Date: 2009-08-26
From: Mt. Cube, NH

To: Jeffers Brook Shelter, NH
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

It was a beautiful morning on top of Mt. Cube! We woke up to a pretty chilly and gusty wind with bright blue skies overhead. It was crisp and cool with very few bugs and of course the same spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. Bark and I were up and out on the trail by 8:00am. The descent from Mt. Cube was pretty nice. Definitely steep and rocky, but manageable at the same time. We didn't really have much of a plan for the day except to pick up a few resupply items in Glencliff/Warren, NH, before entering the White Mountain National Park. We ran into a few Sobo hikers early on in our hike. Bark and I agreed that we are both thankful to be where we are on the trail rather than staring almost 1800 miles in the face. After lunch we crossed a road and followed what we thought was the AT. When we had walked for a couple tenths of a mile and then decided to turn around we realized that what we thought was a blaze, was actually just white reflector tape- oops. Luckily it was only about a 20 minute detour all together. By this time in the day the weather had also taken a turn for the worse. Dark clouds were quickly rolling in and soon the sun was totally gone. Storms and rain can be beautiful, but we were not ready for more rain today and neither was the horribly saturated ground. We continued hiking (rain free) with about 5 miles to go before our road crossing into Warren, NH. At one point, Bark and I turned a corner down the trail and saw another Northbounder right in front of us. By this time on the trail, if you have seen somebody enough you can usually recognize their backpack or the way they walk, or in this case a very familiar black beenie cap. We knew immediately it must be Blackbird, and sure enough when we got a little closer he turned to see who it was behind him. The last time we saw him was in NY and we first met him in Virginia. For the next couple of hours we hiked with him and rock-hopped through the constant mud pit they call the A.T. We all made it to NH 25 and we said goodbye to Blackbird as he pressed on the next 1.1 miles to the shelter. He told us he would be stopping there for the night and that Crazy Lady and Patches would be there too. Bark and I tried thumbing it for about 20 minutes before Adam (a lawyer in the area) stopped to pick us up. He told us he was working to build up his vacation time so that in a couple years he could do the AT as well. He was very friendly and it was neat to be able to encourage him in his pursuit. He dropped us off in Warren where we made our way to the market for a "quick" resupply. A couple sandwiches and some ice cream later (about an hour and a half) a customer walked up and said, "Hey, you guys need a ride to the trail?" We were just finishing up our ice cream and immediately took him up on his offer. It was great to not need to hitch back and Sky King (our ride) was a lot of fun to to chat with on the way back to the trail head. As soon as we crossed the road where Sky King dropped us off, we saw an AT mile marker sign that read at the bottom, "White Mountain National Forest." Bark and I had a small creek to ford across before continuing on to the shelter for the night. We stopped on the opposite side of the creek to put our boots back on and just as Bark was raving about how much he loved his new Keen boots, there was a large pop- that's right, one of the lacing loops busted. The boots are only 3 days old so it was a little annoying. I actually had a good chuckle at the irony of it all. Bark discovered kind of an eyelet of sorts that ended up working just fine, so no harm done. We kept on going and made it to the shelter before 6:30pm. We had some great interactions with Blackbird, Crazy Lady and Patches around a nice campfire tonight. The weather is turning to chilly temps at night and they are calling for frost by the end of the week- brrr! I have to mention the best part about Crazy Lady and Patches... they are a mother-in-law/ son-in-law hiking pair. They get along very well and are a lot of fun to be around. We are both hoping to hike with them more.Well, we made it to the Whites!!! Hikers have been talking about "the Whites" since Springer Mt. in Georgia. It is well known for its beauty and difficulty. They say the terrain cuts your average mileage in half- so we have planned accordingly. Tomorrow we will have our first taste at what this place has in store- Mt. Mousilauke, a close to 4,000 foot climb in about 4 miles...wow. The summit holds a panoramic view of the area, so that will be our motivation. We are expecting it to take close to 4 hours to make it to the top. One last note...Bark fell today. Just a good stumble really, but he felt that it counted as a real fall. This means that he only has one chance (one more state) to stay on his feet. Things were looking promising for the first 3 days in NH, but the mud got him today. Another exciting note, we fell below the 400 mile mark today. We officially have 397 miles left until Katahdin!