Date: 2004-10-23
From: gentian pond shelter

To: usfs osgood tentsite
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: broken clouds

¢fresh tomatoes and the art of hitchhiking¢i like options. options are good. the option that ross and i decided on was to hike the austin brook trail 3 12 miles from the shelter to the road this morning and try to hitch into gorham from there. a slight snow began to fall as we were packing up our gear, but soon stopped. down the trail we met two shelter maintainers that were heading up to winterize the shelter. [i.e.- carry the metal food box up into the woods and hide it for the winter]. the austin brook trail was a lovely little walk through the woods and on old forest roads. it was a pleasant way to start the day.we came out onto the north road and turned right and began the walk towards route 2. there wasn¢t very much traffic on the road and the few cars that did pass didn¢t stop as we stuck out our thumbs. if we ended up having to walk all the way to route 2 (or into town for that matter) we would be cutting it really close trying to get to the post office before it closed at noon. as we passed a farm the clouds parted, giving us a grand view of the snow capped mount washington off in the distance. it looked rather aggressive, looming above the rest of the mountains from our point of view.while we were standing on the shoulder of the road admiring the view a van approached from the opposite direction and pulled over.a woman opens the driver¢s side door, ¢would you boys like some tomatoes?¢¢say what?¢¢fresh tomatoes. would you like a fresh tomato?¢¢uh, sure. a fresh tomato would be great.¢as we walk towards the van i tell ross that this woman is going to give us a ride, she just doesn¢t know it yet. she opened the back door of the van; revealing a box full of ripe, red tomatoes. she told us to help ourselves, so ross and i both picked a tomato from the box. i can¢t say that i¢ve ever been offered a tomato that didn¢t come as part of a burger or a sandwich. i don¢t think ross and i really knew how to go about eating a tomato. so, i ate it like i¢d eat an apple. taking a bite, the skin gave way under the pressure of my teeth, sweet juice dripping down my chin. the tomato was good. it would have been great on a sandwich. eating it straight up was a little much. but, it was the polite thing to do and if this woman was going to give us a ride (she just didn¢t know it yet), then we¢d better be polite.¢do you know how far it is to route 2?¢ i ask in my special ¢you¢re-going-to-give-us-a-ride-but-just-don¢t-know-it-yet¢ tone of voice. it is all in the tone of voice that you use. and, i¢ve got this one down. she doesn¢t stand a chance.she stands there for a few seconds, pondering my question. ¢i¢ll tell you what, i¢ve got to drop off these tomatoes, but i can give you a ride to route 2 on the way.¢(exactly).ross and i throw our stuff in the van and climb in, tomatoes in hand. i continue to nurse the tomato and it isn¢t long before the woman is dropping us off at the junction of the north road and route 2. we thank her for the ride and as she pulls out onto route 2 and drives away ross and i both toss what¢s left of our tomatoes into the woods.we started walking towards gorham. there was a little more traffic on route 2 than the north road, so we figured we¢d have no trouble hitching a ride. sometimes i feel like i¢ve got this hitchhiking thing licked and other times it makes absolutely no sense to me. i¢ve made the observation before and i¢ll make it again. two things about hitchhiking: 1) why is it that when a car drives by and you stick out your thumb, the person behind the wheel always tries so hard not to make eye contact with you? it is like, if they don't make eye contact, then maybe you won't actually see them. 2) why is it that when a car drives by and you stick out your thumb, the person behind the wheel always swerves way over into the other lane so as to get as far away from you as possible? do they think that you are going to try to jump out and grab onto their car or something? just curious. and when it comes to trucks: i¢m pretty sure that it should be the unwritten rule that anyone driving a pick-up truck should have to give a hitchhiker a ride.my friend, ross, said it best when he said, ¢we can¢t cut you from the back of a truck.¢it may be a harsh way of putting things, but i think it gets the point across. there is nothing that we can do in the back of a pick-up truck except sit back and hold on tight. so, there is no reason that anyone with a pick-up should pass us by when we¢re trying to get a ride.of course, a pick-up truck did eventually pull over. we walked up to the passenger window and the guy behind the wheel asked where we were headed. we said the gorham post office and he said to climb in the back (his dog was sitting in the passenger seat) and bundle up because it was going to be a cold ride. we climbed in and he started driving and it was indeed a cold ride. i didn¢t mind it though. i like the cold. i¢m of a different breed.looking through the open back window, i noticed a big rifle stuck in between the seats. and, ross later pointed out that our driver also had a pistol strapped to the visor. of course this guy wasn¢t afraid to pull over. if we tried to cut him he could have shot us with his pistol, then his rifle, and then he could have sicced his dog on us. of course, we weren¢t trying to cut the guy. that¢s not my style. i just wanted to get to the post office before noon.and, i did.our friendly, gun-toting driver dropped us off across from the post office at 11:40. i made it with plenty of time to spare. thanking him, we crossed the road and i was pleasantly surprised to find that my gorham package had actually made it to gorham like it was supposed to.ross and i headed next door to the laundry mat where he could dry out some gear and i could start sorting through my maildrop. i looked outside to see a van pull into the parking lot. an older, well-dressed man got out and walked towards the post office. a lovely looking woman got out and i saw that it was honey from the cabin. that sharp looking man must be earle (aka bear). i walked outside to say hello and honey gave me a big hug. she called earle over and he gave me a big, well, bear hug. it was so good to see them and so nice to finally meet earle. they were interested as to how our hike was going and i was happy to tell them that things were going great. bear reached into the van and pulled out a surprise for me- my maildrop! it arrived in andover this morning. you¢ve got to love the united states postal system.we chatted for a few minutes before honey and bear had to leave so they could get to their wedding reception. i thanked them and thanked them and thanked them again. i offered to pay them for their troubles, but they wouldn¢t hear of it. so, i told them since they wouldn¢t let me pay them, they had to do me a favor. i told them they had to log onto my website and order a print from me and i would send it to them for free. they promised they would and i hope they do. they are too kind. they are true trail angels. i told them i would be sure to look them up next time i¢m in the area. if you¢re ever near andover, go visit honey and bear at the cabin. you can¢t go wrong by then. i am just blown away by their kindness. it is overwhelming.back in the laundry mat, i opened my andover maildrop and was proud to show ross my ice axe and crampons. i can only hope that we need this kind of gear going through the white mountains this week. i don¢t think ross feels the same way. after all, he did say that if it got to the point where i was strapping on my crampons, then he was getting the heck out of there. i finished sorting through the two maildrops, gave some gear to ross to use, and took a new box back to the post office to mail home. they¢d already closed when i walked into the lobby (they actually jumped the gun and closed a few minutes early according to my watch), but when they saw me they let me in to mail my box.ross and i decided that a good meal was in order before heading out to pinkham notch, where we would be picking up the trail. we walked across the street to mr. pizza. i¢ve eaten there before and i knew it was good food. and, today was no exception. ross and i discussed the rest of the trip and various plans over lunch. there were definitely times over the last couple of days when i thought he was going to call it quits once we got to gorham. after a good meal and some dry gear he seems to have changed his mind. i am glad of that. i enjoy hiking with ross.we walked over to where route 16 leaves town-heading towards pinkham notch-and found a spot from which to hitch a ride. we figured we¢d wait in one place instead of try to walk and hitch. that way, if we didn¢t get a ride, we¢d still be close to town and could stay at one of the hostels for the night. of course, i knew that we wouldn¢t have too much trouble finding a ride. i¢ve had plenty of luck hitching on this road and was confident that we¢d get a ride today. there was plenty of traffic and it wasn¢t long before a car pulled over. our driver was a local high school biology teacher. he was heading into the mountains to cut firewood. he wore a metal brace on his leg. he didn¢t go into detail about it, but did mention that he could never backpack again because of it.at the pinkham notch visitors center ross and i weighed our packs. mine read 48 pounds with food, water, and camera equipment. ross¢ pack weighed in at a measly 29 pounds. from the visitor¢s center to the tentsite, we only had 4.8 miles over what looked like a fairly smooth section of trail. the afternoon was warm, the sun was out, and it wasn¢t long before i was shedding layers. i felt good. it didn¢t seem like i was carrying 48 pounds worth of gear. i felt like i was almost running down the trail. i put some distance between ross and myself and was soon lost in my thoughts. i stopped a couple of times to take break and wait for ross. he seemed to be enjoying himself much more this afternoon than he had been before. it made me happy to see that.we took a detour, making our way up to a place called lowes bald spot. from there we had extensive views of the northern presidential range. mount adams and mount madison loomed above us. mount washington and the great gulf were to our left. it was all beautiful and rugged and very exciting looking.i crossed the west branch of the peabody river on a wooden suspension bridge. it bounced beneath my feet. although the afternoon went by quickly, the last 12 mile seemed to take entirely too long. that is how it always is with the end of my hiking day. i am always eager to get to my destination, so it seems to drag. but, we eventually reached the osgood tentsite.there are two other guys camping here tonight. this tentsite consists of five wooden tent platforms. ross and i both had a bit of a time getting our tents set up. i can see how these platforms would be great if someone had a freestanding tent. but, since my tent has to be staked into the ground, it was a little tricky getting it to stay up. i ended up tying it off to trees, roots, and rocks and am now inside it; nestled in the warm depths of my sleeping bag.the sky is clear and the moon is bright. the temperature has dropped considerably since the sun set. if we¢re lucky, tomorrow will dawn a new day with the sun bright in the sky as we climb above treeline and begin our trek across the northern presidential range.