Date: 2015-07-21
From: N.H.25 Glenclif, Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: NH 112, The Notch Hostel
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: light rain

Didn't get much sleep last night. Trucks were zooming down the road at 800 miles an hour all night long. Oh well. We got up and packed up our stuff. Legion, the guy who runs the hostel, made breakfast. Family style eggs, bacon and pancakes. The most perfectly round, puffy pancakes ever. It was pretty tasty. After breakfast we left our packs with Legion. He was going to drop them off at the Notch Hostel. We were slack packing over Mt. Moosilauke today. Not part of the Whites but a good introduction. We hit the trail a lite after 8. First off we had to ford a river. Lol. Poor Mighty Mouse. She hates that stuff since she can't swim. But we made it no problem. It was so delightful hiking without a pack!! Like a vacation. It was so freeing! And it took so much less energy to walk and climb and everything. It was awesome.So the climb up Moosilauke was pretty decent. About 4800 feet the climb was pretty easy. Rocky but nothing extreme. We just moved on up. I was delighting in the day. It was beautiful, sunny and breezy. I wasnt in any rush today. We only had 9 miles to go today and I was glorying in being a day hiker!About 12ish,maybe a little before we made it to the peak. We were messing about a bit once we got above tree line taking pictures and whatnot. We ate lunch at the peak. It was a beautiful day! We met a day hiker and we chatted with her for quite a while. After lunch we started our trek down the other side. We heard this was going to be a tad bit difficult. And it was. It was a very rocky steep climb down. Especially once we hit the waterfall. It took a long time to get down. Luckily we got it on a bright sunny day. It would have been dangerous if everything was wet. There were places where metal bars were placed in the rocks for a hand hold. And wood logs placed on rock walls to climb down. It was pretty intense and I'm glad I didon't have my full pack. We got to the road about 330pm. It was a long climb down. We called the hostel we were staying at and she came to pick us up. Just as it was starting to rain.The hostel we were staying at is brand spanking new. It was opened just this past week. When we got to the hostel our stuff was there, thankfully. There was a shed built out back. It's where we had to leave our packs. They weren't allowed in the hostel. It was kind of annoying. I understand no boots in the house. But having to continually go up and down 3 flights of stairs and cross the yard to the shed a million times to get stuff out of my pack that I forgot was really annoying.The woman was nice but there's some things she needed to work out. Hopefully it will come with time, I'm trying to be nice since she just opened a week ago. But she didn't even give us a tour when we got there, didn't show us our room or explain rules/privileges of the house. She was more concerned with getting paid. One of the other hikers showed us upstairs. We showered and got somewhat organized. We got a rife into town to resupply and eat dinner. We ate at One Love Brewery. It was amazing food! Really slow service. The poor waiter was run ragged. They gave him a bunch of tables and no help. One of the runners brought our food up and instead of bringing it to our table and serving. They put the tray on the next table and we had to wait and watch it get cold because our waiter was taking an order at another table. Super irritating. We got back to the hostel about 8ish. Fireman was at the hostel!! It was awesome to see him!! I gave him a big hug! We all hung out an chatted for a while. I went up to bed after 10. The hostel does your laundry for you, which was nice! I grabbed my clean clothes and tried to get organized a bit. We are slack packing tomorrow too. Hopefully it will a decent day.