Date: 2012-08-17
From: Hiker's Welcome Hostel - Glencliff, NH

To: The Foot of Mount Moosilauke
Miles today: 25.0

Today¢s hike was by far my toughest yet. I went up and over Mount Moosilauke ¢ a 4,000 foot climb which was very steep in five or six miles. At times, it was so steep that it necessitated using hands, as well as your feet; just to get up from rock to rock to rock. Each step you had to be very careful where you were going to put each foot and also each hand, or if you were able to use your hiking sticks, where you would put the tips of the sticks so you would not get stuck between the rocks. On a couple of occasions I slipped and the sticks saved me from falling but they were bent. I had to straighten them out. That¢s always dangerous when you bend a titanium stick and straighten it out as that creates a weak spot and you always worry about the next time this happens, the pole might break in two, causing you probably to fall, with some significant injury. The climb was very steep until it seemed that I got to the flat section at the top. I was very happy that I had finished my hike. However, when I got to the flat section I could look and there was still much more to be done at least another mile of up but it was not as steep and was rather an easy walk. The interesting part of this was that it was above tree line. I thought that I had finished my hike until I saw that I still had another mile or so to go. This was the first extensive time that I have been above tree line. That part went quickly. I met up with Gipcgirl, who had completed her hike to the top, long before me.   She¢s quick and I¢m slow. It¢s a thoroughbred versus mule sort of thing. The top was crowded with about thirty people. I knew some of them. Some I had been hiking with and around on and off for two or three months, and we finally meet on the top of Moosilauke. Others had taken other trails to get up there, including a group of possibly high school age boys. There are different ways to get to the summit. It was beautiful up there, having 360 degree views. This allowed you to look in every direction and see many mountains which you had climbed before and also to see the mountains that you were going to be climbing soon.   The skies were pretty and clear most of the time, however a few clouds did blow by. The strong winds on top of the mountain however soon made us cold and we had to keep moving. The descent was the steepest I had seen yet. In some places, the trail maintainers had placed wooden steps into the steep rock to help give us a surface to step upon. Had it not been for these wooden steps, it would have been virtually impossible to get down without considerable risk. In other places, you just had to be slow and careful. In still other places, you had to hold on to tree limbs, or the rock edges to lower yourself down from rock to rock. At times this was scary, and always dangerous. At the bottom of Mount Moosilauke was a local man providing trail magic in the form of sodas, beer, corn chips, etc. We got the last four beers which made the last mile or so of a hard hike seem much easier. We found a flat camp site, pitched our tents, and spent the night there. However, in the morning when the beers had worn off I noticed that my flat tent site was shaped more like a bathtub. It was not a good site but it served its purpose. My tent still looks rather sick with broken support but it works and it kept me warm and I¢ll get a new ridge pole or get this one fixed somehow as soon as possible.