Date: 2017-07-16
From: Hiker's Welcome Hostel, Glencliff, NH

To: The Notch Hostel, North Woodstock, NH
Miles today: 9.3

7/16/17, The Notch Hostel, North Woodstock, NHMiles hiked: 1482.5, Miles to Katahdin: 389.4, Miles to go: 707.3I awoke today to... you guessed it... sunshine! We hadn't seen the sun in so long. We were all excited to have good weather as we headed up our first big mountain in the Whites. Before hiking, we started the morning with a good breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon prepared by the hostel staff. Sitting Bull, Hoops, and I had decided to slack pack the 9.3 miles up and over Mt Moosilauke. Slack packing involves hiking while carrying only the things you need for that day. We loaded most of our equipment, such as tent, sleeping bag, extra food, etc., into a bag that the hostel transported for us over to the next hostel. We just carried essentials, such as lunch, water, first aid kit, and extra clothes in our packs, thus reducing the weight from around 30 lbs to about 10 lbs. I found a spare hiking pole at the hostel to replace the one that I broke yesterday. It doesn't quite match my current pole; but, it works perfectly well. Sitting Bull also gave me a neoprene knee brace for my sore right knee. With full bellies and light packs, we headed out. The climb up Mt Moosilauke involved climbing 3793 ft in elevation over 5.5 miles. The trail was long and steep; but, not really too bad. Being a pretty weekend day, we encountered a lot of day hikers on our way up the mountain. As we neared the summit, the trees thinned out and eventually disappeared and the crowds got thicker as additional trails led to the summit. We lucked out at the summit and had beautiful, clear weather. We all took pictures at the the summit and settled in for lunch. After lunch, it was time to start the descent. This is when the fun really began. The descent down the north side of the mountain was much steeper than the ascent. It took us much longer to descend since we had to take it slow over several near vertical sections. My knees were screaming long before we were halfway down the long, grueling descent. We were trying to reach the bottom by 2:35 PM so we could catch the shuttle to the Notch Hostel. As we slowly worked our way down the mountain, it became more and more doubtful we were going to make the shuttle. Just as we had about given up on making the shuttle, the trail flattened out. We practically ran the last 0.4 miles to the trail head and arrived at 2:32 PM. It was just a matter of a couple of minutes before the shuttle van arrived and we loaded up for the ride to the hostel. The Notch Hostel is probably the cleanest hostel I've seen on the trail, with the possible exception of the Green Mountain House. It is also very well organized and homey. There are probably 20 hikers here tonight. We found out that Wizard and Pluck are also in town tonight. They came off the trail just past Mt Cube and are staying with a friend. So, they are actually about a day behind us on the trail. They came by the hostel with their friend and Sitting Bull, Hoops, and I joined them in a resupply trip to the Price Chopper, followed by dinner at a local restaurant. I am now back at the hostel planning out the next few days through the Whites. Tomorrow, we are going to slack pack 16 miles over Mt Wolf and Kinsman Mountain before returning to the hostel again tomorrow evening. After that we will head up into the Whites for a several day stretch. Unfortunately, thunderstorms are predicted for the next couple of days. Bummer.