Date: 2005-08-16
From: Trapper John Shelter

To: N.H. 25A (Mt. Cube Sugarhouse)
Miles today: 16.9

Today was a great day!Beautiful scenery, cool temperatures, tough climbs and good people; I hiked a respectable 17 miles today over two mountains with some amazing views from the peaks.There is a great feeling you get, and I had today, when I climbed 2,500 feet to the top of a rugged mountain topped with huge boulders and conifer trees. Standing at the top, looking for miles and miles down upon mountains and lakes below, in the distance, gave me such a strange and powerful feeling and I know there was no other place I would rather be.With all that said, I have not even hit the White Mountains yet. I should get there tomorrow and I cannot even imagine how nice it is going to be. It has also helped a ton that the temperature has dropped significantly. It has probably been in the mid 70¢s the past couple days and I am looking at more of the same for the next few days. Nighttime has been even nicer as it is dropping into the high 50¢s to low 60¢s. I am able to zip my sleeping bag all the way up and enjoy a nice night of sleep. I am hoping it is going to be like this or colder for the rest of the trip. I have had enough of the heat and humidity.So after a good day of hiking, I got an easy hitch 2 miles off the trail to Mt. Cube Sugarhouse and Farm House where I heard I could tent for the night and also get some fruits and vegetables. Well, I was a bit disappointed when I got here to find that there were no fruits or vegetables and I was wondering if I should have even come here. Then I met Peter. Peter Thompson runs the family business, which produces maple syrup. I was particularly interested since I already visited a sugarhouse in Vermont a couple years ago and thought it was so neat then. I volunteered to help him since he was busy filling some half-gallon size containers. I did not do much more than label the jugs but I did learn a lot about the maple syrup industry, Peter¢s father who was New Hampshire¢s Governor when I was just a little baby and Emma ¢Grandma¢ Gatewood. Did you know it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup? Did you know an average 8¢ in diameter maple tree produces 14 to 12 gallon of syrup?Peter¢s father was Governor in the 70¢s. Peter was his father¢s Campaign Manager when he was running for Governor and later became his Chief of Staff. Now, like many people who run a sugarhouse, he also has a full time job. The maple syrup business has been in the family for 50 years and is something he enjoys doing despite the hard work involved.As for Emma ¢Grandma¢ Gatewood, she was the first woman to hike the entire A.T. by herself. Peter told me how the A.T. used to go right through their sugar bush and down past the house before the A.T.C. relocated the trail about 15 years ago. During this time, about 40 years ago, Grandma Gatewood, who has become a legendary figure to Thru-hikers came knocking on the Thompson¢s door and when Peter¢s mother answered, Grandma explained, ¢I¢m the first solo female to hike the entire A.T. What¢s for dinner?¢ From what I have heard before today about Grandma, she was a tough lady and used very basic equipment even for those days. Peter showed me a picture hanging on a bulletin board of Grandma with 3 young boys. The oldest boy, who I guess to be about 12 years old is Peter and the others are his two younger brothers. As for her bag, it looks like a potato sack slung over her shoulder. Unbelievable!!!As you can tell, today was a great day. I have come to learn that it is experiences like today that make this trip so special, not just the result of getting to Katahdin.Life is Good!