Date: 2003-07-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 13.0

Before i get to the journal stuff, i want to write just one thing. If i ever write OLG, this stands for Orb, LT, and Goldberry, who have now become the Three Headed Monster. We've been hanging out all the time for over two months now that we've realized that there is no real need to say anything anymore. So we have merged into one scary OLG. Rar Rar!and now you know!Okay, so this was the Original Plan: we hike ~13 miles today to Galehead Hut and work-for-stay here and sleep there tonight. Tomorrow, we hike ~19 miles (easier to do through the Whites since we're carrying small packs) to Mizpah Hut and do the work-for-stay thing. Wednesday, hike ~19 miles again to where Orb's car is parked at Pinkham Notch and head back to Orb's house for a zero-day. So that was The Plan. So sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful tripthat started from orb's house where OLG had a mental slip...[Editor: That was pretty good, really. Considering.]Anyway...OLG took a lot longer to get on the trail than originally planned because of shuttling and stuff. 13 miles isn't really a long day for us anymore...well, it's not a long day for us on NORMAL terrian. I will never consider the White Mountains as normal though. our pace was cut in half due to rocks and climbs and difficult areas that simply slowed us down. But i didn't really appreciate this until 3 hours into our hike. We were dropped off by Orb's incredible mother, Grace, around 1pm and began the hike Up Up Up to Mt Lafayette, our high point of the day. This was our first day that we got above tree-line for a while (the weather is so intense at a certain elevation that trees cannot grow on the tops of the high ridges). [Editor: That's what they teach you anyway... the truth is much, much stranger, but I doubt most readers have the grounding in norse religion and string theory to understand.] Orb had been talking about this stretch for quite a while since he's hiked it before and i was really excited to see the vistas all around. But it wasn't meant to be. we were walking in a cloud for the entire day. It was Cold. I could only see a vague outline of LT and Orb walking in front of me through the mist. And it rained. Not only was it Cold, Rainy, and Foggy, but it was Windy too. Orb guessed that it might have been blowing at 20-30 Mph. and the rain was blowing straight into my ear which apparently gives me quite the headache. I would say that this went on for maybe 7 miles or so. And by the time we finally climbed down enough to be back into the trees, it was getting dark.there wasn't much to do except walk, not only to keep warm since everything we were wearing was soaked, but to get someplace dry before it got too dark. the most frustrating part of the day was coming up though: we ran into a Southbound thru-hiker walking the opposite direction and he told us that the hut we were planning on staying at for the night was totally booked and had no room left at all. This is what i like to call a Slap in the Face. And this is where i started to realize our error: we assumed that the hut would have room and we were not carrying our normal equipment (sleeping bag and tent). I mentioned this to the sobo and he said "wow, i wish i could be there to see what happens to you guys!" Talk about compassion, huh? well, maybe we deserve it for poor planning. [Editor: Wow... I like this guy already!]it was 7pm at this point and getting dark under the typical canopy of clouds that has been following us since Georgia. So we didn't have any other choice but to keep walking to the Hut and beg to work-for-stay for the night. And that is what happened. We got to the Hut around 8pm and it was packed full of day hikers in clean, brand-name expensive clothes. The crew let us sleep on the floor of the common room in exchange for some chores that we would do the next morning. An impressive thunderstorm rolled in around 10pm so we were Very Grateful that the crew was understanding about our plight. And I learned that it's worth carrying a tent and sleeping bag unless i have reservations at a Hut. Yea, i'd say i learned that lesson the hard way...