Date: 2003-09-07
From: Franconia, NH

To: Franconia, NH
Miles today: 0.0

We're in Franconia, NH -- right near where the Old Man in the Mountain used to be. It's gorgeous here! We're staying at a wonderful log cabin in the White Mountains that's provided us with an ideal 2-day respite (thank you Mr. Jim Roberts of Birmingham, Alabama!!!) -- getting us ready to continue to take on the Whites. We've been pretty remiss about keeping up with our online journal, so here's a brief recap of some of our adventures.July 24 was 42's birthday. No, 42 did NOT turn 42, she turned 34, and she had a wonderful birthday at the Delaware Water Gap. We spent the day floating on the Delaware River in tubes with Bingo & Trucker, Slip & Trip, Baloo & Skids. Then we just vegged out at the hotel and relaxed. Ahhhh. A few days later the birthday celebration continued when 42's mom & Harvey met up with us in High Point, NJ. We stayed at an "inn" -- the place was called an inn but that word was a misnomer, it was really a roadside motel, but it turned out to be just right for us to hang out and spend time together. It was wonderful to catch up with them (and to get some good food, of course!). We loved hiking in our home state of New Jersey -- the hiking was very pretty, dispelling many hikers of their preconceived notions that all of NJ looked like the Turnpike. We did see lots of bears in NJ (see our entry from 7/29 to read our "bear wake-up call" story). Then we headed into New York, which was also beautiful. We spent a couple of nights camping out on rocky ridged mountain tops, and we got to see fantastic sunrises and sunsets. In Harriman State Park, there was a rock formation called the Lemon Squeezer -- just like it sounds, we had to squeeze our way through, which wasn't easy with our big packs, but made for some funny pictures. We met a group of teenagers from Newark, NJ, who were out hiking for several days as part of a youth leadership program, and we got to talk to them about the Trail and why we were hiking. They were great, and it was nice for us to sit back and reflect on why we were out there, the positives and the negatives. They also cooked us falafel for dinner -- an excellent bonus, especially because just that day 42 had been talking about how much she misses falafel!After mostly fantastic weather for the second half of June and most of July, the bad (read: challenging) weather returned, and we had rain for the first 12 days of August. The bad weather was a bit dispiriting, but we kept passing milestones that kept our spirits up -- the AT winds its way quickly through the northern states, and it felt good to hike from state to state. Before we knew it, we were in Connecticut. Our 9th wedding anniversary was on August 6, and we found ourselves in Kent, CT. To celebrate, we treated ourselves to a room at the Fife 'n Drum Inn -- it was so great, we decided to stay there for 2 nights, meaning that we took a zero day the day after our anniversary to continue the celebration. Very nice. We rented a VCR and several movies, and mostly vegged out while watching movies and eating candy. Also checked out Kent (beautiful), got some good meals, and relaxed. Of course, while we were in Kent, it didn't really rain . . . but the rain picked up as soon as we hit the trail. We were dry from our Kent stay, though, so we didn't let it dampen our spirits (although it dampened a lot else). But what really kept our spirits up was knowing that we were going to meet up with Moo's parents that night.For Moo's parents to meet us in West Cornwall, they had to drive through Kent, giving us the perfect opportunity for a slackpack, yee haw! We left our packs at the Fife 'n Drum and set out for a 16-mile slack pack. We met up with Moo's parents, who had our packs, and went to the motel -- another night out of the rain. Although the motel was in Cornwall, we went back to Kent for dinner and actually ate at the Fife 'n Drum. Excellent meal, and it was great to see them. After making sure we were well fed by getting us another great meal the next morning, Moo's parents sent us on our way. Back into the rain, and no motel to look forward to that night, but we were still in good spirits. That was because we didn't know how much it would rain. It just kept pouring and pouring (in fact, it rained the first 12 days in August). We finally got to the turnoff for the shelter, only to realize that it was a half mile off the trail and probably full, so we decided to skip it. We hiked another 1/2 mile then came to a gorgeous field where we pitched our tent. Only problem, no shelter for cooking. Moo went back into the woods and tried to cook under the cover of the trees, but the tree cover didn't do much and we were soaked through. The next day we crossed from Connecticut into Massachusetts. Our entry into Mass was beautiful as we climbed Race Mtn. and Mt. Everett (not Everest), but they were tough, rocky climbs, and the rain made the rocks slick, which made for tough hiking. Caught up with Sleepy Floyd, Torch & Superman at the shelter that night. The next morning, the five of us met up with Pipes, Phlegm and Phlegm's mom, Patti -- a trail angel! She greeted us with hot pancakes on the side of the road, 4 miles into our hiking day. Then she offered to slackpack us for the rest of the day, which of course we took her up on. We were able to spend that night inside at the East Mountain Retreat Center (a supposedly silent retreat center -- needless to say, we got in trouble) -- and we were thrilled when we looked out the window and saw it pouring outside.The next day we arrived in Tyringham, MA. Phlegm's mom became a trail angel extraordinaire when she took us to Tanglewood to see Jethro Tull in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was great to be back at Tanglewood, and hearing the BSO play Aqualung (a very appropriate selection, given all the rain) was incredible. And believe it or not, it didn't rain on us.After a couple of sunny days, we had a couple of guest hikers, Joey G and Harry -- we had trail names ready for them: G-spot for Joe, and Curly for Harry. Joe seemed really fond of his name. We had a great meal with them and stayed at G-Spot's brother's (P-Spot's) apartment, then hit the trail the next day. Right away we hit Mt. Greylock, the highest spot in Mass -- our guest hikers did great. The next day we left the beautiful Berkshires and entered Vermont! We got in a couple of border-crossing photos, then, surprise surprise, the skies opened up and poured on us. One of the hardest and coldest rains we had -- in no time at all, the trail was a river, and we found ourselves back at P-Spot's apartment for the night (hey, we know what you're thinking -- we've been spending many a night indoors, but what the hell -- the apartment was available and we couldn't resist -- and G-Spot didn't seem to mind too much being torn away from his wilderness experience). G-Spot hiked with us until Bennington, VT. When he left, we ran into Bag 'o Tricks, and wound up getting a ride with him & Baltimore Jack to 42's mom's place in Manchester! Hey, it was raining, we couldn't resist. Wonderful to see Mom & Harvey -- we couldn't believe we were there. We wound up staying with them for a week and slackpacked our way through a lot (about 66 miles) of Vermont. It was absolutely gorgeous. And we even got good weather! Climbing up Stratton and Bromley Mtns was incredible. Mom and Harvey had a bunch of our friends over one night and cooked us all a great meal. We got to spend a lot of time w/ Mom & Harvey, it was wonderful. 42's brother, Ethan, & his girlfriend, Amy, came to visit -- great to see them, although Ethan was a bit under the weather. Slackpacking from Mom's place, we covered a lot of ground -- we even got in an accidental marathon (we had Mom & Harvey drop us off where we thought we were 20 miles north of Manchester, only to discover -- after they pulled away, of course -- that we were really 26 miles away). Believe it or not, it turned out to be one of our favorite days -- the terrain was magnificent, the weather great, and it was pretty neat to do a marathon (but no need to do it again). Mom & Harvey, thank you for everything!Then our stay with Mom & Harvey was over, and we had to don our full packs. They were heavy -- really, really heavy. We were hiking with Pipes and Phlegm, and we were all a bit tired when we came across trail magic in the form of sodas (soads, if your name is Dimple Rock) -- caffeine and sugar gave us a much needed energy boost to get us up Killington. But as we were hiking, it got dark, so we had to hike the last 2 miles or so wearing our headlamps. Apparently hiking the steep terrain in the dark wasn't enough. The mountain had to add mist to the mix . . . but it all made for a pretty exhilarating climb. The shelter was full when we got there, but we, along with Pipes and Phlegm, put up our tents on the tent platforms right next to Dana (a Long Trail hiker), who was a great sport as we woke her up. The next day the mist cleared and we were treated with a beautiful day. We climbed the side trail 2/10 of a mile straight up to the peak of Killington & vegged out in the restaurant with Pipe & Phlegm for hours. . . and hours . . . then we took a couple of loops on the Gondola. We finally hit the trail at 4:30pm to get in a few miles. Those few miles took us to the Inn at Long Trail, where there was Guinness on tap (at the correct temperature). But after a nice meal, we did tent across the street. The next day we met up with Jon Ezrow on the trail -- he was at golf school at Killington and hunted us down by heading south on the trail from a point north of us. Jon hiked with us for about 4 or 5 miles, then slackpacked us -- we ended up putting in a long 23.7 mile day, then stayed over at his golf school condo -- thank you Jonny! Jon hiked with us into West Hartford, where we met up with another John -- John Anzalone. After swapping Jo(h)ns, we went with Anzalone (dubbed Camo b/c he showed up with a camouflage backpack -- only in Alabama!) to stay at the house of Randy & Linda. We, along with several other hikers, pitched our tents in their backyard -- they were really nice hosts, with great kids. Then we got Camo on the trail. As we crossed from Vermont into New Hampshire over the Connecticut River, we entered Hanover, NH, and arrived at the campus of Dartmouth College, Moo's alma mater -- what a feeling! It was incredible to be there. Shortly after we plopped down on the green, our good friend, the Professor (Moo's Dartmouth buddy, Bruce Sacerdote, who returned to campus as an economics professor) came riding up on his bicycle. We then walked down the street to his house to be greeted by a banner hanging on the front of the house, saying "Welcome Mike & Liz!" along with very warm greetings from Bruce's wife, Michele, and cute-as-can-be daughter, Sofia. We had a dip in their pool, a fantastic dinner, and it was wonderful to see them. The next day, Bruce drove us 33 miles north so we could hike our way back to Hanover over the next 2 days. Camo hiked those miles with us and he did great -- a couple of back-to-back 16+ mile days. After those 2 days, we returned to Bruce & Michele's place. Camo took off on Labor Day, and we took a zero day. We spent the night at Molly Carleton's (Moo's New Hampshire momma & biological momma to Moo's Dartmouth buddy Ted, host of the Liz & Mike AT fiasco pool) house and had a great dinner with her, sister Meg, Bruce, Michele & Sofia. The next morning, Dartmouth buddy Peter Goldstein's parents, Alice & Marty, picked us up at the Carleton's, got a glimpse of the organized chaos we go through getting ready to hike after a town stop, then hiked with us for a bit. To all our Hanover friends (Molly, Meg, Bruce, Michele & Sofia, Alice & Marty) -- thanks for taking care of us, we miss you already!We then entered the White Mountains and climbed above treeline for the first time as we hiked Mt. Moosilauke. What a hike! Great views, until we reached the top and it misted over. The climb down was intense, a steep rock scramble that was pretty fun. Luckily we had that descent before it started to rain, which it did later that night. We got our tent set up and dinner taken care of before it started pouring. Then the skies opened up, but we were ensconced in our tent and fell asleep. At about 1:00am, we woke up to fierce lightning & thunder -- and we each felt a shock in our left pinky toes! Scary & weird, but we were all right. The rain continued the rest of the night (but the thunder and lightning passed over us) until 8:00 the next morning. Then it finally stopped and actually turned into a nice day. Good thing, too, because we had an intense ascent up South Kinsman -- another very steep rock scramble, probably our toughest climb yet (when we passed one SOBO and asked what was in store for us, she said "I don't envy you"). Passed a group of freshman Dartmouth students on their freshman trip, which was very exciting for Moo, who had trouble remembering his freshman canoe trip some 17 years earlier. The next day was beautiful, and we descended into Franconia Notch, where we are now.The weather for the past couple of days has been exquisite, of course, since we've been off the trail. We hit the trail, and more of the Whites, early tomorrow morning -- we're looking forward to it!