Date: 2013-08-21
From: NH 16, Pinkham Notch

To: Past Zeta Pass
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: clear sky

Today I have to do something I¢ve never had to do before. I've got to track down a hiker named Lucy Lulu, a south bounder my wife has been following on Trail Journals from her first day on the trail (I feel like a stalker). She raves about her and says she's so funny to read - I think she reads her journal more than mine! ¢ lol!Our shuttle driver from the inn stops by McDonald¢s for us and then takes us back up to Pinkham Notch. The first hikers we see are a group that call themselves ¢Funkytown¢ who I've met back at the Lookout Cabin and two of which are ¢Rise¢ and ¢Shine¢ whose mom I had met at the Comfort Inn back in Rutland VT. After we eat our breakfast, we walk across NH 16. Our goal is to meet at Zeta Pass and stealth tent. So we start our hike for the day, a three mile climb with a little over 2000 feet in elevation (not recommended for someone that's afraid of heights - one slip and it¢s bye, bye!) but the views are worth the risks. You can see Mt. Washington and the Presidential Mountains. It¢s going to be unseasonably hot today. I look back at Sky Pilot and he's got his shirt off. I told him that's a good idea and off mine goes too. Then I suggested we tell everyone its hike topless day - in short, we had no takers, just odd looks! About halfway up, my left calf muscle makes me yell out with pain. After a few minutes of me working on it and the four hiker vitamins I take, I can slowly put pressure on it and we continue on. The Funkytown group catches us and passes us by.With every south bounder I see, I ask, ¢Have you seen Lucy Lulu?¢ And they all say no. I know we're going to meet today, it¢s just a matter of time. I get a cramp in the calf muscle again, so I tell Sky Pilot to go on ahead - I'll be up soon. Once I catch up to him, he's at a viewing area and I see this guy coming up the trail. It¢s Sandman 69, a hiker I¢ve hiked with back in the winter. He had to leave the trail and when he came back, he started at Mt. Katahdin and is going south due to time. He's got blood all over him. I asked, ¢Have you been shot or did you get in a fight with a bear?¢ He says, ¢No, I've takeng a couple of falls lately.¢ I think he needs blood, he's lost so much of it! I knew he had been hiking with Lucy Lulu and when I asked about her he said, ¢She's right behind me.¢ Sky Pilot told me he's going down to the hut and wait for me. I quickly put on my shirt so as not to scare her and then I see her coming up the trail. I was so excited to see her I let a bad word slip out. She said she was going to tell about it in her journal, (sorry dear, it just slipped out!) We talk for a while and she said I was one of the first journals she had started reading and I told her my wife is your biggest fan and she tells me all about your journey. After all the picture taking, I told her there¢s a bog coming up and don't step off the boards (she stepped off one before and got mud all over her) and then we left and went on our way. I do have to say I really enjoyed talking to her today and a part of me wishes she was going north with me! And also seeing my old hiking friend Sandman 69 has really made my day!I now have a long, steep descent, I come across a spring and fill up my bottles and drink a quart of Gatorade. I ran out of water earlier today and it¢s very hot with temperatures in the high 80s. I get within half a mile of the hut and Sky Pilot has come looking for me. He thought my calf was giving me trouble. I felt bad and felt good that he was concern about me. We still had three miles to go and a 1500 foot climb to start us off. We finally reached Zeta Pass and Funkytown was there, but no Cash. No one has seen him. I hope he didn't take that 19 mile trail. We were a little worried and then I looked in the AT book and noticed another hut 4.5 miles away and I told Sky Pilot I bet he's there. So we hiked about a mile further on and are stealth tenting, along with another hiker by the name of Roadrunner. He's from Germany. That makes three Roadrunners I've met. I've called and texted Cash telling him where we are. I just hope he's having the time of his life and not worrying about us.