Date: 2004-10-14
From: Finally! Glencliff, NH

To: 3 miles north of Smarts Mountain, NH
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

17 miles todayStealth tenting3 miles north of Smarts Mountain, NH11.50am; I'm home again in the eastern woods!!! What a great feeling when I turned off the road and headed back into the woods this morning. I slept good last night in the back of my truck. It got down into the middle 30s, so it really felt good too. I guess I still needed to catch up on sleep because I didn't wake up until 7am. I went into the hostel and put on a pot of coffee and then walked down the road to the phone and checked my email. When I got back, the coffee was waiting on me. I had some donuts that I bought yesterday and signed the register while I was eating breakfast. I made sure I had everything I needed in my pack (yep, got my coffee cup) and left some money on the table and took off. It's a half mile road walk to the trail. I got started at 8:30am and by 8:35, I was tired...guess I had too many donuts in the last three weeks. The forest is beautiful right now with all the Autumn colors and the trail is covered with a carpet of different color leaves. I'm cruntching leaves with every step, so I probably won't see much wildlife. It's strange not seeing any other hikers out here. I'm glad I'm out here anyway...beats sitting in traffic somewhere. I walked by the northern most stone wall on the A.T. I noticed that this is where the first one was last year. I'm walking into spider webs...there's no nobos to knock them down. I trudged and climbed and trudged somemore going up the first mountain I've climbed in a while. I worked really hard at it and finally got to the summit of Mist Mountain. I looked at the elevation and it was only 2200 feet high...uh oh...i DID have too many donuts!!! I walked on down that little bump and then stopped here at Ore Hill Shelter for lunch. The last person to sign in the register was 4 days ago.It's warmed up to 60 degrees but the sun is gone. It's turned overcast, so maybe I'll get wet on my first day back. It is nice walking down a trail and not smelling Aramis cologne like I had to out on the JMT. Any idea where that smell came from, Skeemer???2:55pm; I'm sitting on the summit of Mt. Cube at almost 3,000 feet high. After I left the shelter, I descended to 900 feet before climbing back up to this spot. It's not like the JMT, I only had one switchback. I'm not all that high compared to the JMT, but it is definately harder terrain. I'm not even in the hard stuff either. It topped out at 60 degrees today and now it's in the low 50s and the wind is picking up. I can look across and see the fire tower on top of Smarts Mountain. That will be my climb in the morning to warm me up. I did get to see a few grouse and in one area, I even saw moose tracks...that's nice for a change. When I got close to the summit, I got into some spruce trees. They are my favorite tree as far as smell. They always remind me of Christmas time.4pm; I stopped at the trail junction to Hexacuba Shelter and sat down and ate an early dinner. I had Spam Spread and Wheat Thins...doesn't that sound good?? Actually, I do like that once or twice a week on the trail. It's easy and the Spam Spread is pretty good.5:50pm; I just crawled into my tent for the night. It started raining about 10 minutes ago, so I figured it was time to stop walking for the day. It is so nice to be back on soft leaves again. I slept on mostly hard areas on the JMT. I'm in under some trees and it feels like I'm set up on a feather bed. I can tell I'm not quite used to hiking because I actually feel a little tired tonight. That is a great feeling after three weeks of not walking. I can also tell the days are getting alot shorter, but that's ok because I'll get plenty of sleep. I hiked all day and didn't see another person. What a difference a month and a half makes. It was a fairly busy trail then with all the nobos trying to finish. I guess it's a good thing right now because the lock on my zipper isn't working on my shorts and I have to keep pulling it up. I'm going to need a safety pin because these are the only pants I have. It's only 6;10 and it's already dark here under these trees. I guess the days have gotten alot shorter since I left here 6 weeks ago.Another great day on the A.T.