Date: 2007-08-10
From: Franconia Notch, NH

To: Garfield Ridge Campsite, NH
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Here we go again. If ever there was an excuse to eat a super-sized breakfast, we have it today. The first six miles out of camp require us to climb 3800 feet (that¢s 34 of a mile!) to the tops of Little Haystack Mountain, then Mt. Lincoln, then finally Mt. Lafayette. The weather is great and the views are outstanding here at elevation 5249.Leaving the summit of Lafayette I search for the infamous crevice in the rocks that caused me in 2004 to twist my ankle really bad. Eventually I had to leave the trail with my Maine destination unfulfilled. (However, I did return in 2005 to finish the remaining 300 miles.) This time in 2007 I do not crash, I merely look down at those devious rocks and declare VICTORY over them. The rocks are beaten! I WILL reach Katahdin in 2007!Coming down the north side we pass the turnoff to the Skookumchuck Trail. Sounds too weird to even be an Indian name. In 3 more miles the trail leads us over Mt. Garfield which still has good views even though it is 800 feet lower than Lafayette.TRAINMAN¢S SIDEBAR COMMENT: A Parallel Universe ¢ The Hike of 2004As I have hinted on numerous occasions throughout these four months of journal postings, April was unsuccessful at completing her GA-ME hike in 2004. After her crash on the mountain I retrieved her from the trail, took her home to Connecticut for two weeks of recovery, then both of us returned to New Hampshire, hiked together another hundred miles northward, and finally called it quits in southern Maine. Although I did hike with April at the start of her trip in Georgia, for the most part I did not hike with her in 2004 until our return on September 5.During those two weeks, September 5 to 19, I wrote a diary of our daily trail experiences. I was able to describe in great detail the places we went and the people we met. I enjoyed the opportunity to stretch my ¢literary legs.¢Although the Trail Journals website existed in 2004, we did not make use of it. Instead, our postings were sent by email to only a few dozen interested friends. It seems to me now that our many hundreds of readers may appreciate reading about this parallel journey from 2004. So I¢ve decided to attach as sidebars the appropriate descriptions from that adventure in the White Mountains three years ago. Hopefully you readers will be able to relate the daily trail locations to what is happening now in 2007 and what happened previously in 2004.As a point of clarification, remember that the current postings are written from Aprilshowers¢ perspective while the sidebars are written from Trainman¢s perspective.So let¢s get on with it. A blast from the past STARTS NOW!Sunday, August 22, 2004, Mt. Lafayette, NHApril¢s having a wonderful day. A mileage count shows 1808 miles are done with 366 left to go. She¢s been doing a lot of solo hiking, but now she finally catches up with a large group of hikers. For the past month they were always just a day or two ahead of her. Now she¢ll be able to travel carefree, enjoying the camaraderie that¢s so important on the trail. Perhaps this group will stay together all the way through the White Mountains. The day is gorgeous with blue skies and fifty-mile visibility. Everyone sits for a group photo at the top of Mt. Lafayette. It takes a wide angle lens to accommodate all sixteen hikers.A few hours later April¢s ¢Best Day on the Trail¢ turns into a nightmare. Coming off the north side of Mt. Lafayette she takes a misstep and severely twists her ankle. Something seems to snap as she falls; the pain is unbearable. She lands on her camera, cracking it, allowing light to leak in and ruin some of the pictures.Quest (a veterinarian) and Now or Never (an optometrist) rush to her aid. They both agree she¢s not mortally wounded. Diesel and the others assist by carrying her gear. Somehow, April is able to hobble on her own the four miles to the campsite at Garfield Ridge. The Hobbits help by putting up her tent. Miraculously a working cell phone is found. At 9 pm I receive her hysterical and barely intelligible call. She needs to be rescued. I immediately print topo maps off the internet and start the logistical planning.Monday, August 23, 2004, Mt. Garfield, NHEarly the next morning I receive another, less frantic phone call from April. The outlook for her continuing the hike is bleak. April provides a more lucid description of where she can be found when I come to rescue her on Tuesday.During the day April lays around at the campsite, not doing much except trying to keep off the ankle. She¢s not sure she can hike down off the mountain so she asks the caretaker what the official procedure is for someone who is injured. He explains that the only way someone will carry you down is if you¢re dead, otherwise you¢re on your own. On that assuring note, April makes final plans for my rescue of her tomorrow.Tuesday, August 24, 2004, Mt. Garfield, NHI leave Connecticut at 7:30 a.m. for the four-hour drive north. I-91 is thankfully free of post-Labor Day traffic. Upon reaching New Hampshire the plan is to find the lower trailhead to the Garfield Ridge Trail and hike up it until I find April. April could be anywhere along its five-mile length, or she might be stuck at the top of Mt. Garfield, unable to come down on her own. My backpack is full of contingency supplies; I don¢t know exactly what to expect.I start up the trail about noon. Fortunately this trail is one of the easiest in the vicinity (it is a side trail and not directly on the A.T.). I only travel about a mile before finding a teary-eyed April. Somehow she has managed to limp four miles down from the summit while carrying her backpack. She starts sobbing then wipes away the tears. Putting on a brave face she says the ankle doesn¢t hurt too much. The situation looks a little different from my perspective.April soaks her foot in a nearly frozen stream for five minutes. With me carrying all the gear we take off downhill. In an hour we¢re back at the van. We discuss our options and agree to stay in the area for a day to see if there¢s any improvement from resting the ankle. Besides, we have a prepaid motel room awaiting us for the night. Back in the van we travel on the woods¢ road for a mile and then regain the highway.We¢re heading down the blacktop toward North Conway when April commands me to stop QUICKLY and pull into a driveway. She yells out the window to people whom she recognizes. Some of the group of sixteen hikers are here, preparing to leave a convenience store. Ironically they are the ones who were with April when she fell: Quest, Now or Never, Catdog and Krispy Kritter. Knowing that a rescue was in the works, they had all gone ahead of April. Now they are relieved to see that she is actually OK and in safe hands. With a few more tears, April bids them farewell as they return to the trail and we resume our driving.Further down the road in Bretton Woods we pass by the restored Mt. Washington hotel, a genuine first-class resort, resplendent in all of its 1890¢s glory. The summit of Mt. Washington looms behind. This is perhaps only the second time I¢ve clearly seen the 6288-foot summit. Usually the clouds move in and obscure the view by late morning.Its only 2 p.m. and we have time to take a ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad in North Conway. This should be a good way for April to keep off her feet for a few hours. We pay two dollars extra for the parlor car and are treated to the rare opportunity of riding the parlor car¢s open rear platform. April props her foot up on the railing, it alleviates the pain a little.We stay at the White Pine Motel on the outskirts of town that evening. Its only $75 and we have the whole place to ourselves. Apparently all the other tourists (and there are lots of them tonight) are holed up at the $150 Sheraton in the center of town.Wednesday, August 25, 2004, North Conway, NHAs we suspected, April¢s condition did not improve overnight. We figure the only reasonable choice is to return to Connecticut for medical assistance. It¢s difficult to leave as the weather is absolutely perfect with low humidity and cloudless skies. For the past two days we¢ve been able to see all the way to the summit of Mt. Washington. The weather conditions are amazing and rare, and the vista is so difficult to leave. After a non-stop 3 1/2 hour drive we arrive home.At 1 p.m. we visit the walk-in medical center in Avon (it¢s our regular doctor¢s day off so he can¢t help us). The doctor is compassionate but doesn¢t understand the attraction of a two-thousand-mile walk in the woods. Nevertheless, he pronounces the ankle OK, with no breaks and no visible fractures. Physical therapy for a few weeks ought to cure it, he remarks. April calls her mom for the first time to let her know of the disaster. April doesn¢t tell anyone else she¢s home because she doesn¢t want to advertise her ¢failure.¢ I cannot convince her to feel less negative about what¢s happened. All I can do now (and for the next two weeks) is to encourage her speedy recovery. I tell her that being off the trail for two weeks does not destroy her chance of finishing the hike to the trail¢s end in Maine.Wednesday, September 1, 2004, East Granby, CTSeven days of physical therapy (¢PT,¢ also known as Pain and Torture) are complete. Three more days of PT remain. April calculates that if she returns to the point where she left the trail it will take about 30 to 35 days to reach Katahdin. This would put the finish date around October 7, a week before the park closes. Originally April planned to be at Katahdin by September 25. It looks like the new schedule will be cutting it close. Nevertheless, we plan on a September 5 return to the trail. This time I¢ll be hiking with April for two weeks to make sure she¢s sufficiently healed for the rigors ahead.Sunday, September 5, 2004, in the White Mountains, New HampshireWe leave Connecticut at 11:30 a.m. and arrive at Crawford Notch at 4 p.m. We park the van at the trailhead where it will remain for the next three days as we hike back to its location. We had previously arranged for the shuttle service to pick us up at Crawford Notch and take us the twenty miles south to the Garfield Ridge Trail where we will start hiking again. The taxi is there on time. The ride is an expensive $60 but no other option is available except hitchhiking. At the trailhead we purposefully start off very slowly. We hike for only thirty minutes up the trail and then we find a quiet place to pitch the tent next to a stream. So far our first day has gone well. The rushing water quickly lulls us to sleep.