Date: 2018-07-31
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Tues Day 137 7/31 spectacular dMon Day 136 7/30 Another steep climb to start the day. The trail paralleled a stream for quite a ways. It was very picturesque with the stream cascading alongside the trail. Our goal was Liberty Springs Campsite 11 miles away. It was steady hiking, but not quite the same difficulty as the day before. We passed Kinsman Pond Shelter, our goal from the day before. As we gained in elevation, we were rewarded with some beautiful views. As the sun was coming up it was overcast so we didn't get the classic sunrise but we did get very nice views. Who would have thought that 10 or 11 miles miles was just too far. Well, this is the Whites and things go a lot slower. We were coming around to the thought that if we could hike faster than one mile an hour we were making good time. We did very nicely and enjoyed the day. We got to the last mile and a half in good time. We came to a water source. The trail had been very nice today and we were very comfortable. We seem to be ahead of schedule and figured to be getting in this afternoon ahead of schedule. So we didn't take time to get more water and just headed up the hill. Suddenly the trail got extremely steep, rocky and difficult. The sun came out very hot. We were sweating like mad. I wasn't feeling well at all. Suddenly a day that have been going smoothly was extremely challenging. We had to stop and eat a plum just to regroup because the trail was so steep. We finally made it to the Liberty Springs campsite. The last mile and a half seem to take forever. We were both completely crushed by the intensity and difficulty of the last mile and a half. The hot sun was part of the problem. We shared a tent platform with a father son team. This was a first for me. A tent platform is a little different because every time anybody moved on the platform you felt the vibrations underneath you. By hiker midnight I was ready to go to sleep. The sun was shining in our tent as we were facing west. If we had stayed up, we would have watched the sun go down. It looked to me to be a nice sunset coming that I missed as I fell asleep exhausted.ayWe were up at 4 a.m. We packed up and moved away from the tent platform. We went to eat at the common eating area so as to not disturb our fellow platform sleepers. We had a good breakfast but didn't get up on the trail until quarter of 6. We continued the steep climb up for 4/10 of a mile towards Liberty Mountain Summit. We made a left turn onto Franconia Ridge. It was gentle hiking along the ridge. Then we started the ascent of 3 peaks. The first was Mountain Lincoln, which was very nice. We did get to see a nice sunrise coming up to our right as we crossed the ridge. We were now above tree line when we summited Mount Lafayette. The views were quite spectacular in every direction. Because we knew we were in for such challenging climbing in the Whites, we made a point to constantly be eating. So we took a break and ate for a while. We saw some kind of little mountain weasel dashing around the mountain top waiting for us to leave to see if we had dropped any food crumbs. We did see the Greenleaf Hut from the top of Mount Lafayette. It was a one mile journey if you wanted to stay at that hut. No way we were doing another tough two miles just to get to a hut and back. We continued to hiking above tree line. It was really quite spectacular. These were the best views in 1800 miles. Even though it seemed to be a perfect day, I wasn't feeling all that well. We were hiking well but I just felt like I was running out of gas. Our goal had been a 13 or 16 mile day. That would set us up for one more day of hiking before taking a zero at my friend, Peter and Patty Mongeau's. As the day wore on, I wore out. I had a sore throat, was quite congested, and even felt a little faint at one point. Feeling faint when you're hiking on granite is a bad story. We stopped to get water and then the trail literally was in a stream-an active, wet stream bed going steeply downhill. The Whites were looking to be extremely rugged. We were stunned at how difficult it was to make our way down the side of this mountain in a stream bed on wet slippery rocks. We were moving very, very slowly. Each step had the potential to be a hike-ending tragic disaster. As we approached Twin Mountain we had only covered 9 miles. We were looking to get water at the Galehead Hut. It was supposed to rain Wednesday and Thursday. We were trying to make at least 13 to 16 miles of the 25 miles so that we could finish on Wednesday with 12 miles or less to go. Now it was looking like if we can't make even 10 miles, we'll have to split the last 15 mi between Wednesday and Thursday and not get off the mountain until Thursday. We're trying to avoid hiking on these severe steep up and downs in the rain. Wet rocks are greasy, slippery rocks. When we were 8/10 of a mile away from Galehead Hut on an uphill I just felt so bad that I didn't want to go on at all. This is the first time in 1800 miles that I just called it quits in the middle of the day. I was done and I just didn't want to go another step. There was a stealth campsite at the trail crossing. I just stopped. We set up the tent and I went to sleep in the afternoon. I was scared. Maybe I had picked up some water born illness or some mosquito born illness. Was this some problem that somehow was going to take me off the trail? It's kind of scary and depressing because you're always worried that something is going to take you off the trail. I hadn't been sick at all in seven months. Now I felt horrible and couldn't take another step. After a couple hours of sleeping I woke up. I got up and ate some dinner. I didn't really want to eat much. Not a good sign for a hiker. There was some commotion on the trail which we were very close to. There was an older French man who went in without carrying a pack. It seemed a group of women had been hiking and one of them had gotten hurt. So he went in to help carry out her pack and gear. I soon went back to sleep well before hiker midnight.