Date: 2012-05-24
From: Firewarden's Cabin and Fire Tower

To: Hexacuba Shelter
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: scattered clouds

We woke at dawn to thick fog, fell back asleep. Packed up our gear and moseyed out the door. No big miles for us today. First few miles were mostly downhill gently over rocks, roots and bogs. Enjoyed lunchtime on sitting on low,small rocks next to a babbling brook where we watered up some more. Humid and getting warmer as the day went on. Hoisted our packs and hiked on, discovering and crossing a gorgeous, fast-moving wide stream via a new steel-girded bridge. So glad to not have to ford or rock jump this raging stream! The trail maintainers even built a little bench on the far side. Gee, if we'd known, we would've taken our lunch break here in this pretty spot instead of the other area where we had to scout for rocks that weren't surrounded by abundant tall poison ivy and even poison oak and poison sumac. (I've been wearing my gaiters since mile one out of Hanover, even tho they retain body heat because of the everpresent toxic plants brushing our legs trailside). So far the only big differences between the AT in GA and NH are that evergreens outnumber deciduous trees up north, bogs are at all elevations, and the NH mountains are far steeper and boulder covered. Smells up north are much better thanks to the evergreens. And no traffic noise on the AT in NH(I-81 rumble is everpresent in VA). Scat up here is mostly moose and that from mammal-eating critters(coyote,wolf, fisher cat). We see lots of moose tracks and cat paw prints(we've heard fisher cats are in this territory--they have a reputation for being aggressively defensive of their kills--hope we don't see any. Lots of dandelions wave at us as we hike.    Crossed a gravel road then hiked up the longest 1.3 miles climb that we can ever remember. Maybe the sign at the road that said we had 1.3 miles to go before getting to the shelter was way wrong. Who knows. No choice but to go up. Had sun-dried rocky ledges where foot placement was more reliable than it would've been had the rock sheets been wet. Had a nice(not!) precipice of huge boulders with a long view out and down to deal with. Take It Easy had to give me a boost when my legs couldn't stretch far enough. Straightened up from that and noticed that I have a bright red speckley rash on both thighs. At least it's not itchy...yet. Also had some other overlook opportunities. Most were at sheer dropoffs. Makes going slowly the sensible thing to do. Wouldn't want to be stumbling around hastily in the fog up here.    Encountered a woman southbounder who said she got dropped off at a forest road north of here and is heading to the gravel road below to get picked up by her husband to go back to the resort where they're staying. Sad to say, she didn't offer us an invitation to join them at their resort and restaurant meal. Wouldn't it have been marvelous to have that to add to highlights of our NH adventure?! She told us we only have about 0.2 miles to the shelter. She also pointed out her dirt covered shirt from a bad fall she took, saying she was lucky not to have gotten seriously hurt. Lucky her. She survived the fall intact and gets to recover at her timeshare resort.   Up,up, up, that last 0.2 miles to the shelter we went. Perched high on the mountainside with a glimpse of mountain ranges and the rapidly passing storm clouds. One thing we've remarked on daily is how fast clouds, mostly heavy gray ones, soar by in the upper winds. Lots of weather changes up here. Thunder rumbles, sometimes bringing rain, sometimes just passing by.    We settled in, spreading out our gear, nursed my several foot blisters and mosquito bites. Looks like my rash isn't spreading. Good, but Take It Easy's elbows look like he's rested them on porcupines they are so riddled with red punctures from the mosquitoes. His don't seem to swell up and itch him like mine do me. He's tough. That's good.    The air chilled, drawing a close to the relentless torture by mosquitoes. Enjoyed our electrolyte drinks and a little bit of food(daytime heat continues to sap our appetites).As darkness approached up walked Chris, as section hiker who's out for 5 days, heading south to Hanover where he'll meet up with a Dartmouth College friend. Before turning in, he told us his tales of bear cub sightings in the Smokies. We chatted away after sundown(some there might say that I did most of the chatting, but as you can tell by my succinct journal entries, I don't have any genes for loquaciousness!-ha ha!).    Today's sights were: Lots of chipmunks, trillium both white and burgundy blossomed, along with the usual scat piles(lots of carnivore scat on top of large rocks).   It's chilly and breezy. Rain is drizzling. Time to cocoon in our sleeping bags.