Date: 2008-07-16
From: Hexacuba Shelter NH

To: Jeffers Brook Shelter NH 
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

Day 150 Wednesday July 16 ¢ Jeffers Brook Shelter NH - Miles Today: 15.8 Total Miles: 1778.8Last night Brakeman heard 1 or 2 animals go by our tent and perhaps even bump into it as it was sniffing around. He thinks perhaps it was a coyote. So a little bit of excitement last night! The guys in the shelter also heard the animal. Grasshopper, of course, was dead to the world with her earplugs in and didn't hear any of it.We woke to 56 degrees - a nice cool morning that we haven't had in quite some time. Since our return to the trail, we¢ve been using our sleeping bags as blankets rather than bags due to the hot nights, but last night Grasshopper actually used her sleeping bag as intended! Hopefully we're entering cooler weather although we know the next several days are supposed to be quite hot - mid 80s approaching 90 degrees, but for 2 of those days we're going to be nero¢ing, so it shouldn't impact us too much.When we departed camp this morning at 5:30, we noticed that everyone in the shelter was up and moving! A rarity for that hour, but then on the other hand, the shelter was full of older folks, who tend to rise earlier. Plus most of them were headed to the town of Glencliff today to a hostel. Town days always seem to get people moving earlier and faster. We had a good climb for about an hour this morning, up Cube Mountain, where we stopped, sat on the rock exposed mountain and had our breakfast overlooking the valley and mountain ranges in the distance. As we sat there, the other hikers arrived as well for their breakfast break. We all seemed to have the same idea. We¢ve been green tunneled for too long to pass up a break with vast open views.As we passed over NH Rte 25A, a pickup truck went by, slowed and then the driver hollered out his window, ¢Do you want a beer?¢ We just sort of looked at each other and wondered if we heard him correctly. It was just 8:30 in the morning. Surely, he was not offering us a beer. When we remained speechless, he hollered again, ¢Do you want a beer?¢   My gosh, we heard him right the first time! Confusion continued to retain control of our brain. Surely, he does not have beer in his truck at 8:30 in the morning. Is he really offering to take us to a bar? Finally we found our voice and said, "Do you have it in your truck?" And he said, "Yeah, do you want a beer?" We commented that it was just 8:30 in the morning. We did not explain that we are not beer drinkers. So he said, "Well, I have cokes, too." Well, heck yeah, we¢ll take some cokes! WOW! We scored 2 cokes and then Grasshopper said, "Hey, could I get 3 beers for my buddies that are behind me?" So we scored 3 beers in addition to the 2 cokes. We put the 3 beers right across the trail, as there was no creek to chill them in, with a note that said "Enjoy - compliments of Brakeman and Grasshopper via our Trail Angel driving by in a pickup truck with an ice chest full of ¢¦ you guessed it." We thoroughly enjoyed the cokes, and carried our empty cans with us until we saw a car parked alongside a dirt road and left them by the driver¢s door in hopes that he would properly dispose of our garbage.Three young southbound kids passed us right after we left the beer for our buddies. We were afraid they would help themselves to our beer so we told them there were 3 beers ahead and asked if they would leave them for our buddies.   As we rested by the dirt road, our hiking buddies arrived. Traveler and Cricket bypassed on the beer but Sightseeing and Apostle wasted no time in the thought process of having beer at 8:30 in the morning and downed them quickly. Where else could you get so many carbs and calories so quickly and without carrying any weight! They were probably just 10-15 minutes behind us and by the time they got to them, they were still nice and cold. Not sure who enjoyed the 3rd one but hopefully someone did.We had another gorgeous clear day, though it was hot and we sweated up a storm. By the time we got to camp, we were sorely in need of freshening up so we took a sponge bath with yellowish brown creek water. No one else is here with us, but it is early so I¢m sure there will be others arriving a bit later. We have not seen New Day and her family since yesterday morning. They were supposed to go in and out of Glencliff today for resupply, so if that¢s still the game plan, they may show up at this shelter later today. Today was a long day - nearly 16 miles. Our feet are a little bit tired but overall, I think we did pretty good considering we just recently got back on the trail. We're positioned so that we can start our climb of Mt. Moosilauke (4802¢) first thing tomorrow morning. We've actually done 1 mile of the climb already.   Tomorrow we¢ll have a 4.5-mile ascent and a 3.8-mile descent, which is going to be very steep, very rocky and supposedly, very slippery. Apparently it's so steep that there are areas with steps and rebar. We are expecting a very hard day. Brakeman is guessing it will take 10 hours to cover the 16 miles; Grasshopper is guessing 11 hours. We have in our notes to allocate 11-12 hours. The weather is to be clear, but hot. Our game plan is to get an early start and attack that hill before it gets too terribly hot. This is the first time that we are going to be above tree line on this trip! The big news today is that we dipped under 400 miles left to go. We're at 397.4. We stopped just shy of the shelter to celebrate the big milestone. As we pass these milestones, we think back to the beginning of this journey and what it felt like as we passed these mile marker numbers counting up.   Now we are counting them down!It's 5:50 and 80 degrees. We're done with all of our chores and we are about ready to fall asleep.   Goodnight from just a few hours shy of being above tree line for our first time. WOO HOO!