Date: 2004-08-22
From: Three Rivers House Inn, North Woodstock, NH

To: unofficial campsite near Galehead Hut
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

An enormous vanload of thru-hikers tumbled out at the trailhead this morning. Along with my 3 companions of late, there were the insanely (and sometimes annoyingly, but they're still sweet girls) chipper Skippy and Poppins, Hawk, Enigma, Cat-Dog, Raven, The Friar, Sanguine, The Hobbits, and a few others. So much for the remoteness of the far northern end of the trail. Another long, grueling climb, led by Hawk and I, weighted down greatly by 6 days worth of supplies. The reward more than, well, it was more than a reward. I would have carried 20 more pounds to see the beauty of Franconia Ridge, one of the jewels of the Whites. Yesterday's, today's, and tomorrow's pictures on the website are all taken from Franconia Ridge. I can say that because I am writing this many months later.The culmination of our effort was attaining the tree-less ridge on a crystal-clear, cloudless day nice enough for shorts, but not hot, either. We celebrated, we whooped, we took pictures. April Showers came along shortly, gasping for breath and needing a hand up to the ridge. After taking in the endless majesty of the mountains, we enjoyed a comparatively effortless ridgeline stroll to the first peak of the day, Little Haystack Mt. This being a Sunday, a gaggle of dayhikers, probably from Lafayette Place Campground or Greenleaf Hut, were scattered about on the peak, along with a scattering of long-distance hikers. From the summit we could see the next peak, Lincoln, the second highest peak on the Franconia Ridge (5089 ft), just 7/10ths of a mile away. With nothing to obstruct our view, it looked even closer.Those who come to the wilderness casually can be very casual about their wilderness ethics. This was evident as I left Little Haystack for Lincoln. An unleashed dog pickded me up as a hiking companion along the trail. Now, most of the time I do not have a problem with unleashed dogs (although, technically, it is considered a no-no most of the time) in the wild, but in an alpine area like we are in, it is considered a major offense by anyone even remotely familiar with Leave No Trace and wilderness ethics. At such high altitude, plant life takes months or years to recover from being stepped on, due to such slow growth rate. The only way to avoid being an offender is to stay on trail and off vegetation, and keep your dog leashed.Evidently, a clueless hut or campground dweller brought their unleashed dog up to the mountain-top, and was not aware, or did not care about LNT. However, this is no excuse. The owner was not even keeping track of their dog, seeing as how it left with me. So, a ranger hiking from the opposite direction saw the dog with me, assumed it was mine, and requested rather curtly that I not let the dog walk off-trail. Just as curtly, I replied "not my dog" and let him know if it was my dog, he would be leashed, and encouraged him to find the dog's owners. On Lincoln, a large group of us gathered for a group shot, about 20 of us, handed our cameras to a couple of hapless dayhikers (who were really good sports), and they stood with arms draped with cameras of all kinds and patiently snapped picture after picture in assembly line style, quickly taking one shot and setting the camera down, repeating until all cameras were shot.That business over, it was a mile to the high peak of the day, Lafayette, and the last really magnificent view of the day. I've been saying in the shelter registers that this right here is our reward. I wish I could describe how rewarding it is to feel your blood and adrenaline race, to be pumped up on endorphins, to breathe the clean air and view 360 degrees of unspoiled mountain country going on for miles. This is the natural world, the way it is meant to be. Most of the group stopped at Garfield Ridge campsite, a relatively short 10-mile day. Hawk and I, plus a couple other hikers I really did not know, pressed on a few more miles to Galehead Hut, where work-for-stay was available to the first two hikers to ask. Everyone else pays $80+ to stay in a crowded little cabin and sing songs and watch skits. It was rumored that thru-hikers got a "reduced" rate of $75. That turned out to be false. The two work-for-stays taken, I pressed on.A quarter mile later, a faint path led to the left into the trees. I followed it a brief distance and set up my tent. Pulled on the longjohns, and balaclava. Pullled the facemask up. Clad all in black except for my green Crocs, I looked like a really silly ninja. I made my way back to the hut and cooked dinner on the porch, came back, and retired for the evening.