Date: 2017-07-02
From: Crawford Notch

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: fog

¢Make wise decisions.¢ This is the last time I¢ll hear that admonition at a trailhead until the end of July. Frodo is going back home to San Diego today. I¢m climbing out of Crawford Notch back into the Whites.   I think I¢ve died and gone to heaven. I¢m having lunch at the AMC Zealand Falls Hut, having just traversed 8 miles of the most civilized trail since my second day on the AT almost 4 weeks ago. I am eating a turkey sandwich made on bread baked yesterday by a PCT thru-hiker who stayed with us in 2009. And I met the most cheerful hikers this morning.During the civilized climb I was going over the verses I have memorized so far of a risqu© song, ¢The Scotsman.¢ [Princesses, ask your mom to define ¢risqu©¢.] And who is coming right at me, heading downhill? A northbounder wearing a big smile and a kilt. A dark green and blue tartan kilt. I had to sing him the first two verses, didn¢t I? If you are real good campers, I¢ll put those verses in at the end of the journal entry. (Frodo: ahem¢¦ He¢ll have his trusty transcriber put them in, he meant to say.)Certainly the trail was wet and boggy from yesterday¢s deluge (Frodo: He didn¢t tell you, but it rained hard yesterday not just for his last 90 minutes on the trail, but for the rest of the day.), but I could actually stretch out my stride in many places. Look at these photos: http://www.trailjournals.com/j...   http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Doesn¢t it almost look like the High Sierra?About a half mile before luch I came on Jersey girl and her husband Ron. They were grinning like Cheshire Cats. She¢s been section-hiking the AT since 2009, they are of my vintage, and he¢s been doing support the whole time. They told me, ¢Today is special!¢ Ron was hiking with a backpack on ¢For the First Time!¢ She said she¢s had the trail name ¢Jersey Girl¢ for a long time, but that Ron didn¢t have a trail name. As we parted I made a suggestion. So now his trail name is ¢At Last¢.The trail was harder in the afternoon, climbing to 4900 feet (I started at 1250 today), but harder only by way of comparison to the morning. It was civil compared to the riot that was Maine.After 15 miles, at the Happy Hour time of 6:00 pm, I arrive at the Galeheada Hut, my destination. Here I am doing a first for me. I am earning my bed and board. They call it ¢work for stay.¢ I¢ll be washing dishes later.¢¦Just finished washing dishes with Lioness and Lucky. Don¢t tell the staff here, but I would have paid to have a tub of hot water in which I got to put my hands. Lucky and I and ¢CROO¢ member Carrick sang camp songs as we washed. Loudly.  Too much fun. I should work for stay more often. We got leftovers for dinner, stuffed shells, and after 9:30 we can set up to sleep on the floor of the Hut¢s main building.Life is good.I¢ll even have time to read Cider House Rules tonight.From Frodo, the promised verses:A Scotsman clad in kilts, left the bar one evening fairAnd one could tell by how he walked he'd drunk more than his shareHe staggered on until he could no longer keep his feetThen he stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street.Oh, Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-ohRing di-diddle oh dayHe stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street.Well later on two young and lovely girls just happened byAnd one says to the other, with a twinkle in her eye"Oh see yon sleepy Scotsman, so strong and handsome built?"" I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt."Oh, Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-ohRing di-diddle- oh day" I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt."....... not sure why Scout wanted just the first two verses, there are 3 more.