Date: 2003-09-18
From: Garfield Ridge Campsite

To: Zealand Falls Hut
Miles today: 9.7

Another fabu day in the Whites!! And we almost did 10 miles today...woo-hoo! I didn't sleep well through the night, though. I was listening to the radio before I went to sleep...It was weird, 'cause I was getting VT stations and ME stations, but no NH stations! Anyway, getting to sleep wasn't that difficult. Something woke me early in the morning, though (found out later it was a moose), and I got up to go to the bathroom. When I tried to get back to sleep, however, it eluded me. My mind started racing about how we were going to make it to Mt. Washington in time to get our maildrops...I don't know when I finally got back to sleep, but the amount of sleep wasn't enough. Oh, well...had breakfast in bag, then got up and picked trash for my stay. Big Bird thinks it'll be a real resume builder. I said goodbye to Kate, and she said she'd see us on the Trail. We started out at 9, down a steep descent. We were creeping along when Kate came cruising down the Trail. Grant!ed, this is her territory and she had a smaller pack than me, but I felt the inferior hiker. She gave me a hug and wished me well...it was great to meet her! She is awesome! We continued to wend our way down the mountain. We were planning on stopping at Galehead Hut for soup, and figured it would take about 2 hours or so to get there. The hike was nice...only a few rock scrambles to start out with. And the weather was perfect for hiking...partly sunny and breezy. We got to the hut a bit after 11, just as the soup of the day, French onion, was getting ready. We had gotten our first round, with some great crusty bread, when Big Bird saw someone at the window...Laffy Taffy and JJ! I ran out to give her a hug. Truly, every day I see her is a good day. They came in and joined us for soup...supposedly bottomless, but for the second time, they ran out. We ate all the baked goods that they had, and drank Tang-colored water and hot tea while we caught up. They had staye!d at Greenleaf Hut last night (a hut I would never go to...it's 1.1 miles off the Trail), and were planning on going to Zealand Hut tonight. I thought that might be a good idea, as we were attempting to do 14 today, and we hadn't made a huge dent in the mileage yet. We waited at Galehead to find out whether or not the post office would be open on Saturday (it should be), so didn't start hiking again till 1:30. We definitely weren't doing 14 miles today. The view from the top of Twin's north peak was incredible...we could look back on all we had hiked yesterday, as well as look forward to the Presidentials, with Mt. Washington getting ever nearer. The rest of the hike today was relatively easy, but it seemed to take forever. I'm sure a lot of it was because I was tired already, but I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Laffy and JJ were already here at the hut when we got in...they had passed us on the Trail. We all are doing work-for-stay...we had the most wonderful dinner: chicken dijon, rice, veggies, soup and fresh bread. We'll !get breakfast here, too, then do clean-up afterwards. The "croo" here seems really nice, and is treating us well, which doesn't always happen with thru-hikers and hut croos. I have had a nice time chatting with a couple of the day hikers who are also staying here. It's now lights out time, though, and I'm pooped! Till tomorrow...sweet dreams of gorgeous mountains!