Date: 2008-09-06
From: Galehead Hut

To: Conway N.H.
Miles today: 14.2

I woke up early, had breakfast in the dining area then stepped outside preparing to leave, it was just after 06:00. I felt good about doing my work for stay, not only was it a neat addition to the trip but it happened with such style.Sprite & Freckles had arrived yesterday in late afternoon and stealth camped nearby. They got off to an earlier start and were already gone. The couple Peter & Pat along with their friends Cheryl & Alice were now on the porch as well. We beagn talking for a while and took some pictures.Finally at about 6:30 I said goodbye and headed down the path I thought was the trail? Witin a couple of minutes the trail began to go downward, very steep downward. I think I'm suppose to be climbing, something wasn't right?There were plenty of boot & treking pole tracks but the trail felt wrong.The fact that I hadn't seen a blaze didn't help either. Although, this was nothing new as there have been many areas for awhile now that are not blazed regularly. I have gone up to 40 minutes between blazes.With a growl, I turned and started climbing back up from which I just came. I haven't carried any maps since Virginia, so I returned to the hut, looked for the right map to view and soon found the trail.This blunder had cost me nearly an hour. Plus the fact that S&F had left before I started the first time, and now I have Mt.Garfield, Mt.Lafayette and Mt.Lincoln ahead of me to climb. I don't think I will be able to make up the time, but I'll try.Sometimes you have to take the not so good, with the good, as there is never anything bad on the AT. Before I reached the top of the first climb of Mt.Garfield, heavy clouds came rolling in and soon had covered everything in a thick fog. The wind was blowing with periodic gusts that were checking to see if I was of steady foot?It was a complete white out. The large rock cairns appearred as darker shades of grey in the fog. Following the trail was by getting the general direction from one cairn to another, then watching your feet. I was wet from the heavy clouds and then it started to rain, then after a little while it rained even harder. In fact it rained the rest of the dayand never stopped once. The combination of cool temperature, wind and rain had me cold in a hurry. There was nothing to do but keep going.It wasn't until I eventually went below tree-line before I could actually see something beyond 20 feet. I did run into several people, Wavepool, Snacks, Snap, Freestyle, Mountain Spice, Jeff, Hornswaggle and Savanah. Being concious of time, our conversations were brief, I had to keep moving.I found a small waterproof case hanging in a tree. Further inspection revealed that it was a Geo-Cache. I left it alone and later told Butterfly Moon & Firesocks about it when we soon passed. Perhaps they will discover treasure?By the time I reached Mt. Lafayette I was out of water. The flow valve on the mouth piece of my bladder hose was broken and leaking. I had no way of knowing since I was soaked all day.The trail had a lot of ups and downs and was extremely slick, there were many close calls from slipping and falling down. Eventually I made it to the car and then drove to our designated rendezvous point. As I arrived, Freckles had her tent set up to shield from the heavy rainfall and further exposure.Although they did their best to hide it, to say they were PISSED would be an under statement. I was nearly 3 hours late, they were wet & cold and had no extra food. Back at the condo, we were glad to be under roof. This weather was courtesy of Hurricane Hannah and our area was taking a pounding. The forecast was the same for tomorrow, however, as good fortune seems to find us, Medium Rare whom was staying in Gorham, invited us to join him tomorrow for lunch and a Zero.That's sounds like a good plan to me. It was a nasty day and lasted all through the night. The wind woke me up several times.