Date: 2004-08-17
From: Franconia Notch (Woodstock Inn, No Woodstock)

To: Garfield Ridge Campsite
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Above TreelineMileage Countdown: -362.4Today started out on a sad note. At breakfast I looked up and saw C'NN coming in. Since I knew they were 3 or 4 days ahead of me, I was surprised and called them over. They have decided to get off the Trail. They had found that they were getting worn out, and with the recent poor weather decided to pack it in for the year. Since they have walked everything from Gorham to Katahdin before this year, that leaves only about 75 miles to complete the Trail, which they will do later, after they get well rested. I was sad to see them go, but am sure I will see them on my next adventure.Most of the day was spent on Franconia Ridge, at over 4000'. The climb up was strenuous, but involved nothing challenging. I was grateful for that after yesterday's experience.When I got to the ridge I left the Trail briefly to climb Mt Liberty, one of the NH 4000' peaks I hadn't yet climbed, which was only a quarter mile off the Trail.Then, back onto the Trail to follow the Franconia Ridge north, coming first to Little Haystack Mtn. Just before the summit I came to a rocky place, just at treeline, with a view back over where I had just walked. Looking back almost two miles to Mt Liberty, it filled me with awe to realize that I had walked that whole stretch in just over an hour. It gave me a big picture of the scope of my walk that I normally don't get walking through the woods where you can only see hundreds of feet in each direction. I was so moved that I dropped my pack and had lunch at the spot.After lunch I went fully above treeline. I was above treeline briefly on both Moosilauke and So Kinsman. But those were only single peaks. Little Haystack was at the beginning of a ridge walk that was over treeline for over two miles, going over two more peaks, Lincoln and Lafayette, both over 5000'. Not only could you see where you were going and where you had been, which somehow made the walking easier. But the air was very clear and you could see dozens of 4000' mountains all around, from Moosilauke where I had been 2 days earlier, to Mt Washington where I will be in 3 days, as well as many more that I have climbed over the last 2 years, and a few I have yet to climb. Boonie summed it up best when he said that the 1800 miles we have walked to get here were worth it for the impact of the views from the top of the ridge.But it was all downhill from there, both literally and figuratively. Within minutes of descending below treeline I began to notice how tired I was. I realized that the stress of walking over the Kinsmans in the rain with a deadline had taken its toll on me, exascerbated by the fact that I had limited my sleep last night to 4 1/2 hrs in order to do town chores and my journal. And I was feeling a letdown from the exhileration of walking the ridge above all that mountainous beauty.But there was still one more big mountain to go over, Mt Garfield. Since it is not as high as the 4 Ls on the ridge, I guess I underestimated it. I was planning to get to Galehead Hut, only 7 mi from Lafayette, in a little over 4 hours. But in 3 hrs I had not even gotten over Garfield. The trail down Lafayette and then up Garfield were not as difficult as the Kinsman up and down, but were nearly so. And with a fully loaded pack the going was much slower.By the time I finally reached Garfield, I had decided not to try to make Galehead, but rather to stay in the shelter at the Garfield Ridge campsite.Here with me tonight are Tree Frog, Palm Tree, Boonie, Mouse, Doc, and SoBo, Walmart.