Date: 2013-08-20
From: Between Kinsmen

To: Liberty Spring tentsite
Miles today: 8.4

Well, this could be my most exhausting day yet on the Trail. I had felt pretty good with all the difficult climbs yesterday & didn't think I was abnormally tired at the end. My legs were very stiff when I woke up -- even more than usual. I prefer that the Trail be uphill or level, first thing in the morning, but today it was almost all downhill. It reminded me of doing the Mahousuc Notch 6 years ago with really stiff legs. What that means for hiking down big rocks is that sometimes you miss some or don't step quite where you intended. That leads to falls ¢ after all, the muscles that help with balance are stiff too. I fell a couple of times; each time I fall, I become stiffer & less confident about where I can step, & that can lead to more falls. All of this slows me down, of course.I stopped for a privy break at Kinsman Pond shelter ¢ a brand new shelter, with a college group camped nearby ¢ & for soup at Lonesome Lake hut. This is the first of the Appalachian Mtn Club's buildings, thru-out the White Mtns, where hikers can pay $100 per night to sleep in a bunk room & enjoy a good dinner & breakfast. Thru-hikers can sometimes stay free if they do some work there. The 3 miles down to Franconia Notch wasn't really difficult, but I felt very slow. I was to meet Susan & the kids by walking a quarter mile North along the interstate to a picnic area parking lot we had located. I was only a few minutes late. After going under the highway, I met a man who told me that they had been looking for me already & had gone North a little on the AT. So I went on just a short distance to the bridge over the [Whitehouse?] Brook, & there they were with my re-supply. I felt that I needed to stop for a nap, but I only got to sit down a short while.It was hard to believe I had packed up that much food for 3 days. I just added it to my pack without re-packing anything else, which made it top-heavy. That's not helpful when I'm already having balance problems! So I fell again soon after starting up the hill. There were rocks all the way, some of them slippery. 2.5 miles seemed like 10. Sore, tired, weak -- seemed like all at once. It took me all afternoon to get up to the campsite. I had originally thought I could go as far as the next shelter, 10.5 miles in! I'll admit that it looks steeper on the map than what I did yesterday, although without climbing over large rocks, so I was probably over-optimistic in any case. Also, last time I did this, I was going downhill, a totally different proposition. One of the many thru-hikers who passed me that afternoon [most were very sympathetic] suggested that I take some Advil. Ordinarily, I resist that idea ¢ too many of the younger hikers rely on Ibuprofen all the time. But this time it seemed appropriate. I took some & it helped. I was still going slow, but a little more comfortable. Just need some rest -- will that campground ever come?Liberty Spring campsite has only sites with tent platforms. That's a bit of a problem for my tarp-tent, but in this case I was able to rig the ropes around several trees & wedge the pegs into the cracks between boards of the platform. The campground attendant (Yes, they charge $8.00 to stay there) expressed admiration for the way it looked. He wanted to talk, but I was mostly interested in trying to restSouth-bounders Zappa, Dlllywood & Floss camped next to me. Then some UNH orientation groups occupied the bigger platforms. Aqua man, Mogley, Catch, & Big Yankee were some of the NOBOs who had passed me & apparently camped higher up on the Mtn.The site provided a very nice view of the sunset. This was the first time in a while I was in bed before total darkness.