Date: 2004-10-15
From: 3 miles north of Smarts Mountain, NH

To: South of Etna-Hanover Center Road, NH
Miles today: 20.5

20.5 miles todayStealth tentingSouth of Etna-Hanover Center Road, NH7:15am; I think I've caught up on my sleep. I read for a while last night and fell asleep about 8pm and it didn't start getting light out this morning until about 6:25, so I don't think sleep will be a problem out here. I went out and got my food bag down from a tree and made coffee and ate the rest of the donuts I packed out. It rained last night and got very windy and that's the forcast for today. Time to start walking!!Noon; I am at Trapper John Shelter eating lunch. I was going to stop at the shelter on Smarts Mountain this morning, but I missed it. I was thinking this was the mountain that had a firetower and .1 mile south was the shelter. Well, there is a firetower, but the shelter is just before you get there. I guess I just wasn't thinking. By the time I relized it, I was too far to go back. The firetower I'm thinking of must be in Vermont. I remember it has no roof to it and this one had a roof. There was no views today, so I didn't bother climbing the firetower. It's been sprinkling all morning. No hard rain, but pretty wet anyway. I am able to walk quietly now that the leaves are wet. I saw somemore grouse and more moose tracks. I was really hoping to see a moose today because I don't think I've ever seen one in this area. I saw a day hiker today. That seemed strange because he's the only person I've seen in a day and a half. We stopped and talked about five minutes. He parked down by a road and walked up to see the firetower. It was alot steeper coming down Smarts Mountain than it was going up. My legs aren't used to that right now because there is nothing that steep on the JMT. It was pretty mild this morning. It was 50 degrees when I woke up and it's 52 degrees now. Lunch is over, time to walk.3:50pm; I just finished an early dinner here at the new Moose Mountain Shelter. It feels like it's starting to cool down. The water here is terrible, so I'm hoping to find some soon because I'm out and don't want to go through the night without any. The rain stopped for a few hours in the middle of the day, but it's back now. It's still only drizzling though, but the wind is starting to blow harder. I'm off to look for some water.6:30pm; I'm all snug in my tent. The rain stopped shortly after I left Moose Mountain, but it stayed windy. I found water at Mink Brook about an hour after I ate. I tanked up and filled my water bottles and hiked on. The small streams are mostly all dried up out here. I may have to start carrying more water if I don't start finding more running water soon. I must have seen 2 dozen grouse today. I've never seen that many in one day. It might be because there is no other hikers scaring them off. I saw that one day hiker today and he's the only one in two days. The last two shelters I stopped by had the last entries written 5 days ago and they sounded like they were just out for the day. I'm less than 6 miles from Honover, so I'll just have to mosie in and have breakfast at Lou's in the morning. I finally started feeling better late today. It always takes a little while to get back in the groove of hiking. Another great day on the A.T.