Date: 2008-06-30
From: Garfield Ridge Shelter

To: Crawford Notch stealth camp
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: fog

I have come to the rational conclusion that it's not humanly possible to create a plan for the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Instead of you telling the mountains how many miles you are going to walk, the mountains tell you how many miles you are going to walk, and you'd be a food to disobey their orders. These are the White Mountains: They show No Mercy.I was awoken at 4:30AM this morning by some other hikers getting ready for the day, so I decided to prepare as well. The caretaker informed me last night that Cookie went to Galehead Hut to do WFS, which put him a mere 2.7 miles ahead of me. My objective was to catch him before he left the hut for the day. After collecting water I was walking north at 5:15AM.I was also informed by SOBO section hikers that the 2.7 miles to the hut are fairly difficult, even though the profile looked favorable. They were indeed correct. There were many PUDS that caught me off guard. The trail was also quite slippery and had plenty of rocks and roots to twist your ankles on. It took me one hour and 25 minutes to walk 2.7 miles, that's not even a 2 MPH pace. Gesh!At Galehead hut my game of cat and mouse with Cookie came to a close, which I was pleased about, I found him sitting outside the hut waiting for breakfast to be served so that he could have left overs.While I was waiting I finished my journal entry for yesterday. This thing is a pain.At Galehead I once again bumped into Floater and Nevada, who I've been bumping into since I left Glencliff. I also bumped into Pickle and Garlic, who I spent the night with last night and who are also NOBO. The catch is that these two started April 4th, no that's not a typo. That's over a month after I did. They pack light and are consistent and persistent in their travels. Pickle has completed the triple crown(AT, CDT, PCT), and Garlic will have completed it once he gets to Crawford Notch, a mere 14 miles north.I was walking north with Cookie at 8:30AM. Even though the guests of the hut left a solid half hour before us, we easily passed them on the STEEP ascent of South Twin Mountain. We ended up spending most of the day walking and talking with Pickle and Garlic, who are known as "The Deli Duo". We spent the first part of the day talking about how long it took for them to master their light weight skills and what gear they deemed they could travel light effectively with. They carry no stove, pack a small amount of clothing, pack no camp shoes, and their sleeping pads double as a part of the frame of their nine ounce pack, they also still manage to carry full tents, they rarely use shelters. In other words, they travel light in a safe and effective manner.I spent the afternoon talking with Pickle about his different long distance hikes and hit career before retirement. He retired as a program manager from the US Department of Defense, specifically working as a civilian in the Navy. He now spends his spare time doing various hikes. He did the AT in 2002, the PCT in 2004, and completed the CDT in sections between 2005 and 2007. He also gave me a good amount of information about the differences between a will, a living will, and a living trust. He informed me you decide on a will or a trust based upon the tax code of your state.Pickle is also hiking for charity, two in fact. He's hiking for a breast cancer organization because his sister was recently declared free of it after fighting it off. He is also hiking for an ALS organization because a friend of his died of it. These are informal charity hikes and neither organization is sponsoring him in any way. He plans to send a letter to the organizations explaining what he did. He plans to match all donations/pledges he receives.When we rolled into Crawford Notch we had a small celebration for Garlic, who has now completed the triple crown. Completing the TC is a feat not many people have done. Cookie and I were honored to witness Garlic complete the deed. Congrats to Garlic.We then parted ways, they intended to hike to Mizpah Spring Hut, while we intended to stealth camp along the Saco River.Seeing as there is no cell phone reception in the notch, we hitched three miles to a general store where I used a pay phone VIA Cookie's calling card to call my friend Nate. I shifted our plans for the Whites, he is now due to meet me tomorrow morning in the notch for our assault on the Presidential's. If the weather holds we shall walk 11.4 miles to Lakes of the Clouds Hut.Having a friend join me is a scary concept. I've been isolated from my home life for almost 4 months now, Nate represents my first time seeing anyone from home since leaving home.The only thing I'm certain about is that there are a lot of uncertainties out here.And that's the way it was.Kirby