Date: 2012-08-17
From: NH 112

To: US 3 and Interstate 93
Miles today: 16.3

Off to a start spot that was a difficult one...on a steep "up" trail (is there another kind in NH??) with weeds almost as tall as SOS! It was going to be a long day for both of us....SOS climbing up and up and over rocks and me worrying about him all day and evening. He started at 7:30am and didn't finish until 8:15pm. I mostly spent the day in my room doing the usual things I do. Only time I went out was to go to the grocery in Lincoln. It was almost 6:30 so decided to go to Chet's hostel and see if Headnout was there. Nancy was worried about him since he has no phone with him. She thought he might be going to the hostel but no one there has seen him. Medicine Man was there and I talked with him for a while. He is feeling much better after several bouts of a virus...I know how that goes from my problems at the beginning of this adventure so was glad he is better. We watched the end of an old movie and called it a night. Road Name of the Day: NORA FARM ROAD My grandmother's name was Nora and she lived on a farm. I also have a granddaughter named Nora who was named after her great great grandmother so this was an obvious choice when I passed it today. Just thought of a funny story from yesterday...when SOS and I were at Walmart getting our oil changed, we saw Sipsy and Father Man in line so stopped to talk to them. A song came on and SOS started singing (as always!) and then Father Man started harmonizing and I started harmonizing and we had 3 part harmony going. Many people were looking at us but since we didn't know any of them...who cares?? PS SOS and I have been known to dance in Walmart also when "our" song came on one evening years ago...Our embarrassed kids disappeared! Just checked the guest book and was VERY pleased to have messages from 3 of my high school classmates...finally...:-)THANKS!!SOS hereI have not written lately because I have been exhausted at the end of each days hike. I am writing now because I am wide awake at 3:40 AM on Saturday morning the 18th of August 2012.Well yesterday my trepidations, my worries and my fears arrived - hiking in the White Mountains. Three years ago I hiked in the White Mountains and it was three days and done. I lasted only THREE DAYS! The hike with my section hiking friends was planned for seven days. I hiked three miles off the trail on the fourth day and became a tourist for the next five days - counting the planned zero day. This is why the Whites have always loomed in the back of mind and how I would meet the challenge.Yesterday the White Mountains had not changed. My first day in the Whites would be up and over Moosilauke Mountain. I decided to hike against the grain and hike South because there was a chance of rain and I prefer to take a steep rock scrambling climb going up the mountain. If you fall, it is against the rock in front of you as opposed to the rock below you i.e. less impact. As soom as I left the trailhead where Trail Mama dropped me off I began a steep ascent up the Moosilauke whick included an awesome cascading water falls to my right for two miles. It was tough climbing and it seemed like forever to get to the top of the mountain. I anticipated an awesome view at the top but NOT. Moosilauke was cloud covered. I missed the hail others received at the top by about five minutes. It was a 9.30 miles hike that took 7 hours - typically I would do that in 4 1/2 hours - I was only that fast because Moosilauke's terrain is much easier on the South Side of the mountain.My second day in the White Mountains I hiked North and there would be no reprieve of the difficulty all day and I would hike 16.2 miles. I do not plan to hike anywhere near this many miles through the rest of the Whites. This hike would be 16.3 miles. It would include hand over hand pulling myself up Mount Kinsman, both trekking polls firmly on the rocks below me as I went down the mountain and mud sucking boggs in level spots as an sdded bounus. I warned a SoBo, Blue, who was hiking against the grain, about the muck. Just as I warned him, he slipped off a rock and buried his left shoe and sock all the way up to his calf in mud and his right shoe would also get covered with mud as he pulled his left shoe out of the muck.After climbing what seemed like forever to reach the top of the south peak of Mount Kinsman - I was to discover I had not reached the top but only Harrington Pond with the north and south peak looming one mile away and a 1,000 feet climb above me that translates into I had a foot climb for each 5.2 feet of ground I hiked - that is STEEP. At the very end of the day as daylight was slipping away I would twice have to retrace my steps to locate the trail, once at Cascade Brook where a substantial foot bridge had been washed out by hurricane Irene and the temporary crossing had not been well marked. The second time the trail crossed a wide stream and it was hard to see the trail on the other side in the dwindling daylight. Obviously I made it and Trail Mama was waiting for me. I forgot to mention the last of the hike included a down pour and I was drenched. The 16.3 mile hike took 12 hours and 45 minutes with a 15 minute break for lunch. Did I mention the White Mountain portion of the AT is difficult?I spend the day thinking about people who have made a difference in our lives - Trail Mama and mine. Time to go back to sleep in my warm and comfortable bed.