Date: 2005-07-18
From: Mt Cube North Summit Side Trail 

To: Glencliff NH 
Miles today: 13.1

Stewie and I got up at a decent time this morningin order to get in to the hostel in Glencliff without rushing and with time to rest. There were plenty of water sources on the way down the mountain today, ensuring that we weren't dehydrated.I think Stewie still wasn't feeling too well. I gave him another two Tylenol Cold and Flu tablets before we set out. Judging by the colour ofis urine he thinks that he is still dehydrated and has been drinking water like a sponge.The bugs today were awfull. On my bug-intensity scale it would have to be a 9. There were so many blackflies, mosquitos, no-see-ums and horse/deer flies that we just kept walking without stopping. Neither of us said anything either, as if commenting on the bug-crappiness would just make it mentally worse.We stopped for lunch at NH 25C. The sky looked like it might rain so we ate quickly. Or rather I ate quickly, Stewie seems to have lost his appatite (normally he eats like he has two hollow legs) lately. The skies did open up, just a slow shower at first, but it built to a pour and I ended up soaked to the bone. The train let up just before we got to Glencliff.The post office in Glencliff closes foe lunch between 10am and 2pm, so eventhough Teach probably did 5 or more miles than us yesterday, we thought we might see him before he hit the Whites. There were a fair a few people at the Hikers Welcome Hostel in Glencliff. I think a few had been there a few days waiting for a window of good weather. I'm sure that waiting for good weather seems worth it to hikers on a personal level, but on a community level it clogs up hostels and deprives others of a good nights sleep since all the beds are full. Maybe my moral development is passed the me-first stage, or perhaps I don't give a shit since I'm not headed into the Whites. Teach was at the hostel, having missed the 10 am closing time at the post office. He says that he is goig to it Mt Moosilock tonight, but he looks pretty comfortable at the hostel.I had a nice hot shower while Stewie, Wood and my cloths were washed and dried. It was a fabulous feeling beeing clean and wearing clean cloths. Last time that happened was back in New Jersey, almost three weeks ago. There isn't anythingin Glencliff so we got pizza in Warren, 5 miles down the road. The hostel also has frozen pizzas that you can microwave. After watching [i] Walk with Freedom [/i] and ordering dinner Teach desided that he didn't realy want to head off yet and that he would stay the night.After dinner Stewie went to the emergency room in Plymouth. There is a medical clinic in Warren but they didn't have any openings today. Teach and I went to bed before Stewie returned. It really isn't too hard to do with a bunch of hikers, besides Stewie Teach and I were the last to bed at the late hour of 10 pm.As I alluded to previously, I will be leaving the trail up north. I'm not quitting the trail or anything like that, I'm going back to fill in the stretch down south that I missed when I was back in Canada in June. I hiked to Glenlcliff because that was as far as I can go with my summer stuff. Clothing-wise I am not prepared for chilly tmperatures and sleeping bag wise I am using a 55 degree bag. I was planning on voluntering at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Montreal at the end of July and I was going to ave my mom mail me my winter equipment there and I would travel across the boardr with it. In my opinion the organizers at the met as incredibly unorganized, never answer their phones or reply to messags that I leave. It has been frustrating using up phone cards trying to phone them and never getting a response. The cynical side of me says that it is because I am an anglophone. First they said that they had a job for me, then told me not to bother comming to Montreal, that there was nothing for me to do. I have to admit that it really put me off, them declining my help. I'd realy been looking forwardto the event. Past thru-hikers would be in the best position to understand how much I was looking forward to it - I was willing to get of the trail, travel hundreds of miles and say so long to those that I had been hiking with.Anyhow that all fell through, so I ned some time to get my equipmrent across the boarder. What will probablyhappen is thatmy mom will mail the stuff from a USPS Post Office when she visits my siter down in southern Ontario latter in the month