Date: 2008-08-07
From: Galehead Hut, NH

To: Twin Mountains, NH
Miles today: 0.0

Since yesterday¢s entry was so long, I didn¢t get a chance to write about a fewthings I learned last nite @ the hut, from the croo. After they introducedthemselves, we could ask questions. I was interested in finding out about theresupply and those crazy wooden frames they use to pack out/in things. Atleast at this hut, someone (maybe more than 1 person) loads up a wooden framewith about 30 lbs of trash. The trail out is a total of 4.6 miles (I knowthis, because this was how A.M. and I hiked out today¢¦on the Gale River Trail,which counted for zero AT miles, but I did hike today). They get down to theparking area and a truck shows up at a planned time to collect the trash andgive them their new supplies that have to be packed back up to the hut. Theycarry approximately 50 lbs of supplies back up. Now folks¢¦I don¢t care howflat the trail may be, that¢s pretty exhausting especially wearing somethingthat is not designed with any sort of suspension. These wooden frames hang offtheir shoulders and do not attach at the waist or anything. Intense huh?Oh, I also learned from the croo member who gave the talk about the weather lastnite that way way back when people started becoming curious of these mountains,they saw the tops of them were white (with snow) but they didn¢t know it wassnow but that¢s how they got their name of the White Mountains. I love thatsort of useless information.Lights out and quiet hours is at 9:30 p.m. I do like that the huts are off thegrid, and it makes me wonder, if they can build these huts in these totallyrugged and remote places in these mountains¢¦and have them totally dependentupon solar/wind energy with propane as a back up, why can¢t we build our ownvery accessible communities like this? It¢s a shame really.I had a horrible time going to sleep. I drank 1/2 a cup of coffee w/dessert andthink because I hadn¢t had caffeine in a few days, it gave me quite the jolt ofenergy. I layed there and layed there and then the bunk started hurting myhips and back. My hammock has absolutely ruined me people. I am so freakinsensitive now to bunks and mattresses, Karen and I are joking that we¢ll haveto put eye bolts in the walls at home and sleep in our hammocks.Around 11:30 p.m. I had to get up and grab some extra pillows and blankets andplace them under my hips and back. Not perfect, but it worked good enough andI finally slumbered to sleep sometimes after midnight.So the croo wakes you up at 6:30 a.m. I had seen this big ass bell (about 2feet tall and 1 ft wide) sitting on a shelf and experienced bootcamp flashbackswhere getting woke up suddenly to loud noise really creates anxiety in me. Onlyin bootcamp, you¢re sleeping and in an instant, the lights are flipped on andyou have 2-3 drill instructors yelling at you at the top of their lungs, ¢GETOUT OF BED! HURRY UP! HURRY UP! ¢ and you have approximately 30 seconds toget out of bed, make your bed, get into your footlocker and grab a bag ofvaluables (they have to make sure your stuff is accounted for) and be standingat the position of attention next to your footlocker.So I was horrified the croo would wake us all up with that bell, but luckily, Iwas so wrong. Instead, (I was actually already awake) they all stood in thehallway next to all the bunkroom doors and someone played the guitar while theyall sang a song over and over and over. I looked at A.M. and said, ¢I wonder ifthey keep singing until they see everyone up.¢ We just laughed.So we got up and went out to the dining area where things were set up forbreakfast. We sat down and the meal started at 7:00 a.m. with cream of wheatwith apples, brown sugar, raisins, and cinnamon. See, you have to know thatall of the food at the huts tastes a little odd compared to what most of us areused to. I don¢t know for sure, but I suspect it¢s because they can¢t exactlyhump 20 gallons of milk and butter or olive oil up the mountain, so I believe alot of powdered stuff is used or water is substituted for milk. It¢s just aguess, but the next course was blueberry pancakes and link sausage. Someonesaid they think the pancakes were maybe whole grain. I don¢t know, but theywere certainly a different texture as in extremely dense. The sausage, well¢¦.Ithink it was probably some sort of sausage that wouldn¢t go bad if notrefrigerated, so the texture was also strange.   I think they do have a smallrefrigerator though, because I heard a hut guest asking for her bag of stuff.A.M. said she was feeling much better today and slept well last nite. Duringbreakfast, the croo performs (I feel badly for them¢¦having to act so silly soearly in the morning actually), this little skit about an ¢alpine crocodile¢but the skit serves the purpose of showing you how to fold the blankets on yourbunk, telling you to pack your trash out, and then suggesting you tip the croofor their work. I¢m the most grumpy morning person in the world, so I haddifficulty getting in to the spirit of it all.They read us the weather report¢¦and guess what? MORE FREAKIN RAIN AND STORMS!!Oh my gosh, I can¢t believe the weather has been like this. Locals are alltalking about the fact records have been broken already, that they¢ve neverseen it rain and storm and flood like this, and even the hut croo said it¢sbeen like this for 3 weeks straight and made jokes about how we probably won¢tsee any views¢¦.again.The forecast was for temps in the 40¢s, rain showers, thunderstorms in theafternoon, winds 25 mph with gusts higher. Actually, the forecast is almostidentical for the next few days. Most of the hut guests and anotherthru-hiker, Dayhiker (FL) had decided to hike out of the mountains via the GaleRiver Trail, like A.M. and I were doing. If today ONLY called for rain and nott-storms, I may have asked A.M. if she felt comfortable hiking the 4.6 milesout so I could go ahead and hike the 7 miles to Zealand Hut and then the 2.7miles out, because so many other people were going down the same trail as her,but the t-storm forecast made me change my mind, because much of this hike ishigh in elevation and if I were going to do this, I¢d want to get a super earlystart. So, the original plan stuck.We went back to the bunkroom and got packed up. Nothing really dried muchovernight, but I knew my body heat would warm my damp hiking clothes. I pokedmy head outside and man, it was really warm. It actually felt like it was inthe upper 50¢s, and then I walked over to a clearing and saw a really beautifulsite. It was grey and ominous looking, but the valley right below us was filledwith this solid pure white thick moisture, but it was (for the moment) stuck inthis pocket against the green of the mountains hugging it. It was prettyamazing really. I got a great pic.I went back inside and finished packing up. A.M. and I stepped off around 8:42a.m. I started off in shorts, with my long sleeved shirt on over my shortsleeved shirt, but it took about .5 mile and I was hot, so I was totallycomfortable the rest of the day in my normal summer hiking outfit. We hikedsobo back .6 to the Gale River Trail head and started down. Of course, much ofall of the trails was flooded, just like being in a stream again. We starteddown the Gale River Trail at 9:15 a.m. For just a bit, it was a little lesssteep than the AT back down, but soon, it turned into very very nice trail. Imade the comment I felt like I was back in the mid-atlantic states with such agradual gradient down and many flat places. So this experience of hiking theside trails accessing the 3 huts on this ridge, has led me to formulate atheory about these particular side trails. See, the croo members have to beable to negotiate these trails with very heavy loads, and in general, mostvacationers access the huts via these trails, so they can¢t be OVERLYdifficult. Out of Greenleaf, Galehead, and Zealand Hut access trails, the mostdifficult is Greenleaf, via the Bridal Path Trail. I think this I valuableinformation to know because it can be powerful knowledge to have if you have tobail or escape from potentially dangerous conditions. It gives me moreconfidence in these mountains, so V8¢s plan of doing day hikes has benefited mepsychologically for sure.This 4 mile hike out was really gorgeous and quite easy, named Gale River Trailbecause you hike next to it for much of the time and there were 3 fords, whichI found to be really exciting because obviously the water levels are crazy highdue to all the rain. One section of this trail went through very dense pineforest, but it was young trees, so it felt very safe and cozy. Man, I keptseeing all these great places to stealth camp too (sorry ground dwellers¢¦not somuch for you though).   I was pointing one spot out to A.M. and said, ¢Man, thatwould be a great campsite,¢ and I noticed she didn¢t quite understand. Then Ihad to clarify, ¢Oh, for hammocks.¢ Then she goes (are ya ready for this),¢You know, you might be well on your way to creating another convert tohammocking.¢ Let¢s see, according to my ¢Hanger¢s Convert Manual,¢ (flippingthrough the pages to the time chart) I am a little ahead of the suggestedtimeline for a potential convert to admit this, so I¢ll get another blue staron my convert ribbon for sure.We kept running into people from the hut, which was cool, Linda and her husbandBob (from CT), and another married couple. I did talk to a gentleman thismorning who is involved in an advocacy and social justice program in NYC, and Igot his card. Cool talking to him.So we finally got to our first ford. A.M. opted to just plop across the GaleRiver in her hiking boots, but I was holding out with the believe my shoesweren¢t TOTALLY saturated (wishful thinking) so I changed into my crocs. I¢mstanding there and 3 women came up from the other direction and I looked at oneof them. The roar of the river was so loud you couldn¢t hear anyone across theriver, but she looks at me and her eyes open wide and I read her lips as shepointed to me, ¢I know you! I know you!¢ She totally looked familiar, but Icouldn¢t place her. I got across the river, which went up to my mid-calf andwas very strong, and then she goes, ¢Hey! I know you! We met each other whenyou were hiking in Pennsylvania!¢ OH YES!! It was the woman I met on a rainy,miserable cold day, Carlene, from Vermont! She was just doing a week then, andnow was in NH with two friend, Wendy and Llyn, doing an overnighter in theWhites!Ok, so what ARE the chances of this meeting people? I mean really? Carlene isfrom Vermont, happens to be hiking to the Galehead Hut via the Gale River Trail(out of all the hikes and huts she had to choose from) and A.M. and I happen tomodify our plans and be hiking down this side trail at the same time Carlene iscoming up? So totally amazing to me. We took (another) picture together andjust laughed. Her friends seemed like totally cool women too. They wereheading up to the hut and then were planning on hiking down to the Zealand Huttomorrow.A.M. and I headed on, had a second ford, but this one was more stepping on verylarge slick boulders that had very fast running over them about 3¢ deep.   Ihiked in my crocs for a while, because they had said the fords were closetogether. The 3rd one wasn¢t so close, so I stopped and changed back into myshoes. We kept hiking along and about 10 minutes later we hit the ford. Ichanged again, and this one was the most dangerous for sure. Linda and Bob hadjust gotten across and she said she almost got knocked over. A.M. went firstand then took pics of me crossing. This was the deepest ford I¢ve ever had.It went up to my mid-thigh and I had to be very very careful of my footplacement. I used my hiking poles to feel for the next stable place to step,because you can¢t tell how deep the water is in some places, even though it¢sclear. I finally got to the other side and while stepping on the sand, THEN Ialmost fell! LOLChanged back into my hiking shoes and we headed on. We ran into a group whosaid they¢d left the parking area 27 minutes ago¢¦YIPPY! Karen was going to bethere by 12:30, and we actually would be there right about then. The trail wastotally flat and friendly. I saw the parking area but A.M. and I stopped toread this big warning sign. We looked at the date it was posted, and it was8.7.08¢¦TODAY!! The ranger had just hung it, warning hikers of the extremelydangerous conditions with the river flooding and high water due to theabnormally high amounts of rain. We took pics of this, because let¢s face it,most of these signs are hung 3 years ago and aren¢t even applicable any longer,but this was just another indicator to us of the insanely treacherous and shittyhiking conditions we¢ve faced in these mountains.Then, I got to the parking area and saw A.M.¢s car, which Karen drove. I lookedaround and her Karen say, ¢Hey Certain!!¢ I took off running. Wow, how fun tohave these little reunions every few days! I ran up and hugged her (andapologized for my stench¢¦my shirt stinks no matter what now). A.M. came outand we saw Linda and Bob and the park ranger, John, who had literally just hungthe sign we took pics of. He was telling Karen he didn¢t really think peopleever read those signs, so he was glad to know we had. I took my pic with John. Nice guy.So we hopped into the car and came back to Twin Mountains to the NorthlanderMotel, which is sort of typical of motels around here¢¦old, but it will do thejob. Amazingly, the freakin sun was OUT and it was very warm with a nicebreeze, so A.M. and I immediately exploded our packs out back in this hugegrassy field and dried our soaked gear. She hopped into the shower as Ifinished spreading my gear out and then I took a shower. By the time Ifinished, our gear was totally dry¢¦amazing. We packed everything back up andmoved it into the room and all went to Munroe¢s for a late lunch while washingour skanky laundry across the street. I was starving as usual. Club sandwich,fries, some of A.M.¢s onion rings, and pie for me. We had a great down to earthserver which was a lot of fun.We came back to the room and talked about the next step. I told A.M. I haddecided to day hike the rest of this ridge, because I really wanted to get itfinished. Basically, I¢ll go back up the Gale River Trail to Galehead Hut, andhike nobo 7 miles to Zealand Hut, and then get out via the Zealand Trail. Totalhiking mileage is 14.3, with 7 counting as AT miles, but the other 7.3 milesI¢ve don¢t and know are easy.   It¢s going to be a long tough day, but I can¢thandle just about any hiking conditions if I know I¢m hiking back to a motel andnot having to worry about camping. I wouldn¢t try this if I had to camp. Idecided to go nobo because I¢ll have the highest elevations behind me earlierin the day and when (notice I assume it¢s a fact of NH life) it storms, I¢ll bemuch lower and way below treeline. A.M. and I discussed her joining me and thisis the coolest thing about having 2 women who know the importance of truthfulcommunication. I told her she was welcome to join me, but I thought it wasimportant to have a bail plan just in case she got out there and it ended upbeing too much. See folks, her and V8 left the trail in the Shenandoah¢s andwere off for 5 weeks. Then they came out and boom¢¦in the Whites. That¢s aHUGE jump for the physical body to make in the context of hiking day in and dayout when it comes to terrain and difficulty level of hiking. I want A.M. toenjoy herself, not feel like she¢s killing herself. MA, CT, and VT serve torecondition your legs to climbing, and my quads are still getting sore after amere 8 miles in the Whites, so I really can¢t imagine what it must feel likephysically to go from SNP, 5 weeks of no hiking, then being on this terrain.She studied the maps and her final decision was to go ahead and head back toMaine, I¢m going to do this one day hike, and before she leaves tomorrow, we¢rediscussing the logistics of the rest of the Whites.I want to use this as an example to all of you who will potentially be hikingwith people in the future on your hikes that you don¢t know that well. Socialrules in the ¢real¢ world tell women to always try to accommodate, meet theneeds of others before your own, keep the peace, avoid confrontation, that it¢swrong or bad to be assertive. If you (as a woman) have been hearing themessages that most of us hear growing up, it is not easy to say, ¢I need this.¢ Well, when it comes to hiking this trail, maintaining safety and maintainingyour personal hiking goals, this type of frank communication is a necessity. Iso respect A.M. because she could tell me yesterday, ¢I need to stay in thehut.¢ And I respect her because as we were hashing out the next leg, she said,¢I need you to be totally blunt with me about what you feel you need to do.¢Luckily, I am totally on board with that, and there was no awkwardness or hurtfeelings.   The HYOH (hike your own hike) mantra IS this very thing. We wantto consider other people¢s needs, we want to hike with friends that we enjoy,and we want to be polite, but under these (sometimes extreme and dangerous)conditions, you HAVE to be able to put yourself first if the situation callsfor it.A.M. and I talked about the fact that our focuses are different too. She lovesthis trail, wants to hike as much as possible with others who are in theprocess of hiking, and is not concerned about ¢getting to Katahdin¢ at thispoint. For me, this is my second chance, I¢ve been away from home for over 3months, I am SO READY to be done (and then again¢¦not), but I¢m ultra focused onmaking horizontal progress up the AT because I NEED to finish this trail thisyear (as in emotionally, psychologically¢¦and of course physically).It has been over 1300 miles since I¢ve hiked with someone. I truly hope A.M.and V8 will join me again (and I think they will). Up to today, this point inmy journey, they have both done a huge service to me by helping me face my fearof hiking in the Whites. I¢m almost half-way thru them and know what to expectnow, so I¢m no longer terrified of hiking them alone. If they never join meagain for what ever reason, the time spent with them was EXACTLY what I neededWHEN I needed it. It never ceases to amaze me how I am provided with what Ineed out here. So to both Auntie Mame and V8, thank you from the bottom of myheart for helping me get this far and for making this part of my journey somuch easier and less stressful.The rest of the evening was spent ordering pizza, laughing, talking, and thenKaren and I taught A.M. how to play our infamous card game, InternationalRummy. A.M. is one sharp cookie. We got about 2 hands from the end and noneof us could keep our eyes open, so we decided to continue the game later. Theroom we have has 1 double bed, and a pull-out sofa bed along with a kitchenettew/small fridge, sink, dishes, 2 burner stove, microwave, coffee maker, etc. Itworks well. We turned on the boob tube and fell asleep to Grizzly Diaries, adocumentary made about Timothy Treadwell.So my journey continues (to my delight) to be different than the norm, and Ilove it that way. Tomorrow I need to figure out my next major plan of gettingto Gorham, and share that with A.M. Exhausted as usual, but in a good way.Oh, it stormed like CRAZY this evening. Flash flood warning¢¦again. I do notknow what the hell is going on with the weather here, but I¢d be ecstatic if itstopped doing this soon. Wishful thinking I think.~Certain