Date: 2005-08-01
From: Near Kinsman Notch, NH

To: Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 9.3

9.3 miles todayHikers Welcome HostelGlencliff, NH I slept really well again last night. It started raining hard at 11:30pm so I stuck a cotton ball in each ear to deaden the noise on the tent and fell back soundly asleep for the rest of the night. I woke up at 5:45 and layed there for about 10 minutes before sticking my stove out and brewing my coffee. I had a poptart for breakfast, then packed up in lite rain to climb Mt Moosilauke. I was putting on my $6.00 socks and realized that I've gotten about $5.75 worth of use out of them. There's not alot of areas without holes. Maybe I can get one more state done before I use up the other 25 cents worth. ;-))) It was 7:30 before I started walking and it was a fantastic hike up that mountain. There is a stream that flows down about a mile of steep mountain side and every 50 feet you get to see another waterfall. I didn't make very good time because I kept stopping to get my camera out to take pictures. The rain had stopped, but the mountain was kind of misty and a little foggy which made it that much more beautiful. It took me an hour to get just 1.4 miles to the shelter. I saw a nobo by the name of Mata who had just left the shelter. While I was climbing the mountain my stomach realized it only had a poptart this morning. It was wondering when it was getting a buffet like it had yesterday. :-))) When I got to the shelter, Horns and Bandit were there just waking up. We talked a while and I signed the register, then I continued climbing. I stopped at a spring and drank nearly a litre of water and got an ice cream headache from it. Water just doesn't get any better than that. I could see that I was the first up the mountain today. There were no footprints since last nights rain and I was knocking down the normal spider webs I get across the trail until I see the first nobo. Sometimes the first nobo is a short hiker and I still get spider webs in the face, so I'm always glad to see a tall hiker. :-))) The wind picked up as I got above treeline and it was cool out. I got to the summit and took a self portrait in front of the summit sign. My new claim to fame is that I was the very first person to summit Mt Moosilauke in August in 2005!!! ;-))) I didn't stay up there long because it was so cool. I started down the mountain towards Glencliff and about 30 minutes later ran into 3 nobos that had left the hostel early. Their names were Steady On, Thirsty Boots and Mr Clean Sr. It was about 5 miles from the summit to the bottom of the mountain at Glencliff. I got to the hostel just before noon. It was great to see Phat Chap again, but Packrat wasn't there. Phat Chap took Michigan, Swift and I up to get some food. I ordered some buffalo wings and a large salad and bought a half gallon of chocolate milk and took it back to the hostel and ate while I talked to the nobos that were there. I washed my clothes, took a shower and shaved and sent in a journal entry. At 2pm the po opened again and I got all my mail from the last 4 months since I was in Florida. I went through that mail and ended up with only 3 bills that needed to be paid. The 4 other sobos I've seen the last couple of days hiked in. Their names are Dub, Yetti, Horns and Bandit. Mala and Lion King are here also. Phat Chap, Swift, Michigan, Tinkerbell and I all went out to dinner in N Woodstock. While we were eating, the strongest storm I've seen in a while came through...I was glad to be on the inside eating and watching the hail on the outside. We got back to the hostel and it was nearly 10pm. Time for bed.