Date: 2006-08-06
From: Crawford Notch, NH

To: Mt Garfield, NH
Miles today: 9.9

I woke up at 5am and had lots to do.I didn't even write my journal entry last night because I was so tired.I put on a pot of coffee and then posted my journal entry when I was done writing it.It took a while to get organized and packed up for our walk today.When I finally got everything I needed in my backpack, we went to Munroe's Family Restaurant for breakfast.They were really busy, so we ended up being there for about an hour, but it was worth it.I had three French toast, 2 eggs over easy, homefries, toast and more coffee. :-)))I also ordered a couple egg, ham and cheese muffins to pack out for dinner tonight on the trail.We took Mrs Gorp's car to the Crawford Notch trailhead and parked it.We talked to Mara, Rock Dancer and Boulder for a while. They are still set up doing trail magic for the hikers.We left there and drove my truck over to Franconia Notch and parked at that trailhead.It was noon by the time we started walking on the Pemi Trail, heading for the AT.That took 15 minutes, then we headed north on the AT and up...a long up to Liberty Springs Tentsite.Mrs Gorp had told a family that there wasn't a trail to the Flume, but we came to a trail that went to the Flume, so she dropped her pack and went back and told them.I kept walking up the mountain.I stopped at Liberty Spring and made some Gatorade with the cold spring water, then drank a bottle of plain water and ate a snack.I was sweating lots on the way up, so I felt I needed all that water.Mrs Gorp showed up about 5 minutes after I got there.She ate a small snack and hiked on ahead of me.We had already climbed 2,500 feet up to Liberty Spring, and we still had another 1,200 feet up to the summit of Lafayette.A short while after I left the spring, I passed two overnight hikers that were going my way.The one guy asked if I was a thru hiker and I said that I was.He asked when I left Springer and I told him I left in March.The other guy asked how many miles I walked, but the first guy answered and said about 1,800 miles.I walked on without saying what I've really been up to...guess I'm getting this northbound thing down pretty good. :-)))I laughed to myself when I got away from them because I was thinking that they must be thinking...holy smokes, he's fat now, wonder what he looked like when he started this hike. :-)))I was sweating on the way up to Liberty, but when I got above treeline, I could feel the cool air and the breeze dried me off in a hurry.I caught up to Mrs Gorp and we summited Little Haystack Mountain, then Mt Lincoln, then the highest mountain for the day...Mt Lafayette at a mile high.We ran into the two sobo's we've been seeing for the last week or two...Grit and then Don whose trail name is Wargeogee. That name has something to do with Indians.A small plane towed a glider plane and the glider came by us a few times. I got some nice photos of that with these beautiful mountains in the background.We sat down on the Lafayette summit and ate dinner.I had my two sandwiches I packed out, the rest of a bag of popcorn and a coke I carried up.We got on the side away from the wind, but was still in the sun and it felt great out.There was nothing but blue skies everywhere.We could see Killington over in Vermont and Mt Washington in the other direction.I kept looking around and thinking how fortunate I am to be in such a beautiful place today.We left after spending about an hour on Lafayette. It was about a 1,500 foot descent to Garfield Pond and then an 800 foot climb at the end of the day.We got to Mt Garfield and planned on sleeping on the summit.I got all set up to cowboy camp, but the wind kept getting stronger and stronger.I looked over at Mrs Gorp and all I could see was a nose sticking out of her sleeping bag.I knew that it would get much colder by morning, so I went and found a place to set up the tents so we could get out of the wind.That was right at sundown and I got some nice photos of the pink sky and a 3/4 moon coming up.I also got some nice shots of the changing colors in the mountains.I'm in my tent now and I'm nice and warm. I can hear the strong wind in the trees.