Date: 2013-09-09
From: White Mountains Lodge & Hostel

To: Gentian Pond Shelter
Miles today: 11.7

It was cold last night, and the room was silent. I could smell breaks fast cooking when I woke up, and it made me a little sad. I wasn't ready to get up just yet. I wasn't ready to take off my pink flannel PJs. I wasn't ready to become a hiker again. But I got up anyway, and I got some coffee and breakfast. I packed up my clothes and sorted my food. Hobo and I combined a box to be mailed to Andover. It was a 'hurry up and wait' sort of morning. We had to wait for a shuttle to the post office to mail off our box. We didn't the trail until 10:30; a solid two hours later than we had planned. We took some photos in front of the hostel sign, and Marni gave us all hugs and wished us well. We road walked for a bit, and then the trail finally turned into the woods. The funny thing is, before the Whites today would have been a tough day, but instead, today seemed like a 'break.'there was real dirt to walk on, no rock walls to have to climb. There was one or two minor booty scoots, but all in all it was 'normalish.'We stopped atop Mt Hayes for lunch. There was a large grey rounded stone top with trees trimming the edges. A few pines and spruce dotted here and there. The edges of the stones were lines in silvery moss and soft green moss. We'd only been hiking 2 has, so we didn't linger long.The afternoon was rolling ups and downs. We found a lovely stretch of flat, smooth path. I joked that something felt terribly wrong with the whole situation; we were standing erect and walking in even strides. It must be a trick! Two seconds later I was on the ground 'turtling.'I'd somehow found the one root in the entire stretch of trail. I twisted my ankle, but this time I had an entire audience. Pressure-D felt a little better; someone besides him had taken a fall. He gave me a high-five.The trees are showing signs of turning red. Bright red and yellow leaves dot the path. There are stretches of marsh and plenty of moose scat, but no moose. They seem to poop in the same places and on some impossibly steep and awkward slopes. I can barely negotiate the trail, and yet they are able to perch themselves with no problem. Impressive. The stones are still really full of mica so their surfaces shimmer like fish scales. The ground shines like it is covered in ice crystals, especially at night in the light of a headlamp. We passed a few secluded ponds. Some were much more inviting than others. We only quickly passed by their edges; we'd gotten too late of a start for a swim.At one point, Pressure-D and Hobo got ahead of Tough Cookie and I. We started to find individual M&Ms perched carefully atop rocks, stumps, logs. We were on a scavenger hunt! Once we realized they were dark chocolate M&Ms, we plucked them up and popped them in our mouths!My ankle started to stiffen, and my knees grew weary of the downhills. There were big and little rocks to crawl around, roots to pick through, and muddy areas to try to pick through. I think all of us got a foot in the mud at some point.We finally made it through the dark evergreen forest. So little light made it through the trees that only bright green algae/moss would grow. Even that was limited to dead wood. And the logs were completely encased in it. We made it down to the Gentian Pond Shelter. Dr. Who, Butterfly & Good Dog (and Austrian couple) were already cooking. Badger was asleep in his sleeping bag. The four of us decided to roll out our beds as well. The shelter is a log cabin with two levels. The front is open and looks out onto a big mountain. The sun has already set, so the clouds are glowing pink against a soft timid blue sky. A sliver of moon glowed behind a gauzy layer of clouds.I cooked up some black beans and rice. Darkness set in quickly. By 7:45, we were all eating by the light of our headlamps. It's only 8:30, and we're all tucked into our sleeping bags. A few weeks ago we'd all still be hiking at this hour. I'm a little nervous about my ankle. Two good twists in a week, not good.Tomorrow we'll hit the 1900 mark, and by lunch we should be in Maine. Crazy, crazy, crazy.