Date: 2006-08-09
From: Hexacuba Shelter

To: NH 25 (Glencliff, NH)
Miles today: 14.7

Last night was great for camping. The temperature was nice and cool but not too cold, the skies were clear, and the moon was still very full. I ended up camping without my rain fly on my tent and periodically through the night would wake up and look at the stars. I woke up and started moving around 7:00 am in preparation for the day. After breakfast and packing up we set off for Mt. Cube about a mile ahead. Shasta was feeling a little better this morning and was trying to muster up enough energy to make it to NH-25 the road into Glencliff, NH before tonight. The climb up Mt. Cube challenged her weakness this morning but she fought it like a champion. The last quarter of a mile to the ridge of Cube revealed some great views, which helped her push to the top. The summit wasn¢t above the tree line by any means but due to all the rocks the trees were thinned out significantly from the areas below the summit. Yes, it was still early in the day but at the summit Donkey and Hot Springs stopped to play a game of Yhatzee. The unfortunate thing about the game was one of the dice was rolled a little too hard, it slid across the rocks, went down into a deep crack, and disappeared. That really screwed up a good game so early in the morning but wasn¢t a show stopper because they finished the game using the four remaining die. Down the backside of Cube we crossed several streams at Brackett Brook that provided much better drinking water than the source at the Hexacuba Shelter last night. Here lately any chance you get to take advantage of good water you do so we filled up and made our way to Ore Hill Shelter for lunch. The shelter last night was interesting due to its shape but this one had a unique privy with a mid-evil theme. Instead of a door it had a draw grate that supposedly rose up to give a little privacy. My thinking is the last thing you want to do is fool around with raising a gate when you have to go. Not having a lot of time we pushed on toward Glencliff because H-bomb was rushing to make it to the post office before they close in hopes that Charles had sent her a letter. On the way we crossed paths with a south bounder named Buddha just after crossing NH-25C. He told us about the hostel in Glencliff and suggested that we stay for the night because the next section of trail north of NH-25 had very limited camping. We crossed a landmark of just 400 miles to go to Katahdin when we emerged onto NH-25. The hostel was just a short way down the road so we decided to walk instead of going through the efforts of hitching a ride. Shortly we were standing in front of the Hikers Welcome Hostel and being greeted by a guy named Jeff but he goes by Ffej. He showed us around and offered us a place to stay in the bunkhouse but we all decided to pitch our tents. They had created a nice tenting area lined out in rocks on the backside of the property and with the weather being so nice we just couldn¢t stay indoors. The hostel was a cedar sided cabin attached to the old homestead. Downstairs was a fridge, stove, table, hiker box with supplies, hundreds of movies with a TV, while upstairs was the bunkhouse. Out back was a fire pit, grilling area, and a big, white circus tent set up with showers and toilets. H-bomb rushed down to the post office while the rest of us settled in and checked out the place. Since there was a grill we put a list together for the grocery store and worked out a ride to town with a guy named Fat Chaps. He helped at the hostel and was a riet. This guy was much bigger that I and I had a very difficult time looking at him and calling him Fat Chaps thinking that he would beat me down at any mention to the name. We pilled into his van and to town we went. Unlike most trips into town straight in and straight out he gave us a driving tour to show us the landmarks. One of them was a huge defense missile and another was a view of Mt. Moosilauke, which was on our agenda to summit tomorrow. The grocery store was really a convenience store but had everything that we needed to grill out. Fresh vegetables, hot dogs, buns, chips, and baked beans started the list. We settled our bill and returned to the hostel to start cooking. It was nearly nightfall so we built a fire in the fire pit and enjoyed the evening grilling and sharing stories with other hikers staying at the hostel. The most unusual was the skunk that lived in the compost bin there at the hostel. Its not everyday you have a pet skunk living in your back yard. Tonight at Hiker Welcome Hostel; Jangles, Baro, H-bomb, Shasta, Donkey, Hot Springs, Chardonnay, Low Gear, Ffej, Fat Chaps, and a several other hikers.