Date: 2015-08-04
From: Grafton Notch

To: East B Hill rd - Andover
Miles today: 10.3

8/4, Pine Ellis Lodge Andover, 10.3My rear end spent a lot of rime in the air today! Fortunately it was not from falling on the freshly soaked rocks and trails. Rather, it was from picking the unbelievable amount of blueberries we encountered on the trail today., but I am ahead of myself.As I looked at my watch and saw it was 5:15 I was still hearing rain fall on my tent. Resigning myself to packing wet I began to prepare things only to discover I would need to visit the latrine before moving too much. I donned my Crocs and rain jacket and opened the tent fly to discover that the raindrops hitting my tent were "tree rain" which is the rain blown off the forest canopy with the slightest hint of a breeze. Tree rain can last a couple hours after the rain stops so I was treated to a clear sky as I crossed the parking lot to the privy. Back at my tent I was able to pack under a nearby tree away from the falling tree rain and keep everything dry except for the obviously soaked tent, and it was soaked! I dried off as much water as I could with a chamois type rag bit it still felt a couple pounds heavier than when it is dry. We noticed another hiker had joined us during the night, Trudge, whom we have sheltered with on and off for a couple weeks. He had set up in the heavy rain and was pretty wet throughout. We all hoped the clear skies would hold until we reached the sunny summit of our first climb. We headed out around 6:45 and stopped to fill water at the first stream shortly thereafter. At that point our climb began ascending 2300 feet over the next four miles. At this point we actually look at that as a manageable climb, even somewhat pleasant, except for the slippery rocks and roots from all the rain last night. We reached the summit at 10:30, making real good time and took a break to dry out a bit. The temperature was mid 60's all day, full sun by 10 am and very little breeze. The only downside to the weather was the high level of humidity making us sweat so profusely we were soaked all day. After summiting Baldpate mountain we called to secure a room at the Pine Ellis Lodge for tonight and arranged a 3 pm pick up at the parking lot. That gave us 4 1/2 hours to cover the remaining six miles, most of which were downhill. We headed off Baldpate to the Fry Notch lean to for lunch. At the lean to we caught up with Trudge who had passed us by as we rested on top of Baldpate, and Union Jill who had spent the night at the Baldpate lean to and wondered why we hadn't arrived there. It is typical that we express concern for each other and keep tabs on who is where by talking to other hikers. We all lunched together but Union Jill and Trudge set out before us. Union Jill was headed for the same hostel as we were, but Trudge was going to hike past the road and set camp up the far hill.We hiked on toward our 3 pm pickup at 12:30, with 4.5 miles to go. In order to make that tine the trail would need to cooperate, and w would need to hike strong. I hiked on ahead and decided to move as quickly as I could. The trail was relatively cooperative so I passed Union Jill and Trudge on my way and was at the pick up point at 2:30. Union Jill arrived shortly after, then Trudge. By this time the telltale rumbles of an afternoon storm were arriving and Trudge wondered if there might be room at the hostel for him. Our shuttle then arrived and the driver was sure here would be room. We loaded the car and decided to wait for IB and JP who couldn't be that far behind. It started raining so we got into the car to wait. At 2:50 IB popped out of the trail head and at exactly 3:00 JP joined us. The shuttle provided a free lemonade to each and we were off to the hostel 8 miles away in Andover. We have settled in for the evening, showered, laundered and ate dinner at the local diner with the only glitch in the plan being my mail drop did not arrive. I would just let it come whenever at this point, bit there are meds in this one so I need to retrieve it at some point. Kathy and I decided it would be best if she just sent me the final box for five days from now, and we will have the hostel bounce this one back to Ohio. At the very worst we can have the hostel open the box, mail back the meds and distribute the food amongst the hikers. Maybe a little trail magic for someone else!Tomorrow we hike out at 7:00 planning 17 miles to a shelter, over terrain with a couple of short, steep climbs and descents but largely more forgiving than we have seen in two weeks. Again, time will tell.Silverback