Date: 2004-09-02
From: Glencliff, NH 

To: Gordon Pond 
Miles today: 12.8

9/2/04 (really) ¢Day 5 Start: Glencliff, NH @ 7:00; Stop: Gordon Pond @ 4:30Mileage: On Trail:12.8   Cum: 56.7   Off Trail: .5   Cum: 1.5Weather: Cool, clear, sunny, idealMajor Landmarks: Mt. Moosilauke, Gordon PondMajor Milestones: went past 50 mile mark.It was good to rest yesterday afternoon & it let me have a good day today. I took a shower, did laundry, went to the P.O., called home & sat around & talked before getting to bed nice & early. Packrat, the proprietor of the Hikers Welcome Hostel, asked me if I was thru hiking. I told him I was dong my last section and he said, ¢You¢re a thru hiker, you¢ve just taken more zero days than others.¢ I like that.I got a pretty good night¢s sleep an a real mattress, despite the tractor trailers that sounded like they were headed for my bed. I even had some interesting dreams. Despite the comfortable bed, I got up at about 6:30, packed up, chugged down a cold coke from the fridge, left the empty & my $1, then headed down the road to the trail. After passing a shelter & doing some road walking, the trail headed straight up the mountain. As it got steeper, it slabbed up the side of the mountain rather moderately. It was interesting to watch the birch spruce forest change to all spruce, then stunted spruce, and finally windblown stunted spruce as I gained elevation. Once I reached the ridge near the south peak, it was a fairly easy walk to the top along the ¢carriage road.¢ It was the perfect day to be there, you could see for miles & miles. I could pick out Camel¢s Hump, Mt. Mansfield, and others in the Green Mt. chain, but wasn¢t familiar with all the peaks in the Whites. I hung out there for quite awhile, chatted with a carpenter from Lee, MA, who was section hiking, and all too soon had to move on. I stopped at Beaver Brook Shelter to get water and met Frank. He asked my name and I told him. His immediate response was ¢shy does everyone¢s train name have to have two names. I don¢t have a train name yet, so I¢m just ¢Still Frank¢.¢ Isn¢t that two names? Oh well.I wasn¢t prepared for the next 1 12 miles down the mtn. It was very steep & all boulders. There was a warning sign advising hikers to seek alternate routes if wet. Many of the boulders had been drilled to split them in an attempt to make stairs. Some even had stairs drilled out of them with still others having 8x8¢s cemented in the drilled out place as stairs. It was definitely slow going as you had to be alert at all times, but it was beautiful with Beaver Brook pushing over ledges beside you, with many waterfalls. At one point I caught up with another hiker descending a particularly steep section with rebar for hand holds. As I was stepping down to the first step, my camera caught on a small tree, came unsnapped from my belt & started tumbling down over the ledge. I had just lost a similar camera a few weeks ago while hiking the Long Trail thru a section that was more like bushwacking. So as this brand new replacement went bouncing down over ledges, headed for the brook, I had visions of losing camera #2. I yelled out, but the other hiker couldn¢t stop it as it bounced by. When I finally got to the bottom of the cliff, I took off my pack & searched till I found it. It didn¢t go in the water and miraculously it seems to work fine. It must have been the well padded carrying case it was in.I finally made it down to Kinsman Notch safe & sound and began the steep climb up the other side. I was getting tired when I topped out, then it was a lot of ups & downs until I reached the Gordon Pond Trail. Along the way I saw two packs lying beside the trail, then a young woman with purple hair and green pants standing on the roots of a downed tree. We chatted and she said I would meet some Dartmouth College freshman coming along, who were having orientation week. We parted and in just a short distance I saw some ropes hanging from a tree & as I looked up there was a bird call. There suspended from the ropes about 20¢ up was another young woman dressed like a fairy with wings & a skirt. I said hi & wished them luck, whatever they had planned for this group of freshman. As I passed them a little later I didn¢t say a word of what was ahead.Thanks to the list of stealth campsites Patches had given me before I left, I now have a beautiful campsite on the shores of peaceful Gordon Pond. This one¢s for you, Gordo ¢ it was named after you. It was peaceful anyway, until a group of girls took up camp on the other side of the brook and have been talking ever since. At least there won¢t be any tractor trailers going by tonight.