Date: 2016-07-13
From: Eliza Brook Shelter, NH

To: Liberty Spring AMC Tentsite, NH
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 8011.5 miles in 11.5 hours Eliza Brook Campsite (1807.3) to Liberty Spring Campsite (1818.8)Weather: Pleasant, partly cloudy, 70sDinner: Beef Curry Noodle BowlHikers: Lots of NOBOs and SOBOs, Purples, Manatee, Chompa during the day and lots of non-AT hikers okay with paying $10 here at the AMC campsite The moon was full last night and the woods were completely illuminated in its glow. I talked to another solo woman after dinner who had driven two hours and hiked three miles just to camp out this one night during the full moon. It was magical, but cold.I awoke to find that Purples was still in camp. She was considering a short day and slept in or otherwise would have been long gone. We leapfrogged each other all day¢mostly she passing me after taking breaks. The trail followed Eliza Brook for almost a mile. Like the brook the trail edged south from Kinsman Notch the day I slacked, it was another gorgeous hike, but without the deathly pitches and slippery rocks. Like yesterday, I also heard a series of loud jet noises overhead. Unlike yesterday, there was no threatening weather and I didn't mistake it for thunder. Not sure what was going on, but it seemed concentrated around an hour or so in the morning¢like one runway allowing planes to take off or a military operation. Regardless, obviously I'm not within a protected wilderness area which theoretically extends to the air space above as well as to the woods and waters below.After leaving enchanting Eliza, Eliza turned into Sybil¢you remember Sybil¢and became a mean girl, and transforming herself into an unrecognizable trail. It went straight up following more spewed boulder fields. Unlike the rocks and puked up rocks I've scrambled over previously, these led us up to actual mountain peaks with literally breath-taking views. I found myself saying ¢wow¢, out loud a lot today whenever I turned around and looked. Still, it took 2.5 hours to hike 2.5 miles to the first 4,358-foot summit, South Kinsman. I was taking my first lunch break when Chompa came over the top talking on his phone to his mom. We finally had four bars of coverage and apparently she had called just as he summited. I would have been super impressed if he had been able to talk while climbing those last hundred yards. You sort of needed to use both hands. And there was the occasional need to do a little booty-scootching.The hike after that went faster. The ridge between South and North Kinsman was easy to walk despite the 300-foot elevation changes. I did stop for an hour at the first of many trail side Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) ¢huts,¢ an off-the-grid accommodation for people who hike in and don't plan on carrying a tent or food. The stay includes dinner and breakfast, but is pricey by hiker standards. Some people refer to the huts as the Appalachian Money Club. But you can get cheap, even free, food there passing through. The leftover tour has begun. Purples had, of course, beaten me there and we were soon joined by Manatee. The cook gave us free oatmeal and I bought a bowl of thin black bean soup. Who knew that oatmeal tastes great in black bean soup? I also downed two cups of coffee now planning on bypassing the town of Lincoln and pushing on to the next campsite, also managed by the AMC.The trail passed under interstate 93, a highway I know we traveled with the kids years ago when we stopped to see the, now fallen, profile of the Old Man in the Mountains, from the visitor center in Franconia Notch. I seem to recall no one wanted to hike the short nature trail that day and we merely got out of the car to take in the view from the notch. Ironic now.Well, thank goodness for caffeine. And oatmeal black bean soup. And a west facing mountain. The next campsite was 2.6 miles¢all uphill. I had plowed through my remaining energy bars I keep handy and arrived in camp around 7:30 p.m. I considered stealth camping, but having amenities like a privy and bearbox continue to be priorities when I can get them, so payed my $10 and set up my tent on a platform right next to a French-speaking couple. As far as I can tell, no other AT thru-hiker decided to do the same. Everyone here are just doing short loop hikes and apparently didn't want to stealth camp. I talked to a few of them while getting my dinner going in the segregated cooking area. Most of them seemed to have packed too much food and one man gave me a bunch of Justin¢s nut butter packets and a Clif Bar, probably close to $10 worth of food¢so as trades go, that worked out pretty well for me. The tent took some engineering to get my non-freestanding tent to stay put on a wooden deck, but finally got enough rocks in place to hold everything tight. Devoured dinner in the dark and fell asleep listening to the wind blow just a quarter mile below the Franconia ridge.