Date: 2016-06-23
From: The Notch Hostel via Franconia Notch

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up early this morning, raring to go, excited for one of the hardest and most beautiful climbs of the whole trail. Unfortunately, there was a problem: NO PANCAKE MIX LEFT!!! Whatever. I ate some of the extra food out of my own bag. I would probably get more food than I thought from the huts. Yesterday, Blues went to the doctor see if a rash that he has is Lyme Disease. It was. He's now on doxycyclene, and won't be headed out with us today. I also forgot to mention that Cosmo is here too. Atlas, though, is somewhere behind us. There was a big crowd attempting to get back to Franconia Notch this morning: the early crew, including Booty and NOWA, headed out, and then the second run piled in. We didn't have quite enough space, and because we were headed up the interstate, we couldn't get in the bed of the truck. So I sat on Cosmo's lap in the front seat while six people piled into the back meant to hold five. It all went fine though, though we could not stand the sensor that told us to put our seat belts on. Back at the trailhead, Serena said goodbye to us. She gave me a big hug and thanked me for all the music I played, and told me to come back soon! We all made our way along the approach trail back towards the AT. The climb was not as crazy as I was expecting, but just ratcheted up and up. I passed Booty near the entrance to the trail, but he passed me as we got to the steep part, flying past me, muttering something about how Red Bull gave him wings. We topped out at the Liberty Springs campsite, where I caught up with NOWA and filled up water from a beautiful spring, deep in a rock. i informed a couple friends of ours as they passed that this is the last water on trail for 8 miles. I tend to pay attention to the guidebook better than just about anyone. After one last push, the trail turned left and flattened out (apparently, Cosmo turned right and ended up summiting Mt. Liberty). Booty and I paced each other through the thinning forest, and up onto the beginning of the treeless ridge.This is the most spectacular section of the AT. There is simply no denying it. We had an absolutely perfect day for it, too. The views were incredible, and every single moment made me want to stop and take a picture. Each of the peaks was more amazing than the last. Everything, from the feel of the place, the rocks, the mountains, was perfect. I enjoyed the rock scrambles around Haystack Mtn. Booty an i stuck together over basically the whole ridge. On top of Mt. Lincoln, we got questioned about our hike from a family. It seems the whites has the highest concentration of people who are genuinely curious about the AT, and also the highest concentration of people who think they know a ton about the AT, and... really don't. We met up with Trippin' Billy, another thru hiker I think I'd see once before, and hiked to the top of Lafayette, tallest mountain in NH outside the Presidential range. We stopped to eat lunch and soak in the view, which is everything an AT view should be, up on the treeless summit. All the folks from this morning caught up and began to eat lunch, too. I laughed at Booty's choice of foodtsuffs: first, a ziploc bag full of cooked salmon - he likes the salmon but cant abide carrying cans with him; second, snyder's pretzel bits, covered in gobs of mayonnaise. He's a funny one. He doesn't hike with poles, wears an american flag bandana, short-shorts and Ray-bans, has a huge red beard and ponytail, and crazy eyes. I like him. Booty and I headed off before the others down the side of Lafayette. The trail is marked by cairns, some of which are very hard to follow. Only a few weeks ago, two thru hikers had been up here in the sleet, and nearly died when they got lost off the trail, and were only saved when they were found by another thru hiker, who quickly set up a tented and boiled them water, keeping them alive long enough for Search and rescue folks to arrive. Apparently yesterday there was another ice storm up here. Thank God i did not go hiking in it. We reached the col between Lafayette and Garfield and then headed up the steep climb to the summit. The top of Garfield used to have an observation tower, and now just has a square foundation, which Booty and I hunkered down in to avoid the wind, which was blustering. The view, despite being surrounded by two higher ridges, is commanding, down two incredibly long valleys. We hung out here quite a while. The descent down Garfield was fine, but after the turnoff for Garfield Shelter , where most of the group had been planning to spend the night, became an incredibly steep river. I thought of Large, who absolutely hates this kind of stuff. In fact, the miles to Galehad Hut were surprisingly brutal, always headed up little rises and down drops of ten feet or so, and very tiring for a portion we thought would be chill. Finally came the turnoff for Galehead Hut, which finds itself in a little col next to Galehead mountain, with a lovely view of the same valley to the south. Booty and I left our packs on the porch and headed inside. The place looks recently redone, with a lovely bright wooden interior. We sheepishly asked if they had any food theyd be willing to give us. They immediately heated up a gigantic tin of pulled pork for us, and willingly gave it: anything they don't give away they have to pack out as trash, so they were just as thankful as we were. i also asked about work for stay. I had heard that the optimal time to get there was about 4 oclock, and I was there on the nose. The woman - part of the Croo, which is what they call themselves - who runs work for stay was happy to give me a spot. Booty and I hung around for a while gorging ourselves on food. But Booty wasn't gonna do WFS, he decided to go find a stealth spot somewhere. NOWA showed up just as Booty was rolling out, and snagged a second work for stay spot, and helped himself to some pork. I saw that right behind the counter (where they sell tshirts and such. humm), they had a guitar. i asked if I could borrow it, and they readily assented. As I tried to tune the thing, I realized it was missing pieces of the tuning pegs. I eventually got a pair of pliers and got the thing into some kind of tune, after a very very long time. I played through much of the afternoon as the day hikers, guests in the hut, piled in from days spent around the whites. During dinner, they asked NOWA and me to stay out of the way, truly it's quite a lavish affair for the guests, with big pitchers of water and juice and many many courses of food. I sat and played guitar and felt a little out of place. During this time, another thru hiker named Wonka showed up! I had heard quite a bit about her, including that she's a senior at Junior at Duke doing essentially what I am doing but a year earlier. I thought she was ahead of me, but had taken a few weeks off for an injury and has now caught up. She is incredibly driven and an intense hiker. She also tends to be by herself, she apparently has not hiked with the same person for more than three days. She took the final work for stay spot. While the Croo put together a funny sketch basically trying to get the guests to tip them, we were given free reign of the leftovers, which included veggie enchiladas, pasta, mashed potatoes, pulled pork and blueberry cake. This made me feel a lot better. After dinner, Wonka and I sat outside and chatted, while I played guitar. I played her the only Avett Brothers song i know, because they're her favorite band. NOWA, wonka and I talked with the woman in charge of WFS. Two of us could do night chores, and one morning chores. Though I had gotten there first, and would've preferred night chores, I knew that the other two were very early risers, and would want to leave. So I elected for the morning for their sakes. They did a great deal of dishes (and I did some), then we hung around while the guests played games and talked. Everyone went to bed around 10, and we set up our gear on the floor of the Hut for the morning.