Date: 2004-07-30
From: Smarts Mtn Fr Wrdn Cabin

To: Jeffers Brook Shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: overcast clouds

The sunset last night had been nice and that inspired me to try to catch the sunrise too. An early rise meant an early start to the day. This was good because there were friends to meet for dinner at tonights shelter and phone calls that needed to be made in the middle of the day during business hours. It had been a mighty fine night sleeping on the porch in the cool NH night air.At the bottom of the rickety old tower a sign pointed down the Daniel Doan Trail to the old ranger cabin. Dan Doan had lived in Sanbornton NH when I first moved to NH. He had been an instructor at the winter school cross country ski course offered by the AMC NH Chapter way back in January 1978 where I first learned to ski. He led or co-led several chapter ski outings that I went on that winter. He was working on his 50 Ski Tours book at the time or maybe it was an update. I remember celebrating his 72nd birthday on the trail. That was cool and reassuring for the future of a then 23 year old wilderness junkie like me. This guy was amazing. My recollection is that he didn't really get into all this outdoors stuff till he was 42. It was still pretty early when South Jacobs Brook presented itself complete with cascades, pools and a bridge. The water beckoned me to get clean. After a moments hesitation it pulled me off the trail. Standing and sitting in the cold water as it rushed by, I scrubbed my body and rinsed my clothes. Then the wet clothes went back on after a good ringing out. This was my first bath since Bennington. It was mighty refreshing.Later that day I caught up to the guy from the cabin last night. Apparently he passed me during my bath and thought it was best to just keep walking. That deserved a good chuckle. After all, "Sometimes, even the President of the United States must have to stand naked." Bob Dylan said that. Another thru-hiker greeted me on the summit of Mount Cube at about 11am. He had a curious piece of gear. It was a folding stool with an aluminum tubing frame. He was looking pretty comfy with his lunch on the rock summit. He was pretty determined about it too. Cool. A break here would be nice but it was still 3 miles to NH-25a and another 11 to Jeffers Brook Shelter. Besides, there was the bath break at 8:30 this morning and there were still phone calls to make. Yup, keep on truckin'.It wasn't too long before some one picked me up on 25a. They dropped me at a convenience store and gas station in the middle of nowhere. That was fine. It had a pay phone. It was hot by now. I dropped my pack on the bench by the door and headed to the pay phone which was right on the side of the road. The location was unfortunate because there was no escaping the sun or the roar of the log and other trucks that seemed to barrel through with amazing frequency.My mission was to get all the test results from the hospital in Bennington, VT forwarded to my doctor at the Laconia Clinic in NH. By now my doctor¢s name had returned to me. That was a good thing. Hopefully he could look at the test results, compare them to my past blood tests and give me some clue as to what was going on. The only symptoms that still seemed to remain were the occasional numb face and stiff or sore jaw but those were pretty disturbing even if infrequent. My first call was to information to get the Clinic number and then to the Clinic to get a fax number. That went all right. Of course, realize that each call requires 32 digits to be keyed in when using a calling card. Next it was time to call the hospital in Bennington. Unfortunately the woman in charge of those records was out to lunch. Then I called the Clinic. My doctor and his assistant were out to lunch too. That was at least 128 digits keyed into that phone in the blazing heat. Chances are good that there was at least one mistake, so, in reality there were even more number punched. Grrr. That was just what this thru-hiker wanted to do. Sit at a convenience store waiting an hour for folks to get back from lunch.Patients. The store was full of snacks, juice and ice cream. That fact was not lost on me, so all was not lost. The bench that held my pack outside the store soon held me too and fortunately it was in the shade of a small roof. Thanks goodness.Finally, it was 1:30pm, but by now it was even hotter out by the sunny pay phone. This time people answered their phones. Woo hoo! The woman in Bennington said she would get the test results faxed. Miraculously, my doctor's assistant was actually available to talk to me. Those folks can be pretty busy. I told her I was hiking the AT now in NH and of all the symptoms and the hospital visit and of the test results heading for their fax machine "with the 4 part harmony and (s)he said stop it right there." (Arlo Guthrie) She needed to talk with the doctor but he was busy of course. She asked for a number to call me back at but there was none and some pay phones won't accept incoming calls anyway. She was envisioning me pumping change into this thing but when she heard it was on a calling card she asked me to hold while she found a time to talk to him. She apologized because now she truly got my situation but I said I would be happy to hold as long as needed. In time she came back. The faxed test results had not arrived yet and he really needed to see them. She asked if I could call back later. I told here the next road crossing would be tomorrow morning. Tomorrow would be Saturday but it was their Saturday to cover so they would be there from 9 till noon. She gave me the extension number to get past the automated attendant and straight to her phone. She was very understanding and tried to be as helpful as possible. She had some connection to hiking. That was reassuring.Well the wheels were in motion and just knowing that set my mind at ease. Now of course it was time to find some wheels to get back to the trail. It was 4 miles, uphill all the way and even hotter now. So I was left to accost innocent folks as they stopped for gas or a cold drink and solicit them for a ride. This felt a little like a beggar harassing customers but the proprietor understood and was fine with it. The 3rd prey fell victim. He was a logger with a big truck. We had a good talk and I gave him much thanks as he dropped me at the trail.It was mid-afternoon and there were 11 miles to go. The trail from here to Jeffers Brook Shelter turned out to be about as moderate as a thru-hiker could ask in New Hampshire. These boots were cruising. It felt great. Around 5pm, somewhere in the vicinity of Wachipauka Pond, the DOC gang had some more fun. A little orange sign with an arrow pointing down a side trail said ¢Scenic View.¢ Below that it also said ¢Beware of Tourists.¢ That was great. In fact there was a nice view of what was probably Wachipauka Pond. There were fortunately no tourist. All was safe.A mile after climbing Wyatt Hill the trail came out onto NH Route 25. Ah civilization, time for some unneeded anxiety. The trail came out onto the road but just where it reentered the woods across the road was not obvious. This has been a common theme whenever the trail does not continue straight across a road. Being in my home state brought me a slight feeling of shame. After more than a moments hesitation accompanied by a scouring eye both up and down the road I guessed and turned left. A mere 50 feet or so, there it was. It's clear to me what the problem was. Maintainers are charged with maintaining the trail and its blazes from the road to some other place. No one really looks at the road crossing itself to see if it is clear which way to turn at the road. This is not a problem for the person starting a hike at a road crossing from a car, only for the thru-hiker. It's not a huge problem but it sure is frustrating to the thru-hiker who by now really doesn't want to take more steps than needed.So the trail reentered the forest on the other side of route 25 and immediately the tread way dead ended at the bank to the brook. Really, it was as if the water had just eaten away at the bank and the trail with it. It required a hop down about 4 feet to a small rock or two in the rushing water. This was a fun rock hopping crossing but the boots stayed dry. It was obvious that in high water this place would not be much fun at all. There is an alternate road walk option.Jeffers Brook shelter was a welcome sight but it was only a bit after 6pm. My friends weren't there yet. June and John had been the only folks I had actually spoken with. They planned to drive up after work and meet me with dinner. This was tough because my ritual was to stop at the end of the day and fix dinner first thing. Instead, I busied myself sweeping out the shelter in an attempt to distract myself from thoughts of food. This shelter is very close to the next road. One might expect it to be a party place for the local teen crowd and yet it is in fine shape.An hour had passed and my contact lenses were out when just after 7pm someone greeted me on approach. This was a bit confusing because it was only one person and he was coming from the wrong direction. The voice didn't work either. A moment later my eyes could focus and it was Keith K. Wow, he'd driven probably 5 hours from Maine to meet me. What a great surprise. 5 minutes later, June and John arrived with my neighbor, Scott T. This was almost too exciting.There was so much to talk about. June had created a veritable feast but a half hour had passed and we weren't eating it yet. There were jokes about making a run to WalMart if anything was missing since the road was so close. Understand that these folks are all serious hikers and the walk in had provided absolutely no challenge for them. Then 2 strange things happened. June began to think perhaps she hadn't brought enough food and was seriously considering going to the store to get more. The second, not really so strange, was that my food anxiety was reaching critical levels. After all it had now been at least an hour and a half since my arrival and I hadn't eaten yet. After much debate the thru-hiker snapped out, ¢Let's just eat what we have. If we need more we can get it later.¢ I didn't feel too good about it, but sure enough we ate and there was much rejoicing. In fact, we had tons left over. June tried to convince me to eat more but I had learned that lesson. Now came another surprise in the form of 2 half gallons of ice cream that Scott T had packed in wrapped in a classic, original, old Ensolite pad. This was like a dream. That's not to mention the pies. Thank goodness for the desert stomach.We took the food back to the car and locked it up. They had brought my notebook PC so that I could upload the photos from my camera. My tech side had lay dormant for quite some time. It would be weeks after the hike was done before the error of tonight would be figured out. Suffice it to say, though hundreds of photos made it to my computer, the folder of photos from Vermont went unknowingly to the veritable bit bucket tonight. Ignorance is bliss though, so, completely clueless to this sad event we returned fat and happy to the shelter for a good nights sleep.Scott T slept in a hammock he had strung between two trees not far off. The rest of us slept in the shelter. What a great home coming. It had been a 21.1 mile day with a bath, a long town stop with 2 hitches and topped off with a feast and good friends. This was great!