Date: 2016-08-03
From: Stealth Spot Pre-Guyot

To: Mizpah Hut
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We decided to sleep in because we NEEDED the sleep. My sickness is only getting worse, and it really sucks. I have a nasty phlegmy cough and a stuffy nose. We didn't get started until past 9am. Something you should know about the Whites is that they are VERY poorly blazed. The only way you know you're going the right way is if someone etched an "AT" symbol into the sign with an arrow pointing which way to go. Boo. We were doing okay with this system until this morning. We reached a sign that said Guyot shelter 0.6 to the right, and we knew (based on our guides) that Guyot shelter was only supposed to be 0.2 off trail, so we thought we'd follow the sign and maybe it turned off somewhere. WRONG. We ended up summiting Mt Guyot and going downhill towards the shelter almost 0.4 miles before we realized we were going the wrong way. We back-tracked up and over Guyot the 0.4ish to the sign. The other faded side of the sign showed us the way to Zeacliffs--the way we were supposed to go. Lo and behold there was a faded etched AT symbol. Well...nice start to the day.At least it was sunny out! The terrain improved the day as well. It was easy, gradual, and relaxing. What?! No, but really. It was lovely. We made good time to Zealand Falls and the Zealand Hut where we enjoyed a nice bowl of potato leek soup and a piece of blueberry coffee cake. Yum! We chatted a little with the chef there as well as the Ethan Pond caretaker and told them we were planning on going to Mizpah Hut that night, which would be a 19 mile day. "That's not normal is it?" the chef asked. "It's a bit extreme," the caretaker replied and looked at us incredulously. Well that was a boost to our pride. Maybe we'll even get there! The next 5 miles were beautiful and flat. It was great! We then had a nice downhill and arrived at the base of Webster Mountain at 4pm. 4 hours to go 6.5 more miles to Mizpah. Should be doable?Little did we know...this was a monster mountain! Hardest 3 miles. Maybe it was because I was so tired. Maybe it was because I had to use all my strength to hurl my body up steep rock faces. It was awful. I kept telling myself how much I'd enjoy it if I didn't have my heavy pack. It was so hard, and I was so beat. My hips were chafing really badly, which has never happened before, and my armpit was starting to chafe too. I was having trouble breathing from my stuffy nose and phlegmy cough. The sun was starting to set. My tiredness level skyrocketed and I started to break down. I can't do this! I can't! I'm so tired! I bent over to push myself up more rocks, and I broke down. I started bawling. Verge came around the corner and patted me on the back, and after a minute, I was okay again. I just needed to let it out. The rest of the way was a little better. We got over Jackson Mountain, and the sky gave us another beautiful sunset. It was 7pm and we had 3 miles left. We booked it, and got there around 8. We did it! We got to Mizpah! We walked into the hut and were greeted by our buddies Jingle, Sweets, and Wheels who were doing work for stay. I liked the look on people's faces when we told them we did 19. Man that feels good. Afer lots of water and some dry ramen (too tired for dinner again) we paid our ten dollars each to the caretaker and set up our tent in the dark. I don't like that we had to pay to stay, but the ease of a bear box, potable water, and a bathroom made it worth it. Another night of not being able to breathe through my nose and drooling all over my sleeping bag and having to wake up to pee in the middle of the night.