Date: 2003-08-14
From: US2, Gorham, NH (760') 

To: Gentian Pond Campsite (2165') 
Miles today: 11.8

Aloha! What an awesome day! I LOVE THIS STUFF! (Yep, I'm back to loving it completely today.) This has been such a spectacular day and for no other reason than I'm out here doing it. DAMN I LOVE THIS STUFF... today.   Thanks to Old Corpus things went so much smoother getting out of town this morning. Since he needs to shuttle his truck forward he was unable to head out with us today. That's sad because we were all hoping to go through Moohoosuc Notch (to be explained in two days) together. For me personally, I really want to hike right now and couldn't bring myself to take another zero day so soon after doing so at Pizzaz's. I guess Gutsy and Coffee felt the same since they also headed out. Old Corpus will be missed but I have complete faith that we will meet again a little further down the line. If nothing else than Corpus is only 50 miles from Beeville and I still have a close friend there.   Anyway, Old Corpus played trail angel to each of us this morning by getting us to our respective places. Gutsy is back on track and was the first out the gate. She was on the trail and moving a good two hours before I was. She and I decided late yesterday that we would combine some junk and have a small joint bounce box. I stayed behind to get it in the mail. Coffee was doing the same. Since the post office didn't open until 8:30 we had time to hit the cafe with Corpus for breakfast. Breakfast, post office and a phone were the order of business. All were accomplished.   Corpus dropped us at the trailhead and we were headed north in no time. The weather was perfect! I'm thinking weather-wise today may have been one of, if not the, best weather days yet. No humidity, perfect blue skies, temperature around 90 but with cooling breezes, and to die for vistas. It was an outstanding day for walking in the woods.   Coffee and I spent the majority of the day hiking, chatting and stopping to enjoy the breathtaking views. One of my favorites was looking south and seeing Mt Washington as a tiny mountain way off in the distance (could see the smoke from the Cog train as it went up also) and the continuing panoramic to Madison and on to the other peaks recently crossed. It was magnificent! I'm excited for those folks climbing Mt Washington today. The views had to be awesome! Tomorrow is expected to be the same but hotter. Something like 100* if you can believe that one. Strange weather these days.   I won't bore you with all the little tidbits about today's walk in the sense of telling you that it went UP. You already know that. In this case the first four miles were UP. Not a horrible UP but UP nonetheless. Along the way, Coffee and I enjoyed a break atop Mt Hayes (2555'), a picture moment on Cascade Mountain (2630') with Mt Washington et al in the background, Page Pond (2220') where the AT actually crosses over a beaver dam, a snack on Wocket Ledge (2300') overlooking who knows what, Dream Lake (2650'), and Moss Pond (2190') before arriving here at Gentian Pond (2165'), another beautiful pond. It's been an awesome hike. All made perfect by acceptable terrain (some rocks, lots of roots but both livable), great weather and fabulous company. How could it possibly get any better than that?   Well I'll tell you how. Coffee and I finally caught up to Gutsy to find her hiking along with someone else. (Ahhh... thrown over once again for someone else.) While Coffee was attempting to surprise her it was me that was surprised instead. As we were all gathering to hug, greet or whatever, her hiking partner bee lined straight for me. It took a moment for me to realize that this person coming straight at me was... Don Quixote of 2001! Another hiker out to finish what was interrupted two years ago!   Don and I met back somewhere near the beginning of our Grand Adventures. He was somewhat hiking with his son, Tapeworm, at the time. Unfortunately Don had a few problems along the way and finally had to call it quits. As a matter of fact, his last day on the trail was the day I came off with the busted femur. The trail angel Del Scheterly had picked me up, drove the 65 miles back to Roanoke, dropped me at the hospital, picked up Don, delivered him to the bus station, and returned to the hospital to tell me Don had gone. Neither of us knew that that day was to be pretty much our last for some time to come. Well anyway, he's back and hiking the good hike. It is so great to see him! He looks good and is the same sweet man I met two years ago. I'm looking forward to catching up with him over the next several days. Looks like we'll have the opportunity to do so since his planned schedule is the same as mine. Pretty cool!   Gutsy and I are tenting but also present at the shelter with Don and Coffee are three SOBOs. All very excited about having just started their second state. With 286.1 miles under their belt they're still looking a little green and wanting to discuss gear so it was fun chatting with them. They're still in the "newbie" stage and have tons of questions. It was a sharing experience for all of us. We talked to them about gear and they told us what's ahead. Lots of good laughs tonight. Awesome!   From the shelter you have an unobscured view of the stars above and the mountain across. Even though the moon is just a day or two past full we're all still hoping to see a few leftover Perseid meteors tonight. As I sit here I can see the moon coming up and it is an almost perfect round soft orange ball floating in the sky. Gorgeous! There are so many stars out and unobscured that it's hard to recognize even the most obvious of constellations. It is so great! You can't help but love days like this one. Or at least I can't. I'm betting the same works for you. Wuhuu!   Okay, ok, ok... I'll calm down here soon. To help do so I believe I should shut this down and lay here and appreciate the twinkling sky above. No rain awning tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the meteors but even without them it's been worth the day¢s journey. Arduous or not, I have faith that tomorrow's will be the same.   Okay, really, enough said. You go look for a falling star and I'll lay here and do the same. Remember to make a wish on each one you see. I have lots of wishes so I'm hoping for many. We'll chat again tomorrow as always. Sleep well. Wuhuuu!BSandTs: nada!AandPs: a touch sore directly behind the kneecap when squatting, getting up from a sit or steep descents. Nothing major.MandGs: can't today!Critter count: 1x black hornet pulling a paralyzed bee back to its cave, 2x red squirrels, and Gutsy saw a Moose cow with a calf -- awesome! Does that count for me?