Date: 2006-08-24
From: Beaver Brook Shelter

To: Glencliff - Hiker's Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 7.9

Waking up to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains is the best way to wake up I have found yet. No noisey alarm clocks, no loud city traffic, just the view and the sounds of nature. Its amazing how we all wake up at about the same time and all have the same idea to capture the moment on film. It is very cold and I don't want to get out of my sleeping bag. I didn't sleep that great either - tossed and turned and had the most bizarre dreams ever about ex-boyfriends. I don't know what I will do when I get down south toward fall and winter about the cold. I hope that I harden up by then or else finishing the trail in a timely manner is going to be a stretch for me.The nobos are anxious to get down Moosilauke. This is their first real taste of the Whites and their first real big mountains in hundreds of miles. I try and calm their nerves about the hike in front of them today, but I guess some things you just have to experience for yourself. They all leave the shelter before 8 and I follow about thirty minutes later. Climbing up to the top of Moosilauke is not bad at all. I am reminded of what Greenbean told me about never trusting anything a nobo tells you about the trail. I don't know why they thought this was hard. Anyway, I get above treeline and the view is beautiful It is 360 degree views and mountains everywhere. Its not as spectacular as some views in ME and earier in the Whites because this view includes signs of civilization - roads, towns, smaller mountains, but still beautiful. Heading down the ridge, I stop to check my guide and map and find out that this is the last time I will be above tree line on the entire trail. I guess the mountains in the south, the balds in TN and NC are a different kind of 360 degree view. But I have a hard time believing that Clingman's Dome in the Smokies, the highest point on the trail, higher than Mt. Washington is not above treeline. I'll have to do some research on this.I enjoy the view one last time from a side trail to the summit of South Moosilauke. Then its all downhill into Glencliff. I meet a section hiker coming down the mountain and she offers me a place to stay and slackpacking when I get to MA. We end up hiking together for the rest of the way to town and find out that we are both middle school teachers but got to teaching after leaving math/science related careers and both are uncertain about what the future holds for us professionally. She's hiking pretty fast as she just has a daypack, but I keep up with her and I would propbably say its the fastest I've hiked in a long time. We get to the first road crossing and her mom is there in the car.   For Courtenay's birthday, she asked that her mom shuttle her around the AT so she can work on completing her section hike. Her mom slackpacks me and Courtenay the last mile or so to the next road crossing. Then Courtenay, having finished way before she thought she would continues another five miles and her mom gives me a lift to the hostel. Both of them give me their phone numbers so I can contact them further down the trail. It was so enjoyable to have somone to talk to while hiking today!At the hostel are Combat who is taking a few zeros to let an infection in his foot heal and a nobo E-rock who is zeroing to let another hiker catch up with him. I walk across the street to the PO which is in someone's house if that gives you an idea of how tiny this town is and pick up my maildrops. Two boxes of homemade goodies and a package of food I sent myself from Gorham. Thanks so much Karen for the snickerdoodles and magazine - yes, they were still yummy! Thanks Grandma for the teacakes and bags of chips. So nice to have a taste of home. Now can someone figure out how to send me some Mexican food? I hear I won't get good Mexican until Demascus - that's like five states away!!!!!!Combat and I get a ride into town for some lunch. Bacon cheeseburger and french fries - delicious! Back at the hostel and I read my emails, then take a shower. I'm hoping that other hikers come in so I can share the expense of the laundry. It's open mike night at The Twig, the same restaurant in Warren five miles down the road that Combat and I had lunch. Combat, E-Rock, two new nobos, Mike and Catch-up, and I head back to town for more food, adult beverages, and entertainment. Being a small town, this is the only joint in town and it is packed. Mike and I walk up to the store for a few items and then join the rest of our group. I order the nachos this time. Not quite the Mexican I am craving, but good enough. In fact, its more than I can eat so I'll have some for lunch tomorrow. The music is okay, but there is only one performer, a fiddler, that is really worth listening to. Plays great bluegrass, another thing I miss out here on the trail - good music. I wish that I had invested time and money into an mp3 player before I left. Oh, well. Back at the hostel, a friend of the caretaker here is Bag of Tricks, a former thru-hiker himself. He shares some beer and ice cream and funny music with us thru-hikers. Actually, the music is "guy" humor as it involves a man's obsession with female anatomy and he does do the courteous thing and asks me if I would be offended. I let him know that I lived with this sort of thing for three years during my last relationship. Then finally, bluegrass is put into the stereo. I hop on the internet to work on updating my journals, and the fellows turn to watching a Hooters bikini contest on cable. Nothing quite like being the only female in a world of testosterone. We are sharing stories and it turns out that Bag of Tricks and I have met before at Trail Days, but more coincidentally, he knows my ex very well as they hiked sobo in '99 together.   Actually, he knows bro-in-law, Greenbean, and Magnet and Wicked. Its a very small world, so those of you who know Bag of Tricks, he may be calling you to catch up. Well, its way past hiker midnight as it is after normal midnight, so its off to bed for me. I will update more journals tomorrow but will have to wait until Hanover to update my photos as I don't have my camera cable with me.