Date: 2014-09-04
From: Fred's Place Again

To: Garfield Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

Up again at 6:00, I won't be able to sleep in until this hike is finished. Fred made us coffee while I got my pack ready. It will be about 10 pounds heavier today because everything is going with me. I have been leaving some clothes, first aid supplies, electronics, and repair gear back at Fred's. We stopped down the street for a bagel sandwich and coffee then out to Franconia Notch. It was the home of The Old Man of the Mountain before he fell during a spring storm in May 2003. He is on the back of the New Hampshire state quarter if you want to see what he looked like. We were hiking about 8:40, the first climb is Mt Liberty. It takes you up about 2800 feet in 2.3 miles. Then we had Mt. Lincoln 5089 feet high and Mt Lafayette, 5291 feet. We were up on Mt. Lincoln by 12:30, we have not seen a single NOBO today. I think there is a good size bubble of hikers about a day ahead of No Rush and I. We met Tin Lizzy on top, she works at the Mt. Washington Observatory on top of Mt. Washington. She was out for the day with her two dogs Penny and Pepper, it was pretty obvious that she loved the mountains. We had about a two mile walk above treeline today and the weather was perfect for climbing, cool and less humid. The skies are clear and the views above treeline were stunning today. We had planned on getting water at Greenleaf Hut but it is 1.1 miles downhill off the trail. I guess we will hike a little farther before we get water. We had one more big climb up Mt. Garfield (4500feet) and our legs were feeling it. We did find a little trickle of water in a stream to get enough water until we got to the shelter tonight. There was an old foundation from a fire tower on top and we would have liked to spend the night there but we needed water so we headed down off the mountain. There were two Gray Jays on top, I thought they were only out west. It was some steep drops until we got to the side trail for the shelter. We decided to stay at the shelter even though it would cost us $8, the AMC keeps a caretaker there to look after the shelter and campsites. I jokingly asked the caretaker Jerome if I could do a work for stay and suprisingly he said yes. They needed someone to do some chores for the compost privy but I gladly payed the $8. The caretaker was pretty cool though, he was from France. He was done working tomorrow and was planning on hiking the Long Trail In Vermont. The Garfield Ridge Shelter was really neat. They had taken two trees, one was in the shape of a Y and the other was in the shape of an H. They used them for support post on each side of the opening to the shelter. There were some nice people staying in the shelter. A young couple from Canada, A young man from NYC that gave me some extra trail snacks because he would finish hiking tomorrow and Dos Equis. The Connecticut Kid and his wife were tenting nearby. They through hiked in 1993. When they reached Baxter State Park on September 25 Katahdin was covered in snow. They had to wait until October 4th to summit. It was only a 10 mile day but my legs felt like I hiked 20 miles. It felt good to crawl into a warm sleeping bag for the night.