Date: 2014-08-01
From: Chet's Hostel in Lincoln via Franconia Notch

To: Garfield Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

Chet's Hostel was surprising quiet considering there were at least 20 hikers filling the bunks, sleeping on the floor, and occupying every nook and cranny in the garage, not to mention a few well-behaved dogs. At around 6:00 am everyone sprang into action and by 8:00 the place had cleared out.After a big breakfast at the local pancake house, I walked over to the post office to pick up my new shoes. I crossed my fingers when the clerk went into the back room, hoping I'd not come up empty, as I had in Hanover. My existing trail runners had reached the point where I was feeling every rock and root, and I knew there would be lots more of them in the coming days through the Whites. The clerk returned empty-handed. So I called Brooks to get a tracking number for my shoes and discovered that, as a West Coast company, their customer service department didn't open until 7:00 am PST, which meant I had two hours to kill to be able to find out what happened to the shoes I desperately needed. All this time I was thinking about the forecast I'd seen this morning that called for a possible one-hour thunderstorm at 2:00 pm. I wanted to get an early start today to get over the Franconia Ridge unscathed, and that wasn't happening due to my ongoing shoe fiasco.When I eventually reached Brooks, they told me the shoes had been delivered to the Lincoln, NH post office on Wednesday and gave me the tracking number, which I gave to the clerk, who confirmed the shoes had arrived but were no longer in the back room. She suggested I call Brooks again to get the exact mailing address written on my package. Long story short, the street address of the Lincoln, NH post office is listed as Papermill Drive in my Awol guide. When the package arrived at the post office, which is actually on Lumbermill Drive, it was delivered to the playhouse a block away, the only business on Papermill. I walked the block to the playhouse, which wasn't due to open until 3:00, but a woman was there who promptly found my package gathering dust on a shelf, and I was back in business. The only problem was, by the time I got hiking it was 11:30, just enough time to climb to the ridge for the 2:00 pm storm.I hiked like a man possessed, figuring the sooner I got to the ridge the more options I would have. If the storm was early, I'd ride it out below tree line just before Little Haystack Mountain. If it was on time, I'd hunker down in the col between Mounts Lincoln and Lafayette. And if it was late, I'd get over Lafayette and down into the protection of the tress on the other side. Not far up the Liberty Spring Trail, I caught up to Wild Bill, a section hiker from Western Mass who was doing the AT through New Hampshire. I'd first met him briefly at Hexacuba Shelter three nights ago and again the next night at Beaver Brook Shelter on the side of Mt Moosikauke. Bill is an ultra-marathoner and has recently been trying his hand at hiking. Today was his first time over the Franconia Ridge. Although he was definitely faster on the uphills, he seemed interested in hiking with me, particularly when I shared with him the forecast I'd seen in the morning and the contingencies I had in mind. Another long story short, when I got a signal up on the ridge and rechecked the forecast, the 2:00 storm was no longer predicted. Instead, we had a spectacular ridge walk, with views of the Twin and Bond ranges to the east and even briefly a glimpse of Mt Washington in the distance through the haze. On the top of Lafayette a person I'd never met asked me if I was Slim. Turns out Sean from Connecticut has been following my journal and recognized me from the pictures I'd posted. He's interested in thru-hiking the AT at some point.The hike down the north side of Lafayette and up Mt Garfield was arduous, with a steep rocky decent followed by a similar climb. By the time I reached the summit of Garfield, I'd given up on my plan to make it to the Galehead Hut, where I'd hoped to do work-for-stay. Instead, I'm staying at the Garfield Ridge Shelter along with ABear, Pockets, Wild Bill, and a couple dozen other hikers, most of whom are tenting near the shelter. Despite having done barely over 10 miles, today felt like a tough day.After dinner, ABear, Pockets, and I did a shot of Jim Beam, first to celebrate reaching the 1800-mile mark and then for Independence Day in Switzerland, Pockets's home country.