Date: 2005-08-02
From: Glencliff, NH

To: Smarts Mountain, NH
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: few clouds

20.0 miles todaySmarts Mountain, NH. I was up late last night so I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked. I got up at 5am and packed up. Phat Chap had invited me to go to breakfast at Peg's in N. Woodstock with him, Swift and Tinkerbell. Swift and Tinkerbell were being dropped off to slack over Mt Moosilauke and stay at the hostel one more night. I was inside the hostel and waiting on them. I only remembered they said they wanted to start early...I didn't remember what time they said. We left about 6:30 and took half an hour to drive to Peg's. It was a very good breakfast. I had the "Hungry Hiker Breakfast." It had 3 eggs, ham, homefries, toast, 2 pancakes and all the coffee I wanted for 6 or 7 bucks. I ordered a ham hoagie to go. I packed it out for lunch. We dropped Swift and Tinkerbell off at the trailhead and headed back to the hostel. I paid my bill and said goodbye to Packrat, Lion King and Phat Chap. I really enjoyed my stay and Phat Chap is doing a great job taking care of the place. Hope to see you all at The Gathering in October. I hiked into the woods at 9:30...not an early start, but I was only going to the firetower on Smarts Mountain tonight. The area I started walking in is low and is a good breeding ground for mosquitos. I had to put up with the pesky buggers for about 10 miles. I climbed Mt Mist which is only 2220 feet high and then headed down to Ore Hill Shelter to get water. The water was just a puddle with no flow to it so I passed on getting water there. There was 2 nobos by the name of The Odd Couple and a nobo with his dog by the names of Throw and Fetch. I think the dog's name was Throw. ;-))) I hiked on and in a few miles I saw Nails coming up the trail with Dances With Scarfs behind her. I didn't think I'd see them again since they were trying to finish the Whites, but this was a treat!! They ran out of time to get to Pinkham Notch, so they came back here to finish up a shorter section. I didn't get to say goodbye to them the other day in the Whites. I was eating dinner and they needed to find a place for their tent and I wasn't sure where they went, so I just hiked on. We talked and swatted mosquitos for about 15 minutes before we hiked on in different directions. I started climing Mt Cube and ran into Colonel Mustard, Rainbow and Sparticus. I finally got some water from Brackett Brook. I drank about a litre and packed out a litre. I got to the summit and saw Horns and Bandit there eating. I was already out of water by then, so I hiked on. I went down the mountain to Hexacuba Shelter for water, but again, the water source was about dry and didn't look real good. Rainbow had told me about some water all the way down at the bottom of the mountain, so I kept on hiking. The first water I came to was real dark, so I passed it up for water almost a mile away. When I got there, I was glad to see it was clear. I drank and drank and drank, then filled my 2 litre water bag to carry to the top of Smarts Mountain with me. When I started up Smarts, I ran into Merrill, Boots and his wife, Blue...something...I can't remember the rest of her name. About half way up the mountain, I ran into Caroline, a friend of Goldilocks and Moosie, and Shadow who was hiking with her. We talked a while. She wanted me to be sure to say hello to both of them. I continued up the mountain. It was a 4 mile climb, but not too bad of a grade. I got up there and claimed the firetower for myself. About half an hour later, 2 nobos by the names of Yard Sale and Vapor came up. I think they were planning on staying up here tonight, but there wasn't enough room. We all talked for quite a while and they headed to the shelter. It's very windy up here, but this firetower has windows. I didn't get to see a real good sunset because of the lite rain and clouds, but I'm in hopes of a great sunrise. I can see Moosilauke off in the distance. I can't believe it was just yesterday when I climbed it.