Date: 2003-07-31
From: Eliza Brook Shelter (2495') 

To: Franconia Notch, I93 (1450') 
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: light rain

Aloha! Oh my, my, my... my aching knees! The things I do to my body these days! It hates me right now but it'll get over it. It might as well because I'm going to keep doing this as long as the outcomes are like today. Wonderful! I realize that it's needless for me to say but I will anyway, my day began in the what?... UPward direction. What a surprise! For a little over two miles Gutsy and I climbed UP. The good part of the climb was the glorious blue skies and cool temperatures due to leaving by 6:30am.   That certainly helped.   There's nothing particularly exciting about the early part of the hike. It went UP for 2.5 miles and the last 3/4 of it was a vertical rock scramble. I don't recall signing up for rock climbing when I started this adventure but I guess I did.   Part of the scramble was fun and part was just tiring. It was all challenging.   At the top, on Kinsman Mountain's south peak, we were joined once again by the Camp Pemigawassett boys. Such fun! With Gutsy sitting on a perfectly created chair cairn and the boys lounging around by her feet, she was dubbed Queen Gutsy, with her Minions.   The boys were a delight to spend time with. Inquisitive, smart, polite... they were a wonderful change from what the other camps have shown. They must have been since I spent at least 1.5 hours sitting up there talking to the whole group, segments of it or individually.   These are some very bright boys. The future is looking better and better. From the top the views were gorgeous! The weather remained cloud free and I even sunburned a little. It's views like those today that make these hellacious climbs worth all the blood, sweat and tears. Seeing the upcoming Franconia Ridge was beautiful to look at but also scary.   It is huge!   From there it was down for miles with a few UPs thrown in just to exhaust you. When I say down I'm talking over six miles of down! With enough rocks thrown in to test your patience... and knees.   On our knee-jarring downward trek we were surprised to walk practically by the Lonesome Lake Hut door. According to the guide book this hut was supposedly .3 miles off the trail. Just far enough for me to have decided against making the trip to see it.   I was tremendously confused to be standing at their door. To ensure I had not wandered off the AT I turned to locate a south-facing white blaze. There it was dead ahead... I was okay. Whew!   The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) operates most of the facilities used in the Whites. They even go as far as charging fees for overnight use of all huts and some campsites and tent sites. Campsites include both shelters and tent sites on a first-come, first-served basis, with no reservations allowed.   The shelters are similar to those I've been using since I started but the tent sites have wooden platforms with eyelets for tying off the non-freestanding tents (mine). There's something like an $8 fee charged for these. The huts are basically large nice bunkhouses for $68 per night.   Lodging in the huts consists of a bunk with blankets and pillow, inside restrooms but no showers, dinner and breakfast. Dinner is served at about 6pm and the meals are available for overnight guests only. Each hut is run by a "croo", usually young collegians.   You can call ahead for reservations at all the huts but thru-hikers usually just wait until they get to the Whites and play the odds. It is possible to go through the Whites rather inexpensively without using any huts at all. Most of the huts will often offer an option for the first two thru-hikers who request it each day to work for stay which usually involves an hour or two of light chores in the morning or evening.   In return for the work the hiker gets to eat the leftovers and sleep either in a bunk if available or on the tables or floor. All in all, not a bad way to go for a clean, dry, safe place with food. I may have to try this down the line myself.   Our stop at the Lonesome Lake Hut was my first hut. It was sweet with its very own lake. They were also offering all you could eat left over pancakes and pastries for $1 or split pea soup for $2. Excellent soup if I say so myself. It was an enjoyable break in the day and a great relief from the pounding of the downs.   Made the remaining part of the pounding so much better.   We continued the pounding until we were both grinding our teeth and counting the inches until the end. Major knee pounding. Even the last part of the terrain where it was relatively nice was an irritant. At that point I don't believe flat and paved would have made us feel any better.   The highway couldn't have been in any better place.   Knowing that catching a hitch would be extremely difficult on a fast and busy highway, I pulled out my trusty cell and prayed for coverage. For once in a very long time it worked and we were able to call the Shuttle Connection to come retrieve us and deliver us 6 miles later in North Woodstock where we both had mail drops.   Lucky for us, the shuttle driver was five minutes away and picked us up before we could even walk to where they wanted us to be. He delivered us to the post office with time to spare. This was good.   With food drops retrieved we were off to look for a night's accommodations. We knew there was a hostel in town called the Cascade with reasonable rates so we headed there first. With little more than an outside perusal we decided to try up the street at the little five-room hotel called Autumn Breeze.   And that's where we are now. A quaint clean room with a kitchenette, TV, air conditioning, and telephone. None of the other places have the phone or TV. It was overpriced but that's because of a religious rock concert being held up the mountain.   Overpriced or not, it's clean and we're happy. Tired but happy.   Speaking of tired, that would sum up both of our feelings right this moment. Sore knees and tired bodies. We just discussed the possibility of taking a zero day tomorrow to rest both and hopefully wait out the nasty weather due in tonight. Wet and tough are a hard combination.   I think I'm in. I know the knees are.   Now that that's decided, I do believe it's time to lay back, close the eyes and dream of the mountains to come. I¢m sure my dream will include country paths with less than a 2% incline the whole way to the top. Pity it's just a dream. You dream whatever makes you happy.BSandTs: the normAandPs: the toe and arch are much better. Probably because I can't feel anything beside the knees!MandGs: the lack of cel phone coverage in the northeast...waah!