not. Understand. These camping locations seem like afterthoughts. I mean, we hike all day, pass awesome views and then are expected to make due with space allocated near some swamp or hidden deep in some thicket? I suppose the assumption is we just need to find a place to sleep each night. The three of us who ended up staying here retired to our tents immediately following dinner. Just. Like. They. Schemed. The saving grace is the stately outhouse¢Castellum Excrementi. It is large enough to sleep in, has a small deck and is apparently ADA-compliant, there are hand rails surrounding the ¢throne.¢ This, at the top of the non-ADA accessible campsite. This is one of those days that was both beautiful and hard¢Mt. Cube was an amazing reward, but hard in the elevation changes, hard to be camping out for the fifth night¢the last four of which didn't have nearby water, hard to be passed up by a bunch of speedier NOBOs that make me feel like I'm loosing a race (illogical, I know), and hard to think about taking the time to do things like take a dip in the middle of the afternoon because the opportunity presented itself, because you know you need to make the miles. Am totally glad I did stop, so no regrets. And my feet are holding up! Oh, and I passed 900 miles today. Maybe atop magnificent Mt. Cube.