Date: 2013-07-10
From: Franconia Notch, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0

1812.8 Miles   Franconia, NHMot and I left the Hiker Hostel in Glen Cliff before 6 AM, on Monday 7/8, to start our climb up Mt. Moosilauke. Although it was a long climb, about 2 1/2 hours, it really wasn't difficult. Not true for the descent down the north slope of the mountain. About halfway down the angle of the mountain became very steep. at some points it was well over a 60 degree angle with shear rock ledges to climb, or slide, down. It was also raining, which made it more difficult and slow. I'm so afraid of making the wrong step and slipping and falling. One bad fall and I'm out of the game, and I'm too close for that to happen now. At the bottom of the mountain is Kinsmans Notch and right before the road was some trail magic courtesy of that wonderful Sit a Bit. This is the second time I've had the benefit of her kindness. There were cans of Coke, plus Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies and chocolate brownies. I needed that because I had over a 1000 foot, pretty much straight up, climb out of the Notch. Then later in the day it was a tough climb up to the East Peak of Mt. Wolf at almost 3500 feet. Made it to the Erza Brooks shelter about 8 PM and picked one of the tent sites because the shelter was pretty full. It was after 10 PM before I ate and got into my bag. It was a long and punishing day. New Hampshire is proving to be very rugged and difficult. Little did I know that the next day would be just as hard. I didn't get going on Tues. 7/9 until about 7:30 AM. I had a hard time getting moving. Mot and Paranoid left about a 1/2 before me. Every thing was wet from the rain that night. I was still tired from the day before. The day started where the day before left off, climbing the 4358 foot South Kinsman Mountain followed by 4293 foot North Kinsman Mountain. These climbs were incredible. The last 1/2 mile or so of these climbe had to be over 70 degree angles with a lot of hand over hand climbing and rock scrambling. Mot and I had agreed that we were only going as far as Franconia Notch then hitch into Franconia to get a motel room and take a zero day. It was only 8 miles but we're finding out that we can't make the time we were making before because of the difficulty of the trail. Usually, on a good day, we can average 2 to 2 1/2 miles per hour. here we're lucky to get 1 to 1 1/2 miles per hour. So it gets kind of frustrating when we don't move along at the pace we like. But we made into the Notch. This area is visited by a lot of tourist. There are a lot of beutiful natural sites to see, such as the Flume and the Basin Area. We had to hike around a lot of these tourists when we got close to the highway. When got near the parking area of the Basin a man and a women that we had passed stopped to talk to us and asked us questions about where we are going and where we came from. There names were Rick and Marci from Ohio. They were vacationing in the area and offered to drive us into Franconia to the motel we were going to stay at. Once again, another example of the great and giving people I've been lucky enough to meet along the trail.This morning we walked to a local coffee shop for breakfast and we met Jan who works there. She is a past thru hiker. When I asked questions about Where to find an outfitter and how to get around, she picked up the phone and made a call. When she hung she said her boyfriend would be here in 15 minutes and he would gladly take us anywhere we needed to go. More Trail Magic. When Emory showed up he took us to Littleton where I got a new pair of boots and a new rain jacket. Then he drove us to a Wal-Mart where we picked up food to get us through the Presidentals to Gorham. Next year it will be my turn to give back to the trail.So we got back to motel befor noon and re-packaged all our food and now we'll just take it easy. But, I have to tell you about Mot's "Little Debbie Cream Filled Oatmeal Cookies" theory. While at Wal-Mart Mot bought a huge box of these cookies. Back at the motel he spent 20 minutes looking at food packages and calculating calories, calories from, fat, and all other nutritional information. When he was done he proudly declared (remember, this guy is a doctor) that Little Debbie Cream Filled Oatmeal Cookies are better for, nutrition wise, that many of the foods we are packing. In fact, if he only packed these cookies, he could easily make it from here to Gorham with no problems.I left the room and went outside to sit in front of the room when he tried to tell me they were better for you than eggs. The guy's been out on the trail too long.Tomorrow the motel manager will shuttle us back to where we got off of the trail and we'll start our climb up towards Mt. LaFayette and make our way to the Mt. Guyot Shelter 15 or so miles away. There's a lot of logistics involve going through this area because you are limited to where you can stay or camp. You just can't pull over and pitch a tent anywhere because it's so rocky. Most tent sites are wooden platforms. Or you can stay in a shelter or one of the Appalachian Mountain Club Huts. The huts are very expensive but they will let the 2 thru hikers only, stay for doing some type of work at the hut. But, you have to sleep on the floor and you can have any food that is left over from the meals that are served to the paying hikers. If the opportunity arises, Mot and I will give that a try. So for now it's rest and eat and slam down a six pack of Ensure while I'm here. Then it's onward and upward to one of the most beutiful areas of the country.373.1 Miles to KatahdinHappy TrailsPunkin PieSomewhere on the AT