Date: 2008-07-26
From: Franconian Notch

To: Eliza Brook Shelter, NH
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Ahhh...an evening in my own private space...what a luxury. The nite was tooshort though, and before I knew it, the alarm was going off. I got up, took ashower...just because I could, and V8 knocked on my door to make sure I wasawake. I put some stuff in the car I wouldn't need for 2 days and we alljammed our packs in, then drove to breakfast @ Peg's around 6:30 a.m. I had aBelgian Waffle, bacon, fruit, and coffee.mmmm.Look folks, I am in a state of utter dispbelief and almost uncontrollableexcitement about Auntie Mame and V8 being brought into my hiking orbit whenthey were. See, you all know us via reading our journals and get a sense ofthe types of people we are, but let me state this for the record...these 2women ARE AWESOME HUMAN BEINGS!!!! I don't even know how to express the way Ifeel now knowing these wonderful wonderful somen will be by hiking partners forprobably the next 2 weeks. I'm absolutely ecstatic.We finished breakfast and headed back to the car. There was this pickup parked,but a big dog was sitting right behind the steering wheel, and it totally lookedlike it was about to drive off. Really hilarious.We drove to a parking area about 3/4 mile from the trail head @ FranconianNotch. We geared up, took a group pic and started our inaugural hike. For thesake of ease, I'll abbreviate Auntie Mame as A.M. for now on. This was a bigmoment for them, it had been 5 weeks since they were hiking the AT, only w/theexception of A.M. hiking a few days w/Signage. We headed down the trail to getto the AT, and the weather was perfect again.We got to the AT and started going up immediately after a challenging streamcrossing. All 3 of us took different routes across, which was funny.Today was essentially 6 miles of climbing and 2.8 miles down. we were on the ATby 8 a.m. and the climbing wasn't too bad of a gradient. Lots of streams andbeautiful pine trees to look at. We talked about everything, got into a gameof "Random Facts" which was hilarious, talked about music, movies,relationships, the concept of adults being truly joyful for other adults'experiences and accomplishments..and how rare that quality is because we're allso busy competing or judging each other. Wow, I am in hiking heaven being ableto talk to these wonderful women. The miles just fly by.2 miles were behind us in no time. The climbing was steady, rooty, rocky and alot of water, streams, wetness. We headed towards Lonesome Lake Hut and youcross this wooden bridge over a gorgeous lake with the reflection of themountains on the water. Breathtaking. A man, Tom, was standing there doing awater color painting of the scene. It was really amazing folks.We went into the hut (my first) and Rabbit was there. They had leftoverbreakfast out for sale, but I didn't need anything. I went to the bathroom andthey had hilarious signs about why it's important to conserve toilet paper, etc.with jokes on it. I snooped around the bunk rooms, and yes, they hadmattresses, blankets, pillows, everything. Very very nice.We headed out and the climb got steeper. Rock scrambling/scaling and thoselovely wooden blocks came back into the picture. I was using tree roots ashand holds and steps some times too. This was a substantial uphill...don'tremember the last time I climbed for 6 miles. We passed Stripe, MountainSailor, and Iowa Bobe slackpacking. Stripe's hiking pole was totally bent andabout to break thanks to Moosilauke yesterday.We decided to stop for lunch a little after 11:30. A.M. called her hubby UncleTom, and I called Karen who got in on the "Random Facts" game. Seriously,Karen could spend probably a week straight playing that game all by herself.We enjoyed a nice break and headed on around 12:30. We only had 4 miles leftto the shelter, which would normally mean I'd be there by 2:30 p.m.....but nottoday.We got to the North summit and hiked 1 more mile to the South summit (4358ft...the north summit had no view really) and it wasn't as stunning asMoosilauke, but had a nice view. It was clouding up a bit, so we decided tojust keep moving. Wow...I had no idea what was waiting for us.We went down the trail and V8 was leading and she got to this edge and itseriously looked like she was going to just jump off the side of the mountain.It was THAT steep of a drop off when starting the descent. This was by far themost difficult and technical hiking I've done. It involved a lot of buttscooting...matter of fact, I probably spent 1/2 of my time on my butt goingdown this 2.8 miles. Places had 6-8 foot drops down sheer rock slabs withnothing to hang onto, so you drop your hiking poles and dig your feet intosmall cracks and crevaces to slow your sliding. I was hanging onto trees,roots, rocks, and sometimes what I saw before me looked impossible tonegotiate. It was something...and it was exhausting not only physically, butmentally, because it was like having to be totally engaged and problem solve.We got to Harrington pond and decided to see where we were. Can you believe ittook us over 1 hr to go LESS than 1 mile!! I will say I've never twisted mybody in these ways before, so I'm deeming myself the new World TwisterChampion. Either that, or I should go work for Cirque du Soleil as acontortionist. We had 1.4 more miles to go, but I was really getting tired,which means I start getting clumsy and less agile...not a good thing on thisterrain. It wasn't much easier, lots of slick rock face, sliding, twisting,hanging sometimes onto trees and going down backwards. I don't think the buttof my new hiking pants are going to be intact by the time I get to Gorham! Wecontinued down and we were all getting tired and then V8 turns around with themost astounding surprise ever. She tells A.M. and I, "Oh...by the way, I waswaiting for the right moment to tell you both this, but the Autumn Breeze hasaccess to a hot tub and we can all soak in it when we get back there!" I aboutdied. My knees and legs were absolutely killing me by now, so that thought wasvery motivating.A.M. and V8 so totally impressed me. I mean, to not hike for 5 weeks and thencome right out and tackle this stuff. All of us hike at nearly the same pace,it was just so wonderful. I do have to remember some etiquette though, becauseI was tailgating V8, and that's so annoying to have someone on your ass all ofthe time. It was mainly so I could hear her while we were talking, butstill...We got to the beautiful Eliza Brook and hiked next to it for quite awhile. Morewaterfalls and pools of water that looked so inviting for a nice long soak, butwe all were exhausted. We arrived at the Eliza Brook Shelter around 5:00 p.m.So YOU do the math...8:00-5:00 for 8.8 miles with a short lunch break andprobably 3 other very short breaks. Today kicked my ass for sure, and I was soglad to be @ the shelter.Lizard & Salvage, Boots, and a guy named Chuck got here later. I found afantastic place to hang, and the ladies set up their tarptent on a tent site.You can hear the rush of Eliza Brook too...which I love. There's a huge pileof moose scat by my hanging site. I took what I think is the world's funniestpicture of Howie. I put him right next to the pile of moose scat and took apic...as if HE had done this. Hey..it's the little things that keep me sanefolks.I made dinner up @ the shelter and socialized a bit. We all got to talkingabout the ghetto apartments we'd lived in at some point in time and what madethem dives. Salvage and Lizard voted my story the winner of the evening. Itold them about the place in south OKC where Rachael and I lived once. Iwalked over to the central mailbox place to get our mail and this large sketchyman was standing there with a huge paper sack. He opened it and it was FULL of"adult" toys, and he actually tried to SELL them to me!!! LOL Rachael and Imoved out shortly there after!So A.M. and V8 and I decided to be ready to hike by 8 in the morning. I don'tremember the last time I felt THIS exhausted from a LESS than 9 mileday...since Georgia. Wow folks...hardest hiking I've ever done in my life, butextremely rewarding. I feel proud of myself and those ladies today. We didgood. Salvage and Lizard are heading up what we came down today. He asked howit was...my response was, "Oh man..it's ALL flat." I'm such a jerk! LOL Bootsheard me say that and with excitement on his face goes, "Oh! What part?" Iwhispered to him I was b.s'ing Salvage.Oh, V8 gave me some Kashi cereal w/powdered whole milk (Nido) for me to try forbreakfast in the a.m. Excited about something knew.It's 70 degrees @ 8 p.m. I think I hear thunder in the distance. I don't carethough..we're down very low in elevation and I'm all snuggled into my hammock.Let it storm all it wants. I'm going to pass out now.~Certain