Date: 2011-08-21
From: Crawford Notch

To: Franconia Notch
Miles today: 28.0
Weather: broken clouds

August 18th My aunt drove us to Crawford Notch and we were hiking by 8:30 am. This side of Crawford Notch was not as bad as what we had come down on the Webster Cliff Trail, so that was nice. It was wonderful walking between Ethan Pond and Zealand, very flat, pretty, we followed the river for a while. For a while I thought that we were walking on an old railroad bed, I find out later that we were! Right before we got to Zealand Hut I twisted my ankle again... not good. I thought that the two days off would have really helped, but now I'm back at pain in every step. We all ate lunch at Zealand Hut and then headed on, not sure where we were going to stop, but no one wanted to pay anything for sleep so we were trying to avoid Guyot shelter. Serenity and Super Turtle stopped before the summit of south twin mountain to stealth and Rickshaw (Formerly Crash Test... my aunt couldn't remember his name so she changed it to something she could remember!) and myself walked on to Galehead Hut where we did work for stay. I saw that my other aunt (Rusty) had been at the hut a few days before!!! It would have been really cool to have met up with them.August 19th All of us wanted to make it to the road to spend the night at Chet's hostel and then slack the next day over the Kinsmans. However our day did not go as planned at all. First Rickshaw and I were hiking away from Galehead hut and found that the rocks were more slippery than we thought. It was around 9:30 am when Rickshaw went down a rock first and slipped on his butt down the rocks, pretty far. I laughed and said "I'll go down another way!" well I did go down another way... on my head. I was about to side step down a section when my feet came out from under me, with my pack being top heavy my pack took most of the force of the fall, but then I rolled down the next section, feet over head when my head hit the ground of pine needles next to the rock I slipped on. It took me a second to get up, I told Rickshaw to go ahead and wait for me, I needed a second. That is when I sat on the rock and cried. I was upset that I had hit my head, and then I was scared that I could have a concussion, and then I started really missing Nate... this was not going to be a good day. Rickshaw and I hiked on... I was really worried about my head, but we caught up to Super Turtle and Serenity, when I told them that I had fallen, Super Turtle immediately said, "I want your sleeping pad!" He is so jealous of my NeoAir Thermarest It broke the tension that I was having about my fall, but I was still really worried. When I got to the top of Garfield I called Nate and asked him what the symptoms would be if I had a concussion. I didn't have any, but I was still worried, it also made me miss him more. What else could we do but hike on, we started going up Lafayette when we could hear thunder. By the time we got to the top of Lafayette the storm was basically on top of us, so we made the best decision we could and started hiking down to Greenleaf Hut, but go figure... New England weather, it changed in 5 minutes and it was clear, not storming! ahhh and we were already a good way down the 1.1 miles to the hut, off the trail! Because we needed water we kept hiking down to the hut, but Rickshaw had enough so he turned around and kept going. The hike back up to the top of Lafayette was not fun and really added to my already sad and painful day. Serenity, Super Turtle, Nola, and I stealthed just past Little Haystack, in an unmentioned spot... We had horrible thunderstorms all around us, but we didn't get rained on. This was the first night I slept in my new tent. All I wanted was to go home... it was not a good day. Hit my head, thunderstorms, and extra 2.2 miles off the trail, stealthing... ugggg, I want to go home.August 20th We hiked down to the base of Franconia Notch in the morning where we met my mom at the Flume Visitor Center parking lot. It was so great to see her!!! I really have been missing my family. She wanted me to come to a Boogie and Blues Festival, so I thought that would be fun... we dropped of Serenity and Super Turtle at Chet's and we drove the hour back to my Mom's house in Laconia, NH where I showered and did my laundry. I got to see my Nana and sister too!!!! Nate also came to join us except first we had to go up to my Aunt SaraBara's and Uncle Greg's house in Intervale, NH to get my bounce box and my extra food. It was really wonderful to get to spend that time with Nate even if it was just driving. When we got to Intervale I had a horrible headache and was again worried about having a possible concussion. As we drove back in a big circle across the Kangamagus Highway, my headache went away and started to feel better as we met up with my mom in Thorton, NH for the Boogie and Blues Festival. I love hippie fests. I was really tired but we stayed up for the fireworks and got in our tent around 11pm, I slept because I was so tired, but Nate was up all night because people were partying, yelling, playing music, running around on 4wheelers... it was just not a great sleeping atmosphere.August 21st Nate and I hung out with my mom and Mike (her husband) at the festival, we got fresh made kettle corn, it was sooooo good!!!! But as the afternoon moved on it looked like it was really going to storm hard so Nate and I booked a motel room near Franconia Notch thinking I would get on the trail tomorrow. Although the motel was just okay, it had a hot tub and pool which was great for a beat up hiker body... Nate and I had an amazing dinner at the North Woodstock Brewery, I tried eating an 18 oz burger... it won. It was great to spend the time with Nate, I really miss him, he is my best friend, fiance, and an all around wonderful person... I love him so much, it has been so difficult being away from him.